Utilization of blast furnace slag nano-fluids in two-phase closed thermos-syphon heat pipes for enhancing heat transfer

Abstract

This article deals with utilization of blast furnace slag nano-fluids in two-phase closed thermo-syphon heat pipes for enhancing heat transfer at various states of operation. The utilization of nano-fluids obtained from X₂O₃-, XO-, XO₂-, and X₂O-type oxides, such as Al₂O₃, Fe₂O₃, CaO, SiO₂, MgO, MnO, K₂O, and Na₂O, on the improvement of heat pipe performance has been separately reported in a number of studies in the literature. The present study experimentally demonstrated the effect of using a nano-fluid obtained from blast furnace slag comprised of various types of metal oxides in varying ratios on improving the performance of a heat pipe. The slag was obtained from the iron blast furnace of Karabük Iron Steel Workings (Turkey). Triton X-100 (Dow Chemical Company) dispersant was used in the study to produce the blast furnace slag/water nano-fluid via direct-synthesis. The 2 wt% concentration of blast furnace slag/water nano-fluid was used as the working fluid in heat pipes. A straight copper tube with an inner diameter of 13 mm, outer diameter of 15 mm, and length of 1 m was used as the heat pipe in the present experimental study. The nano-fluid filled 33.3% (44.2 ml) of the volume of the two-phase closed thermo-syphon. Three heating power levels (200, 300, and 400 W) were used in the experiments with three different flow rates of cooling water (5, 7.5, and 10 g/s) used in the condenser for cooling the system. An increase of 22% was achieved in thermal performance of the two-phase closed thermo-syphon when 2 wt% blast furnace slag containing nano-fluid was used to replace pure water at a heat load of 200 W with a cooling water flow rate of 5 g/s.

Keywords::

• blast slag
• thermo-syphon
• nanofluids
• heat pipe
• performance