Could raise the efficiency of such transformer oils by as much as 80 percent
Rice University scientists have created a nano-infused oil that could greatly enhance the ability of devices as large as electrical transformers and as small as microelectronic components to shed excess heat.
Research in the lab of Rice materials scientist Pulickel Ajayan, which appears in the American Chemical Society journal ACS Nano, could raise the efficiency of such transformer oils by as much as 80 percent in a way that is both cost-effective and environmentally friendly.
The Rice team headed by lead authors Jaime Taha-Tijerina, a graduate student, and postdoctoral researcher Tharangattu Narayanan focused their efforts on transformers for energy systems. Transformers are filled with mineral oils that cool and insulate the windings inside, which must remain separated from each other to keep voltage from leaking or shorting.
The researchers discovered that a very tiny amount of hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) particles, two-dimensional cousins to carbon-based graphene, suspended in standard transformer oils are highly efficient at removing heat from a system.
“We don’t need a large amount of h-BN,” Narayanan said. “We found that 0.1 weight percentage of h-BN in transformer oil enhances it by nearly 80 percent.”
“And at 0.01 weight percentage, the enhancement was around 9 percent,” Taha-Tijerina said. “Even with a very low amount of material, we can enhance the fluids without compromising the electrically insulating properties.”