ENHANCEMENT OF HEAT TRANSFER IN A THERMOELETRIC COOLER BY USING NANOFLUIDS

Abstract: The thermal performance of a small heat sink thermoelectric cooling module using water, nanofluid, and ferrofluid as coolants is experimentally studied in this paper. At levels of 0.005 percent and 0.015 percent, respectively, the TiO2 nanofluid and Fe3O4 ferrofluid were investigated. A heat load was created by filling a fake battery pack with water at a consistent temperature. The Fe3O4 ferrofluid used to have a maximum heat transfer rate that was 11.17 percent higher and 12.57 percent higher than the TiO2 nanofluid and water, respectively. The 0.015 percent concentration of TiO2 nanofluid and Fe3O4 ferrofluid enhanced the Peltier effect by lowering the contribution of the Fourier effect of the thermoelectric cooler (TEC), lowering the temperature difference of the TEC cooling module by 4.6 percent and 9.6 percent, respectively, lowering the thermal resistance of the heat sink by 7 percent and 14 percent. More crucially, as compared to water, using nanofluids and ferrofluids with a 0.015 percent concentration as coolants increased pressure drop by 0.5 kPa and 2.7 kPa, respectively.

Keywords: Thermoelectric, Ferrofluid, Nanofluid, Heat transfer, Battery cooling