3D Helmholtz coil system setup for thermal conductivity measurements of magnetic nanofluids

This study aims to design a mechatronic system that involves a 3D Helmholtz coil system implemented with the 3ω method to measure the thermal conductivity of magnetic nanofluids under uniform and rotating magnetic fields. For this purpose, a 3D Helmholtz coil system was designed and manufactured to generate a uniform and rotating magnetic field up to 400 G. First, the uniformity and rotation abilities of the magnetic field generated by the system were investigated numerically and experimentally. The investigations pointed out that the 3D Helmholtz coil system can generate a uniform magnetic field in 1D, 2D, and 3D with a maximum non-uniformity factor of 0.0016. After that, the thermal conductivity of Fe3O4 – water magnetic nanofluid samples with 1, 2, 3, 4, and 4.8 vol.% were measured under 1D, 2D, and 3D uniform magnetic field application. The magnetic field was applied at different direction angles between X, Y, and Z axes in the Cartesian coordinate system. The results pointed out that the thermal conductivity of the samples increases as the magnetic field and particle concentration increase. The maximum thermal conductivity enhancement was observed as ∼9.1% and the minimum thermal conductivity was observed as ∼1.9% when the magnetic field is applied in parallel and perpendicular directions, respectively. The measurement results also pointed out that under the external uniform magnetic field application at 2D and 3D, thermal conductivity enhancement is less affected by the particle concentration increment.