Experimentation with different alumina hybrid (50:50) suspensions as coolant on plate heat exchanger performance

Energy evaluation of the plate heat exchanger is done using Al₂O₃ mixed hybrid nanofluids as a coolant. The various hybrid nanofluids (AlN–Al₂O₃, SiC–Al₂O₃, and MgO–Al₂O₃) with equal nanoparticle ratio (5:5) and Al₂O₃ (10:0) of 0.01% total volume concentration and DI water act as a coolant. The impact of different nanoparticle combinations, flow rate, and inlet temperature on the heat transfer rate, pump work, performance index, heat transfer coefficient, and effectiveness is examined. It is observed that the heat transfer rate, convective heat transfer coefficient, effectiveness, and performance index enhance with an increase in the flow rate and with the addition of nanoparticles. The heat transfer rate and heat transfer coefficient improve the maximum for SiC–Al₂O₃ hybrid nanofluid to 3.8% and 11.7%, respectively. In contrast, pump work enhances up to 0.25% for Al₂O₃ (10:0) nanofluid. The effectiveness and performance index improve up to 3.9% for SiC (5:5) hybrid nanofluid. Further, a correlation to estimate the Nusselt number of base fluid has been proposed for the studied cases.