Synergistic Study of Solid Lubricant Nano-Additives Incorporated in canola oil for Enhancing Energy Efficiency and Sustainability

In recent years, with the development of eco-friendly lubricants, different vegetable oils have been studied and found to improve the overall tribological performance compared to petroleum-based oils. Being one of the commonly used vegetable oils, canola oil has become popular due to its non-toxicity and low cost. However, this bio-lubricant lacks tribological performance compared to petroleum-based oils. To improve its performance, sustainable solid additives such as graphene nanoplatelet (GNP) and hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) have recently gained the researcher’s attention. While incorporating nanomaterials in the oil as additives is a promising way to improve base oil’s performance, the excessive use of nanoparticles can introduce undesirable effects. This study investigated canola oil’s tribological performances with the addition of 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0 wt.% GNP and 0.5, 1.0, and 1.5 wt.% hBN nanoparticles. The dynamic viscosities of these seven settings showed higher viscosity for GNP-incorporated oils compared to that with hBN. The boundary lubrication regime was targeted for the coefficient of friction (COF) and wear analyses during each pin on the disk test. It was observed that for the GNP, 1.5 wt.% provided the minimum COF (52% less than base oil), whereas, for the hBN, 1.0 wt.% provided the lowest (40% less than base oil) values. Based on these insights, three nano lubricant mixtures were formulated by incorporating both GNP and hBN settings in different ratios. These mixtures provided an optimum positive synergy by reducing 56% friction and 90% wear compared to the base oil. These percentage values were significantly more compared to both GNP and hBN based lubricants in their individual settings. These improvements in the mixture were due to a composite film formed which protected the interacting surfaces and also due to the polishing mechanisms. Therefore, incorporating both these nanoparticles in canola oil could reduce friction and wear and thus help in better energy conservation.

Effect of using hybrid nano lubricant on the thermo-hydrodynamic performance of two lobe journal bearings

Due to the wide range of journal bearings applications in the industrial machine, significant efforts have been made by tribology researchers to improve their performance in recent years. Designing new bearings geometry and using lubricants with new chemical compounds including additives are the most common solutions proposed to enhance the performance of journal bearing supports. New advancements in nanotechnology and producing the various types of nano particles have provided the chance of upgrading the properties of commercial lubricants. According to the different effect of nano fluids on the performance of mechanical systems corresponding to their composition, today they are used to achieve different goals in lubrication systems. Upgrading the steady state performance parameters including load carrying capacity, attitude angle, surface cooling and effective viscosity are among the expected results of applying nano lubricant in journal bearings. So, in this study the performance of hydrodynamic two lobe journal bearings lubricated with SiO2-multiwall carbon nano tubes /SAE40 hybrid nano fluid is presented considering the thermal effects. For this purpose, the governing Reynolds and energy equations as well as the equation of heat transfer in bearing shell are modified based on the properties of assumed rotor-bearing system. Then the effects of solid volume fraction of nano particles on the performance of two lobe bearings are studied for different amount of bearing noncircularity. The results indicate that upgrading the solid volume fraction of added nano particle to the SAE40 base oil, enhances the lubricant pressure distribution, load carrying capacity, and lubricant effective viscosity. Further, by increasing the solid volume fraction, the attitude angle and temperature of lubricant and rotor-bearing surfaces experience a decreasing trend. Generally, it's obvious from the results that choosing the appropriate solid volume fraction of SiO2-multiwall carbon nano tubes in hybrid nano oil composition, especially for high value of preload factor, can improve the performance of two lobe bearings.

Research on Nano Refrigerant and Nano Lubricant to Improve Energy Saving of Refrigeration System

In order to improve the performance of the refrigeration system, researchers have introduced nano-refrigerant and nano-lubricating oil into the latest development of airconditioning system. However, explaining the role of nano-particles based on the physical phenomena affecting the vapor compression refrigeration system (VCRS) has been limited in experiments. Therefore, this paper reviews the mechanism of using nano-refrigerant and nano-lubricating oil to improve the performance of VCRS, discusses the compression work of the refrigeration system using nano-refrigerant and nano-lubricating oil and VCRS performance parameters such as COP and COF, and relates them to the overall performance of the system. The results show that the main factors affecting the performance of VCRS are heat transfer enhancement, refinement of the characteristics of cold oil mixture and improvement of tribological properties. The influence of nano-refrigerant and nano-lubricating oil on heat transfer, cold oil mixture and tribological properties of VCRS improves the overall performance of VCRS. Therefore, nano-refrigerant and nano-lubricant are expected to be the best choice to improve the efficiency of VCRS.