In recent years, horizontal pin-fin tubes have shown their superior performance compared to integral-fin tubes at low vapour velocity. These new pin-fin tubes could prove an efficient replacement of integral-fin tubes in industrial condensers. In general, industrial condensers are operated at high vapour velocity. This project is focused to investigate the behavior of condensate of different condensing fluids at high vapour velocity with an aim to find optimum pin-fin tube geometries for condensation heat transfer at high vapour velocity. Development of theoretical correlations to predict condensate retention and heat transfer rate at high vapour velocity is also in progress.

Automotive industry is undergoing continuous improvement in all of its major fields. Heat transfer enhancement to improve the performance of the automobile is an important aspect of this industry. Radiator is an important heat exchanger of an automobile which is used for cooling of car engine, generally with water as fluid to carry out heat from engine. Many conventional techniques (i.e. maximizing the heat transfer area) have been used by researchers to enhance radiator heat transfer performance, however, so far less work has been performed on radiator heat transfer enhancement using nanofluids. This project investigates the heat transfer enhancement capabilities for a range of nanofluids.

There is a pressing demand for ultrahigh performance microprocessors to process the ever increasing data streams. These high-performance microprocessors are responsible for smart and powerful computers in use today. Increasing circuit density in computer chips leads to a high heat generation rate which calls for better thermal management techniques to keep normal operating temperatures in a 60–100 °C range. Recently, multi-walled carbon nano-tube nanofluids (1% wt in water) were tested and translated about 15% enhancement in heat transfer compared to conventional fin geometries operated using water. To explore the enhancement effects of various nanofluids, this project is currently in progress.

In recent decades, many methods i.e. using fins to increase area, coating of the heating surface, vibrating heating surface or fluid, added surfactant in base fluid and applying electric field were reported to enhance the nucleate boiling heat transfer. However, much less work is available for nucleate boiling using nanofluids. This project aims to investigate the nanofluids pool boiling. An experimental facility is currently under construction

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Photovoltaic technology is receiving a great attention in recent years to overcome the power generation issues. However, the basic requirement of photovoltaic power generation system of any geological location is to have accurate estimation of its performance at outdoor operating conditions. The information given by the manufacturer of a PV module is based on standard test condition (irradiance 1000 W/m2, module temperature 25°C and AM 1.5). This project has focused on the performance measurements of different PV modules during the summer and winter seasons of Taxila. The effects of module temperature and dust deposition have so far been found the parameters decreasing the PV module efficiency.

One of the major areas of cooling of electronics is through the phase change materials (PCMs). However, PCMs generally have very poor value of thermal conductivity so it is very important to increase the thermal conductivity of PCMs. It can be achieved by using thermal conductivity enhancers in PCMs. Experimental research in this area is currently being performed to understand the effect of different geometries of thermal conductivity enhancers on the heat sink performance. Following apparatus is used.