Thermal analysis of nanofluids in microfluidics using an infrared camera

Abstract

We present the thermal analysis of liquid containing Al2O 3 nanoparticles in a microfluidic platform using an infrared camera. The small dimensions of the microchannel along with the low flow rates (less than 120 μl min-1) provide very low Reynolds numbers of less than 17.5, reflecting practical parameters for a microfluidic cooling platform. The heat analysis of nanofluids has never been investigated in such a regime, due to the deficiencies of conventional thermal measurement systems. The infrared camera allows non-contact, three dimensional and high resolution capability for temperature profiling. The system was studied at different w/w concentrations of thermally conductive Al2O3 nanoparticles and the experiments were in excellent agreement with the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. © 2012 The Royal Society of Chemistry.