Analysis of the Influence of the Water/Graphene Nanofluid as Working Fluid on the Thermal Performance of Finned Heat Pipes Used in Air

Abstract

This is a theoretical analysis of the influence of fractions of graphene nanoparticles associated with distilled water as a working fluid in a heat exchanger used in an air conditioning system for operating rooms. The heat exchanger consists of a set of finned heat pipes. Theoretical results are confronted with experimental results for water as the working fluid. The analysis is restricted to the evaporator since the nanoparticles do not influence the results in the condenser heat exchanger. The thermal efficiency method is applied to obtain the results. The analysis presents results for air velocity, Nusselt number for air, overall evaporator heat exchange coefficient, evaporator Nusselt number, evaporator thermal effectiveness, and the air outlet temperature. It was determined that the influence of fractions of graphene nanoparticles is not significant on the evaporator heat exchanger analyzed. Despite this, it is observed that smaller fractions of nanoparticles have a greater influence on thermal performance and there is an upper limit for volume fractions.