On the convective thermal performance of a CPU cooler working with liquid gallium and CuO/water nanofluid: A comparative study

This work aims to experimentally investigate the thermal performance of a cooling liquid block working with gallium, CuO/water nanofluid and water. The CPU used in this research is evaluated at three states of standby, normal and overload working modes. Results demonstrated that gallium is the most efficient coolant amongst the nanofluid and water in terms of convective thermal performance, however, the considerable penalty for pressure drop and pumping power is associated with the application of gallium liquid metal. CuO/water nanofluid instead, presented a higher thermal performance in comparison with water, while has lower pressure drop and pumping power, offering a trade-off situation against the gallium. Results also revealed that CPU is cooled more efficiently with gallium at overload and normal working modes. Experimental data were examined for the available correlations and two new correlations for estimating the Nusselt number were obtained via the regression analysis with an accuracy of 20% when compared to the experimental data. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.