Presenter(s)

Lawrence W. Funke

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Description

New technologies require greater cooling capacity than can be supplied by conventional fluids, such as water, ethylene glycol, or oil. The new nanofluids containing nanoparticles (one thousandth the thickness of a human hair) can significantly increase the cooling capacity of common fluids. This project aims to explore new fluids with added carbon nanoparticles. Ethylene glycol was used as the base fluid, and carbon nanoparticles with various crystallinities were added to the fluid. Fluids with different concentrations of additives (0 to 1%) were tested using three different apparatus to determine their cooling capacity under both static (stationary) and dynamic (in motion) conditions. It was found that the crystallinity and concentration of nanoparticles had a major effect. Results suggest that adding low concentrations of carbon nanoparticles with the proper crystallinity could greatly increase the heat transfer coefficient of the base fluid.

Publication Date

4-18-2012

Project Designation

Honors Thesis

Primary Advisor

Khalid Lafdi

Primary Advisor's Department

Chemical and Materials Engineering

Keywords

Stander Symposium project

Carbon Nanofluids as New Liquid Coolants

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