International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET) e-ISSN: 2395 -0056 Volume: 03 Issue: 10 | Oct-2016 www.irjet.net p-ISSN: 2395-0072 © 2016, IRJET | Impact Factor value: 4.45 | ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal | Page 28 Experimental Investigation of plate heat exchanger using Nanofluids Dr.Syed Amjad Ahmad 1 , M. Naheed Javed 2 , M. Zahid Saeed 3 , Hashaam Syed 4 , M. Awais Aslam 5 1 Head of Department, 2 Assistant Professor, 3 Bsc Students 1,2,3,4,5 Department of Mechanical Engineering, NFC Institute of Engineering and Fertilizer Research, Faisalabad, Pakistan. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Abstract - There is a great need to work on the working fluids of heat exchanging devices in addition to their design. This experimental research work was based on the comparison between water and copper oxide nanofluids in gasket type (PHE) plate heat exchanger. The PHE pattern of plate was chevron type and the base fluid used for nanofluids was water. Three volume concentrations of 0.1, 0.3, and 0.5 were utilized and the nanoparticles size was 50nm. Convective heat transfer and thermo physical characteristics were studied at different flow rates keeping the initial conditions same. It was observed that the heat transfer capacity was increased with increasing concentration up to certain limit. Enhancement of 52% was observed in heat transfer capacity at the concentration of 0.3% as compared to pure water. Afterwards with further increase in concentration it showed a declining trend. It was also observed that with the increase of concentration density and friction was increased. Key words: Copper oxide, Nanofluids, plate heat exchanger, heat transfer, Nanoscale. 1 INTRODUCTION: The evolution in technological field as well as the intensification in industrial processes has justified the ever increasing demand of more effective heat exchanging systems. Therefore the scientific persuade is not only concerned with the advancement in industrial equipment designs but also with the enhancement in the thermal properties of the working fluids used in them. The innovation regarding equipment design came forward with an effective and compact device called Plate Heat Exchanger (PHE), having modulated surfaces. PHE normally consists of a set of thin corrugated stainless steel or titanium plates having ports or holes at their top corners which provides a passage for the two fluid mediums between which the heat is to be transferred. These plates are converged between a fixed frame plate and a movable pressure plate which are later compressed by using tightening bolts. PHEs are fabricated either in a gasketed or in a welded/brazed models. In a gasket PHE the flow passages for the both heat exchanging mediums are kept sealed with the help of bordering gaskets. The corrugations on the plates helps to create turbulence inside the fluid flow channels and also improves the mechanical strength of the plate pack [1, 2]. Such type of devices having high surface density and possessing a flow arrangement that has successive flow partitions and reattachments within the narrow PHE paths has shown enhanced heat transfer capability. On the other end, sophistication due to modulated surfaces also become the cause of frictional losses, which makes the design of PHE a possible problem that must be accommodated between greater heat transfer and the pumping power required [3]. The demand of such a working fluid that yields greater performance than the conventional one has attracted the