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The campus will remain closed until 12 noon Thursday, 02/13/25. Students should log into Canvas for specific class information from their instructors. Please contact event organizers for information on specific activities. Normal operations will resume at 12pm on Thursday.

Nanofluids and Automotive Engine Cooling

Engineering
Mechanical Robotics and Industrial Engineering
Research

Heat exchange devices constitute several crucial components in automotive cooling systems such as radiator, A/C condenser and evaporator. Enhancement of thermal performance on these devices is critical for improved energy efficiency and design of the automobiles. A novel approach to enhance convective heat transfer is the use of nanofluids by seeding a very small amount of nanoparticles into the base fluid to form a stable dispersion.

Elankathiravan (Elan) Mathivanan, under the direction of Dr. Liping Liu, experimentally studied the effect of various nanofluids on automotive engine cooling. Elan mixed different types of nanoparticles such as Al2O3, TiC, SiC, MWNT (multi-walled nanotube), and SiO2 nanoparticles with distilled water and ethylene glycol to form nanofluids. An ultrasonic generator was used to generate uniform particle dispersion in the fluid. Elan studied the behavior of different nanoparticles using an Environmental Scanning Electron Microscope (ESME) and investigated the impact of various particle types and their volume concentration on fluid properties such as thermal conductivity, density and viscosity. Elan also set up an engine cooling performance testing apparatus to experimentally measure the impact of nanofluids on the cooling performance on an Aprilia SXV 450 engine used for the LTU’s Formula SAE vehicle. Elan compared the results of heat transfer capability for cooling system with and without nanoparticle seeding. He observed that the heat dissipation capacity of nanofluids increased with increasing volume concentration of nanoparticles and also with increasing coolant flow rate

Elan’s master thesis project was funded by the Denso North America Foundation.

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» Document Viewer

Use Your Cell Phone as a Document Camera in Zoom

  • What you will need to have and do
  • Download the mobile Zoom app (either App Store or Google Play)
  • Have your phone plugged in
  • Set up video stand phone holder

From Computer

Log in and start your Zoom session with participants

From Phone

  • Start the Zoom session on your phone app (suggest setting your phone to “Do not disturb” since your phone screen will be seen in Zoom)
  • Type in the Meeting ID and Join
  • Do not use phone audio option to avoid feedback
  • Select “share content” and “screen” to share your cell phone’s screen in your Zoom session
  • Select “start broadcast” from Zoom app. The home screen of your cell phone is now being shared with your participants.

To use your cell phone as a makeshift document camera

  • Open (swipe to switch apps) and select the camera app on your phone
  • Start in photo mode and aim the camera at whatever materials you would like to share
  • This is where you will have to position what you want to share to get the best view – but you will see ‘how you are doing’ in the main Zoom session.