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Ferrofluid and nanofluid heat transfer

We investigate and develop ways of creating more efficient and reliable cooling systems using nanofluids and magnetic nanofluids (ferrofluids).

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These can be used for instance for cooling of power electronics, personal computers and solar cells, and for heat transport of solar heat.

This not only takes advantage of the beneficial thermophysical properties of all nanofluids, but also the phenomenon of thermomagnetic pumping in ferrofluids. We develop and implement models for such heat transfer systems, in order to assess potential and optimize for specific applications.

Possible applications:

  • Cooling of power electronics for production of renewable electricity (wind and solar)
  • Cooling of solar cells for higher efficiency and utilization of heat
  • Cooling of microelectronics
  • Cooling of transformers
  • Heat transport from solar thermal collectors

Methods:

  • Development and implementation of simulation models for thermomagnetically pumped ferrofluid cooling systems.
  • Optimization of cooling system and ferrofluid composition.
  • Modelling combines expertise from diverse fields such as electromagnetism, nanotechnology, statistical mechanics, fluid mechanics, thermodynamics and numerical methods.
  • Models utilize our unique expertise on the connection between flow phenomena and multi-phase thermodynamics, to enable the simulation of the two-phase flow of a wide array of real world fluids.

Typical projects may involve:

  • Assessing the potential benefit of ferrofluid cooling for the customer's specific application.
  • Optimizing the ferrofluid cooling system for the customer's specific application.
  • Developing customized simulation tools

Relevant links:

Relevant projects

NanoHX

NanoHX

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The project NanoHX is about investigating ways of making circulating fluid cooling more efficient and reliable by using magnetic nanofluids.

FerroCool

FerroCool

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FerroCool is an experimental project that will investigate ferrofluid heat transfer. It is an early step towards realizing a novel, efficient and reliable cooling concept that uses magnetic nanofluids.

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