Heat transfer in agitated vessel (Steady state)

AIM: To determine the coil side heat transfer coefficient as a function of agitator speed (R.P.M).

APPARATUS:

 Insulated cylindrical vessel with an electrical heater, a cooling coil and a variable speed
fractional hp motor with given agitator for agitation of liquid in the vessel.
 Cold fluid circulation pump with speed variation mechanism. Cold fluid circulation pipe line
contains a rotameter to measure the flow rate of cold fluid.
 Digital temperature indicators to measure inlet and outlet temperatures of cooling water with
the accuracy of 0.1°C.
 Digital temperature indicator cum controller to measure as well as control temperature of liquid
in the vessel in which cooling coil is immersed.

THEORY: Coils are of great importance in the heat transfer operations as they provide us its surface area
can be adjusted as per the requirement and they are generally cheap. They are made in helical shape
and are placed in cylindrical vessels and a significant amount of free space is available between the coil
and vessel wall which makes the entire surface of the coil available for heat transfer. The heat transfer
through natural convection is low which in turn is countered by using a mechanical agitator.

Correlation used for heat transfer to fluids in the vessel with mechanical agitation heated or cooled by
submerged coil is:

* *

Where,

hc =heat transfer coefficient between fluid and coil surface ( ⁄ )

dc = Coil diameter (m)

L = Agitator diameter (m)

N = Agitator speed ( ⁄ )

ρ = Density of fluid in the vessel ( ⁄ )

k = Thermal conductivity of fluid in the vessel ( ⁄ )

= Viscosity of fluid in the vessel ( ⁄ )

w = Viscosity of fluid in the vessel at coil wall temperature ( ⁄ )

SCHEMATIC
OBSERVATIONS:

1. Length of the coil immersed in the agitated vessel (L) – 1.60 m

2. Inside diameter of the coil tube (di) – 0.945 cm
3. Outside diameter of the coil tube (do) – 1.27 cm
4. Outside diameter of coil available for heat transfer (π*do*L) – 0.6308 m2
5. Temperature of the fluid in the vessel during test run - 150
6. Coil diameter – 25 cm

OBSERVATION TABLE

Obs Inlet temperature of Outlet temperature of Flow rate of cold R.P.M. of agitator
No. cold fluid t1 ( cold fluid t2 ( fluid Qwater (LPH) motor N
1 35.4 37.4 280 135
2 35.8 38.2 280 142
3 35.8 38.5 280 149
4 35.9 38.7 280 161
5 36 38.8 280 172
6 36.1 39.2 280 184
TABULATIONS OF CALCULATIONS BASED ON OBSERVATION TABLE

Obs Amount of LMTD Overall heat Outside heat Log (ho) Log (N)
No. heat ( transfer coefficient transfer (kcal/hr R.P.M
transferred U coefficient ho *m*m*
Q (kcal/hr) (kcal/hr*m*m* (kcal/hr*m*m*
1 560 113.6 77.3 78.5 1.89 2.13
2 672 113 93.2 94.8 1.97 2.15
3 756 112.8 105 107.1 2.03 2.17
4 784 112.7 109 111.3 2.04 2.21
5 812 112.6 113.1 115.5 2.04 2.23
6 868 112.3 121.1 123.9 2.09 2.26

CALCULATIONS (Sample calculations for the first reading)

1. Mass flow rate of water (dm/dt) = (volumetric flow rate in LPH* ρwater) = 280×1 = 280 kg/hr
2. Amount of heat transferred Q = m*Cp*(t2-t1) = 280×1×(37.4-35.4) = 616 kcal/hr
( (
3. Log mean temperature difference (LMTD) = (
= 113.6
(

4. Overall heat transfer coefficient (U) = = = 77.3kcal/hr*m*m*

5. Velocity of water through tube of coil (v) = = = 110.95 cm/s

6. Reynolds number of water through tube NRe = =

7. Prandtl number of water NPr = = 4.719
8. Coil inside heat transfer coefficient hi= 0.023(NRe)0.8(NPr)0.4[1+3.5* ] =
0.023×(15090)0.8×(4.719)0.4× = 7304.5 (kcal/hr*m*m*
9. Outside film heat transfer coefficient

= - = 0.012941 – 0.000184 = 0.012757

ho = 78.5 kcal/hr*m*m*
DISCUSSIONS: Agitated vessels provide a very economic and good mode of heat transfer. As per the
experiment it is evident that as the RPM of agitator motor is increased the temperature difference also
increases. Also, correlations for finding the heat transfer coefficient are available which help us in the
estimation of heat transfer coefficient.

CONCLUSIONS: The slope of the graph between log N and log ho is 0.6651

Schematic source: www.explorearmfield.com