UNIVERSITY OF MAURITIUS

FACULTY OF ENGINEERING

Department of Mechanical and Production Engineering

Practical
Heat Transfer
Date submitted: 26.02.2016
Date performed: 12.02.2016

Programme: BEng (Hons) Mechanical Engineering (Minor: Energy system)

Level: 2
Module: Thermal Engineering I
Instructor: Dr Jaykumar Chummun
Group: T

Author:
o BUNDHUN Keshuv Kumar (1415171)
o FAUZEE Haseenah Bibi (1417026)
o RAMBHUNJUN Roni Noorveer (1415480)
1 INTRODUCTION
Heat transfer involves the movement of thermal energy between physical systems (Wikipedia, 2016). The
transfer of thermal energy may take place by three methods namely, conduction, convection and radiation.

Convection illustrates the transfer of thermal energy without the need for a solid medium required for
conduction. Heating a solid substance causes heat transfer to occur by conduction inside the object followed by
heat transfer by convection at the surface and in the air. The air near the hot surface of the object absorbs the
thermal energy and consequently, becomes relatively less dense in comparison with the air further away from
the surface. This causes the hot air to rise and to transfer heat to other regions. The cool air drops down, heats
up from the surface and rises up again. This creates a convection cycle in which heat is transferred via the
movement of air.

2 THEORY
Heat transfer by convection can take place naturally or by external force.

Free/Natural convection implies the transfer of thermal energy as explained in the earlier section without any
interruption of an external system. The thermal energy can flow naturally in its natural orientation without being
disturbed or helped on by another system.

On the other hand, forced convection implies the use of an external system, such as a fan in this case, to affect
the flow of heat transfer. Forced convection can occur in 3 different configurations. Firstly, the external system
can flow in the same direction as the natural direction of heat transfer. Contrary to the first case, we may also
have a configuration where the system opposes the natural direction of heat transfer. Ultimately, a transverse
configuration will enhance the transfer of the thermal energy as the external system is placed in such a way that
it is perpendicular to the natural direction.

Concerning the relationship between the types of convention and the power input in this case, it should be
noted that since forced convention blows the hot air away from the surface, it causes the surface to be cooler
than it would be have been in the case of free convection without the fan.

3 AIM OF EXPERIMENT
This experiment was performed in order to demonstrate the relationship between the power input and the
surface temperature in forced convection by observing the different surface temperature and air velocity values
using three different plates namely the finned plate, the flat plate and the pinned plate.

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4 SET-UP OF APPARATUS

Figure 1. Set-up of equipments

The apparatus shown in Fig 1 consists of the vertical duct which contains an exchanger that can accommodate
the flat plate, finned plate or the pinned plate. The plates have an electric heating element installed to them
with thermostatic protection to avoid overheating.

The temperature at the base of the duct is monitored using a thermistor sensor while another temperature
probe is fitted on the surface to obtain its temperature.

A variable speed fan is installed at the top of the vertical duct in order to help the upward flow of air in the duct.
An anemometer sensor is fitted into the wall of the duct near the exchanger to monitor the air velocity at the
surface.

The supply consists of a variable auto-transformer that allows us to control the power input required.

5 SAFETY MEASURES
o The apparatus must be operated within the maximum operating conditions.
o Apparatus should always be disconnected from supply when not in use.
o When liquids giving off inflammable vapors are used, the laboratory should contain a well ventilated system.
o The hot surface should not be handled without protective gear since it can cause severe burns.
o Protective goggles should be used when liquids or fine powders are used.
o Appropriate clothing should be worn when conducting the experiment since loose garments or accessories
may get caught in rotating machinery.

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6 PROCEDURE
1) The finned heat exchanger is placed into the duct.

2) The ambient temperature, i.e., the temperature of air surrounding the power supply, T A, is recorded.

3) The heater power control is then set to 50W.

4) The temperature on the apparatus is allowed to stabilize before noting the heated plate temperature, T H, in
order to ensure that steady state conditions have been achieved.

5) The fan speed control is adjusted to produce a reading of 0.5m/s on the thermal anemometer. Sufficient
time is allowed to attain steady state conditions and T H is recorded.

6) The fan speed control is then set to 1.0 m/s and 1.5m/s and T H is taken down for each setting.

7) A graph of air velocity against surface temperature (T H – TA) is plotted.

8) Steps 2-7 are repeated for flat and pinned plates.

Below are the different types of plates used:

▲ Figure 2(a): Finned Plate ▲ Figure 2(b): Flat Plate

▲Figure 2(c): Pinned Plate

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7 RESULTS
The values for the experiment are recorded in the table shown below.

 Ambient air temperature, TA = 25oC

 Power input= 50W

Table 1. Experimental and Calculated Values for Finned, Flat and Pinned plates

Type of plate Air Velocity / Heated plate temperature (TH – TA) /

m/s TH / oC o
C

0 40.0 15.0

0.5 41.1 16.1

Finned plate 1.0 41.7 16.7

1.5 42.0 17.0

0 41.2 16.2

0.5 47.6 22.6

Flat Plate 1.0 51.5 26.5

1.5 54.8 29.8

0 27.0 2.0

0.5 29.5 4.5

Pinned plate 1.0 31.5 6.5

1.5 33.0 8.0

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Using the calculated values in Table 1, graphs of air velocity against surface temperature are plotted for the
different plates.

1.6

1.4

1.2

0.8
Flat Plate
Pinned Plate
Finned Plate
0.6
Air Velocity (m/s)

0.4

0.2

0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35

Surface Temperature (ºC)

Figure 3: Graph of Air Velocity against Surface Temperature (TH –

TA) for Finned, Flat and Pinned plates

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8 DISCUSSION & CONCLUSION
The graph demonstrates that the flat plate has a relatively high temperature compared to the finned plate which
in turn has a hotter surface than the pinned plate. This gap can be explained by the difference in surface areas of
the various plates. Increasing surface area in contact with air can improve convection heat transfer. The addition
of fins or pins normal to a surface can be used to increase the surface area. A greater surface area exposed to
the convection process enabled a much more heat transferred to the air. 

It can be seen from Fig.3 that as the air velocity increases, the surface temperature increases. From this we can
deduce that the heat transferred decreases with an increase in air velocity which is in complete contradiction
with the conventional relationship between air velocity and surface temperature. The latter states that, surface
temperature should decrease with an increase in velocity of air. This is illustrated in the Fig.4 which represents
the graph of ideal relationship between surface temperature and air velocity.

VELOCITY
m/s

SURFACE TEMPERATURE

Figure 4: Typical Graph of Air Velocity against Surface Temperature

Comparing the ideal graph and the graph obtained from our results, the trend we have obtained deviates
completely from the intended trend. This major disparity may be due to poor commissioning and maintenance
of the apparatus, as well as errors in performing the experiment.

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9 APPLICATIONS
Forced Convection is used in:

 Central heating
 Air conditioning
 Steam turbines
 Heat sink simulation

Fins are widely used in air-cooled automobile engines, air-cooled aircraft engines, computer processors as well
as in other electronic devices.

10 REFERENCES
o Wikipedia, (2016). Heat transfer. [online] Available at:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_transfer#Conduction [Accessed 25 Feb. 2016].
o Engineeringtoolbox.com, (2016). Convective Heat Transfer. [online] Available at:
http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/convective-heat-transfer-d_430.html [Accessed 25 Feb. 2016].
o Physicsclassroom.com, (2016). Methods of Heat Transfer. [online] Available at:
http://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/thermalP/Lesson-1/Methods-of-Heat-Transfer [Accessed 25 Feb.
2016].
o Sun, H., Li, R., Chénier, E. and Lauriat, G. (2012). On the modeling of aiding mixed convection in vertical
channels. Heat and Mass Transfer, 48(7), pp.1125-1134.
o Wikipedia, (2016). Forced convection. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forced_convection
[Accessed 25 Feb. 2016].

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