AN EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION FOR THE USE OF MULTI-WALL CARBON NANOTUBES BASED ON WATER NANOFLUID IN A PLATE HEAT EXCHANGER

An experimental study has been conducted to investigate the performance of an Annfleld plate heat exchanger (HT32) with an Armfield heat exchange service unit (HT30X) using multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) based on distilled water with different volume concentrations. Five volume concentrations are used in this study, viz., 0.22%, 0.33%, 0.66%, 1.1%, and 1.53%. The range of Reynolds number of the hot fluid (distilled water and nanofluids) is 100 < Re < 700. The overall heat transfer coefficient, pressure drop, friction factor, the mean Nusselt number, and the effectiveness were calculated by measuring the variables. The experimental results obtained showed that nanofluids have a significant effect on the heat transfer process depending on the concentration of nanoparticles in the base fluid. The overall heat transfer coefficient and Nusselt number increase with the volume concentration. The enhancement in the value of the overall heat transfer coefficient depends on the volume concentration of nanoparticles compared with pure distilled water. The pressure drop and the friction factor increase with the volume concentrations of nanoparticles. The enhancement in the value of Nusselt number reaches 32% in the case of use of nanofluid with a volume concentration of 1.53% compared to distilled water. The effectiveness increases with the increase of the volume concentrations and Reynolds number. An empirical correlation to calculate the Nusselt number is derived. The comparison of the results obtained in the present study with those given in the literature showed their acceptable agreement.