A case study on analyzing the performance of microplate heat exchanger using nanofluids at different flow rates and temperatures

A microplate heat exchanger is one of the most compact types of heat exchanger used for cooling systems, and not much research was carried out to study the performance of this type of heat exchanger with hybrid nanofluids. In this regard, the performance analysis of the microplate heat exchanger is carried out by estimating the convective heat transfer coefficient in terms of Nusselt number using a hybrid nanofluid. In current research work, Microplate heat exchangers tested using TiO2/ethylene glycol, ZnO/ethylene glycol nanofluids, and a hybrid nanofluid with varied nanoparticle volume fractions. Based on the results, it was found that the thermal conductivity of hybrid nanofluids and the overall heat transfer coefficient by applying hybrid nanofluids show better enhancement than nanofluids. The maximum thermal conductivity ratio between the hybrid nanofluid and the base fluid is 2.10. The maximum Nusselt number of 35.8 was observed for hybrid (TiO2–ZnO/ethylene glycol) at 50 °C and a volume fraction of 4%.