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The enhanced heat transfer of diathermic oil-based alumina-doped zinc oxide nanofluids for domestic solar heating systems

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Abstract

Doped material-based nanofluids, as an extension of single-phase nanofluids, expand the performance of heat transfer fluids. In this study, a new type of diathermic oil (DO)-based alumina-doped zinc oxide (AZO) nanofluids was prepared, and the thermophysical characteristics of nanofluids were analyzed. It could be found that the addition of new doped nanoparticles made up for the deficiency in the performance of DO as heat transfer fluid (HTF). Compared with the pure DO, the thermal conductivity of the AZO nanofluids (0.08 mass%) was increased by 8.125%. And the viscosity of nanofluids was decreased by 70% as the temperature increased. So as to further determine the application of nanofluids in the domestic heating system, the parameters of forced convection heat transfer in the tube were analyzed in this article. The convective heat transfer coefficient of AZO nanofluids increased with the increase in temperature. At 50 ℃, the convective heat transfer coefficient of 0.08 mass% AZO nanofluid reached the maximum of 5.49% compared with pure DO. More importantly, this research investigated the heat transfer benefits of using nanofluids in domestic solar heating systems. These promising results indicated that AZO nanofluids showed excellent properties at higher temperatures. It shows DO-based AZO nanofluids application potential in domestic solar heating systems.

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Abbreviations

AZO:

Alumina-doped zinc oxide

DO:

Diathermic oil

HTF:

Heat transfer fluid

TC:

Thermal conductivity

DMBNs:

Doped material-based nanofluids

MWCNT:

Multi-walled carbon nanotubes

RTC:

Relative thermal conductivity

Nu:

Nusselt number

Re:

Reynolds number

Pr:

Prandtl number

E k :

Enhancement coefficient of thermal conductivity

E μ :

Enhancement coefficient of viscosity

m :

Quality

c p :

Specific heat capacity

k :

Thermal conductivity

k r :

Relative thermal conductivity

d :

The internal diameter of the tube

L :

The length of the tube

u :

The flow rate of the fluid

ρ :

Density

φ :

Volume fraction

μ :

Viscosity

α :

Convective heat transfer coefficient

ω :

Mass fraction

nf:

Nanofluids

n:

Nanoparticles

f:

Base fluid

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support of Research Foundation of Chengdu University of Technology (10912-2019KYQD-07545). The authors would like to acknowledge the technical support of Ceshigo Research Service Agency (www.ceshigo.com).

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  1. College of Materials and Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Chengdu University of Technology, No.1, Dongsan Road, Erxianqiao, Chenghua District, Chengdu, 610059, People’s Republic of China

    Hao Wang, Xiaoke Li & Boqiu Luo

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  1. Hao Wang
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Wang, H., Li, X. & Luo, B. The enhanced heat transfer of diathermic oil-based alumina-doped zinc oxide nanofluids for domestic solar heating systems. J Therm Anal Calorim 147, 3977–3988 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10973-021-10758-7

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