Experimental Investigation of Heat Transfer and Pressure Drop Characteristic for Zinc–Water Based Nanofluid

Abstract

For replacing the traditional used working fluids heat exchanger with alternative fluid which must have enhanced thermal properties as compared to traditional working fluids. This is done with the help of preparing the nanofluid which is made my adding the nanoparticels in the dispersed form to the base fluid which forms the colloidal solution with base fluid. The nanoparticle is to be selected such that it would be an ecofriendly and that do not cause any problem to the material hence zinc nanoparticles are selected as the material and the nanofluid prepared is called as zinc-water (Zn-H2O) nanofluid. This Zn-H2O nanofluid is characterized and prepared by the method called single step. With the help of theoretical knowledge gain from the literature survey thermo physical properties used for calculation are prepared. This calculation clearly shows the fact that the nanofluid prepared by using zinc is having enhanced properties with respect to the base fluid and it is good alternative to the existing working fluid which is used in different heat exchanging equipments. The Zn-H2O nanofluid is pumped through the equipment to calculate the performance at the turbulent flow condition by maintaining wall temperature constant. Pressure drop and heat transfer coefficient are evaluated from the experimental readings and both are nothing but the performance evaluation criteria for calculating the heat transfer. When we compared the Zn-H2O nanofluid results with the water the enhancement observed in terms of the Nusselt number is about 83% and pressure drop is 9%.