Characterization and engineering applications of nanofluids

与典型的冷却剂相比，纳米流体具有更强的换热能力，因此在需要高换热、小部件尺寸和耐低温的领域为工程师提供了开发机会。人们可以设想该技术在广泛的领域中的应用，从电子元件冷却到其他更传统的冷却要求，如典型的机械系统。众所周知，例如，随着功率密度的增加，电子设备的小型化要求寻找创新的散热技术。纳米流体被认为具有成为一种新的换热介质的巨大潜力，因此我们有兴趣研究它们在实际工程应用中的应用。因此，这项提案的总体目标是为将纳米流体应用于典型工程冷却系统的研究做出有价值的贡献，这是一项长期研究倡议的继续。更具体地说，这些包括研究纳米流体的热物理性质(即有效导热系数和粘度)，以及评估纳米流体在典型工程热管理系统中的潜在用途，例如径向流动冷却装置。人们认为，在典型的冷却系统中引入纳米流体将在散热性能方面比实际能力提供相当大的改善。纳米流体的使用应该能够减少各种热管理系统的尺寸和重量。这些例子包括减小尺寸的热交换器(包括散热器和微通道应用)、减少换热流体库存、减少排放等。所有这些好处将转化为更好的能力，利用更小/更轻的系统以更低的运营成本设计更高的能效，并作为额外的好处，创造更清洁的环境。因此，可以想象，从这项建议产生的研究将会引起极大的兴趣，并创造相当大的工业效益。

Because of their enhanced heat transfer capabilities compared to typical coolants, nanofluids offer the engineer opportunities for development in areas where high heat transfer, small component size and low temperature tolerances are required. One can envisage uses of the technology in a wide variety of areas ranging from electronic component cooling to other more conventional cooling requirements such as typical mechanical systems. It is well known that, for example, the miniaturization of electronic devices with increased power densities have necessitated the search for innovative techniques of heat dissipation. It is believed that nanofluids have a great potential of becoming a new heat transfer medium and we are therefore interested in investigating their use in actual engineering applications. The overall objectives of this proposal, which constitute the continuation of a long-term research initiative, are therefore to make valued contributions to research in the application of nanofluids to typical engineering cooling systems. More specifically, these include the investigation of nanofluid thermophysical properties (i.e. effective thermal conductivity and viscosity) as well as an evaluation of the potential use of nanofluids in typical engineering thermal management systems, such as radial flow cooling devices. It is believed that the introduction of nanofluids in typical cooling systems will provide a considerable improvement in the heat removal performance over actual capabilities. The use of nanofluids should allow size and weight reductions of various thermal management systems. Examples of these include reduced size heat exchangers (including heat sinks and microchannel applications), reductions of heat transfer fluid inventories, reductions in emissions, etc... All these benefits will translate into a better ability to engineer greater energy efficiency using smaller/lighter systems with lower operating costs and, as an added benefit, a cleaner environment. Therefore, it is quite conceivable that the resulting research from this present proposal will be of great interest as well as creating considerable industrial benefits.