An approach – relaying on application of nanofluid as a working fluid, to improve performance of the two-phase thermosyphon heat exchanger (TPTHEx) has been proposed. The prototype heat exchanger consists of two horizontal cylindrical vessels connected by two risers and a downcomer. Tube bundles placed in the lower and upper cylinders work as an evaporator and a condenser, respectively. Distilled water and nanofluid water-Al2O3solution were used as working fluids. Nanoparticles were tested at the concentration of 0.01% and 0.1% by weight. A modified Peclet equation and Wilson method were used to estimate the overall heat transfer coefficient of the tested TPTHEx. The obtained results indicate better performance of the TPTHEx with nanofluids as working fluid compared to distilled water, independent of nanoparticle concentration tested. However, increase in nanoparticle concentration results in overall heat transfer coefficient decrease of the TPTHEx examined. It has been observed that, independent of nanoparticle concentration tested, decrease in operating pressure results in evaporation heat transfer coefficient increase.

In this study the results of simultaneous measurements of dynamic viscosity, thermal conductivity, electrical conductivity and pH of two nanofluids, i.e., thermal oil/Al2O3and thermal oil/TiO2are presented. Thermal oil is selected as a base liquid because of possible application in ORC systems as an intermediate heating agent. Nanoparticles were tested at the concentration of 0.1%, 1%, and 5% by weight within temperature range from 20°C to 60°C. Measurement devices were carefully calibrated by comparison obtained results for pure base liquid (thermal oil) with manufacturer’s data. The results obtained for tested nanofluids were compared with predictions made by use of existing models for liquid/solid particles mixtures.

The paper deals with pool boiling of water-Al2O3and water-Cu nanofluids on rough and porous coated horizontal tubes. Commercially available stainless steel tubes having 10 mm outside diameter and 0.6 mm wall thickness were used to fabricate the test heater. The tube surface was roughed with emery paper 360 or polished with abrasive compound. Aluminium porous coatings of 0.15 mm thick with porosity of about 40% were produced by plasma spraying. The experiments were conducted under different absolute operating pressures, i.e., 200, 100, and 10 kPa. Nanoparticles were tested at the concentration of 0.01, 0.1, and 1% by weight. Ultrasonic vibration was used in order to stabilize the dispersion of the nanoparticles. It was observed that independent of operating pressure and roughness of the stainless steel tubes addition of even small amount of nanoparticles augments heat transfer in comparison to boiling of distilled water. Contrary to rough tubes boiling heat transfer coefficient of tested nanofluids on porous coated tubes was lower compared to that for distilled water while boiling on porous coated tubes. A correlation equation for prediction of the average heat transfer coefficient during boiling of nanofluids on smooth, rough and porous coated tubes is proposed. The correlation includes all tested variables in dimensionless form and is valid for low heat flux, i.e., below 100 kW/m2.

The paper describes a fuel cell based system and its performance. The system is based on two fuel cell units, DC/DC converter, DC/AC inverter, microprocessor control unit, load unit, bottled hydrogen supply system and a set of measurement instruments. In the study presented in the paper a dynamic response of the proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell system to unit step change load as well as to periodical load changing cycles in the form of semi-sinusoidal and trapezoidal signals was investigated. The load was provided with the aid of an in-house-developed electronic load unit, which was fully PC controlled. The apparatus was commissioned by testing the steady-state operation of the module. The obtained efficiency of the fuel cell shows that the test apparatus used in the study provides data in substantial agreement with the manufacturer’s data.

This study is focused on experimental investigation of selected type of brazed plate heat exchanger (PHEx). The Wilson plot approach was applied in order to estimate heat transfer coefficients for the PHEx passages. The main aim of the paper was to experimentally check ability of several correlations published in the literature to predict heat transfer coefficients by comparison experimentally obtained data with appropriate predictions. The results obtained revealed that Hausen and Dittus-Boelter correlations underestimated heat transfer coefficient for the tested PHEx by an order of magnitude. The Aspen Plate code overestimated heat transfer coefficient by about 50%, while Muley-Manglik correlation overestimated it from 1% to 25%, dependent on the value of Reynolds number and hot or cold liquid side.