Cooling Tower grade sheet

Date

10 / 4 / 2011

Page 1.

Letter Format 1st paragraph 2nd paragraph 3rd paragraph 4th paragraph 5 points 10 points 10 points 10 points 10 points _________ _________ _________ _________ _________

Lab Report Partners* Will Derry

Enrique Garcia Josh Smith

Page 2. Page 3. Page 4. Page 5.

Table 1 Table 2 Sample calculations Original data Other**

15 points 10 points 15 points 5 points 10 points

_________ _________ _________ _________ _________

Section Number

6289

Grader

Ankush

Total

_________

University of Florida Gainesville, FL 32612 September 24th, 2011 Thermo/Heats Design & Lab University of Florida Gainesville, FL 32612 Dear Teaching Assistant, The purpose of this study is to better understand pool boiling by describing the process where we experimentally obtained boiling curves for R-141b and by analyzing relationships between critical heat flux and its associated pressure. We additionally sought to compare our experimental data with predicted models by using the Rohsenow and Zuber correlations. A boiling curve is a line graph showing the relationship between an independent heat flux through a heating element and the associated excess temperature ( ). The initial boiling regime is free convection where fluid motion is affected by changes in density. Nucleate boiling comes next in which fluid motion is influenced by nucleation sites where larger amounts of bubbles form. Once the critical heat flux is reached, fluid boils around the element so fast that the element is almost completely surrounded by gas. The gas cannot transfer heat as well as a liquid, and the surface temperature of the heating element rises dramatically until the power is shut off. Also, theoretical correlations can be used to predict the boiling curve. One of these correlations is the Rohsenow correlation, which is used for determining the heat flux in a nucleate region, and the Zuber correlation which is used to predict the critical heat flux. The apparatus we used consisted of a tube of fluid being heated by a submerged cylindrical copper element and a condenser coil for cooling the vapor. The mass flow of water could be adjusted which would cause a change in pressure in the tube, with lower flow rates the result was higher pressures. Boiling curves were found by slowly increasing the power to the heater and taking measurements of the wall temperature, while keeping the pressure constant. The critical point was found when the temperature began to rise dramatically with little or no increase in power. By obtaining a rough approximation of where that point was, we could get the power as close as possible to the critical point without going over to record a more accurate value. Comparing the experimental heat flux to that obtained by the Rohsenow correlation, we noticed the values were similar at around , with fluxes of about 250 kW/m2. Otherwise, the predicted values increased more quickly with increased . For example, with a high excess temperature at , the predicted heat flux was 1025 kW/m2 and the experimental heat flux was only 290 kW/m2. Comparing the convective coefficient with heat flux, we noticed similar trends in both the high and low pressure data, especially on a log-log scale. From the low pressure datas linear portion, we obtained m for the VDI heat atlas as 0.357, compared to a predicted 0.839, showing again a quicker response for predicted values. Critical heat fluxes were found to be 290, 308, 318, and 330 kW/m2 for 20, 35, 55, and 70 kPa of pressure, respectively. The Zuber correlation predicted lower values of 261, 268, 281, and 287 kW/m2. The difference in predicted values is most likely due to material defects, some measurement error, and possibly unclean surfaces, as, for instance, the Rohsenow correlation is said to work for completely clean surfaces. Sincerely,

William Derry

Enrique Garcia

Joshua Smith