An experimental investigation was performed on the thermal performance and heat transfer characteristics of acetone/zirconia nanofluid in a straight (rod) gravity-assisted heat pipe. The heat pipe was fabricated from copper with a diameter of 15 mm, evaporator-condenser length of 100 mm and adiabatic length of 50 mm. The zirconia-acetone nanofluid was prepared at 0.05–0.15% wt. Influence of heat flux applied to the evaporator, filling ratio, tilt angle and mass concentration of nanofluid on the heat transfer coefficient of heat pipe was investigated. Results showed that the use of nanofluid increases the heat transfer coefficient while decreasing the thermal resistance of the heat pipe. However, for the filling ratio and tilt angle values, the heat transfer coefficient initially increases with an increase in both. However, from a specific value, which was 0.65 for filling ratio and 60–65 deg for tilt angle, the heat transfer coefficient was suppressed. This was attributed to the limitation in the internal space of the heat pipe and also the accumulation of working fluid inside the bottom of the heat pipe due to the large tilt angle. Overall, zirconia-acetone showed a great potential to increase the thermal performance of the heat pipe.

In the present research, an experimental investigation was conducted to assess the heat transfer coefficient of aqueous citric acid mixtures. The experimental facility provides conditions to assess the influence of various operating conditions such as the heat flux (0–190 kW/m2), mass flux (353–1059 kg/m2s) and the concentration of citric acid in water (10%– 50% by volume) with a view to measure the subcooled flow boiling heat transfer coefficient of the mixture. The results showed that two main heat transfer mechanisms can be identified including the forced convective and nucleate boiling heat transfer. The onset point of nucleate boiling was also identified, which separates the forced convective heat transfer domain from the nucleate boiling region. The heat transfer coefficient was found to be higher in the nucleate boiling regime due to the presence of bubbles and their interaction. Also, the influence of heat flux on the heat transfer coefficient was more pronounced in the nucleate boiling heat transfer domain, which was also attributed to the increase in bubble size and rate of bubble formation. The obtained results were also compared with those theoretically obtained using the Chen type model and with some experimental data reported in the literature. Results were within a fair agreement of 22% against the Chen model and within 15% against the experimental data.