Evaluation of innovative thermal performance augmentation techniques in heat sinks & heat pipes: Electronics & renewable energy applications

Heat sinks and heat pipes have vast applications including industrial domains requiring high heat flux. Due to numerous uses of these heat transfer devices, there have been great advancement in this area through innovation. This study focuses use of nanofluids and hybrid nanofluids for thermal performance enhancement of heat pipes and heat sinks. There are five different arrangements finless sintered copper wicked heat pipe, water based TiO2 filled heat pipe, TiO2 and SiO2 based hybrid nanofluid filled heat pipe, water cooled cylindrical pin finned heat sink and Fe2O3 and TiO2 hybrid nanofluid cooled heat sink. There are two test rigs one for testing heat pipe configurations and other for heat sinks. All the five elements are tested at constant heat flux ranging from 900 W/ m2 to 3600 W/m2, in four equal steps. It's observed that nanofluids play a very significant role in thermal performance augmentation, the affect is even more significant in heat pipes compared to heat sinks. Interestingly, nanofluids based heat pipes are proved more significant for high heat flux applications, although, nanofluid cooled heat sinks have slight better performance compared to the said but at a higher expense of weight, auxiliaries, space and cost. At 3600 W/m2 nanofluid based heat pipes have 33 % lower thermal resistance compared to water cooled heat sink. Therefore, nanofluid based heat pipes are primarily significant unless use of heat sink deemed dire. Nusselt number of heat sink is calculated at various heat flux and at variable mass flux conditions and found increasing with both parameter.