Abstract:

Automotive cooling is an extremely important aspect of vehicle exploitation. The conventional liquids used so far as coolants, such as water or ethylene glycol or their mixtures, have insufficient heat transfer capabilities, so new solutions are constantly being developed. These solutions include technological operations which consist in constructing new shapes and sizes of radiators as well as increasing the heat transfer surface of radiator elements in cooling systems. On the other hand, new liquids are searched for as an effective fluid in the heat exchange process. Recently, nanofluids, i.e. fluids consisting of nanoparticles and a base fluid, have been used as new fluids. Nanofluids are characterized by a higher convective heat transfer coefficient and thus can be efficient fluids for radiator cooling of automotive vehicles. Nanofluids may be used as an agent intensifying heat exchange also in such areas as: electronics, medicine, construction, cosmic technologies. The application of nanofluids in automotive vehicles increases engine efficiency, reduces fuel consumption and reduces exhaust emissions. The presented review focuses only on nanofluids suitable for applications in the automotive industry, in cooling systems, precisely in car radiators as a coolant. The review presents and characterizes: methods of nanofluid synthesis, dispersion methods improving solution stability, and the effect of selected nanofluids on the improvement of heat exchange and cooling process in vehicle exploitation.