Experimental studies on thermosyphon using low global warming potential refrigerant HFE7000 and nanorefrigerant HFE7000/Al2O3

Abstract

Thermosyphon is used in numerous applications such as permafrost, cooling building and structures, Alaska pipeline, electronic cooling, and other applications. Improving the performance of thermosyphon is essential for technology advancement. Therefore, experimentation is conducted to improve the efficiency of thermosyphon with the natural refrigerant hydrofluoroether (HFE) and Al2O3/HFE7000 nanorefrigerant. The Al2O3 nanoparticle is chosen based on its economic feasibility and better thermo-physical properties with the refrigerants. Firstly, the preparation of Al2O3/HFE7000 nanorefrigerant is carried out specifically at different volume concentrations of the nanoparticle to check the long-term stability. Secondly, the heat transfer characteristics of the thermosyphon charged Al2O3/HFE7000 nanorefrigerant of 0.025%, 0.05%, and 0.075% volume concentration and pure HFE7000 is investigated experimentally. The nanorefrigerant charged thermosyphon experimented for different inclinations and different volume concentrations as the working fluid. It was observed that the two-phase closed thermosyphon charged with Al2O3/HFE7000 nanorefrigerant enhanced its evaporator heat transfer performance also decreased the thermal resistance of 57.5% compared with the pure HFE7000 and was at its peak for 0.05% volume concentration. The heat transfer of nanorefrigerant Al2O3/HFE7000 0.025%, 0.05%, and 0.075% volume concentration is increases 41.61%, 88.414%, and 74.362% than HFE7000. In conclusion, the results of the experiments suggest that the use of Al2O3/HFE7000 nanofluid produce a significant thermal enhancement in thermosyphon. This research also discloses the effect of dimensionless parameters such as the Bond number of the boiling phenomenon, Prandtl and condensation number of conduction phenomenon, and Ohensorge number of buoyancy phenomenon in thermosyphon with Al2O3/HFE7000 nanorefrigerant. It is identified that the volume concentration of 0.05% Al2O3/HFE7000 has a considerable effect on nondimensional parameters.