Laminar flow modeling of different nano fluids around a flat plate fin for geometry optimization at the heat sink

This paper presents a mathematical model for geometry optimization of a rectangular cross-section flat plate fin with application in calculating optimized width of a heat sink for different Nano fluids (Aluminum oxide, Silicon dioxide, Titanium dioxide, Copper oxide, Gold, Copper, Diamond and Ferros oxide) with water as based fluid. Flow impinging on the fin is considered laminar. The effects of Reynolds number, volume fraction of nanoparticles, particle size, inlet velocity and different average temperature on the geometry optimization of the fin are investigated. A rectangular flat plate fin made from copper with higher thermal conductivity is used as the test case. Various Nano fluids with different volume fractions (0.005% to 0.1%) and different nanoparticle sizes (3×10-8 to 1×10-7 nanometer) are analyzed. In this analysis, as a basic assumption, the length of the fin is taken larger than the width and the fin volume is considered constant. Then, width of the fin will be optimized. The results indicated that the highest and the lowest optimized width is related to Gold and silicon dioxide nano fluids respectively. Increase in volume fraction, inlet velocity and temperature and decrease in nano particle size leads to optimized width enhancement.