Airfoil shaped pin-fin heat sink: Potential evaluation of ferric oxide and titania nanofluids

Miniaturization of devices poses many problems for the manufacturing industry. To maintain the temperature of such high heat generating devices hybrid cooling via mini-channel heat sinks in combination with nanofluid is one of the potential cooling techniques. Airfoil pin-fins performed well due to delayed separation of fluid that ensured the maximum interaction of coolant with the walls of heat sink. The main purpose of present study is to analyze the hydrothermal performance of airfoil shaped pin-fin heat sink employing nanofluids of ferric oxide (Fe₂O₃) and titania (TiO₂), also compare the results with base fluid (distilled water). The study was conducted by varying the heating power and Reynolds number. Maximum augmentation in average Nusselt number of 14.5% and 15.89% was found for TiO₂-water and Fe₂O₃-water nanofluids respectively with a particle concentration of 0.01 vol% at 25 W as compared to distilled water. In addition, a maximum enhancement of 42.46% was observed in pumping power for Fe₂O₃ while it was 30.5% for TiO₂ nanofluid.