International Conference on Recent Advances in Mechanical Engineering and Interdisciplinary Developments [ICRAMID - 2014]

Nanofluids as a coolant in automobile radiator:

A review
Manish Singh
Student, BE (mechanical), Army institute of technology,
Pune, India

Chandan Kumar
Student, BE (mechanical), Army institute of technology,
Pune, India
Email id - ck06135@gmail.com
Suraj Singh Rawat
Student, BE (mechanical), Army institute of technology,
Pune, India
Email id- surajsingh140892@gmail.com

Dr. P. B. Karandikar
Associate professor, Army institute of technology, Pune,
India
Email id - pbkarandikar@gmail.com

Abstract: Ultrahigh performance and compact cooling is

one of the todays needs of automotive industries.
Innovative heat transfer fluids are produced by
suspending metallic or nonmetallic nanometer-sized solid
particles. Nanofluids are a smart fluid with enhanced
thermo physical properties and heat transfer performance
can be applied in many devices for better performances.
Experiments done on its application have shown that
nanofluids have substantial higher thermal conductivities
compared to the base fluids. In this paper, a
comprehensive literature on the applications and
challenges of nanofluids in automobile sector have been
compiled and reviewed, emphasizing their improved heat
transfer properties that are controllable and the specific
characteristics that these nanofluids possess that make
them suitable for applications on vehicle radiator.

oxide nanoparticles in traditional heat transfer fluids. These so

called nanofluids display enhanced thermo physical properties
such as thermal conductivity, thermal diffusivity, viscosity
and convective heat transfer coefficients compared to those of
base fluids like oil or water [3-4]. The improved aerodynamic
designs of vehicles can save much of fuel by reducing the
amount of energy needed to overcome wind resistance on the
road. At high speeds, approximately 65% of the total energy
output from a truck is expended in overcoming the
aerodynamic drag. This fact is partly due to the large radiator
in front of the engine positioned to maximize the cooling
effect of oncoming air.
The use of nanofluids as coolants would allow for smaller size
and better positioning of the radiators. Owing to the fact that
there would be less requirement of fluid due to the higher
efficiency, hence coolant pumps will shrunk and truck engines
could be operated at higher temperatures allowing for more
horsepower while still meeting stringent emission standards.
There are considerable researches on the superior heat transfer
properties of nanofluids especially on thermal conductivity
and convective heat transfer. Eastman et al [5], Liu et al.[6],
observed great enhancement of nanofluids thermal
conductivity compared to conventional coolants. A vehicles
kinetic energy is dispersed through the heat produced during
the process of braking and is transmitted throughout the brake
fluid in the hydraulic braking system

Keywords: nanofluids; thermal conductivity;

transfer; microchips; vehicle radiator; coolant.
I.

heat

INTRODUCTION

Conventional fluids, such as water, engine oil, and ethylene

glycol are normally used as heat transfer fluids. Improving the
thermal conductivity is the key idea to improve the heat
transfer characteristics of conventional fluids. Thermal
conductivity of conventional fluids can be enhanced by
suspending of solid particles having size in nanometers. Some
of the published investigations have focused on electric or
magnetic field application or vibration techniques [1-2].
Recent advances in nanotechnology have allowed
development of a new category of fluids termed nanofluids.
According to SciFinder Scholar, alone 189 nanofluid-related
publications journal articles and patents appeared in 2008 as
shown in Fig. 1 and it is estimated that more than 300 research
groups and companies are engaged in nanofluids research
worldwide. Such fluids are liquid suspensions containing
particles that are significantly smaller than 100 nm, and have a
bulk solids thermal conductivity higher than the base liquids.
Nanofluids are formed by suspending metallic or non-metallic

Fig 1: No of publication vs year of publication

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International Conference on Recent Advances in Mechanical Engineering and Interdisciplinary Developments [ICRAMID - 2014]

If the heat causes the brake fluid to reach its boiling point, a
vapor-lock is created that retards the hydraulic system from
dispersing the heat caused from braking.
Preparation of nanofluids
There are two fundamental methods to obtain nanofluids:
1. Direct evaporation method: In this method, the direct
evaporation and condensation of the nanoparticulate materials
in the base liquid are obtained to produce stable nanofluids.
2. In second method, first the nanoparticles are obtained by
different methods and then are dispersed into the base liquid.
Many researchers have reported experimental studies on the
thermal conductivity of nanofluids. The temperature
oscillation method, the steady-state parallel plate method, and
transient hot-wire method [3] have been employed to measure
the thermal conductivity of nanofluids. This paper review
application of nanofluids as coolant in Automobile radiator
and challenges related to it. The Below fig. 2 shows the the
different types of nano particles with Length scale and some
examples related to it

the medical arena as well as computers. There is increasing

interest for improving the efficiency of existing heat transfer
processes. An automotive system is one such example where
improved heat transfer could lead to smaller heat exchangers
for cooling resulting in reduced weight of the vehicle.
1. Heat Transfer Applications
a). Industrial Cooling Application: Routbort et al. [7] started a
project in 2008 that employed nanofluids for industrial cooling
that could result in great energy savings and resulting
emissions reductions. For the U.S. electric power industry,
using nanofluids save about 1030 trillion Btu per year. The
associated emissions reductions would be approximately 5.6
million metric tons of carbon dioxide, 8600 metric tons of
nitrogen oxides and 21000 metric tons of sulfur dioxide.
b). Nuclear Reactors: Kim et al. [8] at the Nuclear Science and
Engineering Department of the Massachusetts. The use of
nanofluids as a coolant could also be used in emergency
cooling systems, where they could cool down overheat
surfaces more quickly leading to an improvement in power
plant safety..
2. Electronic Applications
a) Cooling of Microchips: nanofluids can be used for liquid
cooling of computer processors due to their high thermal
conductivity. It is predicted that the next generation of
computer chips will produce localized heat flux over
10MW/m2, with the total power exceeding 300W. In
combination with thin film evaporation, the nanofluid
oscillating heat pipe (OHP) cooling system will be able to
remove heat fluxes over 10MW/m2 and serve as the next
generation cooling device that will be able to handle the heat
dissipation coming from new technology. In their experiment,
Ma et al. [9] introduced diamond nanoparticles into high
performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) water. The
movement of the OHP keeps the nanoparticles from settling
and thus improving the efficiency of the cooling device
Application of nanofluids in automobile in shown in fig 3

Fig.2. Length scale and some examples related

This paper is organized as follows .Section II is about
application of nanofluids. Section III discusses the use of
nanofluids in radiator. Section IV is about challenges of
nanofluids for practical use and finally, the conclusion is
presented
II.

APPLICATIONS OF NANOFLUIDS

Nanofluids can be used in a plethora of engineering

applications ranging from use in the automotive industry to

Fig 3: application of nano fluid

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International Conference on Recent Advances in Mechanical Engineering and Interdisciplinary Developments [ICRAMID - 2014]

b) Microscale Fluidic Applications: The manipulation of small

volumes of liquid is necessary in fluidic digital display
devices, optical devices, and micro electromechanical systems
(MEMS) such as lab-on-chip analysis systems. This can be
done by electro wetting, or reducing the contact angle by an
applied voltage, the small volumes of liquid. Dash et al. used
the electro wetting in dielectric (EWOD) effect to demonstrate
that nanofluids display increased performance and stability
when exposed to electric fields
III.

can be achieved, if the particle concentration is high, even if

the particle material has a modest thermal conductivity.
Choi et al. [8] showed that nanofluids have the potential of
being recognized as a new generation of coolants for vehicle
thermal management due to their significantly higher thermal
conductivities than the base fluids. The heat rejection
requirements of automobiles and trucks are continually
increasing due to trends toward more power output.
Wu et al. [11] observed the potential of Al2O3-H2O
nanofluids as a new phase change material for the thermal
energy storage of cooling systems. The thermal response test
shows the addition of Al2O3 nanoparticles remarkably
decreases the super cooling degree of water, advances the
beginning freezing time, and reduces the total freezing time.
The infrared imaging photographs suggest that the freezing
rate of nanofluids is enhanced and by only adding 0.2 wt.%
Al2O3 nanoparticles, the total freezing time of Al2O3-H2O
nanofluids can be reduced by 20.5%. Transformer cooling is
important to the Navy as well as the power generation industry
with the objective of reducing transformer size and weight.
Such retrofits can represent considerable cost savings. It has
been demonstrated that the heat transfer properties of
transformer oils can be significantly improved by using
nanoparticle additives
Devdatta et al [12] in their paper, application of aluminum
oxide nanofluids in diesel electric generator as jacket water
coolant, in a Diesel Electric Generator (DEG) experimented
on specific heat measurements of aluminum oxide nanofluid
with various particle concentrations. The results showed
reduction in their values with an increase in the particle
concentration and temperature, along with reduction of
cogeneration efficiency due to decrease in specific heat, which
Influences the waste heat recovery from the engine. However,
they concluded that efficiency of waste heat recovery heat
exchanger was increased for nanofluid, due to its superior
convective heat transfer coefficient.

NANOFLUID AS A COOLANT IN RADIATOR

Studies on nanofluids have shown that they have superb

physical properties, among which thermal conductivity has
been studied most extensively. In many industries application
it is used as coolant or heat dissipating element also called as
smart fluids. Hence it requires properties so that larger heat
dissipation could take place. Heat transfer depends on three
factors shown by the equation 1
Q = hAT

(1)

where Q is the heat flow, h is the heat transfer coefficient, A is

the heat transfer area, and T is the temperature difference. It
can be seen from equation 1 that increased heat transfer can be
achieved by:
Increasing T
Increasing A
Increasing h
A greater temperature difference T can lead to increase the
heat flow, but T is sometime limited due to material
constraints. Taking in account a example the maximum
temperature in a nuclear reactor must be kept below a certain
value to avoid runaway reactions and meltdown. Therefore,
increased T can only be achieved by decreasing the
temperature of the coolant. However, this would reduce the
rate of the nuclear reaction and decrease the efficiency of the
process.
A study was done under International Nanofluid Property
Benchmark Exercise [10], or INPBE, in which the thermal
conductivity of identical samples of nanofluids was measured
by over 30 organizations worldwide. This study uses a variety
of experimental approaches, including the transient hot wire
method, steady-state methods, and optical methods. The
INPBE database is summarized in Table 1. Comparing the
data for samples 3, 4, 5, and 6 in set 1, it is noted that,
everything else being the same, the thermal conductivity
enhancement is higher at higher particle concentration, and
higher for elongated particles than for near-spherical particles.
Comparing the data for samples 1 and 5 in set 1, it is noted
that the thermal conductivity enhancement is somewhat higher
for the PAO (poly alpha olefins) base fluid than for water. The
set 2 data suggest that the thermal conductivity enhancement
is negligible, if the particle concentration is very low, even if
metal particles of high thermal conductivity are used. On the
other hand, the set 3 data suggest that a robust enhancement

Fig. 1 shows the field emission scanning electron microscope

(FESEM) image of the nanoparticles after dispersing in water.
The prepared nanofluids in the present study remained stable
for several days without any observable sedimentation

Fig 4: FESEM image of nanoparticles after dispersion.

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International Conference on Recent Advances in Mechanical Engineering and Interdisciplinary Developments [ICRAMID - 2014]

Table1 Summary of INPBE results.

Argonne researchers, Singh et al. [13], have determined that
the use of high-thermal conductive nanofluids in radiators can
lead to a reduction in the frontal area of the radiator by up to
10%. This reduction in aerodynamic drag can lead to a fuel
savings of up to 5%. The application of nanofluid also
contributed to a reduction of friction and wear, reducing
parasitic losses, operation of components such as pumps and
compressors, and subsequently leading to more than 6% fuel
savings. It is conceivable that greater improvement of savings
could be obtained in the future. In order to determine whether
nanofluids degrade radiator material, they have built and
calibrated an apparatus that can emulate the coolant flow in a
radiator and are currently testing and measuring material loss
of typical radiator materials by various nanofluids. Erosion of
radiator material is determined by weight loss-measurements
as a function of fluid velocity and impact angle.
In their tests, they observed no erosion using nanofluids made
from base fluids ethylene and tri-cloroethylene glycols with
velocities as high as 9m/s and at 9030 impact angles. There
was erosion observed with copper nanofluid at a velocity of
9.6 m/s and impact angle of 90. The corresponding recession
rate was calculated to be 0.065 mils/yr of vehicle operation.
Through preliminary investigation, it was determined that
copper nanofluid produces a higher wear rate than the base
fluid and this is possibly due to oxidation of copper
nanoparticles. A lower wear and friction rate was seen for
alumina nanofluids in comparison to the base fluid. Some
interesting erosion test results from Singh et al. [13] are shown
in Tables 2 & 3.

Impact Angle
(*)
90
90
50
50
30
30

Velocity
(m/s)
8.0
10.5
6.0
10.0
8.0
10.5

Time (hrs)
236
211
264
244
283
293

Weight Loss
(mg)
0 0.2
0 0.2
0 0.2
0 0.2
0 0.2
0 0.2

Table 2. Erosion Test Results for 50% Ethylene Glycol, 50%

H2O [13].
Impact Angle
(*)
90
90
50
50
30
30

Velocity
(m/s)
8.0
10.5
6.0
10.0
8.0
10.5

Time (hrs)
236
211
264
244
283
293

Weight Loss
(mg)
0 0.2
0 0.2
0 0.2
0 0.2
0 0.2
0 0.2

Table 3. Erosion Test Results for Cu Nanoparticles in

Trichloroethylene [13].
All automobiles today have a type of heat exchanger called a
radiator. The radiator is part of the cooling system of the
engine. The radiator is one of the many components of the
complex cooling system. Kole et al. prepared car engine
coolant (Al2O3 nanofluid) using a standard car engine coolant
(HP KOOLGARD) as the base fluid, and studied the thermal
conductivity and viscosity of the coolant. The prepared
nanofluid, containing only 3.5% volume fraction of Al2O3

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International Conference on Recent Advances in Mechanical Engineering and Interdisciplinary Developments [ICRAMID - 2014]

nanoparticles, displayed a fairly higher thermal conductivity

than the base fluid, and a maximum enhancement of 10.41%
was observed at room temperature nanofluids have a much
higher and strongly temperature-dependent thermal
conductivity at very low particle concentrations than
conventional fluids. This can be considered as one of the key
parameters for enhanced performances for many of the
applications of nanofluids. Because of its superior thermal
performances
Correlation of brake fluids temperature and kinematic
viscosity is shown in Fig 5. Brake fluid temperature is very
important in context that higher temperature of fluid will lead
inefficiency of braking system.

and concentration gradient compared to fresh nanofluids. It

indicat ed long term degradation in thermal performance of
nanofluids could be happened. Particles settling must be
examined carefully since it may lead to clogging of coolant
passages.

Fig. 6. Samples of Al2O3 nanofluids (without any stabilizer)

stability change with time.
b). Increase in pressure drop and pumping power
Peng et al. [16] reported that the frictional pressure drop of
refrigerant-based nanofluids flow boiling inside the horizontal
smooth tube is larger than that of pure refrigerant, and
increases with the increase of the mass fraction of
nanoparticles. The maximum enhancement of frictional
pressure drop can reach 20.8% under the experimental
conditions

Fig 5: CBN Temperature and Viscosity Fluctuations

IV CHALLENGES OF NANOFLUIDS
Nanofluids thermal conductivity depends on many factors,
like: (1) nanoparticle type, (2) nanoparticle size, (3)
nanoparticle shape, (4) nanoparticle concentration in base
fluid, (5) base fluid type, (6) additives and clustering, (7)
temperature, (8) possibly temperature gradient, and other
unknown factors which influence nanoparticle-base fluid
molecules interactions during the conduction heat transfer.
Aminfar et al. [14] used a Lagrangian-Eulerian approach and
found, contrary to some studies, that thermophoretic and
Brownian forces do not have remarkable effects on nanofluid
conductivity.

Fig 7. Pressure drop of the cooling liquid inside the PHE

versus the respective volumetric flow rate.
c). Nanofluid thermal behaviour in turbulent flow
convective heat transfer performance of the nanofluids also
attracted maximum attention from the researchers. Most of the
literatures reported that this property is greatly enhanced with
the application of nanofluids. However, there is an issue that
must be addressed carefully especially on the thermal
performance of nanofluids in turbulent flow. The study
revealed that 26% enhancement can be observed for
nanofluids with 1% of TiO2 nanoparticles, it showed
contradictory results at 2.0% volume fraction. Study indicated
that heat transfer coefficient of nanofluids at this condition
was 14% lower than basefluid. Pantzali et al. [17] added
substitution of conventional coolants by nanofluids seemed
beneficial for laminar flow compared to turbulent flow.
Another weakness of nanofluids is its thermal performance at
fully developed region.

a) stability of nanoparticles dispersion: Preparation of

homogeneous suspension remains a technical challenge since
the nanoparticles always form aggregates due to very strong
van der Waals interactions. To get stable nanofluids, physical
or chemical treatment have been conducted such as an
addition of surfactant, surface modification of the suspended
particles or applying strong force on the clusters of the
suspended particles. long term stability of nanoparticles
dispersion is one of the basic requirements of nanofluids
applications. Stability of nanofluids have good corresponding
relationship with the enhancement of thermal conductivity
where the better dispersion behavior, the higher thermal
conductivity of nanofluids. Lee and Mudawar [15] compared
the Al2O3 nanofluids stability visually over time span. It was
found that nanofluids kept for 30 days exhibit some settlement
ISBN 978-1-4799-3158-3

c). High cost of nanofluids: Higher cost of nanofluids is basic

reasons which hinder the application of nanofluids in industry.

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International Conference on Recent Advances in Mechanical Engineering and Interdisciplinary Developments [ICRAMID - 2014]

Nanofluids can be produced by either one step or two steps

methods. However both methods require advanced and
sophisticated equipments. Lee and Mudawar stressed that high
cost of nanofluids is among the drawback of nanofluids
applications.

Mater Res Soc Symp Proc 1996;457:311.

[6] Liu M-S, Lin MC-C, Huang I-Te, Wang C-C.
Enhancement of thermal conductivity with CuO for
nanofluids. Chem Eng Technol 2006;29(1):727.
[7] J. Routbort, et al., Argonne National Lab, Michellin
NorthAmerica,
St.
Gobain
Corp.,
2009,
http://www1.eere.energy.gov/industry/nanomanufacturing
/pdfs/nanofluids industrialcooling.pdf.
[8] Choi C, Yoo HS, Oh JM. Preparation and heat transfer
properties of nanoparticle-in-transformer oil dispersions
as advanced energy efficient coolants.Curr Appl Phys
2008;8:7102.
[9] H. B. Ma, C.Wilson, B. Borgmeyer, et al., Effect of
nanofluid on the heat transport capability in an oscillating
heat pipe, Applied Physics Letters, vol. 88, no. 14,
Article ID 143116, 3 pages, 2006.

V. CONCLUSION
Nanofluids are important because they can be used in
numerous applications involving heat transfer, and other
applications such as in detergency. Nanofluids have also been
demonstrated for use as smart fluids. Problems of nanoparticle
agglomeration, settling, and erosion potential all need to be
examined in detail in the applications
It can be concluded that nanofluids is a potential
candidate in Automobile sector application.
Heat transfer can be improved by nonofluids, hence
automobile radiators can be made energy efficient
and compact leading to compact shape and less drag.
This will increase fuel economy and also reduce the
weight of the vehicle
Exact mechanism of enhanced heat transfer for
nanofluids is still in progress and using efficiently in
todays major problem as reported by many
researchers.
There are different challenges of nanofluids which is
hindering its application. Research still has to be
done on the synthesis and applications of nanofluids
so that they may be applied as predicted.

[10] Jacopo Buongiorno et al., : A benchmark study on the

thermal conductivity of nanofluids, journal of applied
physics, vol 106 pp 10-14, 2009
[11] Wu S, Zhu D, Li X, Li H, Le J: Thermal energy storage
behavior of Al2O3- H2O nanofluids. Thermochim Acta
2009, 483:73-77.
[12] Devdatta P Kulkarni, Ravikanth S Vajjha and Debendra
K Das (2008), Daniel Oliva Application of Aluminum
Oxide Nanofluids in Diesel Electric Generator as Jacket
Water Coolant, science direct.com, June.
[13] Singh et al., Heavy vehicle systems optimization merit
review and peer evaluation, Annual Report, Argonne
National Laboratory, 2006.

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[16] Peng H, Ding G, Jiang W, Hu H, Gao Y. Measurement

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