12/13/2014 Heat And Mass Transfer

Lab Report
Convection

Submitted To:
Sir Imran Masood
Submitted By:
Mohsin Munawar
2011-ME-150-C2

Department of Mechanical Engineering UET

Lahore
Lab Session # 1

Objective
Study of convective heat transfer for free convection using a flat plate heat exchanger

Apparatus
Free and Forced Convection Unit, Thermal Anemometer

Apparatus Diagram

Description Of Apparatus
 This unit consists of a bench mounted vertical air duct positioned on the top of a centrifugal
fan. The air duct incorporates an aperture positioned at the rear wall of the duct, into which
three different types of heat transfer surfaces can be inserted. The three types of heat
exchanger supplied are; flat plate, cylindrical pins and finned surface.
 The unit incorporates an electrical heating element, with positive thermal cut-out, and
thermocouples for precise temperature measurement. The clamping mechanism ensures
accurate alignment of the surface inside the duct.
 The front wall of the duct is acrylic, to allow viewing of the heated surface and
measurement sensors.
 For forced convection, the centrifugal fan draws ambient air upwards through a flow
straightened and over the exchanger surface (A manually variable throttle controls the
airflow).
 An air velocity sensor measures the air velocity inside the duct upstream of the heat
exchanger.
 Thermocouples measure the air temperature before and after the heat exchanger, together
with the surface temperature at three positions along the extended surface exchanger
 The air flow rate and the configuration of the heat exchangers can all be controlled via the
from the front panel controls.

Theory

Convection:
Convection is mode of heat transfer due to some perceptible motion of substance. It requires
molecular level motion. It is governed by Newton’s Law Of Cooling.

Free Or Natural Convection:

Free or Natural convection is a mechanism, or type of heat transport, in which the fluid
motion is not generated by any external source (like a pump, fan, suction device, etc.) but
only by density differences in the fluid occurring due to temperature gradients. In natural
convection, fluid surrounding a heat source receives heat, becomes less dense and rises. The
surrounding, cooler fluid then moves to replace it. This cooler fluid is then heated and the
process continues, forming a convection current; this process transfers heat energy from the
bottom of the convection cell to top. The driving force for natural convection is buoyancy, a
result of differences in fluid density. Because of this, the presence of a acceleration such as
arises from resistance to gravity, or an equivalent force (arising from acceleration or
centrifugal force), is essential for natural convection.

Forced Convection:
Forced convection is a mechanism, or type of transport in which fluid motion is generated by
an external source (like a pump, fan, suction device, etc.). It should be considered as one of
the main methods of useful heat transfer as significant amounts of heat energy can be
transported very efficiently.

Newton’s Law Of Cooling:

Newton’s Law Of Cooling states that the rate of change of the temperature of an object
is proportional to the difference between its own temperature and the ambient
temperature (i.e. the temperature of its surroundings).

Newton's cooling law is a solution of the differential equation given by Fourier's law:

Where

is the thermal energy in joules

is the heat transfer coefficient (assumed independent of T here) (W/m2 K)
is the heat transfer surface area (m2)
is the temperature of the object's surface and interior (since these are the same in this
approximation)
is the temperature of the environment; i.e. the temperature suitably far from the
surface
 is the time-dependent thermal gradient between
environment and object

The heat transfer coefficient h depends upon physical properties of the fluid and the physical
situation in which convection occurs. Therefore, a single usable heat transfer coefficient (one that
does not vary significantly across the temperature-difference ranges covered during cooling and
heating) must be derived or found experimentally for every system that can be analyzed using
the presumption that Newton's law will hold.

Types of heat exchangers:

1. Pinned heat exchanger.
2. Finned heat exchanger.

Pinned heat Exchanger:

A plate heat exchanger is a type of heat exchanger that uses metal plates to transfer heat
between two fluids. This has a major advantage over a conventional heat exchanger in that the
fluids are exposed to a much larger surface area because the fluids spread out over the plates.
This facilitates the transfer of heat, and greatly increases the speed of the temperature change.
Plate heat exchangers are now common and very small brazed versions are used in the hot-
water sections of millions of combination boilers. The high heat transfer efficiency for such a
small physical size has increased the domestic hot water (DHW) flow rate of combination
boilers. The small plate heat exchanger has made a great impact in domestic heating and hot-
water. Larger commercial versions use gaskets between the plates, smaller version tend to be
brazed.

Finned Heat Exchanger:

This type of heat exchanger uses "sandwiched" passages containing fins to increase the
effectiveness of the unit. The designs include cross flow and counterblow coupled with various
fin configurations such as straight fins, offset fins and wavy fins.
Plate and fin heat exchangers are usually made of aluminum alloys, which provide high heat
transfer efficiency. The material enables the system to operate at a lower temperature and
reduce the weight of the equipment. Plate and fin heat exchangers are mostly used for low
temperature services such as natural gas, helium and oxygen liquefaction plants, air separation
plants and transport industries such as motor and aircraft engines.
Observations And Calculations:

Sr No P(W) T(°C)

1 19.2 35.2

2 31.1 38

3 40.7 44.8

4 50.9 52.2

Graph:

Free Convection
60

50

40
T(°C)

30

20

10

0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
P(W)

Comments:
1. Wait For the heat exchanger temperature to become stable otherwise error will occur in
reading.
2. The air moves in upward direction due to density difference between hot and cold
temperature region.
3. The graph of free convection shows that by increasing power the temperature of plate
increases so temperature difference will increase and as a result of this the rate of heat
transfer through convection will increase.
Lab Session # 2

Objective
Study of convective heat transfer for forced convection using a flat plate heat exchanger

Apparatus
Free and Forced Convection Unit, Thermal Anemometer

Observations And Calculations:

Sr No P(W) T(°C) V(m/s

1 20 66.2 1.3
2 30 66.9 1.3
3 40 69 1.3
4 50 72 1.3

Sr No V(m/s) T(°C) P(W)

1 19.2 35.2 30
2 31.1 38 30
3 40.7 44.8 30
4 50.9 52.2 30

Graphs:

Forced Convection
73

72

71

70
T(°C)

69

68

67

66

65
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
P(W)
 Forced Convection
60

50

40
T(°C)

30

20

10

0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
V(m/s)

Comments:
1. Wait For the heat exchanger temperature to become stable otherwise error will occur in
reading.
2. The Graph shows that temperature of plate increases by increasing power but as
compared to free convection case this increase in temperature is steeper so rate of heat
transfer will increase significantly.
3. By increasing the velocity of forced air the temperature of plate increases as shown in the
graph.
Lab Session # 3

Objective
Study of convective heat transfer for forced convection using different extended surfaces

Apparatus
Free and Forced Convection Unit, Thermal Anemometer.

Observations And Calculations:

Sr No P(W) Tpinned(°C) Tfinned(°C) V(m/s
1 30 23.4 23.6 1.3
2 40 24.3 24.1 1.3
3 50 26 24.9 1.3
4 60 28 26.2 1.3

Sr No V(m/s) Tpinned(°C) Tfinned(°C) P(W)

1 0 34.5 28.4 30
2 0.5 35.4 28.8 30
3 1 35.6 29.2 30
4 1.3 35.8 29.5 30

Graphs:
Forced Convection With Pinned And Finned H.E
29

28

27
T(°C)

26
Tpinned(°C)
Tfinned(°C)
25

24

23
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
P(W)
 Forced Convection With Pinned And Finned H.E
37

35

33
T(°C)

31
Tpinned(°C)
Tfinned(°C)
29

27

25
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4
V(m/s)

Comments:
1. Wait For the heat exchanger temperature to become stable otherwise error will occur in
reading.
2. The temperature rise for pinned surface w.r.t temperature as well as power is more than
finned surface as shown in graphs.
3. Pinned heat exchanger is more efficient as compared to finned heat exchanger.
Lab Session # 4

Objective
Draw the temperature profile along an extended surface for forced convection and find the
effectiveness of the extended surface.

Apparatus
Free and Forced Convection Unit, Thermal Anemometer

Observations And Calculations:

Sr No P(W) V(m/s) X(m) Tbase(°C) Tpinned(°C) Tfinned(°C)

1 30 1.3 0 28 28 28
2 30 1.3 1 28 22.3 24.3
3 30 1.3 3.6 28 21.8 23.4
4 30 1.3 6.2 28 21.5 22.8

Graph:

Temperature Profile For Forced Convection with pinned

and finned H.E
30

25

20
T(°C)

15 Tbase(°C)
Tpinned(°C)
10
Tfinned(°C)

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
X(m)
Comments:
1. Wait For the heat exchanger temperature to become stable otherwise error will occur in
reading.
2. For a heat exchanger to be 100% efficient the complete extended surface temperature
must be the same as the back plate.
3. In this case the fin is marginally more efficient because of its surface area as shown by
the graph.
Lab Session # 5

Objective
Determine the effect of change in orientation of H.E on temperature profile for free
convection.

Apparatus
Free and Forced Convection Unit, Thermal Anemometer

Observations And Calculations:

Sr No P(W) Tvertical(°C) Thorizontal(°C)

1 30 29 33
2 40 30.8 34.2
3 50 32 35.5

Graph:
Free Convection For Different Orientations
40

35

30

25
T(°C)

20
Tvertical(°C)
15 Thorizontal(°C)

10

0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
P(W)

Comments:
1. A horizontal plate restricts the movement of air and reduces the heat transfer. The same
plate mounted vertically will give improved heat transfer.
2. Cubical body will have no effect on temperature profile with orientation.