Nanoscale materials for increasing the performance of cooling systems

冷却系统对于保持各种技术的功能完整性至关重要，包括内燃机、采矿设备、电动汽车和计算机。在液体冷却系统中，流体在管道网络中循环，通过对流传热从设备中提取热量。流体通过泵在管内推进，热量通过散热器从系统中排出。该项目将进行概念验证实验，以开发一种纳米级材料，减少泵的能量消耗，提高冷却系统的整体效率。冷却系统中的泵消耗能量来克服管内湍流产生的流体摩擦。涡流的大小范围从大（与管道直径相当）到非常小（微米大小）。研究表明，某些纳米级材料可以抑制较小的湍流涡流，从而减少流体摩擦。然而，减轻湍流会对流动的对流传热产生不利影响，使得从设备中去除不需要的热能变得困难。因此，为了提高冷却系统的整体性能，纳米级材料必须在减少流体摩擦的同时保持现有冷却流体的传热特性。为了实现这一目标，我们将开发一个模拟车辆标准冷却系统的流动回路。我们将通过测量该系统中所需的泵浦功率和冷却能力来评估各种纳米结构材料的性能。额外的材料表征和优化也将通过测量湍流通道流动中的压力损失和传热来进行。该项目的成果是用于冷却流体的纳米结构材料，可用于提高燃烧车辆、电动汽车、重工业设备和电子设备中冷却系统的效率。

A cooling system is essential for preserving the functional integrity of various technologies including: internal combustion engines, mining equipment, electric vehicles, and computers. In a liquid cooling system, fluid is circulated in a network of tubes that extracts heat from the device using convective heat transfer. Fluid is propelled within the tubes using a pump, and heat is expelled from the system using a radiator. This project will carry out proof-of-concept experimentation to develop a nanoscale material that reduces the energy consumed by the pump and improve the overall efficiency of the cooling system.The pump in a cooling system consumes energy to overcome the fluid friction generated by the turbulent flow within the tubes. The size of the turbulent eddies range from large (comparable to the tube diameter) to very small (micrometers in size). It has been shown that certain nanoscale materials can damp the smaller turbulent eddies, thus reducing the fluid friction. However, mitigating turbulence can adversely affect convective heat transfer of the flow, making it difficult to remove the unwanted thermal energy from the device. Therefore, to increase the overall performance of the cooling system, the nanoscale materials must be optimized for both reducing fluid friction and preserving the heat-transfer properties of existing coolant fluids.To achieve this goal, we will develop a flow loop that simulates a standard cooling system of a vehicle. We will evaluate the performance of various nanostructured materials by measuring the required pumping power and their cooling capabilities in this system. Additional material characterization and optimization will also be carried out by measuring pressure losses and heat transfer in a turbulent channel flow. The outcome of this project is nanostructured material for coolant fluids that can be used to improve the efficiency of cooling systems used in combustion vehicles, electric vehicles, heavy industrial equipment and electronics.