CEMI321: Tutorial 1 22 July 2023

TOTAL MARKS: [15]

Question 1 [5]

A window in a specialised hospital room within the children’s ward, is coated with a thin,
transparent, film-like heating element to defog it. The element is attached to the window’s
inner surface. By heating this element, a uniform heat flux is established at the inner surface
of the window.

If the glass is 5mm thick, determine the electrical power required per unit area of the window
to maintain an inner surface temperature of 20 °C when the interior air temperature and
convection coefficient are 𝑇∞,𝑖 = 25℃ and ℎ𝑖 = 10 𝑊/𝑚2 ∙ 𝐾, while the exterior (ambient) air
temperature and convection coefficient are 𝑇∞,0 = −12℃ and ℎ0 = 65 𝑊/𝑚2 ∙ 𝐾.

Question 2 [6]

A firefighter’s protective clothing, referred to as a turnout coat, is typically constructed as an

ensemble of three layers separated by air gaps, as shown schematically:

Moisture barrier (mb) Thermal liner (tl)

Shell
(s)

1m 1m firefighter
Fire-side
m m
Air gap Air gap

𝑘𝑠, 𝐿𝑠 𝑘𝑚𝑏 𝐿𝑚𝑏 𝑘𝑡𝑙, 𝐿𝑡𝑙

Representative dimensions and thermal conductivities for the layers are as follows:

LAYER THICKNESS (mm) k (W/m.K)

Shell (s) 0.8 0.047
Moisture barrier (mb) 0.55 0.012
Thermal liner (tl) 3.5 0.038
Heat is transferred by conduction and radiation exchange through the stagnant air. The
linearized radiation coefficient for a gap may be approximated as,
ℎ𝑟𝑎𝑑 = 𝜎(𝑇1 + 𝑇2 )(𝑇12 + 𝑇22 ) ≈ 4𝜎𝑇𝑎𝑣𝑔
3
, where 𝑇𝑎𝑣𝑔 represents the average temperature of
the surfaces comprising the gap, and the radiation flux across the gap may be expressed as
′′
𝑞𝑟𝑎𝑑 = ℎ𝑟𝑎𝑑 (𝑇1 − 𝑇2 ).

Represent the turnout coat by a thermal circuit, labelling all the thermal resistances. Calculate
the thermal resistances per unit area for each of the layers, as well as for the conduction and
radiation processes in the gaps. Assume that a value of 𝑇𝑎𝑣𝑔 = 470 𝐾 may be used to
approximate the radiation resistance of both gaps.

Question 3 [4]

Consider a plane composite wall that is composed of two materials of thermal conductivities
𝑘𝐴 = 0.09 𝑊/𝑚 ∙ 𝐾 and 𝑘𝐵 = 0.03 𝑊/𝑚 ∙ 𝐾 and thickness 𝐿𝐴 = 8 𝑚𝑚 and 𝐿𝐵 = 16 𝑚𝑚. The
contact resistance at the interface between the two materials is known to be 0.30 𝑚 2 ∙ 𝐾/𝑊.
Material A adjoins a fluid at 200 °C for which ℎ = 10 𝑊/𝑚2 ∙ 𝐾, and material B adjoins a fluid
at 40 °C for which ℎ = 20 𝑊/𝑚 2 ∙ 𝐾. What is the rate of heat transfer through a wall that is
2m high and 2.5m wide?