Energetic and exergetic performance enhancement of heat exchangers via simultaneous use of nanofluid and magnetic swirling flow: A two-phase approach

A high-efficient method has been considered for simultaneously improving the hydrothermal and exergetic performance of heat exchangers. Two-phase Eulerian model is employed in a 3-D numerical study to precisely study the hydrothermal and entropic behaviors of Fe3O4/water ferrofluid, under the effect of a magnetic field inducer. The findings reveal that employing the magnetic field can improve the energetic and exergetic performance by generating a swirling flow in the heat exchanger. The pressure drop and entropy generation minimization are also achieved by the induced flow in comparison with other passive techniques due to the lack of any additional obstacle in the flow path. Results show that in the presence of the magnetic field the thermal and exergy efficiencies increase up to 90% and 33%, respectively. Regarding that, the proposed method for boosting energy and exergy efficiencies of similar applications (like other heat exchangers) can be highly efficient.