Magnetic nanoparticles for improved cooling systems

(MIT, November 19, 2013)

Cooling systems generally rely on water pumped through pipes to remove unwanted heat. Now, researchers at MIT and in Australia have found a way of enhancing heat transfer in such systems by using magnetic fields, a method that could prevent hotspots that can lead to system failures. The system could also be applied to cooling everything from electronic devices to advanced fusion reactors, they say. The system relies on a slurry of tiny particles of magnetite, a form of iron oxide in water flowing through tubes that can be manipulated by magnets placed on the outside of the tubes. Adding the nanoparticle-magnet-system to regular cooling systems based on waters improve the heat transfer coefficient in the best case by about 300 percent.