Magnetofluidics for manipulation of convective heat transfer

Abstract We report heat transfer manipulation and control in a magnetofluidic device. The device consists of a circular chamber with a heat source on top and is positioned next to a permanent magnet that creates a non-uniform magnetic field. Convective heat transfer was evaluated and compared for three cases: DI-water, ferrofluid, and ferrofluid under the magnetic field. Experimental results indicate enhancement of convective heat transfer with the use of diluted ferrofluid as the working fluid. However, we observed a reduction in outlet temperature and Nusselt number in the presence of a non-uniform magnetic field. In addition, we report a full simulation of transport phenomena in the system explaining the physics of this phenomenon. The simulation results agree with the experimental data, and show the same trends.