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Materials Today: Proceedings 4 (2017) 12080–12084 www.materialstoday.com/proceedings

ICNANO 2016

Nanotechnology Integrated Automobile Radiator

Raju Jadara*, K.S.Shashishekarb, S. R. Manoharac
a
Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering Department, S.T.J.I.T, Ranebennur, VTU Karnataka
b
Professor and Dean, Department of Mechanical engineering, Siddaganga Institute of Technology Tumkur
c
Associate Professor, Department of Physics, Siddaganga Institute of Technology Tumkur.

Abstract

During the design and development of vehicle it was a greater challenge to prevent the engine & engine components from excess
heat generated inside the engine cylinder. Thus, a cooling system is necessary to prevent failure of the engine from melting and
damages. The cooling system of an automobile plays an important role in vehicle’s performance. Currently all automobile
industries are using aluminium based Radiator. The Conventional radiator is partial heat dissipation and does not meet the
requirement at high engine output. Due to limited space at the front of the engine, the radiator size is restricted and cannot be
principally increased, so that, we can increase the heat transfer coefficient from the current radiator with nanotechnology
integrated fin material i.e.Al-MWCNT.This study attempts to investigate, convective heat transfer coefficient of automobile
radiator using different fin material. Use Nanotechnology integrated fin material instead of aluminium fins on the current radiator
design, the average percentage increase of convective heat transfer is more than 10% that of the conventional radiator.
© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Selection and Peer-review under responsibility of INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON NANOTECHNOLOGY (ICNANO-
2016).

Keywords: : Nanotechnology, Automobile Radiator, Multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNT).

1. Introduction

Usually automotive radiator is a type of cross flow heat exchanger. It is a key component of vehicle cooling
system as shown in Fig. 1. [1]. The Radiator assembly consists of following parts i.e. an inlet tank, an outlet tank,

*
Corresponding author. Tel:+91-9448446904
E-mail address: raju.jadar@gmail.com

2214-7853 © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Selection and Peer-review under responsibility of INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON NANOTECHNOLOGY (ICNANO-2016).
 Raju Jadar et.al / Materials Today: Proceedings 4 (2017) 12080–12084 12081

and core. The core has two sets of passages, a set of tubes and fins. Radiator core is usually made of flattened
aluminium tubes with aluminium fins that zigzag between the tubes. The air and coolant of two types of working
fluids are generally in engine cooling system. As the air flows through the radiator, the heat is transferred from the
coolant to the air. The purpose of the air is to take away the heat from the coolant, which in turns the coolant to exit
the radiator at a lower temperature than it entered [33]. The coolant is passed through an engine, where it absorbs
the heat. The hot coolant is then fed into a tank of the radiator. From the radiator tank, it is spread across the radiator
core through tubes to another tank on opposite side of the car radiator. As the coolant passes through the aluminium
based radiator tubes on its way to the opposite tank, it transfers much of its heat to the tubes which, in turn, transfer
the heat to the fins that are lodged between each row of tubes (Golakiya, et al., 2015)

Fig. 1 Automobile cooling system

The Design of an automotive radiator offers challenges in terms of determining the best configuration for
selecting the fin material, types of tubes, type of coolant and the flow rate of the coolant. Due to limited space at the
front of the car engine, the size of the radiator is constrained and cannot be essentially increased. Therefore, it is
necessary to increase the total heat transfer coefficient from the frontal area of the radiator by addition composite
material fins of high thermal conductivity features Addition of fins is one of the approaches to increase the cooling
rate in the radiator. It is arranged for greater heat transfer area and enhances the air convective heat transfer
coefficient. The current radiator fins are limited to aluminum, one of our approach is to choose a new fin material to
improve the rate of heat dissipation. Carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) are selected as a new material for thermal
management in automotive radiator because of its extreme high thermal conductivity [2]. Thermal conductivity of
MWCNT has been reported to be more than 3000W/mk [3].The recent advances in nanotechnology have provided
promises in advancing technology used in the car radiator. The new class of composite material i.e. Al-MWCNT
which shows higher thermal conductivity than the pure aluminium. With this superior characteristics, the size and
weight of an automobile radiator can be reduced without affecting its heat transfer performance this experimental
study attempts to investigate the heat transfer coefficient of an automobile radiator using water as coolant.

2. Literature survey

Many Researchers and Engineers from automotive industries have been competing for compact system and low
fuel consumption, consequently leading to the development Nanotechnology. By introducing the Nanotechnology in
the cooling system with high heat transfer properties, the size of radiator can be reduced, resulting in improved
Performance. Abdullah H. et.al [4] studied the “Enhancement of natural convection heat transfer from a fin by
triangular perforation of bases parallel and toward its tip”. The results show that the improvement in heat transfer for
certain values of triangular dimensions is increase with its dimensions and is proportional to the fin thickness and its
thermal conductivity. Wadhah Hussein Abdul Razzaq Al- Doori et al. [5], have investigated the rate of heat transfer
from rectangular fin with circular perforation. The pattern of perforation including 24 circular perforations with
increment of 8 from first fin until 56 distributed in 14 Columns and 4 rows. The study shows that the temperature
along the perforated fin length is higher than that for the equivalent non perforated fin. The gain in heat dissipation
rate for the perforated fin is a strong function of the perforation dimension and lateral spacing. Decreasing the
12082 Raju Jadar et.al/ Materials Today: Proceedings 4 (2017) 12080–12084

perforation dimension reduces the rate of temperature drop along the perforated fin. R. Senthilkumar et al. [7], has
studied a rectangular aluminium fin with nanocoating improves the convective heat transfer rate. The fin was coated
with Carbon nanotube using PVD process. The heat transfer rate with and without coating were investigated and
compared with each other. The temperature and heat transfer characteristics were investigated using Nusselt,
Grashof, and Prandtl and Rayleigh numbers and also optimized by Taguchi and ANOVA analysis. The average
percentage increase in fin efficiency is 5 %. Sujith Kumar C. S et al. [6], investigated the heat transfer rate and
pressure drop characteristics of CNT coated stainless steel substrate in a rectangular macro channel with water as the
working fluid. The convective heat transfer rate with laminar and turbulent flow was calculated with Reynolds
number varying from 500-2600. The temperature drop was compare with non-coated counterpart. The results show
that CNT coated surface enhances the heat flux when compared to an uncoated surface due to surface roughness
which causes surface turbulence. The pressure drop is not much affected by the coating.
From this review it is found that no study has been carried out on Aluminium- MWCNT (Al-MWCNT)
composite fins for radiator core along with water as coolant. Thus, it is proposed to concentrate on the Testing of a
unique automotive radiator integrated with the said Nanotechnology

3. Experimental setup

The experimental setup of automobile radiator as shown in fig 2. It is used to measure the heat transfer
coefficient of cooling system. This experimental setup includes automobile radiator, the reservoir steel tank, a DC
power supply, An electrical heater, a centrifugal pump, rotameter, valves, a fan ,11 no’s thermocouples, manometer
tube with water. An electrical heater (1500W) inside a steel storage tank set to represent the engine and to heat the
fluid. A voltage regulator (0–220 V) is provided for the power to keep the inlet temperature to the radiator from
450C to 900C.The radiator dimensions are listed in table 1.

Fig 2: (a) Experimental set up of car radiator (b) Flow diagram of radiator (c) Composite fins

Table 1: Specification of car Radiator

Automobile Radiator Specification

Sl
no Description Air Coolant
1 Fluid Inlet Temperature 200C to 400 C 400C to 800C
2 Core width 345 mm
3 Core height 375mm
4 core depth 20mm
5 Tube type flat
6 Tube size 20mm*2mm
7 Hydraulic Diameter 0.0036m2
 Raju Jadar et.al / Materials Today: Proceedings 4 (2017) 12080–12084 12083

4. Experimental data analysis

The Newton’s law of cooling is used to find out the heat transfer coefficient and Nusselt number [8]
Heat transfer coefficient: Q = h A ΔT = h As (Tb − Ts ) (1)

Tin + Tout
Bulk temperature: Tb = (2)
2
T1 + T2 + ...... + T8
Tube wall temperature: Ts = (3)
8
Heat transfer rate: Q = mC p ΔT = mC p (Tin − Tout ) (4)

Mass flow rate: m = ρ V (5)

By comparing equation (1) and (4):
mC p (Tin − Tout )
Heat transfer coefficient: hexp = (6)
As (Tb − Ts )
hexp Dh
Nusselt number: Nu = (7)
k
4 ( Area )
Hydraulic diameter: Dh = (8)
Perimeter
5. Results and Discussion
The values of Heat Transfer Coefficient, Nusselt number, etc. were calculated from the experimental values and
is as follows (Table 2).

Table 2: Observation table of radiator with composite fins

Flow rate Inlet T emp Outlet T emp

Bulk T emp Wall temp T in -T out T b -T w
LPM T9 T 10 T1 T2 T3 T4 T5 T6 T7 T8
0.5 48.0 37.0 42.0 38.5 38.0 39.0 39.0 38.8 38.0 47.0 42.5 40.0 11.0 2.5
1.0 48.2 39.0 44.0 38.5 38.5 39.0 39.2 38.8 38.8 47.0 43.6 40.5 9.2 3.10
1.5 48.4 41..0 44.1 39.5 39.8 40.0 40.0 39.7 39.7 48.0 44.70 41.35 7.4 3.35
2.0 48.7 41.2 44.3 38.4 39.5 39.8 39.5 39.5 38.5 48.5 44.95 41.00 7.5 3.95
2.5 49.5 42.8 44.8 40.0 39.5 40.2 41.0 40.4 40.8 49.0 46.15 42.0 6.7 4.15
3.0 52.2 46.2 48.0 43.0 44.0 43.0 44.0 44.0 43.5 50.0 49.20 44.9 6.0 4.3

Percentage increase in heat transfer coefficient (0.5 LPM) = (1208-1008.9)/1008.9*100=19.8%

Percentage increase in heat transfer coefficient (1.0 LPM) = (1595.8-1493.7)/1493.7*100=6.9%
Percentage increase in heat transfer coefficient (1.5 LPM) = (1731.7-1528.8)/1528.8*100=13.4%
Percentage increase in heat transfer coefficient (2.0 LPM) = (2029.8-1810)/1810*100=12.14%
Percentage increase in heat transfer coefficient (2.5 LPM) = (2211-1950)/1950*100=13.36%
Percentage increase in heat transfer coefficient (3.0 LPM) = (2239.8-2073.4)/2073*100=8%

Average Percentage of increase in heat transfer coefficient in car radiator using composite fins=12.26%
12084 Raju Jadar et.al/ Materials Today: Proceedings 4 (2017) 12080–12084

2400
13
2200
Heat Transfer Coefficent 'h' in W/m2k

2000 12

1800
11
1600
Aluminium fins 10
1400

1200 Aluminium fins

Nu
Aluminium+MWCNT fins 9
1000 Aluminium+MWCNT fins
8
800

600 7
400
6
200

0 5
0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0
Mass flow rate (LPM) Mass flow rate (LPM)

Fig 3: (a) Mass flow rate vs. Heat transfer coefficient (b) Mass flow rate vs. Nusselt Number

According to Fig 3 (a) Heat transfer coefficient increases with increase in mass flow rate in automobile radiator
with nanotechnology integrated fins as compared to pure aluminium fins. It is due higher thermal conductivity of
composite material. According to Fig 3 (b) Nusselt number increases with increase in mass flow rate in automobile
radiator with nanotechnology integrated fins as compared to pure aluminium fins. It is due Nusselt number always
depends on heat transfer coefficient. The value of Nusselt number increases with increase in heat transfer coefficient
in above said car radiator.

6. Conclusion

From the proposed work, heat transfer coefficient is increased with increase in percentage of composite fin
material used in the radiator core. About 12.26% heat transfer enhancement was achieved with addition of Al-
MWCNT fins to current radiator design. Use of above said composite fins in the current design, the weight of the
radiator is reduced.

References

[1] 1.J P Yadav and Bharat Raj Singh, “Study on Performance Evaluation of Automotive Radiator”, S-JPSET: ISSN: 2229-7111, Vol. 2, Issue 2,
2011.
[2] F.D.S.Marquis and L.P.F.Chibante, “Improving the heat transfer of nanofluids and Nano lubricants with carbon nanotubes” Research
summary carbon nanotubes December 2005, Volume 57, Issue 12, pp 32-43.
[3] J.hone, “Carbon Nanotubes: Thermal Properties” Dekker Encyclopedia of Nano science and Nanotechnology.
[4] Abdullah H. AlEssa, Mohamad I. Al-Widyan, “Enhancement of Natural Convection Heat Transfer from a Fin by Triangular Perforation of
Bases Parallel and toward its Tip”, Applied Mathematics and Mechanics Engl. Ed., Vol.29 (8), pp.1033–1044, 2008.
[5] Wadhah Hussein Abdul Razzaq al- Doori, “Enhancement of Natural Convection Heat Transfer from the Rectangular Fins by Circular
Perforations”, Volume 4, pp.428-436, 2011.
[6] Sujith Kumar C. S, S. Suresh, Rajiv K, “Heat Transfer Enhancement by Nano Structured Carbon Nanotube Coating”, International Journal of
Scientific & Engineering Research Volume 3, Issue 6, 2012.
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Taguchi Method”, Heat and Mass Transfer, Volume 49, Issue 1, pp.55-64, 2013.
[8] Bejan A.Convection heat transfer.NewYork: John Wiley & Sons Inc.; 2004