HEAT TRANSFER IN PACKED BED

AIM:

To determine individual and overall heat transfer coefficients for heat transfer in packed
bed

APPARATUS:

Experimental setup, Stop watch and Thermometer.

INTRODUCTION:

Many important process require contact between a gas or a liquid stream and solid particles.
These processes include catalytic reactors, grain dryers, beds for storage of solar thermal energy,
regenerators etc. Also packed columns find extensive application in absorption and extraction
operations.

Packed column increases the contact area and there by increases the heat transfer rate. Usually
the columns are filled with randomly oriented packing but some cases the packings may be
regular or structured. The prinicipal requirements for the packings are 1) they must be
chemically inert to the fluids in the tower and 2) it must provide good contact. The heat transfer
coefficient for a packed bed are high when the ratio of packing diameters, dp to the tower
diameters, Di is about 0.15 to 0.3.

Some types of tower packings are berl saddles, Rashing rings, Ball rings, Spherical and
Cylindrical pellets. The packings can made of ceramics steel or plastic materials.

PROCEDURE

Fill the hot water tank with water. Switch on the heater and maintain the hot water temperature at
a particular value say 60oC. Start the hot water pump. Open the hot water inlet valve and adjust
the flow rate. Open the cold water inlet valve. Note down both the cold water and hot water flow
rates. After attaining steady state, note the inlet and outlet temperatures of both cold and hot
water flow rates. Take the readings for different cold and hot water flow rates.

CALCULATIONS

Inside diameter of the inner pipe, di = 54.76 mm

Outside diameter of the inner pipe, do = 60.37 mm
Inside diameter of the outer tube, Di = 80.5 mm
Length of the tube, L = 133 cm
Porosity of packing,  = 0.62
Equivalent diameter of packing dp = 1 inch
Density of water c = Kg/m3
S. Qc Tc1 Tc2 Qh Th1 Th2 Tcav Cpc  K Npr
No m3/s o
C o
C m3/s o
C o
C o
K J/Kg Kg/m W/m oK
o
K sec

S. mc Tc Q Tlm U NRe’ NRe hi p ho hip / hi

No Kg/s o
K w o
K W/m2K w/m2k w/m2k

FORMULAE:

1. Overall heat transfer coefficient,

Ui = Q / Ai (T)lm

2. Inside heat transfer coefficient with packing, (hi)p

(hi)p = [Cp V /  ] * 2.06 (NRe’) –0.575 (Npr)-2v3 Nrep > 10

3. Inside heat transfer coefficient without packing

hi = Kav / dI * 0.023 NRe 0.8 Npr 1/3 > NRe > 6000 Re < 2100
where
Ui = Overall heat transfer coefficient based on inside area, W/m2 k
Qc = Heat transfer rate, mc cpc (Tc) W
mc = Mass fow rate of water, (cold) kg /s
Cpc = Specifici heat of wter j / kg k
(Tc) = Difference between the inlet and out let cold waters temperature, oK
w = Density of water, kg /m3
Vc = Superficial velocity of water = mc/wAc m/sec

NRe = Reynolds number based particle diameters, Vdp / 

NRe = Reynolds number based on particle dia
Npr = Prandtl number, cp  / k

 = Porosity of packing
K = Thermal conductivity of fluid, W/ mk
Di = Inside diameter of the tube, m
Tlm = LMTD = (T1 - T2 )/ In (T1 / T2 ) T1 = Tho - Tci
T2 = Thi – Tco
CALCULATIONS

o
Heat transfer rate, Q = mc Cpc (T)c K

Overall heat transfer coefficient, UI = Q / Ai (T)Lm

Cross sectional area of the inside pipe, Ai = diL m2

LMTD (T)Lm = [(Th2 – Tc1) – (Th1 – Tc2)] /ln [(Th2 – Tc1) /(Th1 – Tc2 )] oK

Inside heat transfer coefficient with packing

(hi }p = Cp  Vc /  *2.06 (NRe)-0.575 (Npr)-2/3

Particle Reynolds number, NRe’ = V dp  / 

Prandtl number, Npr = Cp  / k

Inside heat transfer coefficient without packing

hi = [kav / di]* 0.023 * (NRe)0.8 (Npr)1/3

NRe = Vdi  / 

Hip/hI =

RESULT

The individual and overall heat transfer coefficients for heat transfer in packed bed are
determined