EFFECT OF RED MUD AS A NANOFLUID ON COOLING PERFORMANCE

Öz

Fluids such as water, oil, glycerin and ethylene glycol are conventional heat transfer fluids that are used in heat exchangers. Improving heat transfer and effectiveness of heat exchangers by means of fluids is one of the principle topics. A type of improvement works is adding solid materials that have high thermal capacity and conductivity into the fluid. Al₂O₃, CuO, TiO₂, SiC, TiC, Ag, Au₂, Cu₂ and Fe are the most common materials as solid particles that are used for enhancing heat transfer of fluids. Early on, macro scaled additives were tried; however desired outcomes couldn’t be obtained due to fouling, blockage and sedimentation. Recently, studies on ability to be enhanced and improved in terms of heat transfer and hence heat exchangers with high effectiveness by the addition of nano-particles to fluid have become intensive. It is known that precious elements such as Al₂O₃, SiO₂, Fe₂O₃, TiO₂, Na₂O, CaO, P₂O₅ are contained in the body of red mud that is a disposal material coming from the process of producing aluminum from bauxite. Thermal capacity and thermal conductivity of these matters are very high. Effects of nano scale red mud added into heat transfer fluid on the cooling performance are investigated in this work.