Fluid flow and heat transfer of water based-nanofluids in plate- fin heat Sink

Heat transfer is generally needed in industrial processes and consumer products. To improve efficiency and to increase power density per unit surface and volume, new materials such as nanofluid have been developed for improving heat transfer systems. Nanofluid consisting of nanoparticles dispersed in a base fluid provides improved heat transfer capability. The use of passive strategies in microchannel heat sinks allows for increasing the device’s efficiency. In this study, the fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics of turbulent nanofluids flow in plate- fin heat sink (PFHS) such as base surface temperature, local Nusselt number, dimensionless pressure (Eu number), pumping power, profit factor, thermal resistance and effective Prandtl number are studied. Using the K-Ɛ turbulence model, the characteristics of the fluid flow through the PFHS are described and simulated by Ansys Fluent. A constant heat flux boundary condition is applied on the base plate of PFHS and all the other surfaces of PFHS are insulated. Four different kinds of nanofluids are utilized as working fluids which are SiO 2 , Al 2 O 3 , ZnO, and CuO dispersed in distilled water as a base fluid. Volume fractions of 2% and a distinctive nanoparticle diameter of 60 nm were employed. Results indicate that nanofluids can improve the performance of PFHS. Viscosity has an important role in the pressure drop in the PFHS. The improvement in the thermal transportation of nanofluids increases the convective heat transfer coefficient.