Experimental Investigation of Heat Transfer Characteristics of Plate Heat Exchanger using Alumina - Water based Nanofluids at Different Orientations

Objectives: Fluids like nanofluids which are rich in thermal conductivity have very good impact on the heat transfer rate of any device. The main aim of this study is to carry out research on the heat transfer characteristics of plate heat exchanger with different orientations using Al2O3/nanofluids. Methods: Two different concentration (0.1% v/v and 0.2% v/v) of nanofluids have been used in this research. Inclination angles 0°, 30°, 60°, 90° have been used in this experiment. Experiments firstly carried out with double distilled water then with 0.1% and 0.2% v/v nanofluids. Performance of plate heat exchanger with use of nanofluids compared with water to check the effects of use of nanofluids. Findings: Results addresses that the overall performance of the plate heat improve by using nanofluids as a working fluid in a plate heat exchanger. Average increment of approximately 28% has been noticed in case of the nanofluids. Results also addresses that the average decrement of approximately 10- 15% has been observed when the orientation of plate heat exchanger changes from horizontal to inclined (30°). Improvements/Applications: This technique can be used in industries to improve the performance of heat exchange device.