Experimental investigation of paraffin nano-encapsulated phase change material on heat transfer enhancement of pulsating heat pipe

Abstract

In this study, a mixture of nano-encapsulated phase change materials in water has been used as the working fluid in a pulsating heat pipe in order to investigate its thermal performance. The results of the experiments showed that using the nano-encapsulated paraffin dispersed in water as working fluid improves heat transfer and decreases the thermal resistance of the pulsating heat pipe. On the other hand, among the tested concentrations for nano-encapsulated paraffin, there is an optimal value in which increasing the concentration causes an increase in the thermal resistance of the pulsating heat pipe due to the increased dynamic viscosity of the fluid. Enhancement in the thermal performance of the pulsating heat pipe by adding paraffin nanocapsules is attributed to the increase in effective specific heat of the fluid mixture as a result of the latent heat of paraffin nanocapsules. Higher effective sensible heat leads to an augmentation of convective heat transfer which has the main role in heat transfer of heat pipes. Moreover, the existence of nano-encapsulated paraffin can result in more mixing which is another reason for heat transfer enhancement. In addition, the use of nano-encapsulated phase change paraffin at high concentrations causes a cessation in the dry-out phenomenon at higher heat input compared with water or, in other words, increases the operating range of the pulsating heat pipe, which is due to an increase in the heat capacity of the fluid. In addition, the effect of inclination angle (30°, 60°, and 90°) on the thermal performance of the PHP at an optimum concentration among tested concentrations of nano-encapsulated paraffin was investigated, which was equal to 6.25 g L−1. It was observed that the PHP had its best thermal performance at the vertical position. The lowest measured thermal resistance of the PHP was 0.86 K W−1 in a vertical orientation and 50 W heat input. Moreover, at 30°, the thermal resistance of the PHP sharply increased, which can be attributed to the reduced effect of gravity in fluid return from the condenser to the evaporator. The maximum thermal resistance of the PHP observed in the case of inclination angle equal to 30° and 10 W heat input was 5.38 K W−1.