REPORT ON FREE AND FORCED CONVECTION

DEPARTMENT: CHEMICAL, MATERIALS AND METALLURGICAL

ENGINEERING COURSE: PROCESS
ENGINEERING I (CHEE 312)
Course Coordinator: Dr Jonas Mbako
Laboratory Instructor: Mr Tumeletso Lekgoba
Teaching Assistant: Mr Bernard Mosweu
Submission date: 13 October 2023
Report by:

Name Student ID Programme

Robin Bernard 21000769 Chemical Engineering
Motheo Keipeile 21000772 Chemical Engineering
Tshegofatso Gotsileng 21000732 Chemical Engineering
Sandile Sibanda 21001300 Chemical Engineering
Govind Shain 21000768 Chemical Engineering
 i. DECLARATION
I declare that the work in this dissertation titled “REPORT ON FREE AND FORCED
CONVECTION” has been carried out by me and my colleagues in the department of
chemical, materials, and metallurgical engineering. The information derived from the
literature has been duly acknowledged in the text and a list of references was provided. No
part of this dissertation was previously presented for another workpiece of this or any other
institution.

Name Student ID Signature

Robin Bernard 21000769

Motheo Keipeile 21000772

Tshegofatso Gotsileng 21000732

Sandile Sibanda 21001300

Govind Shain 21000768

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 ii. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to take this moment to thank every personnel who helped me and my colleagues
in the writing of this report. This includes my lab Instructor Mr Lekgoba and lab coordinator
Mr Bernard who helped in guiding us on how to write this report.

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 iii. ABSTRACT
This experiment looked at the correlation between power input and surface temperature in
forced convection, as well as the connection between power input and surface temperature in
free convection using pinned, finned, and flat surfaces. In free convection, increasing the
power supply voltage raises the surface temperature, and the finned surface is the most
effective for heat transfer since it produces the highest surface temperature. For a given
voltage, air velocity has an effect on surface temperature in forced convection. Because the
finned surface provided the maximum surface temperature value of 39.8°C at the lowest air
velocity of 0.2m/s, it was the most efficient heat exchanger in forced convection. The surface
area of a heat exchanger influences heat transmission; the more surface area the exchanger
provides, the greater heat transfer.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
i. DECLARATION..............................................................................................................1
ii. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.............................................................................................2
iii. ABSTRACT...................................................................................................................3
1. INRODUCTION...............................................................................................................5
2. THEORY...........................................................................................................................5
3. EXPERIMENTAL OBJECTIVES.................................................................................7
4. EQUIPMENT USED FOR STUDYING FREE AND FORCED CONVECTION.....8
5. PROCEDURE...................................................................................................................9
6. RESULTS AND ANALYSIS.........................................................................................10
6.1. PINNED SURFACE.................................................................................................10
6.2. FINNED SURFACE.................................................................................................12
6.3. FLAT SURFACE......................................................................................................14
7. DISCUSSION..................................................................................................................16
8. CONCLUSION...............................................................................................................17
9. RECOMMENDATIONS................................................................................................18
10. REFERENCES............................................................................................................19
11. APPENDICES..................................................................................................................20
11.1. APPENDIX A: FORMULAE USED..........................................................................20
11.2 APPENDIX B: PICTURES AND ADDITIONAL FIGURES....................................20

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 1. INRODUCTION
The experiment is designed to give an appreciation of free and forced convection as modes of
heat transfer associated with fluids. Heat transfer by conduction and simultaneous convection
(free or forced) is the basis of most industrial heat exchangers, so it is necessary to study
these heat transfer methods. The transfer of thermal energy through the movement of matter
is called convection. Natural (free) convection and forced convection are two types of
convection. Natural convection is a heat transfer mechanism that occurs when temperature
differences cause density differences in a liquid. Forced convection is a heat transfer
technique that uses fluid motion to transfer heat generated by an external source such as a
pump, fan, or vacuum device. Compared with natural convection, forced convection is more
effective. For free convection, airflow is allowed to flow freely through the duct while a fan
at the bottom of the duct provides airflow for forced convection experiments (Mills, 1999).

2. THEORY
There are three modes for heat transfer: convection, conduction, and radiation. The
Convection heat transfer plays a critical part in numerous mechanical applications.
Convection, generally, is subdivided into free and forced convection; within the forced
convection, the fluid to be heated is blown or pumped past the heated surface by a pump or a
fan, while in the natural (or free) convection, fluid flow is naturally achieved based on the
density variation in the heated fluid. Free convection is encountered in many situations. In
fact, it is always present as long as fluid. temperature is not uniform and there is an
acceleration field such as gravity. In some applications, free convection heat transfer is small
compared to other modes and therefore may be neglected. In others it is the dominant
mechanism for heat transfer. There are situations where it is desirable to suppress free
convection, such as in heat loss from steam pipes, windows, and solar collectors. Forced
convection is a mechanism, or type of heat transfer in which fluid motion is generated by an
external source (like a pump, fan, suction device, etc.) (Mills, 1999). It should be considered
as one of the most strategies of valuable heat transfer as critical amounts of heat energy can
be transferred very effectively and this mechanism is found very commonly in daily life,
counting central heating, air conditioning, steam turbines and in numerous other machines.
Forced convection is often experienced by engineers planning or examining heat exchangers,
pipe flow, and flow over a plate at a different temperature than the stream (the case of a
shuttle wing during re-entry, for example). The heat transfer rate to the fluid, Q, can be
calculated using the fist law of thermodynamics for the heated fluid:
Q = m∙ΔH (1)
Where ΔH is the enthalpy variation of the fluid in the duct and m is the mass flow rate which
is calculated as:
m = ρ∙v∙A (2)

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Where ρ is the air density, v is the averaged velocity and A is cross-sectional area of the duct
which is equal to 0.0144 m2. The air density can be found from thermodynamics tables.
Using perfect gas assumption for the air, Eq. (1) becomes:
Q = m·Cp∙ΔT (3)
The temperature difference ΔT is calculated from the difference between the average inlet
and outlet temperatures. The specific heat capacity of the air Cp is also dependent on the air
temperature and should be found from thermodynamics tables. Since the temperature is
varying in the duct length, the value of CP should be evaluated in the average temperature of
air in the duct, TAV:
Tin−Tout
𝑇𝐴𝑉 = (4)
2

The heat sources consist of electrical resistors; thus, the amount of power that is consumed by
the heaters, P, can be considered as a measure of the amount of heat released.
The factor for efficiency, η, provides information on the losses which occur during heat
transfer. This factor indicates the portion of the input energy that is transferred to the fluid.
This can be written as follows:

𝜂 =Q/P (5)
The efficiency shows all losses which result from convection and radiation to the
surroundings and not to the fluid. The transfer of heat by convection from a surface to a fluid
can be described mathematically as follows:

𝑄 = h ∙ 𝐴 ∙ 𝑇𝑚 (6)
Where h is the heat transfer coefficient and Tm is an average temperature:

𝑇𝑚 = 𝑇𝑠 – 𝑇𝑖n (7)
Where Ts is the superficial surface temperature and tin the inlet air temperature. The heat
transfer rate is the same as the amount calculated from Eq. (3). Therefore, the heat transfer
coefficient, h, can be evaluated from Eqns. (3), (6), and (7).
The heat transfer depends not only on the temperature difference and the surface material of
the heater, but is also influenced by the flow regime, i.e., laminar or turbulent flow. Reynolds
number is a criterion for defining whether a flow is turbulent or laminar. For a flow over a
flat plate the transition between these two regimes occurs at approximately 1÷5×105.
However, there are other values for pipes and fins. The Reynolds number is defined as:

𝑅𝑒 =VL/v (8)
Where L is the plate length in vertical direction for flat surfaces and ν is the kinematic
viscosity of the fluid. The kinematic viscosity of the air ν is temperature dependent and can
be taken from thermodynamics tables at Tm. The Nusselt number is dimensionless and is
used in measuring heat transfer rates:

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 𝑁𝑢 =hl/k (9)
Where k is the thermal conductivity. The Nusselt number can be calculated once the heat
transfer coefficient, h, is known.

3. EXPERIMENTAL OBJECTIVES
 To determine the most effective fin geometry (e.g., Finned, Pinned and flat surface
plates) for enhancing heat transfer efficiency in both forced and free convection
scenarios.
 Investigate the relationship between air velocity and surface temperature in forced
convection. Determine the critical air velocities at which different surface
configurations exhibit maximum heat transfer efficiency.

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 4. EQUIPMENT USED FOR STUDYING FREE AND FORCED
CONVECTION

Reference to Figure 2, the equipment comprises a centrifugal fan equipped with a 120 × 120
mm vertical rectangular duct into which a flat plate, pinned or finned heat exchanger may be
installed. Each exchanger incorporates 2 x 100 W electric heating elements with thermostatic
protection against overheating. The temperature at the base of each exchanger is monitored
by a thermocouple (K) (T8) with connecting lead.
The exchanger in use may be viewed through an acrylic window (14) in the wall of the duct.
An upward flow of air may be generated in the duct with the fan mounted at the bottom. Air
velocity in the duct, whether natural or forced, is measured by an anemometer probe inserted
through
FIGURE the4.1:wallSof the duct. DIAGRAM
CHEMATIC The air speed in theFIGURE
pipe may be controlled
4.2: DIAGRAM by varying
MOD the
. TE6H/EV
aperture
MOD degree of
. TE6H/EV (Ethe damper on
LETTRONICA the suction
VENETA , of the (E
fan.
LETTRONICA VENETA, 2020)
2020)
A thermocouple inserted in the acrylic window permits the measurement of the surface
temperature at the base of the exchangers. The thermocouples (K) of mod. TE6/EV allow 4
measurements of the inlet and outlet air temperatures together with surface temperatures of
exchanger pins and fins in 5 different positions. These temperatures are determined by
inserting the probe through access holes in the duct wall.
The 2 resistances of each exchanger have a power of 100 W /each at 24 V (max. power of
each exchanger = 200 W); low voltage supply allows you to work safely.
Maximum operating temperature (T8) should never go beyond 100 °C.
The surface of the heat exchangers are the following:

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• flat plate = 100 cm2
• pinned = 634 cm2
• finned = 972 cm2 (Elettronica Veneta, 2020)

5. PROCEDURE
For the first exercise, a pinned heat exchanger was placed into the test duct and the ambient
air temperature, Tin was recorded. The heater power control was then set to V = 4 Volts and
Allowed sufficient time to achieve steady state conditions before noting the heated plate
temperature, Ts. The voltage, current and temperature readings, T 1, T2 and T8 were then
recorded. In the second exercise a pinned heat exchanger was placed into the test duct and
then the ambient air temperature T in was then recorded. The heater power control was set to 8
V and the fan was then switched on and the air flow rate was adjusted to 1 m/s, then allowed
sufficient time to achieve steady state conditions before the heated plate temperature Ts was
recorded together with the air velocity in percentages and the temperatures, T 1, T2 and T8.
Repetitions of this procedure was done at 2, 3 and 4 m/s. The first and second exercises were
repeated with the finned and flat plates.

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 6. RESULTS AND ANALYSIS
6.1. PINNED SURFACE

Free Convection
V = 8.05V
I = 2.57A
P = VI = 8.05V X 2.57A
P = 20.69W
TABLE 6.1.1: Temperature and air velocity data for a pinned heat exchanger in Free
convection.
T1 (°C) T2 (°C) T8 (°C) U(%)Velocity U(m/s) Ts –Tin
of air velocity of (⁰C)
air
30.4 30.0 33.1 0.0 0.0 2.7

Forced Convection
V = 8.05V
I = 2.57A
P = VI = 8.05V X 2.57A
P = 20.69W
TABLE 6.1.2: Temperature and air velocity data for a pinned heat exchanger in Forced
convection.
V = 8.05 V I = 2.57A P = 20.69W

T1 (°C) T2 (°C) T8 (°C) U(%) U(m/s) Ts –Tin

velocity of velocity (⁰C)
air of air
31.0 31.0 34.5 2.00 0.20 3.5
31.1 32.1 34.7 6.00 0.60 3.6
31.2 32.6 35.2 12.00 1.20 4.0
31.4 33.1 35.9 18.00 1.80 4.5

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SAMPLE CALCULATIONS
10% = 1m/s
Let x be velocity if m/s
Therefore:
U ∈%
x= ×1 m/s
10 %
2.0 %
x= ×1 m/s
10 %
x = 0.20 m/s

Ts - Tin(⁰C) vs U(m/s) for Pinned Surface

5
4.5
4
3.5
3
Ts - Tin(⁰C)

2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2
U(m/s)

Graph 6.1.1: Graph show in relationship between Ts-Tin and U(m/s) for Pinned Surface

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 6.2. FINNED SURFACE

Free Convection
V = 8.00V
I = 2.40A
P = VI = 8.00V x 2.40A
P = 19.2W
Table 6.2.1: Temperature and air velocity data for a finned heat exchanger in free
convection.

T1 (°C) T8 (°C) U(%)Velocity U(m/s) Ts –Tin

of air velocity of air (⁰C)

27.9 39.5 0.0 0.0 11.6

Forced Convection
Tin = 27.6
V = 8.00V
I = 2.40A
P = VI = 8.00V x 2.40A
P = 19.2W
Table 6.2.2: Temperature and air velocity data for a finned heat exchanger in forced
convection.

V = 8.00V I = 2.40A P = 19.2W

T1 (°C) T8 (°C) U(%) U(m/s) velocity Ts –Tin
velocity of of air (⁰C)
air
28.9 39.8 2.00 0.2 10.9
29.6 34.9 6.00 0.6 5.3
29.7 34.1 10.00 1 4.4

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SAMPLE CALCULATIONS
10% = 1m/s
Let x be velocity if m/s
Therefore:
U ∈%
x= ×1 m/s
10 %
6.0 %
x= ×1 m/s
10 %
x = 0.60 m/s

Ts - Tin(⁰C) vs U(m/s) for Finned Surface

12

10

8
Ts - Tin(⁰C)

0
0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1 1.1
U(m/s)

Graph 6.2.1: Graph show in relationship between Ts-Tin and U(m/s) for Finned Surface.

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 6.3. FLAT SURFACE

Free Convection
V = 8.03V
I = 2.57A
P = VI = 8.03V x 2.63A
P = 21.1W
Table 6.3.1: Temperature and air velocity data for a flat heat exchanger in free convection.

T1 (°C) T2 (°C) T8 (°C) U(%)Velocity U(m/s) Ts –Tin

of air velocity of (⁰C)
air
29.6 29.3 29.0 0.0 0.0 -0.6

Forced convection
V = 8.03V
I = 2.57A
P = VI = 8.03V x 2.63A
P = 21.1W
Table 6.3.2: Temperature and air velocity data for a flat heat exchanger in forced
convection.

V = 8.03V I = 2.57A P = 21.1W

T1 (°C) T2 (°C) T8 (°C) U(%)Velocity of U(m/s) Ts –Tin
air velocity of (⁰C)
air
29.8 29.7 29.6 2.0 0.2 -0.2
30.2 30.3 30.1 6.0 0.6 -0.1
30.5 30.6 30.5 12.0 1.2 0.0
30.6 30.8 30.8 18.0 1.8 0.2

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SAMPLE CALCULATIONS
10% = 1m/s
Let x be velocity if m/s
Therefore:
U ∈%
x= ×1 m/s
10 %
18.0 %
x= × 1 m/s
10 %
x = 1.80 m/s

Ts - Tin(⁰C) vs U(m/s) for Flat Surface

0.25
0.2
0.15
0.1
0.05
Ts - Tin(⁰C)

0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2
-0.05
-0.1
-0.15
-0.2
-0.25
U(m/s)

Graph 6.3.1: Graph show in relationship between Ts-Tin and U(m/s) for Flat Surface.

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 7. DISCUSSION
In forced convection it was observed that as the air velocity, U, is increased the surface
temperature value yielded decreases. This is because the air in the duct had a very low
residence time when the velocity was high. The velocity of the air stream was adjusted by
manipulation of the gap of the fan opening. The size of the gap controls the amount of the air
entering and the more the air flowing in the higher the velocity and in turn the more the
residence time required to obtain a high surface temperature. Plots of air velocity against
surface temperature for each heat exchanger were done and all had a negative gradient which
showed that truly the air velocity and surface temperature are inversely proportional. The
velocity given by the system was in the form of percentages which were later converted into
units of m/s and the highest velocity obtained was 1.80m/s.
This was expected since at a high velocities air is heated less and it produces a cooling effect
hence the low heated plate temperature as compared to the inlet air temperature therefore
yielding the negative surface temperature value. In forced convection, the finned surface was
observed to be the most effective since at the lowest air velocity of 0.20m/s when using the
finned surface, the surface temperature obtained was 10.9°C which is the highest in forced
convection exercise as illustrated by Table 6.2.2.
Observing Table 6.1.2 it evident that the pinned surface is the second most effective surface
having yielded a surface temperature of 3.5°C at the lowest air velocity of 0.20m/s obtained
when using the finned surface. The least effective heat exchanger surface is the flat surface.
From Table 6.3.2 at an air velocity of 0.2m/s the flat surface only produced a surface
temperature of -0.2°C hence it failed to produce a surface temperature greater than that of the
pinned surface.
For 0.60m/s air velocity it was expected that the surface temperature obtained for the finned
surface should be lower than that obtained at 0.60m/s when using the flat surface and this
shows that indeed the flat surface is not effective for heat transfer in forced convection. Since
the air gap was manually controlled this introduced a lot of discrepancies in the results. For
instance, sometimes the gap would be too wide thus if the required air velocity was 1.0m/s, a
higher reading was obtained, and this affected the results since a high air velocity result in a
low surface temperature. The inaccuracy of the fan gap effect is clear when the pinned
surface was used as it led to a rapid change in the curve in the plot of air velocity against
surface temperature for the finned surface, Figure 6.2.1, the curve is seen to rapidly change
and become almost vertical.

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 8. CONCLUSION
It was observed that increased air velocity in forced convection led to lower surface
temperatures. Additionally, it was determined that a finned surface performs most effectively
as a heat exchanger in forced convection. In this context, the flat plate was identified as the
least effective in heat transfer, highlighting the preference for extended surfaces over flat
ones. In conclusion, our forced convection experiment provided valuable insights into heat
transfer dynamics. The inverse relationship between air velocity and surface temperature
highlights the importance of optimizing these parameters for efficient heat exchange. The
superior performance of a finned surface as a heat exchanger underscores its practical
significance in industrial processes. Furthermore, the inefficiency of flat plates compared to
extended surfaces emphasizes the latter's advantage in enhancing heat transfer. These
findings offer practical implications for the design and optimization of heat exchange
systems, emphasizing the need for thoughtful consideration of surface configurations and
airflow velocities to achieve optimal thermal performance.

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 9. RECOMMENDATIONS
For future experiments to ensure faster testing with simpler recording of findings we
recommend that equipment should be constructed with a Versatile Data Acquisition System,
which offers accurate real-time data collection, monitoring and display, calculating and
charting of all the critical measurements on a computer. We also recommend that voltage
metre measurements should be taken on a regular basis, and data should be linearized to
decrease inaccuracies and limit voltage volatility. An additional recommendation we suggest
is that the opening should be calibrated accurately with the relevant measurements for
optimal gap increases.

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 10.REFERENCES
Elettronicaveneta.com. 2020. [online] Available at: <https://www.elettronicaveneta.com/wp-
content/uploads/2019/10/TE6H-42A-E-TH-1.pdf> [Accessed 10 October 2023].
Jiji, L., (2009). Free Convection. Heat Convection, pp.259-292.
Jyuu., (2020). Introduction Forced Convection. [online] Slideshare.net. Available at:
<https://www.slideshare.net/jyuudaime/introduction-forced-convection#:~:text=The
%20heated%20air%20is%20replaced,area%20incontact%20with%20the%20air.>
[Accessed 10 October 2023].
Sciencedirect., (2020). Forced Convection - An Overview | Sciencedirect Topics. [online]
Available at: <https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/chemical-engineering/forced-
convection> [Accessed 10 October 2023].

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11. APPENDICES
11.1. APPENDIX A: FORMULAE USED

10% = 1m/s
U ∈%
X= ×1 m/s
10 %
U in % is the velocity in percentage
X is velocity in m/s

𝑇𝑚 = 𝑇𝑠 – 𝑇𝑖n
Tm is the average temperature
Ts is the superficial surface temperature
Tin is the inlet temperature
P = VI
P is Power in watts
V is Voltage in volts
And I is Current in amps.
11.2 APPENDIX B: PICTURES AND ADDITIONAL FIGURES

Figure 11.2.1: Showing Heat Transfer Service Unit

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Figure 11.2.2: showing Free and Forced Convection Apparatus

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