A review on the heat transfer characteristics of nanomaterials suspended with refrigerants in refrigeration systems

Abstract In the current scenario, various technologies are being used for reducing the size of the material into micro to nano-size. By decreasing the material into micro to nano -size, it has led to the development of unusual and novel performances of the materials in the heat transfer applications. Recent technologies used nanomaterials in heat transfer systems due to their significant improvement in thermo-physical, and heat transfer capabilities to improve the efficiency and reliability of heating ventilation and air conditioning system. Over a decade of research is carried out to enhance the performance of thermal devices that operate based on refrigerants. By adding nanoparticles to the refrigerants i.e. nanorefrigerants showed promising results in enhancing the thermal properties of such devices. This paper provides a comprehensive review of previously published research papers on nanorefrigerants along with a detailed study is conducted on the thermal performance of various nanorefrigerants at different nanoparticle concentrations and a comparison is also made between the thermophysical properties of nanorefrigerant and pure refrigerant in this review paper. The present status of the nano-size materials with refrigerant and their heat transfer properties, improvement potentials, technical applications and future challenges are also discussed in this paper.