Nanofluids for electronics cooling

The goal of this study is to investigate experimentally the thermal performance of an electronics cooling system which is available in the market. Selected system is a water block used for liquid cooling of a central processing unit (CPU) of a computer. A suitable heater (resistance wire) is fabricated for producing heat similar to CPU. System is instrumented with K-type thermocouples for the temperature measurement of certain points. The experiments were carried out first with water and then with water-based Alumina nanofluid. Nanofluid sample was supplied from NanoAmor Inc., with particle concentration of 6.33 volumetric percent and diluted to 1 volumetric percent with water, by using a probe type ultrasound for 2 minutes at 70 W. During the experiments 60 W power applied to the CPU and the ambient temperature was 19 degree Celcius. Our results show that nanofluids, with low volume concentration (1 percent vol.) of Alumina particles decreases the maximum temperature of the system, almost 2.7 degree Celcius, compared to water.