Forced Convection

Table of Contents

AIM AND OBJECTIVE 2

INTRODUCTION 3

THEORY 3

APPARATUS 6

METHOD 8

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 8

HEAT TRANSFER COEFFICIENT 11

NON DIMENSIONAL PARAMETERS 12

ERRORS 13

CONCLUSION 13

REFERENCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY 14

Aim and Objective

The aim of this experiment was to determine the heat transfer characteristics of
a cylinder under cross flow conditions when the cylinder is isolated.
Introduction
A heat exchanger is a device that transfers heat from one medium to another.
Heat can be transferred by methods of conduction, convection and radiation.
This experiments follows heat transfer through convection but more specifically,
forced convection.

Convection transfers heat by motion of a fluid such as air or water. In convection,

particles with more heat energy, take the place of particles with less heat energy.
Forced convection uses external methods to force the fluid to flow over a surface,
this is done by using a pump or fan. Forced convection can be used to find the
heat transfer characteristics, these are important for application in industry

The heat exchanger used in this experiment is a cross-flow heat exchanger. In a

cross-flow heat exchanger, the fluids move perpendicular to one another through
the exchanger.

There are many applications of cross flow heat exchangers in industry. In most
cases, the heat transfer occurs between a liquid flowing inside a tube and air
flowing over the tubes.

In a car radiator, the air flowing through the radiator cools the hot water in the
tubes. The engine has tubes exposed to the air, the air then flows into these tubes
and removes the heat from the water. This ensures the engine is working to well.

For an air conditioner, the evaporator coil experiences heat transfer; air flowing
past the evaporator coil is cooled by the cold refrigerant flowing inside the tube
of the coil.

They can also be used in power plants to prevent the loss of heat and in turn,
saving energy.

Heat exchangers have very important results as they stop systems from
overheating and getting damaged.

Theory
As heat is lost by forced convection form the test rod. The amount of heat
transferred can be expressed as
𝑄̇ = 𝛼𝐴(𝑇 − 𝑇𝑎 ) [1]

where 𝑄̇ = rate of heat transfer, W

= film heat transfer coefficient, W/m2K
A= area for heat transfer, m2
T= temperature of the copper rod, oC or K
Ta= temperature of air, oC or K

At any time, dt, the fall in temperature, dT, will be

−𝑄̇𝑑𝑡 = 𝑚𝑐𝑝 𝑑𝑇 [2]

Eliminating 𝑄̇ from equations [1] and [2]:

−𝑑𝑇 𝛼𝐴
= 𝑑𝑡
𝑇 − 𝑇𝑎 𝑚𝑐𝑝

𝑇𝑎 is constant, dT=d(T-𝑇𝑎 ), integrating, gives following equation:

𝛼𝐴
ln(𝑇 − 𝑇𝑎 ) = − 𝑡 + 𝐶1
𝑚𝑐𝑝

At t=0, T=𝑇0, therefore 𝐶1 = ln(𝑇 − 𝑇0 ):

𝛼𝐴
ln(𝑇 − 𝑇𝑎 ) = − 𝑡 + ln(𝑇0 − 𝑇𝑎 )
𝑚𝑐𝑝

Rearranging;
𝑇 − 𝑇𝑎 𝛼𝐴
ln ( )=− 𝑡
𝑇0 − 𝑇𝑎 𝑚𝑐𝑝

𝑇−𝑇
Plotting a graph of ln (𝑇 −𝑇𝑎 ) against t produces a straight line, the gradient of
0 𝑎
𝛼𝐴
would be equal to − . Using this, the heat transfer can be found.
𝑚𝑐𝑝

Air Velocity
The velocity of the air passing over the test rod can be found. First, the upstream
velocity must be found.

Velocity in the air stream:

𝜌𝑉 2
∆𝑃 =
2
In the measuring manometer:
∆𝑃 = 𝜌𝑔h
 Equating these two equations;
𝜌𝑎 𝑣 2
= 𝜌𝑤 𝑔ℎ
2
where a=density of air
w= density of fluid in manometer
v= mean velocity of air
h= head in manometer

The density of the air;

𝑃𝑎
𝜌𝑎 =
𝑅𝑇𝑎

Rearranging, the upstream velocity can be given as;

2𝜌𝑤 𝑔ℎ
𝑉2 =
𝜌𝑎

Substituting known values gives the following,

ℎ
𝑉 = 140.1√
𝜌𝑎

The velocity is based on a minimum flow area; therefore for a single rod the
velocity is;
10𝑣
−𝑢 =
9

Non-Dimensional Parameters
When analysing convective heat transfers non-dimensional equations apply.

𝑁𝑢 = 𝐶 × 𝑅𝑒 𝑛 × 𝑃𝑟𝑛

𝛼𝑑
𝑁𝑢 =
𝑘
𝜌𝑢𝑑
𝑅𝑒 =
𝜇
𝐶𝑝 𝜇
Pr =
𝑘

Since the Prandtl number for gases is constant;

𝑁𝑢 = 𝐾 × 𝑅𝑒 𝑛

Taking the natural log of both sides;

ln(𝑁𝑢) = ln(𝐾) + 𝑛ln (𝑅𝑒)

Following the form of y=mx+c, plotting ln(Nu) against ln(Re) would result in a
straight line graph where the gradient (m) represents n and the y intercept (c)
 represents ln(K). These can be used to compare experimental and theoretical
values for heat transfer.

Apparatus
The photos below show the set up of the experiment.

Orifice opening
Can be adjusted using scale
along the bottom to close or
open the airflow

Inlet

Air pump
 Manometer measures
the pressure
The value for h will be
shown here. Units of
mm𝐻2 𝑜

Laptop with Copper rod

software

Thermocouples
Heater
Method
Set up apparatus as shown above
1. Heat the rod in the heater for approximately 10 minutes or until the chart
recorder reaches maximum deflection
2. Adjust the orifice opening to desired air flow
3. Turn on air pump
4. Place the rod into the hole in the flow exchanger
5. Record the temperature vs. time curve using a chart recorder
6. Note down values from manometer
7. Observe temperature of air and rod until they reach the same value
8. Switch off equipment and place rod back into heater to be heated for next
test
9. Repeat steps 1-3 for different air flow rates. This can be done by,
adjusting the orifice slide on the air outlet from between closed and fully
open.

Results and Discussion

The cooling curves for the experiment are given below.

Graph of time vs temperature for 20%

orifice opening
70
Temperature (°C)

60
50
40
30 Channel 1
20
Channel 2
10
0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600
Time (s)
 Graph of time vs temperature for 40%
orifice opening
70
60
Temperature (°C)

50
40
30 Channel 1
20 Channel 2
10
0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600
Time (s)

Graph of time vs temperature for 60%

orifice opening
70
60
Temperature (°C)

50
40
30 Channel 1
20 Channel 2
10
0
0 100 200 300 400 500
Time (s)

Graph of time vs temperature for 80%

orifice opening
80
70
Temperature (°C)

60
50
40
Channel 1
30
Channel 2
20
10
0
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350
Time (s)
 Graph of time vs temperature for 100%
orifice opening
70
60
Temperature (°C)

50
40
30 Channel 1
20 Channel 2
10
0
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350
Time (s)

Combining these gives the following graph:

Cooling Curves
80
Channel 1-20% opening
70
Channel 2-20% opening
60
Temperature (°C)

Channel 1-40% opening

50
Channel 2-40% opening
40
Channel 1-60% opening
30
Channel 2-60% opening
20
Channel 1-80% opening
10
Channel 2-80% opening
0 Channel 1-100% opening
0 200 400 600
Channel 2-100% opening
Time (s)

It can be seen that there is initially, a rapid decrease in temperature for all the air
flows. Afterwards, the temperature decreases and levels off. The final
temperature approaches that of the temperature of the air. When comparing the
lower flow rates to the higher flow rates, the lower flow rates have a slower
decrease in temperature. This suggests that the higher flow rates have a faster
rate of heat transfer. Therefore changing the airflow passing over the rod will
affect the heat transfer and so this will be investigated further.
Heat Transfer Coefficient
As mentioned in the theory, to calculate the heat transfer, the following equation
is required

𝑇 − 𝑇𝑎 𝛼𝐴
ln ( )=− 𝑡
𝑇0 − 𝑇𝑎 𝑚𝑐𝑝

𝛼𝐴
The graph below shows this relationship, where the gradient is equal to − 𝑚𝑐 .
𝑝
This can then be rearranged and solved to find α, the heat transfer coefficient.

0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600

-1
ln((T-Ta)/(Tmax-Ta))

-2

y = -0.0063x
-3

y = -0.0149x

-4
y = -0.0094x

y = -0.0137x
-5 y = -0.012x

-6
Time (s)

20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

The gradients for each flow can be seen on the graph, using these and the
equation stated previously, the following heat transfer coefficients were found.
It can be seen that increasing the size of the opening and in turn, increasing the
flow rate, also increases the heat transfer.
Opening Head (m) Gradient of Heat
graph transfer
coefficient
20% 0.002 -0.0063 64.77
40% 0.0045 -0.0094 96.64
60% 0.01 -0.012 123.37
80% 0.016 -0.0137 140.85
100% 0.023 -0.0149 153.18

Non Dimensional Parameters

In order to find values for K and n the following equation was used and plotted;

ln(𝑁𝑢) = ln(𝐾) + 𝑛ln (𝑅𝑒)

Opening Air Nusselt Reynolds lnNu lnRe

velocity Number Number
(m/s)
20% 6.41 31.5 4595.14 3.45 8.43
40% 9.62 47 6893.82 3.85 8.84
60% 14.34 60 10278.94 4.09 9.24
80% 18.13 68.5 13003.55 4.23 9.47
100% 21.73 74.51 15594.53 4.31 9.65

Plotting this, gives the following graph;

lnRe vs lnNu
5
4.5
4
3.5 y = 0.697x - 2.3744
3
lnNu

2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
8.2 8.4 8.6 8.8 9 9.2 9.4 9.6 9.8
lnRe

Using this graph the values for K and n can be found;

K was found by the following method
 𝑒 −2.3744 = 0.093

Experimental Theoretical [1]

K 0.093 0.193
n 0.697 0.618

It can be seen that the value for n is very close to published results, showing that
the experiment was a success. However there is a significant difference between
the found value for K and the published value.

Errors
There are a few reasons as to the difference between the experimental and
theoretical values;

Repeating the experiment at each flow rate and taking an average will provide a
more reliable set of results
Keeping the duration of the experiment for each flow rate constant as well as
keeping the initial temperature constant for each flow rate will also provide
more reliable results. As this will insure as minimum variations to the variables
as possible, making the experiment more fair overall.
Other possible ways in which the errors could be reduced are cleaning the
manometer or replacing with a more accurate one to reduce any uncertainty in
the readings. Also checking the insulation on the pipe and making sure the valve
is closed tightly, as air could escape out of the opening making the results invalid.

Conclusion
The aim of this experiment was to investigate the heat characteristics of a cross
flow heat exchanger when varying the flow rate. The graphs found show the
expected trend and relationship. The non-dimensionless values for K and n were
also found. The value found for n was very similar to published values but there
was a significant difference for the K value. This shows that further
improvements must be made to the experiment in order to find more reliable
results.
References and Bibliography
http://www.efunda.com/formulae/heat_transfer/home/overview.cfm
http://www.edinformatics.com/math_science/how_is_heat_transferred.htm
http://web.mit.edu/16.unified/www/FALL/thermodynamics/notes/node131.h
tml