The Performance of an Automobile Radiator with Aluminum Oxide Nanofluid as a Coolant—An Experimental Investigation

The radiator as heat exchanger plays a very significant role in an engine cooling system by maintaining the coolant at an optimum temperature. The present study aims at improving the performance of an automobile radiator by using nano-coolants. Nano-scale particles have been tested and proven to have enhanced thermal conductivity than their bulk counterparts due to their increased surface area-to-volume ratio. Thus the nanoparticles dispersed in the base fluids called nanofluids are used as a radiator coolant to improve the performance of the radiator. Aluminum oxide (Al2O3)-based nanofluid at 0.04%, 0.08%, 0.15% by volume concentrations is used in two different base fluids, one being water and the other ethylene glycol (30%) (EG)-water mixture. Coolant is supplied at three different inlet temperatures at 40°C, 50°C, and 60°C and at five different flow rates ranging from 2 L/min to 6 L/min at an interval of 1 L/min. For all the experiments, the air velocity is maintained constant using a radiator fan (running at 1500 rpm). The experimental results showed that the overall heat transfer coefficient and coolant side heat transfer rate in the nanofluids can be enhanced considerably when compared to current-generation coolants like pure water and EG-water mixture. It has been observed that the addition of 0.08% volume fraction of alumina particles at all coolant flow rates and at all coolant inlet temperatures provided substantial enhancement in the overall heat transfer coefficient.

• Record URL:
  • https://doi.org/10.4271/2022-01-5007
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/01487191
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Abstract reprinted with permission of SAE International.
• Authors:
  • Venugopal, T
  • Pendli, SaiPratik
  • Patel, Harsh
  • Gupta, Manshu
  • Natarajan, Gobinath
• Conference:
  • Automotive Technical Papers
  • Location: Warrendale Pennsylvania
  • Date: 2021-1-1
• Publication Date: 2022-2-17

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Web
• Features: References;
• Serial:
  • SAE Technical Paper
  • Publisher: Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE)
  • ISSN: 0148-7191
  • EISSN: 2688-3627
  • Serial URL: http://papers.sae.org/

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Coolants; Electrical conductivity; Engine cooling systems; Engine fans; Heat exchangers; Heat transfer; Radiators
• Subject Areas: Highways; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01838506
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: SAE International
• Report/Paper Numbers: 2022-01-5007
• Files: TRIS, SAE
• Created Date: Mar 14 2022 3:26PM