International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer 56 (2014) 5062

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International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ichmt

Fluid ow and heat transfer characteristics of nanouids in heat pipes:

A review
Omer A. Alawi, Nor Azwadi Che Sidik , H.A. Mohammed, S. Syahrullail
Department of Thermouids, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 UTM Skudai, Johor Bahru, Malaysia

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Available online 14 May 2014

Keywords:
Heat pipe
Nanouid
Heat transfer enhancement

a b s t r a c t
Comprehensive research work on heat transfer in heat pipe using traditional working uids has been carried out
over the past decade. Heat transfer in heat pipes using suspensions of nanometer-sized solid particles in base
uids have been experimentally and theoretically investigated in recent years by various researchers across
the world. The suspended nanoparticles effectively enhance heat transfer characteristics and the transport
properties of base uids in heat pipes. The objective of this paper is to present an overview of literature dealing
with recent developments in the study of heat transfer using nanouids in heat pipes and some important
inferences from the various papers are also highlighted. It also discusses the mechanism of heat transfer enhancement or degradation, the existing problems for various heat pipes utilizing nanouids, and explores the possible
application prospects.
2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Contents
1.
2.
3.

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Preparation of nanouids . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Fundamental studies of nanouids in heat pipes . . . .
3.1.
Micro-grooved heat pipe . . . . . . . . . . .
3.2.
Mesh wick heat pipe . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.3.
Sintered metal wick heat pipe . . . . . . . . .
3.4.
Oscillating heat pipe . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.5.
Two-phase closed thermosyphon . . . . . . .
4.
Heat transfer characteristics of nanouids in heat pipes .
4.1.
Experimental investigations . . . . . . . . . .
4.2.
Theoretical investigations . . . . . . . . . . .
5.
Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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1. Introduction
With the increase of work frequency and heat ux of electronic components, the dissipation problem of the high heat ux components
becomes one of the key technologies of the electronic device design.
Up to now, heat pipe technology has been widely applied in the eld
of microelectronics cooling, as the improved construction of the general
heat pipes, at heat pipe has now become a hotspot technology of heat
pipe research and development [1,2] and has been widely applied in
many elds, such as spacecraft thermal control, high heat ux electronic
Communicated by W.J. Minkowycz.
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: azwadi@fkm.utm.my (N.A.C. Sidik).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.icheatmasstransfer.2014.04.014
0735-1933/ 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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50
51
52
52
53
54
55
57
59
59
60
61
61

equipment cooling, medical and health undertakings, and household

appliances. Heat pipe is a device used to transfer the heat from one
place to the other. The heat pipe consists of evaporator section, adiabatic
section and condenser section (Fig. 1). Heat absorption takes place
in the evaporator section and heat rejection at the condenser section.
Adiabatic section is fully insulated. The heat pipe is evacuated using a
vacuum pump and is lled up with the working uid. The working
uid absorbs the heat at one end of the heat pipe called evaporator
and releases the heat at the other end called condenser. Due to the
capillary action, the condensed working uid through the mesh wick
structure returns to the evaporator, on the inside wall of the pipe. Normally conventional uids are used in heat pipes to remove the heat [3].
For the time being, nanouids play an important role in heat
pipes to increase the heat transfer compared to conventional uids.

O.A. Alawi et al. / International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer 56 (2014) 5062

Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of heat pipe [3].

Thermal conductivity is an important parameter in enhancing the heat

transfer performance of a heat transfer uid. Researchers have also
tried to increase the thermal conductivity of base uids by suspending
nanometer-sized solid particles in uids since the thermal conductivity
of solid is typically higher than that of liquids, as seen from Table 1.
Many researchers have presented the heat transfer characteristics of
heat pipe using nanouids [3]. The concept of nanouid has rstly
proposed by Choi and Eastman [4]. That is, adding nanoscale metal or
metal oxide particles in the liquid with a certain way and proportion,
which forms a new class of heat transfer and cooling working uid. Because of its stability and high thermal conductivity, the nanouid shows
a promising prospect in the heat transfer enhancement. Keblinski et al.
[5] made an interesting review to discuss the properties of nanouids
and future challenges. Weerapun and Somchai [6] summarized the
published experimental and numerical investigations of forced convective heat transfer of nanouids. Bahrami et al. [7] provided an overview
on the effective thermal conductivity of nanouids. Cheng et al. [8] carried out an overview on the studies of nanouids boiling and two phase
ow. The application of nanouid research in heat pipes was rstly
published by Chien et al. [9]. Over 20 relevant articles have been published since then, involving mesh wicked heat pipes [10] and [11],
micro-grooved heat pipes [9,1217], sintered metal wicked heat pipes
[18] and so on.
An experiment concerning a cylindrical mesh wicked heat pipe was
performed by Tsai et al. [10]. The working uid was an aqueous suspension of various-sized gold nanoparticles. The inner diameter and
the length of the tested copper tube were 6 mm and 170 mm, respectively. A 200 mesh screen was distributed on the inner wall. The experimental results showed that the total thermal resistance of the heat
pipe reduced a lot due to the addition of nanoparticles under the
same cooling condition. The experiment also found that the best way
to use nanouids in the heat pipe was using a well dispersed nanouid.
The mechanism of the heat transfer enhancement was explained as
follows: a major thermal resistance of heat pipe was caused by the
Table 1
Thermal conductivities of various solids and liquids [3].
Thermal conductivity (W/m-K)

Material

401
237
148
40
72.3
0.613
0.253
0.145

Metallic solid copper

Aluminum
Nonmetallic solid silicon
Alumina (Al2O3)
Metallic liquid sodium (644 K)
Nonmetallic liquid water
Ethylene glycol (EG)
Engine oil (EO)

51

formation of vapor bubbles at the liquidsolid interface; the suspended

nanoparticles tended to bombard the vapor bubbles during the bubble
formation; therefore, it was expected that the nucleation size of vapor
bubbles was much smaller for the uid with suspended nanoparticles
than that without them. Chen et al. [11] studied the performance of
axially at mesh wicked heat pipe (FHP) using water-based silver
nanouids with different nanoparticle concentrations under the
input power of 2040 W. The average diameter of nanoparticles was
35 nm. The height and the length of the FHP used in the experiment
were 3 mm and 200 mm, respectively. It was found that the total
thermal resistance of the heat pipe using nanouids was reduced compared with that of the heat pipe using deionized water under the same
cooling condition. In the volume concentration range tested, the larger
the volume concentration of nanoparticles was, the more reduction
of the thermal resistance could be. The mechanisms of heat transfer
enhancement were given by authors as: (1) the increase of the wettability increased the critical heat ux; (2) the mutual increases of the
liquid thermal conductivity and the wick conductivity increased the
heat transfer.
Some steady heat transfer experiments under several steady operation pressures conducted to investigate the heat transfer performance
of a cylindrical micro-grooved copper heat pipe. Water-based CuO
nanouids and water-based carbon nanotubes without dispersant
were used as the working uids [15]. All experiments show that adding
nanoparticles into the base liquid can enhance both the heat transfer
performance and the maximum input power of heat pipes [9,1217].
Analytical models carried out to investigate the thermal performance of rectangular and disk-shaped heat pipes using nanouids.
Some of the more widely utilized nanoparticles, such as Al2O3, CuO
and TiO2 with a range of nanoparticle diameters were considered.
Results show that the presence of nanoparticles in the working uid
leads to a reduction in the speed of the liquid, smaller temperature difference along the heat pipe and the possibility of reduction in size under
the same operational conditions. It is similar to what has been observed
experimentally that using a nanouid will reduce the thermal resistance
of the at-shaped heat pipe. The maximum heat removal capability of
the at-shaped heat pipe was displayed for a range of wick thicknesses
and nanoparticle concentration levels. The existence of an optimum
nanoparticle concentration level and wick thickness in maximizing
the heat removal capability of the at-shaped heat pipe was established
[19]. Alizad et al. [20] studied the thermal performance, transient
behavior and operational start-up characteristics of at-shaped heat
pipes using nanouids. Three different nanouids (CuO, Al2O3, and
TiO2) were utilized in their analysis. A comprehensive analytical
model, which accounts in detail the heat transfer characteristics within
the pipe wall and the wick within the condensation and evaporation
sections, was utilized. The results illustrate the enhancement in the
heat pipe performance while achieving a reduction in the thermal resistance for both at-plate and disk-shaped heat pipes throughout the
transient process. It was shown that a higher concentration of nanoparticles increases the thermal performance of either the at-plate or diskshaped heat pipes. The study has also established that for the same heat
load a smaller size at-shaped heat pipe can be utilized when using
nanouids.
The papers presented on the study of heat transfer and ow characteristics of the heat pipe with nanouids have rarely been reported. The
objective of this paper is to present an overview of literature dealing
with recent developments in the study of heat transfer using nanouids
in heat pipes and some important inferences from the various papers
are also highlighted by the following studies.
2. Preparation of nanouids
The powder form nanoparticles which disperse in host liquids are
called nanouids. Nanouids can be produced by two techniques; the
two-step (double-step) method, and one-step (single-step) method.

52

O.A. Alawi et al. / International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer 56 (2014) 5062

These methods have been utilized using different types of chemical and
physical techniques to make sure that the solidliquid mixture is stable
to avoid agglomeration, additional ow resistance, possible erosion and
clogging, poor thermal conductivity, and poor heat transfer. The twostep method is done by producing the nanoparticle powder initially as
introduced in the previous section, and then disperses them into a
host liquid. However, in one-step method the nanoparticles are simultaneously made and directly dispersed into the base uid [21]. It is noticed
in the literature that nanouids with oxide nanoparticles and carbon
nanotubes are produced well by the two-step method, while it is not
suitable for nanouids with metallic nanoparticles. The summary of results reported by various researchers in the area of nanouid preparation is provided in Table 2.
3. Fundamental studies of nanouids in heat pipes
3.1. Micro-grooved heat pipe
An experimental study on the application of nanouids in FHP rstly
carried out by Chien et al. [9]. They studied a disk-shaped aluminum
miniature micro-grooved heat pipe. The diameter and the thickness
were 9 mm and 2 mm, respectively. A total number of 18 microgrooves were evenly distributed on the aluminum base to provide the
capillary force. The depth and the width of rectangular micro-grooves
were 0.4 mm and 0.35 mm, respectively. The nanouid consisted of
gold nanoparticles with a diameter of 17 nm and DI water. The experimental data of the nanouids were compared with those of DI water including the wall temperatures and the total heat resistances of the heat
pipe. Experimental results showed that the total heat resistance of the
heat pipe using nanouids was less than that of the heat pipe using DI
water at different lling ratios. The use of the nanouids made the
heat resistance reduces by an average of 40%.
Wei et al. [38] used a cylindrical micro-grooved heat pipe with
the inner diameter and the length of 6 mm and 200 mm, respectively.
The width and the depth of the rectangular groove were 211 m
and 217 m, respectively. The working uid consisted of silver nanoparticles with an average particle size of 10 nm and pure water. They
mainly measured the total heat resistance of the heat pipe lled
with pure water and nanouids at the same lling volume of 0.51 mL
( = 10%). Nanoparticle volume fractions of 1 ppm to 100 ppm were
used in the tests. The total heat resistance of the heat pipe using
nanouids could decrease by 28%44% compared with that of the heat
pipe using water. Researchers did not explain the mechanism of the
heat transfer enhancement.

Kang et al. [13] also carried out experiments using nanouids

consisting of silver nanoparticles and pure water. The silver nanoparticle sizes were 10 nm and 35 nm, respectively. The experimental results
showed that the total heat resistance of the heat pipe using nanouids
decreased by 1080% comparing with that using water in the heating
power range of 3060 W. The total heat resistance decreased with the
increase in both the nanoparticle concentration and the nanoparticle
size. Fig. 2 shows that the thermal resistance of a heat pipe containing
10 nm nanoparticles was 52% lower than that using DI-water at 50 W.
They considered that the improvement of thermal performance is
mainly due to the reduction of uid temperature gradient in nanouids.
An experimental study was performed by Zhen-hua Liu et al. [39] to
understand the nucleate boiling heat transfer of waterCuO nanoparticle suspension at different operating pressures and different nanoparticle mass concentrations. The experimental apparatus is a miniature
at heat pipe (MFHP) with micro-grooved heat transfer surface of its
evaporator. The experimental results indicate that the heat transfer
coefcient and the critical heat ux (CHF) of nanouids increase greatly
with decreasing pressure as compared with those of water. The heat
transfer coefcient and the CHF of nanouids can increase about 25%
and 50%, respectively, at atmospheric pressure whereas about 100%
and 150%, respectively, at the pressure of 7.4 kPa. The heat transfer
coefcient and the CHF increase slowly with the increase of the nanoparticle mass concentration at low concentration conditions. However,
when the nanoparticle mass concentration is over 1.0 wt.%, the CHF
enhancement is close to a constant number and the heat transfer coefcient deteriorates.
Liu and Lu [15] and Yang et al. [17] carried out some steady heat
transfer experiments under several constant operating temperatures
to investigate the heat transfer performance of a cylindrical microgrooved heat pipe. Water-based CuO nanouids and water-based carbon nanotubes (CNTs) without dispersants were used as the working
uids. The length and the inner diameter of the heat pipe were
350 mm and 8 mm, respectively. Sixty rectangular grooves with the
depth of 0.2 mm and the width of 0.25 mm were uniformly fabricated
on the inner wall of the heat pipe. The experiments were carried out at
three xed operating pressures of 7.45 kPa, 12.38 kPa and 19.97 kPa,
with respectively corresponding operating temperatures of 40 C,
50 C and 60 C. Data of evaporation and condensation heat transfer
were investigated and the impacts of the nanoparticle mass concentration, the operating temperature on the heat transfer characteristics
was discussed. Fig. 3 indicates the effect of the nanoparticle mass concentration on the total heat resistance of the heat pipe using CuO
nanouids. It is shown in [15,17,40] and [41] that there existed an optimal CuO nanoparticle mass concentration of 1.0 wt.% and an optimal

Table 2
Summary of nanouid preparation methods.
System

Synthesis process

Particle
size (nm)

Heat transfer
enhancement (%)

Ref.

Cu/EG
Cu/H2O
Cu/H2O
Fe/EG
Ag/toluene
Cu2O/H2O
Au/ethanol
Fe3O4/H2O
TiO2/H2O
Al2O3/H2O
CuO/H2O
SiC/H2O
NCTs/engine oil
NCTs/poly oil
NCTs/EG
NCTs/H2O
NCTs/decene
H2O/FC-72

Single-step
Single-step
Two-step
Single-step
Two-step
Single-step
Two-step
Single-step
Two-step
Two-step
Two-step
Two-step
Two-step
Two-step
Two-step
Two-step
Two-step
Two-step

10
75100
100
10
6080
200
4
10
15
20
33
25
2050
25
15
15
15
9.8

40
23.8
78
18
16.5
24
1.3 0.8
38
3033
20
11.5
15.9
30
160
19.6
7.0
12.7
52

[22]
[23]
[24]
[25]
[26]
[27]
[28]
[29]
[30]
[31]
[32]
[33]
[34]
[35]
[36]
[36]
[36]
[37]

Fig. 2. Experimental data of heat resistances using both nanouid and water at different
heating powers [13].

O.A. Alawi et al. / International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer 56 (2014) 5062

Fig. 3. Effect of mass concentration of nanoparticles on the heat resistance [17].

inclination angle of 75. In addition, the heat transfer enhancement

decreased with increasing operating temperature. And substituting
nanouids for deionized water as the working liquid can reduce the
startup time of heat pipe. For both water and the nanouid, the maximum heat removal capacity in the unsteady startup procedure is much
lower than that in the steady operating procedure. The mechanisms
of the heat transfer enhancement were thought to be the increase of
the heat conductivity of the nanouids, the disturbance effect of nanoparticles in the base liquid, as well as the reduction of solidliquid contact angle in the liquid lm.
A mathematical model was developed by Do and Jang [16] for quantitatively evaluating the thermal performance of a water-based Al2O3
nanouid heat pipe with a rectangular grooved wick. For the purpose,
the axial variations of the wall temperature, the evaporation and condensation rates are considered by solving the one-dimensional conduction equation for the wall and the augmented YoungLaplace equation
for the phase change process. From the comparison of the thermal performance using both DI water and nanouids, it is found that the thin
porous coating layer formed by nanoparticles suspended in nanouids
is a key effect of the heat transfer enhancement for the heat pipe
using nanouids. Also, the effects of the volume fraction and the size
of nanoparticles on the thermal performance are studied. The results
shows the feasibility of enhancing the thermal performance up to
100% although water-based Al2O3 nanouids with the concentration
less than 1.0% are used as working uid. The thermal resistance of the
nanouid heat pipe tends to decrease with increasing the nanoparticle
size, which corresponds to the previous experimental results.
A two-dimensional model modied by Shafahi et al. [19] to simulate
the thermal performance of a cylindrically grooved heat pipe utilizing
nanouids. The mathematical model adopted in this work was based
on the following assumptions: the process was steady state; radiative
and gravitational effects were negligible and the uid was considered
Newtonian and incompressible. Also, the wick was assumed to be isotropic and saturated with the working uid. The liquid ow within the
porous wick was modeled using the generalized momentum equation.
The analysis incorporated the presence of nanouid within the heat
pipe. Three of the most common nanoparticles, namely Al2O3, CuO,
and TiO2 were applied. The simulation found that the nanoparticles
within the base liquid enhance the thermal performance of the heat
pipe by reducing the heat resistance while enhancing the maximum
heat load. In theory, there exists an optimum nanoparticle mass concentration corresponding to the maximum heat transfer enhancement. The
model assumed that vapor and liquid ow are steady and laminar and
transport properties of the vapor and liquid are considered to be constant; the vapor injection and suction rates are considered to be uniform
in the evaporator and condenser, respectively. Operating temperature,

53

liquid velocity prole, wall temperature distribution of the heat pipe,

heat resistance and maximum heat load were investigated for the heat
pipes utilizing both the base liquid and nanouids.
Zhen-hua Liu et al. [42] carried out an experimental investigation to
study the heat transfer performance of a cylindrically micro-grooved
heat pipe using aqueous nanouids as the working uids. The base
liquid was distilled water, while, the ve kinds of nanoparticles: Cu
with two mean diameters of 40 nm and 20 nm, CuO with two mean
diameters of 50 nm and 20 nm and SiO with a mean diameter of
30 nm were added respectively into the base liquid to compose different
kinds of nanouids. Experiments were performed under three steady
operating pressures of 7.45 kPa, 12.38 kPa and 19.97 kPa, respectively.
Effects of nanoparticle kind, nanoparticle size, nanoparticle mass concentration and operating pressure on the evaporation and condensation
heat transfer coefcients, the maximum heat ux and the total heat resistance of the heat pipe were investigated, compared and discussed.
Experimental results show that adding Cu and CuO nanoparticles into
the base uid can apparently improve the thermal performance of the
heat pipe and there is an optimal nanoparticle mass concentration to
achieve the maximum heat transfer enhancement. However, adding
SiO nanoparticles into the base uid will contrarily deteriorate the
heat transfer performance.
3.2. Mesh wick heat pipe
Tsai et al. [10] performed an experiment concerning a cylindrical
mesh wick heat pipe. The working uid was an aqueous solution
of various-sized gold nanoparticles. The inner diameter and the length
of the test copper tube were 6 mm and 170 mm, respectively. A
200 mesh screen was distributed on the inner wall. The experimental
results showed that the total heat resistance of the heat pipe reduced
20%37% due to the addition of nanoparticles. Fig. 4 shows the total resistance of the heat pipe for nanouids of various particle sizes. The
mechanism of the heat transfer enhancement was explained as follows:
a major heat resistance of heat pipe was caused by the formation of
vapor bubbles at the liquidsolid interface; the suspended nanoparticles
tended to bombard the vapor bubbles during the bubble formation;
therefore, it was assumed that the release diameter of vapor bubbles
was much smaller for the uid with suspended nanoparticles than
that without them.
The heat transfer characteristics of a cylindrical mesh wick heat pipe
using CuOwater nanouids investigated by Liu and Shu [43]. The inner
diameter and the length of the test tube were 10 mm and 350 mm,
respectively. Two layers of 160 mesh screen were distributed on the
inner wall. It was found that the nanoparticle mass concentration had

Fig. 4. Measured value of heat resistance of a mesh wick heat pipe using nanouids of
various particle sizes [10].

54

O.A. Alawi et al. / International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer 56 (2014) 5062

signicant impact on both the heat pipe evaporation and condensation

heat transfer. There was an optimal mass concentration of 1.0% under a
variety of operating temperature. An enhancement of the evaporation
and condensation heat transfer and the maximum heat ux was
obtained at lower operating temperature. Fig. 5 shows that the total
heat resistance of the heat pipe using nanouids is signicantly smaller
than without nanoparticles.
Chen et al. [11] discussed the performance of at mesh wick heat
pipe using water-based silver nanouids with different nanoparticle
concentrations in the input power range of 2040 W. The average
diameter of nanoparticles was 35 nm. The height and the length of the
FHP used in the experiment were 3 mm and 200 mm, respectively.
The size and the number of mesh layers were unknown. As shown in
Fig. 6, the total heat resistance of the heat pipe using nanouids is
reduced compared with that of the heat pipe using pure water. In the
volume concentration range tested, the larger the volume concentration
of nanoparticles, the higher the reduction of the heat resistance will
be. The authors assumed that the mechanisms of heat transfer enhancement were: (1) the increase of the wettability increases the critical heat
ux; (2) the increase of the liquid thermal conductivity and the wick
conductivity enhance the heat transfer.
Do et al. [44] and Liu and Zhu [45] experimentally observed the thin
porous coating layer formed by nanoparticles suspended in nanouids
at wick structures. Based on the observation, it is shown that the primary mechanism on the enhancement of the thermal performance for the
heat pipe is the coating layer formed by nanoparticles at the evaporator
section because the layer can not only extend the evaporation surface
with high heat transfer performance but also improve the surface wettability and capillary wicking performance.
Putra et al. [46] manufactured and tested screen mesh wick heat
pipes were to determine the thermal resistance of nanouids such as
Al2O3water, Al2O3ethylene glycol, TiO2water, TiO2ethylene glycol
and ZnOethylene glycol charged in the screen mesh wick heat pipes.
The concentration of the nanoparticles was varied from 1% to 5% of
the volume of the base uid. The screen mesh wick heat pipe with the
best performance was that which used Al2O3water nanouid with 5%
volume concentration. Using nanouids in the heat pipes resulted in
the formation of a thin coating on the screen mesh surface from the
element of the nanoparticles. However, the thin coating promotes
good capillary structure. The higher thermal performance of heat pipes
charged with nanouids proved the potential of nanouids as a substitute for conventional working uids. This nding makes nanouids attractive as working uids in screen mesh wick heat pipes.
Kole and Dey [47] prepared fairly stable surfactant free copperdistilled water nanouids by using prolonged sonication and homogenization. Thermal conductivity of the prepared nanouid displays a

Fig. 6. Inuence of particle concentration on the heat resistance of FHP under various input
powers [11].

maximum enhancement of ~15% for 0.5 wt.% of Cu loading in distilled

water at 30 C. The wall temperature distributions and the thermal
resistances between the evaporator and the condenser sections of a
commercial screen mesh wick heat pipe containing nanouids are investigated for three different angular positions of the heat pipe. The results are compared with those for the same heat pipe with water as the
working uid. The wall temperatures of the heat pipes decrease along
the test section from the evaporator section to the condenser section
and increase with input power. The average evaporator wall temperatures of the heat pipe with nanouids are much lower than those of
the heat pipe with distilled water as shown in Fig. 7. The thermal resistance of the heat pipe using both distilled water and nanouids is high
at low heat loads and reduces rapidly to a minimum value as the applied
heat load is increased. The thermal resistance of the vertically mounted
heat pipe with 0.5 wt.% of Cu-distilled water nanouid is reduced by
~ 27%. The observed enhanced thermal performance is explained in
light of the deposited Cu layer on the screen mesh wick in the evaporator section of the heat pipe.
Asirvatham et al. [48] presented the improvement in heat transfer
performance of a heat pipe using silver nanoparticles dispersed in DI
(De-Ionized) water. The nanoparticles suspended in conventional uids
have superior heat transfer capability due to improved thermal conductivity. The heat pipes are tested for heat inputs ranging from 20 W to
100 W in ve steps, which is suitable for removing heat from power
transistors in electronics and processors in computers. The effect of
various operational limits and test parameters such as heat inputs,
volume fraction, vapor temperature on the thermal resistance, evaporation and condensation heat transfer coefcients, are experimentally
investigated. The tested silver nanoparticle volume concentration
ranged from 0.003% to 0.009% with average nanoparticle diameter
of 58.35 nm. The experimental results are evaluated in terms of performance metrics by direct measurement of vapor temperatures in
the center core of heat pipe. A substantial reduction in thermal resistance of 76.2% is observed for 0.009 vol.% concentration of silver nanoparticles. Further an enhancement in the evaporation heat transfer
coefcient of 52.7% is observed for the same concentration. The use
of nanoparticles enhances the operating range of heat pipe by 21%
compared with that of DI water.
3.3. Sintered metal wick heat pipe

Fig. 5. Effect of mass concentration of particles on the total heat resistance for a mesh wick
heat pipe using CuO nanouids [43].

Riehl [49] performed an experimental study on the thermal performance of the sintered metal wick miniature loop heat pipe (LHP)
using nickelwater nanouid. A simple wettability test of the nanouids
was rstly carried out in various wick materials, which were hydrophilic

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55

Fig. 7. Distribution of wall temperatures in heat pipes for an input power of 100 W in the evaporator containing (a) distilled water and (b)(d) different nanouids inclined at different
angles [47].

polyethylene, sintered nickel and copper. It was found that the water
nickel nanouids did not present good wettability in the sintered
copper; and solid nanoparticles were separated even if the wick pore radius was greater than that of the nanoparticles. Only sintered nickel
wick could be applied in the LHP using waternickel nanouids. However, the thermal performance was reduced. The authors explained
the mechanism of heat transfer reduction as follows: the increase
of the density and the viscosity of the nanouids would increase
the ow drag and reduce the capillary force in the sintered metal wick
channels.
Kang et al. [18] studied the total heat resistance of a cylindrical
sintered wick heat pipe with the outer diameter and the length of
6 mm and 200 mm, respectively. The heat pipe contained a 1 mm-thick
sintered-wick made of copper powders. The nanouids were made
of pure water and silver nanoparticles with the particle sizes of 10 nm
and 35 nm, respectively. The tested nanouid concentrations were
1 mg/L, 10 mg/L and 100 mg/L. The investigated power range was
30 W70 W. The condenser section of the heat pipe was maintained
at 40 C in all runs. The experimental results showed that the maximum
heat loads of the heat pipe using nanouids increased by 40% and the
temperature distributions of the evaporator section were more uniform
compared with those of the heat pipe using water. The total heat resistance decreased by 88% for the 60 W heat loads. They considered that
the reason for the heat transfer enhancement could be explained as follows. The maximum heat ux could be enhanced by higher wettability;
nanoparticles could atten the transverse temperature gradient of

the working uid and reduce the boiling limit because of the increase
of the effective liquid conductance in the heat pipe. The heat resistance
of the heat pipe was reduced for the same reason.
3.4. Oscillating heat pipe
Nanouid studies used in a vertical closed loop oscillating heat pipes
(OHPs) were performed by Ma's research team [50] and [51]. They used
alloy 122 copper tube with an inside diameter of 1.65 mm, an outer diameter of 3.18 mm and 12 turns. The experiment was carried out with
the heat load ranging between 0 and 336 W, the ambient temperature
maintained at 1070 C and the internal lling ratio xed at 50%. The
nanouids consisted of the high-performance liquid chromatography
(HPLC) grade water and 1.0 vol.% diamond nanoparticles with the
diameter of 550 nm. The comparison of the total heat resistance
between water charged OHP and nanouid charged OHP is shown in
Fig. 8. It is evident that diamond nanoparticles signicantly increase
the heat transport capability. The enhanced heat transfer mechanism
was considered as below: higher thermal conductivity, lower viscosity
of nanouids, and stronger oscillating motion of nanoparticles might
be the primary factors enhancing the heat transport capability in
nanouid charged oscillating heat pipe.
Shang et al. [52] investigated the heat transfer characteristics of
a closed loop OHP with Cuwater nanouids as the working uid
under different lling ratios. The results were compared with those
of the same heat pipe with distilled water as the working uid. The

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Fig. 8. Heat resistance comparison between a water charged OHP and a nanouid charged
OHP, lling ratio = 50%, vertical, top = 20 C [50].

experimental results conrmed that the use of Cuwater nanouids in

the heat pipe could enhance the maximum heat removal capacity by
83%. It was conrmed that directly adding nanoparticles into distilled
water without any stabilizing agents had greater heat transfer enhancement compared to the case where a stabilizing agent was added to the
distilled water.
An experiment on the heat transport capability in a closed loop wellbalanced oscillating heat pipe using nanouids carried out by Park and
Ma [53]. The well-balanced OHP was dened as a perfectly round ring
with no turns. The OHP was fabricated from copper tube with an inside
diameter of 1.6 mm. It had six heating sections and six cooling sections
spaced along the circumference. Between the heating section and
the cooling section was adiabatic section. The nanouids consisted of
HPLC water and 1.0 vol.% CuNi nanoparticles with the diameters of
40 nm to 150 nm. The heat pipe was tested in two situations: (1) without oscillating motions and (2) with oscillating motions. Although the
heat transfer performance was improved after substituting nanouids
for the base uid, the heat transfer enhancement effect was not signicant for the rst situation when the input power increased from 0 to
20 W. The primary reason for this was that the CuNi nanoparticles in
the HPLC water settled on the bottom of the heat pipe due to the lack
of oscillating motion. For the second situation, oscillating motions
occurring in the heat pipe were very irregular and were different from
those occurring in common OHP. The nanouids could signicantly
enhance the heat transfer in the heat pipe when the oscillating motions
existed. Also, the impact of the nanouids on the heat transport capability depended on the lling ratio. As shown in Fig. 9, the thermal
performances of the OHP using both nanouids and water have no differences for a power input of 30 W and a lling ratio below 40% and
above 70%. The heat pipe has its best heat transfer performance when
the lling ratio is 50%.
Lin et al. [54] investigated experimentally the thermal performance
of a closed loop oscillating heat pipe using nanouids. They applied
water-based silver nanouids at different volume fractions (100 ppm
and 450 ppm) and various lling ratios (20%, 40%, 60%, and 80%). The
silver nanoparticle had a diameter of 20 nm. Results showed that the
thermal performance of the oscillating heat pipe using nanouids was
better than that using water. The best lling ratio was reported to be
60%. As shown in Fig. 10, there exists a best volume concentration of
100 ppm. When the input power was 85 W, the average temperature
difference between the inner wall of evaporator and the saturated
vapor decreased by 7.8 K, which is equivalent to a decrease of the
total heat resistance of the heat pipe by 15%. The authors considered
that the mechanism for the existing optimal volume fraction of silver
nanouids could be explained as follows: although the nanouids

Fig. 9. Thermal performances of the OHP using both nanouid and water [53].

with higher concentration had higher thermal conductivity, higher

nanoparticle concentration resulted in higher viscosity; this caused
more difculty to the bubbles growing and generated larger obstruction
of the liquid slug, hence an optimal concentration would exist.
Bhuwakietkumjohn and Rittidech [55] investigated the internal ow
patterns and heat transfer characteristics of a closed-loop oscillating
heat-pipe with check valves. The ratio of number of check valves to
meandering turns was 0.2. Ethanol and a silver nano-ethanol mixture
were used as working uids with a lling ratio of 50%. Results show
that the main ow pattern changes from a bubble ow with slug ow
and annular ow to a dispersed bubble ow.
An experimental investigation was performed by Jian Qu et al. [56]
on the thermal performance of an oscillating heat pipe (OHP) charged
with base water and spherical Al2O3 particles of 56 nm in diameter.
The effects of lling ratios, mass fractions of alumina particles, and
power inputs on the total thermal resistance of the OHP were investigated. Experimental results showed that the alumina nanouids significantly improved the thermal performance of the OHP, with an optimal
mass fraction of 0.9 wt.% for maximal heat transfer enhancement. Compared with pure water, the maximal thermal resistance was decreased
by 0.14 C/W (or 32.5%) when the power input was 58.8 W at 70% lling
ratio and 0.9% mass fraction. By examining the inner wall samples, it
was found that the nanoparticle settlement mainly took place at the
evaporator. The change of surface condition at the evaporator due to
nanoparticle settlement was found to be the major reason for the enhanced thermal performance of the alumina nanouid-charged OHP.

Fig. 10. Heat input vs. average heat resistance for 60% lling ratio [54].

O.A. Alawi et al. / International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer 56 (2014) 5062

An experimental investigation has been carried out by Qu and Wu

[57] to compare and analyze the different thermal performances of
the oscillating heat pipes, which were charged with SiO2/water and
Al2O3/water nanouids, respectively. Both the average evaporator wall
temperature and the overall thermal resistance of the OHPs at different
nanoparticle mass concentrations (00.6 wt.% for silica nanouids
and 01.2 wt.% for alumina nanouids) and at the volume lling ratio
of 50% were tested and compared. Results showed that different
nanouids caused different thermal performances of OHPs. Within the
experimental range, using the alumina nanouid instead of pure water
enhanced the heat transfer of the OHP (reductions in the evaporator
wall temperature and thermal resistance of the OHP of about 5.6 C (or
8.7%) and 0.057 C/W (or 25.7%), respectively, were obtained), while
using the silica nanouid instead of pure water deteriorated the thermal
performance of the OHPs. A preliminary analysis was conducted for the
different effects induced by the addition of different nanoparticles to
pure water, and it was found that the change of surface condition at
the evaporator and condenser due to different nanoparticle deposition
behaviors was the main reason for the thermal performance improvement or deterioration of the OHPs charged with different nanouids.
The Al2O3 particle effect on the heat transfer performance of an oscillating heat pipe (OHP) was investigated experimentally by Ji et al. [58].
Four size particles with average diameters of 50 nm, 80 nm, 2.2 m, and
20 m were studied, respectively. Fig. 11 shows that the Al2O3 particles
added in the OHP signicantly affect the heat transfer performance and
it depends on the particle size. When the OHP was charged with water
and 80 nm Al2O3 particles, the OHP can achieve the best heat transfer
performance among four particles investigated herein. In addition, it is
found that all particles added in the OHP can improve the startup performance of the OHP even with 20 m Al2O3 particles.
Tanshen et al. [59] investigated an inuence of multi-walled carbon
nanotube (MWCNT) based aqueous nanouids with different concentrations on the heat transport and the relevant pressure distribution
in oscillating heat pipe (OHP). They described the heat transfer phenomena in terms of thermal resistance, pressure and frequency of pressure uctuation in multi-loop oscillating heat pipe (OHP) charged by
aqueous nanouids with MWCNT loadings of 0.05 wt.%, 0.1 wt.%,
0.2 wt.% and 0.3 wt.%. The multi-loop OHP with 3 mm inner diameter
has been conducted in the experiment at 60% lling ratio. Experimental
results show that thermal characteristics are signicantly inter-related
with pressure distribution and strongly depend on the number of pressure uctuations with time. The investigation shows that the 0.2 wt.%
MWCNT based aqueous nanouids obtain maximum number of the
uctuation frequency and low thermal resistance at any evaporator

57

power input. Based on the experimental results, we discuss the reasons

for enhancement and decrement of thermal characteristics of the
nanouids.
3.5. Two-phase closed thermosyphon
Xue et al. [60] carried out an investigation about the interface effect
of carbon nanotube (CNT) suspension with surfactant on the thermal
performance of a closed two-phase thermosyphon. The test section
was a copper tube with an inner diameter of 20 mm. The lling ratio
of the closed two-phase thermosyphon was 20%. The experimental results in Fig. 12 show that the total heat resistance of the heat pipe
using CNT is higher than those of the heat pipe using water. It is also
obvious that adding CNT in the base liquid deteriorated the thermal
performance of the heat pipe. It was found in this experiment that the
CNT was broken to chips due to the addition of some acid liquids in
the CNT suspension to improve the stability of the suspension. The
chips of CNT settled on the evaporator surface formed a coating layer
and signicantly diminished the density and number of the active
nucleation sites, the release frequency and the coalesced patches of
vapor bubbles.
Liu et al. [61] investigated the effect of nanoparticle parameters on the
thermal performance in a miniature closed two-phase thermosyphon
using CuO nanouids without surfactant. The test tube diameter, the
lengths of the evaporation section, the insulation section and the condensation section were 8 mm, 100 mm, 100 mm and 150 mm, respectively. The experiment was carried out at three operating pressures of
7.45 kPa, 12.38 kPa and 19.97 kPa, respectively and the corresponding
saturation operating temperatures were 40 C, 50 C and 60 C, respectively. The experimental results showed that adding nanoparticles in
the heat pipe could enhance both the heat transfer and the critical
heat ux. The operating temperature could signicantly affect the
heat transfer enhancement. The enhancement effect of nanouids
increased with the decrease of the operating temperature. For the CuO
nanouids heat pipe, the heat transfer coefcient increased by a maximum of 160%, and the critical heat ux increased by 120% when an
optimal nanoparticle mass concentration of 1% was applied. The total
heat resistance can decrease about 30%90% by substituting the
nanouids for water as the work liquid as shown in Fig. 13. At low
heat uxes, the heat transfer enhancement is especially remarkable.
They also [62] investigated the thermal performance in the same miniature closed two-phase thermosyphon using carbon nanotube (CNT)
suspensions without surfactant. The experimental results are similar
to those using CuO nanouids.

Fig. 11. Particle size effect on (a) temperature difference and (b) thermal resistance (lling ratio: 50%) [58].

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Fig. 12. Heat resistances of closed two-phase thermosyphon using both CNT suspension
and water at different heating powers [60].

Khandekar et al. [63] investigated the total heat resistance of a

closed two-phase thermosyphon using pure water and various waterbased nanouids containing nanoparticles of Al2O3 (4047 nm), CuO
(8.613.5 nm) and laponite clay (disks of diameter 25 nm and thickness
1 nm). The length and the inner diameter of the test closed two-phase
thermosyphon were 720 mm and 16 mm, respectively. The experimental results illustrate that the heat transfer performance of the closed
two-phase thermosyphon using nanouids was worse than that of the
closed two-phase thermosyphon using pure water. They considered
that nanouids had better surface wettability than water in the copper
closed two-phase thermosyphon and the improvement in wettability
along with entrapment of nanoparticles in the grooves caused the decrease of Peclet number in evaporator section. These factors nally
leaded to poor thermal performance.
Noie et al. [64] combined two mentioned techniques for heat transfer
enhancement. Nanouids of aqueous Al2O3 nanoparticle suspensions
were prepared in various volume concentrations of 13% and used in a
two-phase closed thermosyphon (TPCT) as working media. Different
volume concentrations of nanoparticles (13%) in suspension within
the TPCT were experimentally examined and results were compared
with pure water. Nanouids in all concentration studied showed better
thermal performance than pure water. They improved efciency of the
TPCT up to 14.7% as shown in Fig. 14. Temperature distributions on the
TPCT were lower level using nanouid compared to pure water. Temperature differences between the evaporator and condenser sections
with nanouids were less that pure water, i.e. thermal resistance of

Fig. 13. Total heat resistances of closed two-phase thermosyphon using water and
nanouid [61].

the TPCT when charged with nanouids was less. The higher thermal
performance TPCTs loaded with nanouid proved its potential as substitute for conventional ones with pure water. This nding makes
nanouid attractive as working uid in heat pipe and thermosyphon
technologies noting further investigation are needed.
Parametthanuwat et al. [65,66] investigated the effect of using silver
nanouid (de-ionized water mixed with silver nano and particles less
than 100 nm) on the thermal characteristics of a two-phase closed
thermosyphon. The thermosyphon was made with copper tubes with
7.5, 11.1 and 25.4 mm ID. The lling ratios of 30%, 50% and 80% by evaporator length and aspect ratios of 5, 10, and 20 with an inclination angle
90. Temperatures were controlled so that the temperature measured at
the adiabatic section was constant at 40 4 C, 50 4 C and 60 4 C.
It was found that the lling ratio has no effect on the ratio of heattransfer characteristics in the vertical position, but the properties of
the working uid affected the heat-transfer rate. In addition a correlation for predicting the heat ux for the two-phase closed thermosyphon
in the vertical position has been established.
Huminic and Huminic [67] and Huminic et al. [68] presented the
heat transfer characteristics of two-phase closed thermosyphon
(TPCT) with iron oxide-nanouids. The TPCT is fabricated from the copper tube with the outer diameter and length of 15 and 2000 mm, respectively. The TPCTs with the de-ionic water and nanouids (water
and nanoparticles) are tested. The iron oxide nanoparticles with mean
diameter of 45 nm were obtained by the laser pyrolysis technique
and the mixtures of water and nanoparticles are prepared using an ultrasonic homogenizer. Effects of TPCT inclination angle, operating temperature and nanoparticle concentration levels on the heat transfer
characteristics of TPCT are considered. The nanoparticles have a signicant effect on the enhancement of heat transfer characteristics of TPCT.
In Fig. 15, the heat transfer characteristics of TPCT with the nanouids
are compared with that the based uid.
Lu at al. [69] designed an especial open thermosyphon device used in
high-temperature evacuated tubular solar collectors. The indoor experimental research was carried out to investigate the thermal performance of the open thermosyphon using respectively the deionized
water and water-based CuO nanouids as the working liquid. The
effects of lling rate, kind of the base uid, nanoparticle mass concentration and operating temperature on the evaporating heat transfer
characteristics in the open thermosyphon were discussed. Experiment
results show the optimal lling ratio to the evaporator is 60% and the
thermal performance of the open thermosyphon increase generally
with the increase of the operating temperature. Substituting waterbased CuO nanouids for water as the working uid can signicantly

Fig. 14. Efciency of TPCT versus input power and concentration of nanouid [64].

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59

Fig. 15. Heat transfer rate distributions for different concentration levels at inclination angle of 90 [67].

enhance the thermal performance of the evaporator and evaporating

heat transfer coefcients may increase by about 30% compared with
those of deionized water. The CuO nanoparticle mass concentration
has remarkable inuence on the heat transfer coefcient in the evaporation section and the mass concentration of 1.2% corresponds to the
optimal heat transfer enhancement.
Yang and Liu [70] carried out an experimental study to understand
the ow boiling heat transfer of water based CuO nanouids in the
evaporator of a thermosyphon loop under steady sub-atmospheric
pressures. Experimental results show that both the heat transfer coefcient (HTC) and the critical heat ux (CHF) of ow boiling in the evaporator of the thermosyphon loop could be enhanced by substituting
nanouids for water. The operating pressure has apparent impact on
the HTC enhancement of nanouids. However, the operating pressure
has negligible effect on the CHF enhancement. There exists an optimal
mass concentration of nanoparticles corresponding to the best enhancement effect. Experimental results show that the CHF enhancement
results mainly from the existing of the coating layer on the heated surface formed by the sediment of nanoparticles. However, the HTC enhancement results from the effects of both the existing of the coating
layer and the change of thermophysical properties of the working uid.
Kamyar et al. [71] examined the effects of using nanouids on the
performance of a two-phase closed thermosyphon. Different concentrations (0.01%, 0.02%, 0.05% and 0.075%) of Al2O3 as well as TiSiO4 particles
were dispersed in distilled water as base uid. They focused on the resulted changes in temperature distribution, overall thermal resistance
of the thermosyphon and the heat transfer coefcient of the evaporator
section. Various input powers (40210 W) were applied in the evaporator to see the behavior of nanouid-lled thermosyphon in low and
high heat loads. Compared with pure water, both nanouids showed
lower temperature distribution along the heat pipe. Reductions of up
to 65% in thermal resistance were obtained for Al2O3 at the optimum
value of 0.05 vol.%. However, for TiSiO4 the best performance was explored to be at 0.075 vol.% where a reduction of 57% was found. Evaporation heat transfer coefcient also increased after using nanouids. The
relative enhancement in boiling heat transfer coefcient was more signicant at low powers. Although heat transfer coefcient improved by
increasing particle concentration for TiSiO4/water, it had the highest
value at 0.05 vol.% for Al2O3/water showing a limit for increments in
particle concentration.
Huminic and Huminic [72] a 3D analysis is used to investigate the
heat transfer of thermosyphon heat pipe using water and nanouids
as the working uid. The study focused mainly on the effects of volume
concentrations of nanoparticles and the operating temperature on
the heat transfer performance of the thermosyphon heat pipe using
the nanouids. The analysis was performed for water and -Fe2O3
nanoparticles, three volume concentrations of nanoparticles (0 vol.%,
2 vol.% and 5.3 vol.%) and four operating temperatures (60, 70, 80 and
90 C). The numerical results show that the volume concentration

of nanoparticles had a signicant effect in reducing the temperature

difference between the evaporator and condenser. Experimental and
numerical results show qualitatively that the thermosyphon heat pipe
using the nanouid has better heat transfer characteristics than the
thermosyphon heat pipe using water.
Buschmann and Franzke [73] presented study aims to make
nanouids applicable for thermosyphons. Experiments employing a
vertical thermosyphon are carried out utilizing deionized water, water
based titanium dioxide and gold nanouids with different concentrations as working uids. A maximal reduction of the thermal resistance
of about 24% can be achieved when nanouids are employed. An optimum is reached at concentrations between 0.2 vol.% and 0.3 vol.%,
whereas at higher concentrations the thermal resistance remains either
unchanged or increases again. A nanoparticle layer on the evaporator
surface seems to cause the found changes. Experiments with the gold
nanouid indicate that no nanoparticles are transported with the
vapor phase and deposited on the condenser surface. Long-term experiments carried out with 0.3 vol.% indicate a massive aging of the porous
layer built of nanoparticles on the evaporator surface.
Over 70 relevant articles have been published since then involving
miniature micro-grooved heat pipe, mesh wick heat pipe, sintered
metal wick heat pipe, oscillating heat pipe (OHP), and two-phase closed
thermosyphon (TPCT).
4. Heat transfer characteristics of nanouids in heat pipes
4.1. Experimental investigations
Many researchers have reported experimental studies on the thermal conductivity of nanouids in heat pipes, thermal resistance and
thermal efciency of heat pipe. The heat pipe thermal efciency can
be calculated from the ratio of cooling capacity rate of water at the condenser section and supplied power at the evaporator section. The results
from all the available experimental studies indicated that nanouids
containing a small amount of nanoparticles have substantially higher
thermal conductivity than those of base uids and also there is an increase in the thermal efciency of heat pipe.
Naphon et al. [74] investigated the enhancement of heat pipe thermal efciency with TiO2-alcohol nanouids. The test section is fabricated from the straight copper tube with the outer diameter 15 mm
and length 600 mm. In this, working uids of heat pipe such as deionized water, alcohol, and nanouids (alcohol and TiO2 nanoparticles)
are tested. The diameter of TiO2 nanoparticles with 21 nm are used, in
which the mixtures of alcohol and nanoparticles are prepared using
an ultrasonic homogenizer. The parameters considered are the effects
of percentage charge amount of working uid, percentage nanoparticle
volume concentrations, and heat pipe tilt angle on the thermal efciency of heat pipe. The nanoparticles added with the base uid have a signicant effect on the enhancement of thermal efciency of heat pipe.

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The variation of heat pipe thermal efciency with heat pipe tilt angle at
66% charge amount of de-ionic water and alcohol has been calculated.
The absorption heat capacity depends on the charge amount of working
uid and more space for the vapor of working uid. Due to that, the heat
pipe thermal efciency increases with increasing charge amount of
working uid. Maximum heat pipe thermal efciency is attained at
the optimum condition of 45 tilt angle and 66% charge amount of alcohol. The thermal efciency of heat pipe is 10.60% higher than the base
working uid, with 0.10% nanoparticle volume concentration.
Chen [75] investigated the effect of at heat pipe thermal performance using silver nano-uid. The silver nanoparticles of size 35 nm
and the pure-water as base working uid were used. At the same charge
volume, the thermal resistance of heat pipe lled nano-uid was lower
than DI water. The reason for enhancement in the thermal performance
of FHP by using nano-uid is higher wettability that enhances the capability and attens the temperature difference of FHP. The temperature
difference and the thermal resistance of FHP with silver nano-particle
solution were lower than that with pure water. The result showed
that the silver nano-uid not only enhanced the thermal performance
of traditional circular heat pipes but also increased the thermal performance at heat pipe. This investigation concluded that further studies
will focus on the effect of the thickness of FHP, nano-uid concentration
and the wettability effect of the nano-uids on various geometry of the
heat pipe wick to get the optimum thermal performance of heat pipe.
Ji et al. [76] experimentally investigated the alumina nanoparticle
shape effect on the heat transfer performance of an OHP. A binary mixture of ethylene glycol (EG) and deionized water (50/50 by volume)
was used as the base uid for the OHP. Four types of nanoparticles
with shapes of platelet, blade, cylinder, and brick were studied. The results showed that the alumina nanoparticles used in the OHP signicantly enhance the heat transfer performance and it depends on the
particle shape and volume fraction. In the four types, cylinder-like alumina nanoparticles with EG can give the best heat transfer performance
of OHP. The previous research found that these alumina nanouids
were not benecial in laminar or turbulent ow mode; they can enhance the heat transfer performance of an OHP.
Mousa [77] experimentally studied the effect of Al2O3water based
nanouid concentration on the performance of a circular heat pipe.
The operating parameters considered are working uid lling ratio,
volume fraction of nano-particle in the base uid, and heat input. Thermal resistance decreases with increasing Al2O3water based nanouid
compared to that of pure water. The results showed that the optimum
lling ratio of charged uid in heat pipe was about 0.45 to 0.50
for both pure water and Al2O3water based nanouid, respectively,
and that the thermal performance of heat pipe can be decreased by increasing concentration of the nanouid.
Yang and Liu [78] investigated the thermal performance of functionalized nanouid (silica nanoparticles) and traditional nanouid (water
and same silica nanoparticles without functionalized) in a thermosyphon
and observed that functionalized nanouid can maintain long-term stability and without any sedimentation. Traditional nanouids enhance
the maximum heat ux. Further, it was found that both functionalized
and traditional nanouids have no effects on the condenser of the
thermosyphon. It can be concluded that there are no meaningful
nanouid effects on the thermal performance of thermosyphon.
Liu and Li [79] studied the effect of characteristics and mass concentrations of nanoparticles on the thermal performance of heat pipes. the
effect of different nanouids on the thermal performance of different
heat pipes like micro-grooved heat pipe, mesh wick heat pipe, sintered
metal wick heat pipe, oscillating heat pipe and closed two-phase
thermosyphon have been carried out. In miniature micro-grooved
heat pipe, the effect of different nanoparticle sizes and nanoparticle
concentrations enhances the thermal performance of heat pipe. The
boiling heat transfer may occur at high heat uxes in heat pipes with
micro-grooves, but it cannot occur in the mesh and sintered metal
heat pipes. In oscillating heat pipes, the temperature gradient makes

a different volumetric distribution of the working uid and causes pressure waves and uid pulsations in each of the individual tube sections. In
closed two-phase thermosyphon, the driving force of the uid ow is
the buoyancy generated by the boiling two-phase ow. They concluded
that in majority of micro-grooved heat pipe, mesh wick heat pipe, oscillating heat pipe and most closed two-phase thermosyphon addition of
nanoparticles to the working liquid signicantly enhances the heat
transfer, reduces the total heat resistance and increases maximum
heat removal capacity.
Saleh et al. [80] used a straight copper heat pipe with an outer diameter of 8 mm, an inner diameter of 7.44 mm and the length of 200 mm.
A stainless steel wire screen mesh with a diameter of 56.5 m and 67.42
strands per mm was used. ZnO nanouids were prepared using a twostep procedure with base uid ethylene glycol (EG). They mainly measured the temperature distribution and thermal resistance of the heat
pipe lled with pure EG and ZnO nanouids at concentrations from
0.025 vol.% to 0.5 vol.%. The experimental data revealed that nanouids
containing a small fraction of nanoparticles had higher thermal conductivities compared to the base uid. The conductivity ratio could be enhanced by approximately 5.3% until 15.5%. In addition, it was observed
that the temperature distribution and the heat pipe thermal resistance
were varied with the particle volume fraction and the size of the ZnO
particles.
Kole and Dey [47] experimentally investigated the thermal performance of screen mesh wick heat pipes using water-based copper
nanouids. In this study, no surfactant is added to the copper-distilled
water nanouids. The different concentrations of Cu nanoparticles like
0.0005 wt.%, 0.005 wt.%, 0.05 wt.% and 0.5 wt.% were prepared by
using ultrasonicator followed by magnetic stirring process. The dimensions of heat pipe are length 300 mm, outer diameter 10 mm and wall
thickness 0.6 mm and material used is copper. The evaporator section,
adiabatic section and condenser section of the heat pipe are 70 mm,
80 mm and 150 mm, respectively. Thermal conductivity shows an enhancement of approximately 15% with 0.5 wt.% loading of Cu nanoparticles. The results show that vertical heat pipes are found to perform
better than other inclinations. Cu-distilled water nanouid of 0.5 wt.%
reduced the thermal resistance by approximately 27%.
4.2. Theoretical investigations
Do and Jang [16] numerically investigated the effect of water-based
Al2O3 nanouids as working uid on the thermal performance of a at
micro-heat pipe with a rectangular grooved wick. The axial variations
of the wall temperature and the evaporation and condensation rates
are considered by solving the one dimensional conduction equation
for the wall and the augmented YoungLaplace equation for the phase
change process. The thermophysical properties of nanouids as well
as the surface characteristics formed by nanoparticles such as a thin
porous coating are considered. The thin porous coating layer formed
by nanoparticles suspended in nanouids is a key effect of the heat
transfer enhancement for the heat pipe using nanouids. The effects
of the volume fraction and the size of nanoparticles on the thermal
performance were studied and the results showed that the feasibility
of enhancing the thermal performance up to 100% although waterbased Al2O3 nanouids with the concentration less than 1.0% is used
as working uid. Finally, it could be concluded that the thermal resistance of the nanouid heat pipe tends to decrease with increasing the
nanoparticle size compared with the previous experimental results.
Shafahi et al. [81] theoretically studied the thermal performance
of cylindrical heat pipe with Al2O3, CuO and TiO2 by using two dimensional analyses. When using nanouids, there is substantial change
in the heat pipe thermal resistance, temperature distribution and
maximum capillary heat transfer of the heat pipe observed. By utilizing
nanouid resistance decreases as the concentration increases or as
the particle diameter decreases for the smaller size of the cylindrical
heat pipe. In this study, the inuence of nanouid and the geometrical

O.A. Alawi et al. / International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer 56 (2014) 5062

characteristics of the wick on the maximum heat load carrying capability of the cylindrical heat pipe are investigated. The existence of
an optimum mass concentration and smaller particle in size providing
the highest thermal performance had been established.
The observations based on the reviewed literature on the heat pipes
showed that the thermal performance of heat pipe using nanouid
is higher than that of the base uid. A majority of the results that are
available are of experimental ndings and the theoretical investigations
are limited. It is obvious that more research is needed in future in order
to validate the simulation model with the experimental ndings.
5. Conclusions
This review describes the research results of heat transfer characteristics of various types of heat pipes using nanouids as working uids.
The limited number of available references has shown that nanouids
have great application prospects in various heat pipes. For the majority
of micro-grooved heat pipes, mesh wick heat pipes, oscillating heat
pipes and most closed two-phase thermosyphon, adding nanoparticles
to the working liquid can signicantly enhance the heat transfer, reduce
the total heat resistance and increase the maximum heat removal
capacity. At the same time, there are still some problems and challenges
on the mechanisms of the heat transfer enhancement and the actual
applications. The present research of nanouids in heat pipes is still at
its initial stage and needs further development.
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