Performance Assessment of an Automobile Radiator Using Al2o3/Water,EG based Nanocoolant

The traditional coolants like water, water blended pr o ylene glycol or ethylene glycol were used in autom obile radiators and they possess poor thermo physical pro perties. The best method for augmentation of heat t r nsfer rate in automobile radiator is the usage of nanofluids as c oolants. Nano fluids are the colloidal solutions pr epared by diffusion of nanopowder into base fluid. In this paper, the he at transfer performance of Al 2O3/Water+EG (volume=70:30) based nanofluids were experimentally investigated whi le used in an automobile radiator. All the experimen ts were conducted for different volumetric concentrations o f 0.1-0.3% of nanofluids and different flow rates of 5-7 lit/min and various working temperatures ranging from 60°C 90°C . Based on the results it was observed that radiators using nanofluids show better heat transfer performance whe n compared with the performance while using base flu id. The maximum enhancement in convective heat transfer coefficient of 41% was recorded with 0.3 vol% conce trations operating at 75°C of radiator inlet temperature and 7 lit/min flow rate when compared to base fluid.