Heat Transfer Lab Final

Name: _______________________________
Student ID: ___________________________

1. What is thermal conductivity? State the units of thermal conductivity in the imperial system. (2+2)

2. What is the Biot number? What does it mean when the Biot number is less than 0.1? (2+2)

3. State any two methods for increasing the efficiency of a power generation system employing Rankine
cycle. (4)

4. For the same inlet conditions and same flow rate, will the parallel flow arrangement have higher
effectiveness compared to counter-flow arrangement? Justify your answer. (1+3)

5. For a thin glass plate with a transmittance, T, of 4.76 mm, what is the refractive index? (4)

6. A particle is observed as it flows upwards in a vertical plexiglass annulus with an inner radius, r0, of
1.25in. It takes the particle 9 seconds to move through a designated 2 in. test section. Using the
dimensionless relation,
𝑢𝑣𝑘
𝑢̃ =
𝑔𝛽𝑞𝑟03
determine the dimensionless form of the particle’s velocity; considering a surface heat flux q = 100 W/m2.
[k = 0.64 W/m-K; β = 4.04 x 10-4 K-1; v = 5.67 x 10-7 m2/s] (10)

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7. A spacecraft after exiting the Earth’s atmosphere has a surface temperature of 𝑇𝑠 = −31℃ while the
temperature of outer space is 𝑇∞ = −270℃. What is the view factor of the spacecraft with respect to the
outer space? What is the initial heat transfer in 𝑘𝑊 just after exiting the atmosphere if 𝜀 = 0.35? (2+8)

[Stefan-Boltzmann constant, 𝜎 = 5.67 × 10−8 𝑊/𝑚2 𝐾 4 and surface area of Spacecraft, 𝐴𝑠 = 500 𝑚2]

8. A solar panel with surface area 𝐴 = 0.48 𝑚3 receives a radiation of intensity 𝐺 = 960 𝑊/𝑚2 . If the
efficiency of the panel is assumed to be 12% what will be the voltage generated by the panel across a
resistor of 𝑅 = 1 𝑘Ω? What will be the current in the same resistor if 1/3rd of the panel is covered? (8+2)

9. The dynamic pressure of an airflow in the wind tunnel is Δ𝑃 = 500 𝑃𝑎. If the ambient conditions are
𝑇𝑎𝑚𝑏 = 23℃ and 𝑃𝑎𝑚𝑏 = 100 𝑘𝑃𝑎 determine the velocity of the flow. If the flow occurs over a cylinder
of diameter 4 cm, is the flow turbulent, laminar or transitional? (6) [Gas constant, 𝑅𝑎𝑖𝑟 = 287 𝐽/𝑘𝑔𝐾
𝜇𝑎𝑖𝑟 = 1.983 × 10−5 𝑃𝑎. 𝑠 and critical Reynolds number, 𝑅𝑒𝑐 = 2.5 × 105 to 3.5 × 105 ]

10. In the evaporator of a refrigeration cycle, the heat carried by the vapor is 20 kW. The COP of the
refrigeration cycle is 2.15 and the mechanical efficiency of the compressor is 76%. Determine the amount
of electrical power required to run the refrigerant cycle. If the mass flow rate of the vapor is 2000 𝑘𝑔/ℎ𝑟,
what is the change in specific enthalpy of the vapor in the evaporator? (6)

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11. It is required to increase the heat dissipation from a micro-controller inside a laptop computer. List
three methods that can be used. Mention any disadvantages that the methods may cause. (4)

12. In a milling operation, due to the friction between the cutting tool and the work piece, a lot of heat is
generated. List the heat transfer processes that occur in order to dissipate the heat. Mention the bodies
between which the heat transfer processes take place. (4)

13. A cylindrical copper pipe is used to carry steam at a high temperature. It is desired to reduce the heat
loss from the pipe. Team Alpha decides to insulate it with a certain thickness of fiberglass (insulation) on
the outside and achieve reduction in heat loss. Team Beta follows them but use 200 times the thickness of
fiberglass used by Team Beta. They are surprised to find that the heat transfer has increased. Why did
Team Beta fail? (6)

14. In a furnace, the grit where the fuel is combusted is generally located at the lowest region. Why is this
so? What would happen if the combustion takes place at the highest point? (4)

15. A metal plate is heated to a temperature of 120℃ and water droplets are gradually poured on to the
surface. It is seen that it takes longer time to boil away than if the plate were initially kept at 98℃ and
then heated to 105℃ after pouring the droplets. Was there an error in the temperature measurement
system? If not then explain why this happened. (6)

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16. List the steps for acquiring temperature readings using LabView. (5)

17. Mention five common sources of error during laboratory experiments. (5)

18. What type of footwear is required to work in the laboratory? (4)

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Bonus
19. In a Rankine cycle, the fuel mass flow rate is 𝑚̇𝑓 = 3𝑘𝑔/ℎ𝑟 and the calorific value of the fuel
is 𝐿𝐶𝑉 = 300 𝐽/𝑔𝑚. The thermal efficiency of the cycle is 30%. The turbine having mechanical
efficiency of 85% is used to run the compressor of a different refrigeration cycle. The mechanical
efficiency of the compressor is 95% and the COP of the refrigeration cycle is 1.87. The refrigeration cycle
is used to cool a solar panel in which 45% of the total incident power is converted to heat that is removed
by the refrigeration cycle. If the area of the solar panel is 1000 𝑐𝑚2, what is the incoming radiation
intensity in 𝑊/𝑚2 ?
(10)

20. An aircraft travelling at high altitudes drops a temperature recorded accidentally. Draw the
temperature profile to your best estimate with respect to time considering that the recorder is accelerating
at 9.81 m/s2. (10)

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Heat Transfer Rates in Different Modes
𝑑𝑇 ∆𝑇
Conduction, 𝑞 = −𝑘𝐴 ≅ −𝑘𝐴
𝑑𝑥 ∆𝑥

Convection, 𝑞 = ℎ𝐴(∆𝑇)

Radiation, 𝑞 = 𝜀𝜎𝐹12 𝐴(𝑇1 4 − 𝑇2 4 )

Flow Parameters
𝜌𝑉𝐷
Reynolds Number, 𝑅𝑒 = 𝜇

Mass flow rate, 𝑚̇ = 𝜌𝑉𝐴

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Dynamic Pressure, ∆𝑝 = 2 𝜌𝑉 2

Efficiencies
𝑊̇𝑜𝑢𝑡
Thermal Efficiency, 𝜂 𝑇 =
𝑄̇𝑖𝑛

𝑊̇𝑜𝑢𝑡
Mechanical Efficiency, 𝜂𝑚 = 𝑊̇𝑖𝑛

𝑄̇𝑜𝑢𝑡
Coefficient of Performance, 𝐶𝑂𝑃 = 𝑊̇𝑖𝑛

Ideal Gas Law

𝑃𝑎𝑏𝑠 = 𝜌𝑅𝑇𝑎𝑏𝑠
Specific Enthalpy Change
Δℎ = 𝑐𝑝 Δ𝑇

Solar Panel
Maximum Power, 𝑃𝑚𝑎𝑥 = 𝐺𝐴𝑃𝑎
Power Produced, 𝑃 = 𝑉𝑃𝑎 𝐼𝑃𝑎
Efficiency, 𝜂𝑝𝑎 = 𝑃/𝑃𝑚𝑎𝑥

Transmittance of Glass
1−𝑇
Surface Reflectivity, 𝜌 = 1+𝑇

1+ √𝜌
Refractive index, 𝑛 = 1− √𝜌