Nanofluids Application as Nanolubricants in Heat Pumps Systems

Key

2170

Conference Year

2014

Authors

Laura Fedele, Istituto per le Tecnologie della Costruzione, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Corso Stati Uniti 4, 35131 Padova, ItalyFollow
Laura Colla, Istituto per le Tecnologie della Costruzione, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Corso Stati Uniti 4, 35131 Padova, ItalyFollow
Mauro Scattolini, Istituto per le Tecnologie della Costruzione, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Corso Stati Uniti 4, 35131 Padova, ItalyFollow
Filippo Bellomare, Industrial Engineering Department, University of Padova, Via Venezia 1, 35131 Padova, ItalyFollow
Sergio Bobbo, Istituto per le Tecnologie della Costruzione, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Corso Stati Uniti 4, 35131 Padova, ItalyFollow

Keywords

nanofluid, POE, mineral oil, titanium oxide, single wall carbon nano-horns

Abstract

In the last years, various applications have been proposed for nanofluids in the Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration (HVACR) field; their use as primary and secondary fluids, also as lubricants, was kept into account to improve the systems performance. The present work was developed to test the applicability of nanofluids as lubricants in the compressors of the heat pump systems, with the purpose to experimentally detect the possible positive effects of nanolubricants. Several nanolubricants, formed by Polyolester (POE) or mineral oil, as base fluid, and titanium oxide (TiO2) or single wall carbon nano-horns (SWCNH), as nanoparticles, were studied in a dedicated test rig. In contrast with the published literature, no improvement was detected using nanofluids instead of commercial oil. All results will be deeply discussed in the paper.