There is, I think, something ethereal about i —the square root of minus one. I remember first hearing about it at school. It seemed an odd beast at that time—an intruder hovering on the edge of reality.

Usually familiarity dulls this sense of the bizarre, but in the case of i it was the reverse: over the years the sense of its surreal nature intensified. It seemed that it was impossible to write mathematics that described the real world in …

I and i

Nanofluids are potential heat transfer fluids with enhanced thermophysical properties and heat transfer performance can be applied in many devices for better performances (i.e. energy, heat transfer and other performances). In this paper, a comprehensive literature on the applications and challenges of nanofluids have been compiled and reviewed. Latest up to date literatures on the applications and challenges in terms of PhD and Master thesis, journal articles, conference proceedings, reports and web materials have been reviewed and reported. Recent researches have indicated that substitution of conventional coolants by nanofluids appears promising. Specific application of nanofluids in engine cooling, solar water heating, cooling of electronics, cooling of transformer oil, improving diesel generator efficiency, cooling of heat exchanging devices, improving heat transfer efficiency of chillers, domestic refrigerator-freezers, cooling in machining, in nuclear reactor and defense and space have been reviewed and presented. Authors also critically analyzed some of the applications and identified research gaps for further research. Moreover, challenges and future directions of applications of nanofluids have been reviewed and presented in this paper. Based on results available in the literatures, it has been found nanofluids have a much higher and strongly temperature-dependent thermal conductivity at very low particle concentrations than conventional fluids. This can be considered as one of the key parameters for enhanced performances for many of the applications of nanofluids. Because of its superior thermal performances, latest up to date literatures on this property have been summarized and presented in this paper as well. However, few barriers and challenges that have been identified in this review must be addressed carefully before it can be fully implemented in the industrial applications.

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A review on applications and challenges of nanofluids

Phase change materials for thermal energy storage

Nanofluids, the fluid suspensions of nanomaterials, have shown many interesting properties, and the distinctive features offer unprecedented potential for many applications. This paper summarizes the recent progress on the study of nanofluids, such as the preparation methods, the evaluation methods for the stability of nanofluids, and the ways to enhance the stability for nanofluids, the stability mechanisms of nanofluids, and presents the broad range of current and future applications in various fields including energy and mechanical and biomedical fields. At last, the paper identifies the opportunities for future research.

/pdf/a-review-on-nanofluids-preparation-stability-mechanisms-and-427pko83jc.pdf

A review on nanofluids: preparation, stability mechanisms, and applications

A review of nanofluid stability properties and characterization in stationary conditions

Dispersion behavior and thermal conductivity characteristics of Al2O3–H2O nanofluids

Thermal energy storage behavior of Al2O3–H2O nanofluids

Numerical simulation on phase-change thermal storage/release in a plate-fin unit

Modelling and evaluation of cooling capacity of earth-air-pipe systems

The aim of this study is to investigate the melting/freezing characteristics of paraffin by adding Cu nanoparticles. Cu/paraffin composite phase change materials (PCMs) were prepared by a two-step method. The effects of Cu nanoparticles on the thermal conductivity and the phase change heat transfer of PCMs were investigated by the Hot Disk thermal constants analyzer and infrared monitoring methods, respectively. The maximum thermal conductivity enhancements up to 14.2% in solid state and 18.1% in liquid state are observed at the 2 wt% Cu/paraffin. The photographs of infrared monitoring suggest that the melting and freezing rates of Cu/paraffin are enhanced. For 1 wt% Cu/paraffin, the melting and freezing times can be saved by about 33.3 and 31.6%, respectively. The results provide that adding nanoparticles is an efficient way to enhance the phase change heat transfer of PCMs.

Zhu Dongsheng

Papers

Dispersion behavior and thermal conductivity characteristics of Al2O3–H2O nanofluids

Thermal energy storage behavior of Al2O3–H2O nanofluids

Numerical simulation on phase-change thermal storage/release in a plate-fin unit

Modelling and evaluation of cooling capacity of earth-air-pipe systems

An investigation of melting/freezing characteristics of nanoparticle-enhanced phase change materials