The excellent thermal characteristics of nanoparticles have increased their application in the field of heat transfer. In this paper, a thermophysical and geometrical parameter study is performed to minimize the total entropy generation of the viscoelastic flow of nanofluid. Entropy generation with respect to volume fraction (<0.04), the Reynolds number (20,000-100,000), and the diameter of the microchannel (20-20,000 μm) with the circular cross-section under constant flux are calculated. As is shown, most of the entropy generation owes to heat transfer and by increasing the diameter of the channel, the Bejan number increases. The contribution of heat entropy generation in the microchannel is very poor and the major influence of entropy generation is attributable to friction. The maximum quantity of in-channel entropy generation happens in nanofluids with TiO2, CuO, Cu, and Ag nanoparticles, in turn, despite the fact in the microchannel this behavior is inverted, the minimum entropy generation occurs in nanofluids with CuO, Cu, Ag, and TiO2 nanoparticles, in turn. In the channel and microchannel for all nanofluids except water-TiO2, increasing the volume fraction of nanoparticles decreases entropy generation. In the channel and microchannel the total entropy generation increases by augmentation the Reynolds number.
Keywords: entropy generation minimization; heat transfer; microchannel; nanofluids.