Experimental investigation of Heat Transfer Enhancement of Heat Pipe Using Silver/Water Nanofluid

Abstract

An experiment was carried out on heat pipe consisting 6 mm outer diameter, 300 mm length and 0.5 mm wall thickness. In the experiment, the heat transfer characteristics of heat pipes measured by taking de-ionized water and silver/water nanofluid as a working fluid. An experimental investigation has been carried out to measure the thermal performance of heat pipes by varying the inclination angles (45°, 60° and 90°) and heat input (10W, 20W, 30W, 40W). The performance of heat pipe quantified in terms of thermal resistance, overall heat transfer coefficient. From the experiment results, it is concluded that the thermal performance of heat pipe can be enhanced by using nanofluid. The heat transfer co-efficient increases 6.88% to 15.63% as heat input and inclination angle increases. Thermal resistance decreases 6.85% to 17.7% as heat input and inclination angle increases. Nanofluid testing results show the suspended nanoparticle in water with 0.01 % w/v concentration enhancement in the thermal conductivity is 8.78% compared to DI water.