Effect of plate spacing and inclination angle over the thermal performance of plate heat exchanger working with novel stabilized polar solvent-based silicon carbide nanofluid

In this work, the overall thermal performance of a commercial corrugated plate heat exchanger has been conducted for the first time by varying the three different plate corrugated angles (30°, 45°, 60°) and variable plate spacing (from 5 mm to 20 mm) working with polar solvent-based novel Silicon carbide (SiC)/DI Water nanosuspension as a coolant by focusing potential industrial application. This study aimed to identify the enhancement in thermal performance of plate heat exchanger by evaluating its overall heat transfer coefficient, pressure drop, pumping power, and exergetic efficiency by utilizing SiC/DI water nanofluid of varying volume concentration (0.20 %, 0.40 %, 0.60 %, 0.80 %, 1.00 %, 1.20 %, and 1.40 %) at ambient condition (T₀ = 27 ° C), and fixed volumetric flow rate (3 L/min) for both (nanofluid and milk) sides. From the experimental results, the optimum volume concentration for the coolant was found as 0.60 %, which yields a significant enhancement in the overall heat transfer coefficient ratio by approximately 51 %, 42 %, and 38 % for 60°, 45°, and 30° corrugated plate angle respectively. The significant enhancement for 0.6 % of optimum volume concentration and 5 mm plate spacing has been reported as the best possible option at which the pumping power ratio, performance index ratio, and exergetic efficiency ratio attained the highest enhancements.