Application of nanofluids in plate heat exchanger: A review

Writing, or even making an attempt to write anything on or about Plate Heat Exchangers (Henceforth, PHE) would be no more than a futile effort to reassert and glorify an already stronghold state of PHEs, as is evident with the kind of multilayered and multi-tasked functions it performs, obviously in different forms, in various domains of work & walks of life, since a good long time. Nonetheless, in a bid to bring about a certain makeshift in the way the PHE has been functioning and sustaining, there was a need to revisit the structural pattern and the fluids that contribute to the performance of PHE. Summarily, this brings the researcher and designers to shift the focus not only from the conventional design but also to introduce a new substance which could further contribute to enhance the performance of the PHE. That is why, in recent times, the miniaturization of PHE and energy efficiency have become focal point of attention, discourse and research. While exploring for better alternates, the nanofluids have surfaced as probable (replaceable) substitutes. The Nanofluid is a relatively recent (in contrast with the PHEs) finding that promises, pronouncedly, greater heat absorbing and heat transport ability. The review article attempts to take a sneak peak into some of the important published articles that deal with the function and performance of PHEs using nanofluids. The first section of the paper presents observations by several authors on experimental and numerical results regarding thermal conductivity, viscosity, specific heat and heat transfer coefficients. The second section talks of application of nanofluids in plate heat exchangers. It has also examined the utility of nanofluids, particularly in PHEs, based on experiments and numerical studies. A review of previous works featuring experimental and numerical investigations seems to be suggesting, to the level of establishing, that nanofluids have great potential in increasing the overall performance of the plate heat exchangers. There is a further vital scope to work on the performance and utility of nanofluids and work on the equative proportions of its application, in the direction, the paper has made an attempt of. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.