Thermal management of power electronics using nanofluids and nucleate boiling heat transfer technique

Abstract

Nucleate boiling is an efficient solution for thermal management of power electronics where high-intensity heat flux needs to be transferred in a compact space. Both micro surfaces and nanofluids are used in literature to enhance the performance of nucleate pool boiling heat transfer systems; however, the effect of nanofluids over the microporous surface still needs to explore in several phase change heat transfer applications. The study’s objective is to examine the performance of nanofluid over microporous surfaces in Nucleate Boiling Heat transfer (NBHT) and performs a comparative analysis with plain and micro-porous surfaces. The study analyzed three ceramic (Alumina) nanofluids for nucleate pool boiling heat transfer (NBHT) over plain and microporous surfaces. The literature reported enhanced performance of nanofluids over the plane surface is verified in the study before proceeding to the detailed analysis over the microporous surface. Three different concentrations of 0.005%, 0.0005%, and 0.00005% were tested for the nanofluid. For plane surface, the critical heat flux (CHF) has been increased to 1035 [kW/m2] for Alumina from 783 [kW/m2] for deionized water, with the average increase in heat transfer coefficient (HTC) being 46.5%. The maximum CHF has been reported for micro-porous surfaces with a value of 1110 kW/m2. Out of the tested surfaces and fluids combination, the micro-porous surfaces with deionized water have been concluded as the most efficient surface with the highest heat transfer capacity for thermal management of high-power electronics and other high heat flux applications.