Experimental Study of Filling Ratio Effect on the Thermal Performance in a Multi-Heat Pipe with Graphene Oxide/Water Nanofluids

Abstract

This experimental study is performed to investigate heat transfer performance of a multi-heat pipe cooling device in the condition of different filling ratios (40%, 60%, 80% and 100%) and different constant heat fluxes (10 - 30 W). Here, pure water (distilled water) and graphene oxide (GO)/water nanofluids are employed respectively as working fluid. GO/water nanofluids were synthesized by the modified Hummers method with 0.05%, 0.10%, 0.15%, and 0.20% volume concentrations. Multi-heat pipe is fabricated from copper; the heating and cooling sections are the same size and both are connected by four circular parallel tubes. Temperature fields and thermal resistance are measured for different filling ratio, heat fluxes and volume concentrations. The results indicated that the thermal performance of heat pipe increased with increasing the concentration of GO nanoparticles in the base fluid, while the maximum heat transfer enhancement was observed at 0.20% volume concentration. GO/water nanofluids showed lower thermal resistance compared to pure water; the optimal thermal resistance was obtained at 100% filling charge ratio with 0.20% volume concentration. Studies were also demonstrated that heat transfer coefficient of the heat pipe significantly increases with increasing the input heat flux and GO nanoparticles concentration.