Heat transfer analysis of piston cooling using nanofluids in the gallery

Attaining proper temperature in engines is always a challenge for engine manufacturers primarily because temperature has a significant role in engine performance and emissions. With the development of new technology in the field of nanofluids, it seems very promising to use nanofluids as the coolant in internal combustion engines. In this reported work, Cu and diamond nanoparticles with diameters of 50 nm were dispersed in conventional engine oil to create nanofluids (volume fractions of 1, 2 and 3%) to serve as the cooling medium for a piston-cooling gallery. The piston thermal loading calculations were carried out based on numerical hydrodynamic simulation through a liquid-solid-coupled thermodynamic method. The obtained results indicate that using different volume fractions of nanofluids can effectively reduce the thermal loading of the piston.