Design and implementation of a self-regulating magnetofluidic cooling device

• Main Author: Chua, Jarrett Zhan Hao
• Other Authors: Raju V. Ramanujan
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2019
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Materials
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/76714
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Magnetic cooling is governed by thermomagnetic convection (TMC), and the effect is called thermomagnetic (TM) effect. The TM effect results in the flow of ferrofluid (FF) in the presence of a temperature gradient and the external magnetic field. Cooling technologies based on the TM effect has the potential to reduce the temperature of the devices to a safer working limit. This improves device life span and reliability. This technology has other advantages. Examples are noise-free, vibration-free, no or low maintenance and no external power requirement. However, high power and high-temperature applications are still a challenge due to the limitations such as the device form factor, flow channel length, the boiling point of the carrier fluid, the saturation magnetization of the FF, and the viscosity of the FF. In this report, the heat load (HL) was cooled down using a triple-torus design prototype. The prototype experimented with HL power ranging from 0.5 kW to 1 kW. The cooling of the HL was investigated as a function of HL power, and the optimal magnet position with respect to the HL. At 0.5 kW, 320°C to 172°C, 0.67 kW, 435°C to 280°C, 0.83 kW, 540°C to 347°C, and 1 kW, 580°C to 366°C temperature drops were obtained. Numerical simulation was performed using COMSOL Multiphysics software, where simulation shows good agreement to experimental results. By varying different input conditions, the cooling performance was optimized.