PROBLEM 5.

10

KNOWN: Thickness and properties of flaked food product. Conveyor length. Initial flake
temperature. Ambient temperature and convection heat transfer coefficient. Final product temperature.
FIND: Required conveyor velocities for thick and thin flakes.
SCHEMATIC:
2L = 1.2 mm h = 55 W/m2·K
To = 300°C

Cereal product

Lo

V
Conveyor belt Oven

ASSUMPTIONS: (1) Constant properties. (2) Lumped capacitance behavior. (3) Negligible radiation
heat transfer. (4) Negligible moisture evaporation from product. (5) Negligible conduction between
flake and conveyor belt.

PROPERTIES: Flake: = 700 kg/m3, cp = 2400 J/kgK, and k = 0.34 W/mK.

ANALYSIS: The Biot number is

hL 55 W/m 2  K  0.6  103 m
Bi    0.098
k 0.34 W/m  K

Hence the lumped capacitance assumption is valid. The required heating time is

Vc  i  Lc i 700 kg/m3  0.6  103 m  2400 J/kg  K  20  300 

t ln  ln  ln  23 s
hAs  h  55 W/m 2  K  220  300 

Therefore the required conveyor velocity is V = Lo/t = 3m/23s = 0.13 m/s . <
If the flake thickness is reduced to 2L = 1 mm, the lumped capacitance approximation remains valid
and the heating time is 19 s. The associated conveyor velocity is 0.16 m/s. <
COMMENTS: (1) Assuming large surroundings, a representative value of the radiation heat transfer
   
coefficient is hr   Ti  To  Ti2  To2  5.67  108 W/m 2  K 4  293  573 2932  5732 K 4  20.3
W/m K. Radiation heat transfer would be significant and would serve to increase the product heating
2

rate, increasing the allowable conveyor belt speed. (2) The food product is likely to enter the oven in a
moist state. Additional thermal energy would be required to remove the moisture during heating,
reducing the rate at which the product temperature increases. (3) The effects noted in Comments 1 and
2 would tend to offset each other. A detailed analysis would be required to assess the impact of
radiation and evaporation on the required conveyor velocity.
 PROBLEM 5.16
KNOWN: Configuration, initial temperature and charging conditions of a thermal energy storage
unit.
FIND: Time required to achieve 75% of maximum possible energy storage. Temperature of storage
medium at this time.
SCHEMATIC:

ASSUMPTIONS: (1) One-dimensional conduction, (2) Constant properties, (3) Negligible radiation
exchange with surroundings.

 
PROPERTIES: Table A-1, Aluminum, pure T  600K  327C : k = 231 W/mK, c = 1033
3
J/kgK,  = 2702 kg/m .
ANALYSIS: Recognizing the characteristic length is the half thickness, find
hL 100 W/m 2  K  0.025m
Bi    0.011.
k 231 W/m  K
Hence, the lumped capacitance method may be used. From Eq. 5.8,
Q    Vc  i 1  exp   t/ t    Est (1)

Est,max    Vc  i . (2)
Dividing Eq. (1) by (2),
Est / Est,max  1  exp   t/ th   0.75.
 Vc  Lc 2702 kg/m3  0.025m 1033 J/kg  K
Solving for  th     698s.
hAs h 100 W/m 2  K
Hence, the required time is
exp   t/698s   0.25 or t  968s. <
From Eq. 5.6,
T  T
 exp   t/ th 
Ti  T

 
T  T   Ti  T  exp   t/ th   600 C  575C exp  968/698 

T  456C. <
COMMENTS: For the prescribed temperatures, the property temperature dependence is significant
and some error is incurred by assuming constant properties. However, selecting properties at 600K
was reasonable for this estimate.
 PROBLEM 5.57
KNOWN: Initial temperature, thickness and thermal diffusivity of glass plate. Prescribed
surface temperature.
FIND: (a) Time to achieve 50% reduction in midplane temperature, (b) Maximum
temperature gradient at that time.
SCHEMATIC:

ASSUMPTIONS: (1) One-dimensional conduction, (2) Constant properties.

ANALYSIS: Prescribed surface temperature is analogous to h   and T = Ts. Hence, Bi

= . Assume validity of one-term approximation to series solution for T (x,t).
(a) At the midplane,
T T
 o  o s  0.50  C1exp 12 Fo
Ti  Ts  
1tan1  Bi    1   / 2.
Hence
4sin1 4
C1    1.273
21  sin  21  

Fo  

ln  o / C1   0.379
12

FoL2 0.379  0.01 m 

2
t   63 s. <
 6 107 m 2 / s

 
(b) With    C1exp 12 Fo cos1x

 T  Ti  Ts    T  T 
 x

L  x
  i s 1C1exp 12 Fo sin1x
L  
300 C 
 T/ x max   T/ x    0.5  2.36 104 C/m. <
x 1 0.01 m 2
COMMENTS: Validity of one-term approximation is confirmed by Fo > 0.2.
 PROBLEM 5.86
KNOWN: Thermophysical properties and initial temperature of thick steel plate. Temperature of
water jets used for convection cooling at one surface.
FIND: Time required to cool prescribed interior location to a prescribed temperature.
SCHEMATIC:

Ts = Too Water jets, Too = 25 oC

Steel, T i = 300 oC x
= 7800 kg/m 3
c = 480 J/kg-K 0.025 m
k = 50 W/m-K T(0.025 m, t) = 50oC

ASSUMPTIONS: (1) One-dimensional conduction in slab, (2) Validity of semi-infinite medium

approximation, (3) Negligible thermal resistance between water jets and slab surface (T s = T), (4)
Constant properties.
ANALYSIS: The desired cooling time may be obtained from Eq. (5.60). With T(0.025m, t) = 50C,

T  x, t   Ts  50  25 C  0.0909  erf  x 

  
Ti  Ts  300  25 C  2 t 

x
 0.0807
2 t

t
x2

 0.025m 2  1793s <
 0.0807  42

0.0261 1.34 105 m 2 / s 
3 -5 2
where  = k/c = 50 W/mK/(7800 kg/m  480 J/kgK) = 1.34  10 m /s.
4 2
COMMENTS: (1) Large values of the convection coefficient (h ~ 10 W/m K) are associated with
water jet impingement, and it is reasonable to assume that the surface is immediately quenched to the
temperature of the water. (2) The surface heat flux may be determined from Eq. (5.61). In principle,
1/2
the flux is infinite at t = 0 and decays as t .
 PROBLEM 5.115

KNOWN: Nodal point located at boundary between two materials A and B.

FIND: Two-dimensional explicit, transient finite difference equation.

SCHEMATIC:
2

q2 Material A
∆y
k A , ρA , c A

q1A q3A

1 0 3
q1B q3B
Material B
∆x = ∆y q4 k B , ρB , c B

∆x 4

ASSUMPTIONS: (1) Two-dimensional conduction, (2) No heat generation, (3) Constant

properties (different in each material).

ANALYSIS: We perform an energy balance on the control volume around node 0.

E in = E st
q + q + q + q + q + q = E
1A 1B 3A 3B + E
2 4 st,A st,B

Using q1A as an example,

T - T Δy
q1A = k A 1 0 w = k A (T1 - T0 )w/2
Δx 2

where w is the depth into the page. The quantities q1B, q3A, and q3B can be found similarly. Then
q2 is given by

T2 - T0
q2 = kA Δx w = k A (T2 - T0 )w
Δy
and similarly for q4.
The storage term E st,A is given by
p+1 p
Δy T0 - T0
E st,A = ρ A c A Δx
2 Δt
and similarly for E st,B .

Combining equations yields

Continued….
 PROBLEM 5.115 (Cont.)

T1 - T0 T -T T -T T -T
kA + kB 1 0 + kA 3 0 + kB 3 0 
2 2 2 2
p+1 p
(Δx)2 T0 - T0
k A (T2 - T0 ) + k B (T4 - T0 ) = (ρ A cA + ρB cB )
2 Δt

Rearranging, we find

(Fo A + Fo B ) p
T0p+1 = (T1 + T3p ) + Fo A T2p + Fo BT4p + 1 - 2(Fo A + Fo B )  T0p <
2
where
2k A Δt 2k B Δt
Fo A = 2
, Fo B =
(ρ A cA + ρ Bc B )(Δx) (ρ A cA + ρ B cB )(Δx)2

Note, that Fo A  α A Δt/(Δx)2 .

COMMENTS: Note that when the material properties are the same for materials A and B, the
result agrees with Equation 5.79.