Investigation of Heat Transfer and Pressure Drop of Non-Newtonian Nanofluid Performance Through Micro Channels Heat Exchanger (MCHE) in Cross-Flow Configuration

In this paper, the heat Transfer and pressure drop performance in laminar flow of the non-Newtonian fluids and Nanofluids inside an MCHE in cross-flow configuration have been experimentally and numerically studied. The carboxyl methyl cellulose (CMC) aqueous solution with mass fraction of 0.2 wt.% (a non-Newtonian fluid) is used as base hot fluid. The single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) as solid nanoparticles added to the base fluid in 0.05-0.15 wt.% with diameters of 1-2 nm. Influence of operating parameters such as Reynolds number (Re), weight concentration and inlet temperature of hot and cold fluid on the heat transfer and pressure drop was experimentally investigated. Results show that as flowrate and concentration of SWCNTs increase the convective heat transfer coefficient could be intensified. In terms of pressure drop, it was seen that with increasing the flowrate and mass concentration of Nanofluids, pressure drop was intensified. In order to simulate the mentioned cross-flow MCHE, the computational fluid dynamics code is used. The results are compared with the experimental data and showed good agreement. Also, a new definition for comprehensive performance of heat exchangers is introduced and used to evaluate the feasibility of the proposed system.