Mattu University

College of Engineering and Technology

Department pf chemical Engineering

Thermal and heat transfer Lab

1.Introduction
• Heat is energy in transit due to a temperature difference. Whenever there is
a temperature difference in one medium or among several media, heat
transfer occurs.
• A heat exchanger is any device where a heat exchange between two fluids
separated by a metal wall is verified. This metal wall represents the heat
transfer surface and its geometry can be of any shape.
• The shell and tube heat exchanger is the most widely used in industry.
• It adapts to fluids at high and low pressures, high and low temperatures and
constitutes the most important part of heat transfer equipment without
combustion in chemical processes plants.
• Besides, they are compact and efficient, and their high velocities improve
the heat transfer rate.
• There are three different types of heat transfer mode (processes):
conduction, convection and radiation.
Conduction
• It is the heat transfer through solids and stationary fluids.
• Conduction physical mechanism is the energy diffusion originated from the
interaction among molecules of the medium.
• The equation that quantifies Conduction Heat Transfer Processes is known as
Fourier's law.
• In one-dimensional and stationary cases, Heat Transfer Rate through a wall will
be given by the following expression:

• Where
q = Heat Transfer Rate (w)
K = thermal conductivity of the wall (w/m·k)
A = perpendicular area to the direction of heat flow (m 2)
x = Wall Thickness (m)
T2 = temperature on the cold surface of the wall (k)
T1 = temperature on the hot surface of the wall (k)
Convection
• It is the heat transfer between a surface and a fluid in motion at different
temperatures. It is a consequence of the superposition of two physical phenomena,
energy transported by the random movement of the molecules (diffusion) and
energy transported by the macroscopic movement of the fluid (a great number of
molecules moving together).
• Regardless of whether there is a laminar or turbulent condition, the heat transfer
rate by convention between a surface and a fluid is given by Newton´s law of
cooling, expressed as:
Radiation:
• It is the energy generated by changes in the electronic configuration of
atoms or molecules and transported by electromagnetic waves or
photons.
• Unlike conduction and convection, radiation is independent from
matter for its propagation, being more effective under vacuum
conditions.
Heat Exchanger
• A heat exchanger is a device designed by mankind for the heat transfer
between two fluids at different temperatures separated by a solid wall.
• There are several criteria (not just one) for heat exchangers
classification: their geometry, the types of flow, the flow conditions, etc.
• There is a brief classification of heat exchangers below:
According to their geometry
⁕ Concentric tubes heat exchanger.
⁕ Shell and tube heat exchanger.
⁕ Plate heat exchanger.
⁕ Coil heat exchanger.
⁕ Jacketed heat exchanger with stirrer.
⁕ Bayonet tube heat exchanger.
 According to the type of flow
⁕ Parallel flow exchanger.
⁕ Countercurrent flow exchanger.
⁕ Cross flow heat exchanger.
According to the flow conditions
⁕ Laminar flow exchanger.
⁕ Transient flow exchanger.
⁕ Turbulent flow exchanger
1.2 Thermal resistance
• Thermal resistance is a key concept in the evaluation of heat transfer. There is an
analogy between diffusion of heat and electric charge. As electric resistance is
associated with electric conduction, thermal resistance may be associated with
thermal conduction.
• Ohm's law defines resistance as:

• Where (V1 - V2) is the difference of electric potential (voltage) and I is the
electric current. In heat transfer we may consider thermal resistance to be:

• From Conduction equation, Thermal Resistance may be determined:

 1.3 Overall heat transfer coefficient
• To represent the overall heat transfer phenomenon between the fluids in the exchanger,
the thermal resistances from each medium must be taken into account.
 Cont…
• The heat flow, in its way from the hot fluid to the cold fluid, has to
overcome the resistance exerted by the boundary layer of the hot fluid,
the resistance exerted by the separation wall and the resistance exerted
by the boundary layer of the cold fluid, as it can be observed in figure 1.
• These three resistances arranged in series form a total resistance (Rt),
which is the addition of each one.
Where:
Ah = area of the tube surface in contact with the hot fluid (m+).
Ac = area of the tube surface in contact with the cold fluid (m2).
T∞,c = mean temperature of the hot fluid (K).
T∞,f = mean temperature of the cold fluid (K).
Ts,c = temperature of the surface of the tube in contact with the hot fluid (K).
Ts,f = temperature of the surface of the tube in contact with the cold fluid (K).
hh = convection coefficient of the hot fluid (W/m2 K).
 Cont…
hc = convection coefficient of the cold fluid (W/m2 K).
k = thermal conductivity of copper (W/m K).
A = mean area of the copper tube (m2).
x = thickness of the copper tube wall (m).
The heat transfer rate will be:
 Cont…
• The overall heat transfer coefficient, U, is defined as a factor that for a given
geometrical and hydrodynamic configuration provides the value of the total heat
transferred, multiplying it by the exchange area and the mean temperature
difference between the hot and cold fluid.
Experiment No. 1: Conduction in a simple
bar
Objective:
The objective of this practical exercise is the experimental
demonstration of Fourier´s law.
Required elements:
TXC-TC unit.
THEORY
Introduction
• Heating is power in transit due to a difference of temperatures. If there is a
difference of the temperature in any place, a heating transfer is produced.
There are three different types of heating transfer process or modes:
conduction, convection and radiation.
Conduction:
• It is the heating transfer mode through stable solids.
• The physical conduction mechanism is the energy diffusion originated by
the interactions among molecules of the environment.
• The equation, which quantifies the heating transfer process by conduction,
it is known as Fourier’s Law. In the one-dimensional and stable case, the
rate heating transfer through a wall will be done by the following
expression:
 Cont…
• Where: q = heating transfer rate (W)
K = thermal conductivity of the wall (W/m K)
A = area, which is perpendicular to the direction of the
heating flux (m2)
x = thickness of the wall (m)
T2 = temperature in the cold surface of the wall (K)
T1 = temperature in the heating surface of the wall (K)
The negative sign indicates that the heat runs to the direction of
decreasing temperatures.
Thermal resistance
• An important concept for evaluating the heating transfer is the thermal resistance.
There is an analogy between the heating diffusion and the electrical charge. As the
electrical resistance is associated with the conduction of electricity, the thermal
resistance can be associated with the heating conduction. The Ohm’s Law of the
electricity defines the “Resistance” as:

• Where (V1 - V2) is the difference of electrical potential and I is the electrical
current.
• In the heating transmission, thermal resistance is:

• Where (T1 - T2) is the difference of temperatures and q is the heating transfer rate.
• From the equation 1, the thermal resistance is deducted from the conduction: