SKMM 3443 HEAT TRANSFER

PROJECT ASSIGNMENT

Prologue: The Engineering Accreditation Council (EAC), who accredits your engineering
degree, requires that our course to have an element of Sustainability and it has to be
assessed. The Faculty has decided to address this issue by assigning an individual project to
students who are taking this course. The weightage is to be 5% of the total score for the
course.

PROBLEM
Note: This problem is related to the chapter on Transient Heat Conduction.
Conduct the following experiment with the objectives: (1) to determine the time constant
for a can of soft drink and, (2) to predict the temperature of the soft drink at different times.
Method
1. Leave the canned soft drink in the refrigerator overnight.
2. Measure the air temperature in your kitchen and the temperature of the soft drink
while it is still in the refrigerator by taping the bulb of the thermometer to the outer
surface of the can.
3. Take the soda out and measure its temperature again after 5 minutes.
4. Using these values, calculate the exponent b.
5. Measure the temperature of the soft drink after 10, 15, 20, 30, and 60 minutes intervals.
6. Using the b-value found in step 4, predict the temperatures of the soft drink in 10, 15,
20, 30, and 60 minutes intervals.
7. Compare the results of the predicted temperatures with the actual temperatures from
your measurement, in a Table.
8. Plot a graph of predicted temperature vs. measured temperature.
9. Carry out curve fitting and obtain an equation that fit your data.
10. Do you think the lumped system analysis is valid in this case?

Instruction
Present your work in a form of a report, typewritten, nicely bound and furnished with a
cover page in colour. The report is due on Thursday of the study week, latest by 5 pm.
Your report should contain the following sections: (1) Introduction (with picture of your
experimental setup), (2) Theory (refer to textbook), (3) Experimental procedure (as above),
(4) Results the b-value, the predicted and measured temperatures at the different times,
the graph, and the fitting equation, (5) Your comments (with your answer to item 10), and
(6) Conclusion.

NK/23 April, 2017