Heat and Mass Transfer

Assignment – 1

[Date: 24 January 2020]

1. The temperature controller for clothes dryer consists of a bimetallic switch mounted on an
electrical heater attached to a wall-mounted insulation pad.

The switch is set to open at 70°C, the maximum dryer air temperature. In order to operate the
dryer at a lower air temperature, sufficient power is supplied to the heater such that the switch
reaches 70°C (Tset) when the air temperature T is less than Tset. If the convection heat transfer
coefficient between the air and the exposed switch surface of 30 mm2 is 25 W/m2.K, how much
heater power Pe is required when the desired dryer air temperature is 𝑇∞ = 50°C?

2. A vacuum system, as used in sputtering electrically conducting thin films on microcircuits, is

comprised of a baseplate maintained by an electrical heater at 300 K and a shroud within the
enclosure maintained at 77 K by a liquid-nitrogen coolant loop. The circular baseplate,
insulated on the lower side, is 0.3 m in diameter and has an emissivity (ε) of 0.25.

(a) How much electrical power must be provided to the baseplate heater?
(b) At what rate must liquid nitrogen be supplied to the shroud if its heat of vaporization is 125
kJ/kg?
(c) To reduce the liquid-nitrogen consumption, it is proposed to bond a thin sheet of aluminum
foil (with ε=0.09) to the baseplate. Will this have the desired?
3. In one stage of an annealing process, 304 stainless steel sheet is taken from 300 K to 1250 K as
it passes through an electrically heated oven at a speed of Vs = 10 mm/s. The sheet thickness
and width are ts = 8 mm and Ws = 2 m, respectively, while the height, width, and length of
the oven are Ho = 2 m, Wo = 2.4 m, and Lo = 25 m, respectively. The top and four sides of the
oven are exposed to ambient air and large surroundings, each at 300 K, and the
corresponding surface temperature, convection coefficient, and emissivity are Ts = 350 K, h =
10 W/m2.K, and εs = 0.8. The bottom surface of the oven is also at 350 K and rests on a 0.5 m
thick concrete pad whose base is at 300 K. Estimate the required electric power input, Pelec, to
the oven.

4. Radioactive wastes are packed in a long, thin-walled cylindrical container. The wastes
𝑟 2
generate thermal energy nonuniformly according to the relation 𝑞 = 𝑞0 1 − . , where
𝑟0
𝑞 is the local rate of energy generation per unit volume, 𝑞0 is a constant, and ro is the radius
of the container. Steady-state conditions are maintained by submerging the container in a
liquid that is at 𝑇∞ and provides a uniform convection coefficient h.

Obtain an expression for the total rate at which energy is generated in a unit length of the
container. Use this result to obtain an expression for the temperature Ts of the container wall.

5. A solid, truncated cone serves as a support for a system that maintains the top (truncated)
face of the cone at a temperature T1, while the base of the cone is at a temperature T2 < T1.
The thermal conductivity of the solid depends on temperature according to the relation k = k0
– a T, where a is a positive constant, and the sides of the cone are well insulated.
 Do the following quantities increase, decrease, or remain the
same with increasing x:
(A) the heat transfer rate 𝑞x,
(B) the heat flux q”x ,
(C) the temperature gradient dT/dx.

6.

In the two-dimensional body

illustrated, the gradient at surface A
is found to be 𝜕T/𝜕y = 30 K/m.
What are 𝜕T/𝜕y and 𝜕T/𝜕x at
surface B?

7. An apparatus for measuring thermal conductivity employs an electrical heater sandwiched

between two identical samples of diameter 30 mm and length 60 mm, which are pressed
between plates maintained at a uniform temperature To = 77 °C by a circulating fluid. A
conducting grease is placed between all the surfaces to ensure good thermal contact.
Differential thermocouples are imbedded in the samples with a spacing of 15 mm. The lateral
sides of the samples are insulated to ensure one-dimensional heat transfer through the
samples.
(a) With two samples of SS316 in the apparatus, the heater draws 0.353 A at 100 V and the
differential thermocouples indicate ∆𝑇1 = ∆𝑇2 = 25 °C . What is the thermal conductivity of the
stainless steel sample material? What is the average temperature of the samples?
(b) By mistake, an Armco iron sample is placed in the lower position of the apparatus with one of
the SS316 samples from part (a) in the upper portion. For this situation, the heater draws 0.601
A at 100 V and the differential thermocouples indicate ∆𝑇1 = ∆𝑇2 = 25 °C . What are the
thermal conductivity and average temperature of the Armco iron sample?
(c) What is the advantage in constructing the apparatus with two identical samples sandwiching
the heater rather than with a single heater–sample combination? When would heat leakage out
of the lateral surfaces of the samples become significant? Under what conditions would you
expect ∆𝑇1 ≠ ∆𝑇2 ?

8. A salt-gradient solar pond is a shallow body of water that consists of three distinct fluid
layers and is used to collect solar energy. The upper- and lower-most layers are well mixed
and serve to maintain the upper and lower surfaces of the central layer at uniform
temperatures T1 and T2, where T2 > T1. Although there is bulk fluid motion in the mixed
layers, there is no such motion in the central layer.

Consider conditions for which solar radiation absorption in the central layer provides
nonuniform heat generation of the form 𝑞 = 𝐴𝑒 −𝑎𝑥 , and the temperature distribution in the
central layer is given by

where, A (W/m3), a (1/m), B (K/m), and C (K) are known constants having the prescribed
units, and k is the thermal conductivity, which is also constant. Answer the following:
(a) Obtain expressions for the rate at which heat is transferred per unit area from the lower
mixed layer to the central layer and from the central layer to the upper mixed layer.
(b) Determine whether conditions are steady or transient.
(c) Obtain an expression for the rate at which thermal energy is generated in the entire
central layer, per unit surface area.
9. A plane wall of thickness ‘L’ is placed in a medium, in which the temperature on one side is
T∞,1 and on the other side T∞,2 at x=0 and x=L respectively. Using surface energy balance,
obtained T(x) within the wall and the Heat flux in terms of T∞,1, T∞,2, h1,h2, K and L. Also
mention the assumption you have made.

10. A car is moving in a environment at -10 °C. To defog its rear window, a thin, transparent,
film type heating element is attached to it inner surface, so that a uniform heat flux is generated.
If the window is 4 mm thick, find the electrical power needed per unit window to maintain an
inner surface temperature of 15 °C when the temperature inside the car 25 °C. And hi= 10 W/m-
2K while h0=65W/m2K.

11. The wall of a regenerator of typically constructed by sandwiching a layer of insulation

between sheet metal panels. Consider a wall made from fibre glass insulation of thermal
conductivity Ki=0.046 W/mK and thickness Li=15 mm and steel panels, each of thermal
conductivity Kp=60 W/mK and thickness Lp=3 mm. If the wall separates refrigerator air at
T∞,i=4 °C from ambient air at T∞,0=25 °C, what is the heat gain per unit surface area? Coefficient
associated with natural convection at the inner and outer surfaces may be approximated as
hi=h0=5W/m2K.

12. Consider a plane composite wall that is composed of materials of thermal conductivities
KA=0.1W/mK and KB=0.04W/mK and thickness LA=10 mm and LB=20 mm. The contact
resistant at the interface between the two materials is known to be 0.30 m2K/W. Material A
adjoins a fluid at 200 °C for which h=10 W/m2K and material B adjoins a fluid at 40 °C for
which h=20 W/m2K.
a). What is the rate of heat transfer through a wall that is 2m high by 2.5m wide?
b). Sketch the temperature distribution?

13. Consider a plane composite wall that is composed of three (materials A,B,C are arranged left
to right) of thermal conductivities KA=0.24 W/mK, KB=0.13W/mK and KC=0.5 W/mK. The
thickness of the three section of the wall are LA=20 mm LB=13mm and LC=20 mm a contact
resistance of R”t,c= 10-2 m2.K/W exists at the interface between materials A and B, as well as at
the interface between material B and C. The left face of the composite wall is insulated, while
the right face is exposed to convective conditions characterise by h= 10W/m2.K, T∞=20°C. For
Case 1, thermal energy generated within the material A at the rate 𝑞A=5000 W/m3. For case 2,
thermal energy generated within material C at the rate of 𝑞C=5000 W/m3.
a). Determine the maximum temperature within the composite wall under steady state
conditions for case 1.
b). Sketch the steady state temperature distribution T-x coordinate for case 1.
c). Sketch the steady state temperature distribution for case 2 on the T-x coordinates used for
case 1.

14. The cross section of the long cylindrical fuel element in a nuclear reactor is shown. Energy
generation occurs uniformly in thorium fuel rod, which is of diameter D=25 mm and is
wrapped in a thin aluminium cladding
a) It is proposed that under steady state condition, the system operates with generation
rate of 𝑞=7×108 W/m3 and cooling system characteristics of T∞= 95 °C and h= 7000
W/m2.K. Is this proposal satisfactory?