• Energy Research

Two different magnetic nanofluids comprising of magnetite and Mn-Zn ferrite particles were synthesized in light hydrocarbon oil using continuous chemical process. Powder XRD and TEM image show single phase spinel structure with size of 10 nm and 6.7 nm, respectively for magnetite and Mn-Zn ferrite. Thermal conductivity of nanofluids has been studied as a function of volume fraction under transverse magnetic field. Magnetite nanofluid shows 17% enhancements in thermal conductivity for 4.7% volume fraction while Mn-Zn ferrite shows 45% enhancement at 10% volume fraction. In presence of transverse magnetic field the magnetite nanofluids shows further enhancement from 17% to 30% while no change in thermal conductivity has been observed for Mn-Zn ferrite. These results are explained considering the dipolar coupling co-efficient which for magnetite particles favors chain structures.

Magnetite nanofluid is synthesized using continuous chemical process. Powder x-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy show single phase spinel structure with size of 9.83 and 9.9 nm, respectively. Thermal conductivity of magnetite nanofluid has been studied as a function of transverse magnetic field and temperature. We found almost 30% enhancements in thermal conductivity for 4.7% volume fraction under transverse magnetic field. This result is explained on the basis of formation of continuous three-dimensional zipperlike structure of magnetic nanoparticles inside magnetic fluid. The temperature dependent thermal conductivity shows no enhancement in the temperature region of 25–65 °C.

Abstract In electrical engineering, the heat transfer can be enhanced by changing the thermophysical properties of insulating oils. In this paper, a single-phase power transformer with a nominal power of 5 kVA is subjected to a temperature rise test with three different transformer liquids. The first test is carried out with a novel gas-to-liquid transformer oil applied as a cooling and insulating medium. The other tests are conducted with ferrofluids based on this oil and MnZn ferrite nanoparticles of a low and a high nanoparticle concentration. The ferrofluids are characterized by magnetization curves, magnetic susceptibility and temperature-dependent magnetization measurements. The nanoparticle size distribution is determined from dynamic light scattering and the magnetization data. From the temperature rise profiles of the transformer at various inner locations, it has been found that the low-concentrated ferrofluid significantly reduces the transformer temperature rise. The enhanced cooling performance is ascribed to the thermomagnetic and natural convection, and increased thermal conductivity. The application of the ferrofluid with the high nanoparticle concentration resulted in a remarkable increase of the transformer temperature rise. The deteriorative cooling effect is attributed to the hindered natural and thermomagnetic convection due to the high ferrofluid magnetization and strong magnetic interaction of the ferrofluid with the magnetic field near the transformer core.