Effect of nano-fluid types on the improvement of heat transfer in a micro-channel with regular hexagonal pattern

Abstract

Micro channels are widely used in different industries. The investgations on heat transfer improvments of these instruments are of significant inportance. At hte present study, the influence of different nano-fluids and geometrical charectrestics on the thermal performance of a heat sink which is especially for for micro-channels are investigated. In the present study, the authors investigated the Nusselt number and pressure drop in differential geometries and Reynolds numbers (Re). Then the micro-channel was investigated with different heat flux (q).In the first step, the micro-channel was examined and the final numerical results showed that the hexagonal cross-section can improve heat transfer about 9%. At the second step and after selecting appropriate parameters, the effect of three nano-particles (Al2O3 - CuO- TiO2) were studied. The results presented that aluminum oxide (Al2O3) has the best heat transfer rate among the mentioned nano-fluids. With the presence of nano-particles (Al2O3, φ = 4%) an increment of 40% in heat transfer rate, for the hexagonal cross section was achieved compare to rectangular cross section with water as working fluid.