Magnetic field effects on heat transfer enhancement in an enclosure in microgravity conditions

In this numerical study, the effect of the magnetic field on the convective heat transfer of a magnetic fluid in an enclosure is investigated in the microgravity condition. Two cases of a single magnetic field source under the enclosure and two sources on the top and below the enclosure are considered. The simulations are carried out for different magnetic field intensities and magnetic source distances from the enclosure. Results indicate that the heat transfer in the microgravity is much lower than that of natural conditions due to the lack of the flow vortex. Applying the magnetic field and the induced vortex due to the magnetic body force cause a significant improvement in the heat transfer. Results show that the heat transfer rate in the microgravity condition can be increased up to 6.5 times. Moreover, placing two magnetic field sources improves the main vortex and leads to a 19.7 times enhancement of the heat transfer rate compared to the case of a single source.