Heat Transfer & Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Lab

Experiment # 06

LAB REPORT

Study of Radiation Heat Transfer

Submitted By:
Umar Siab khan
Roll # 42
BSME 19-23
Submitted to: Sir Ammar Ahmed

Department of Mechanical Engineering (Batch 2019-23)

Pakistan Institute of Engineering & Applied Sciences,
Nilore, Islamabad, Pakistan.
1
 Table of Contents
6.1 Abstract ........................................................................................................................................... 5

6.2 Objectives ....................................................................................................................................... 5

6.3 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 5

6.4 Experimental Setup ......................................................................................................................... 6

6.5 Theory ............................................................................................................................................. 7

6.4.1 Inverse Square Law for Heat ................................................................................................... 7

6.4.2 Stefan-Boltzmann Law............................................................................................................. 8

6.6 Procedure ........................................................................................................................................ 8

6.5.1 General Start up Procedure ...................................................................................................... 8

6.5.2 Procedure of Experiment ......................................................................................................... 9

B. Stefan-Boltzmann Law ............................................................................................................ 9

6.7 Observation and Calculations ....................................................................................................... 10

A. Inverse Square Law for Heat ................................................................................................. 10

B. Stefan-Boltzmann Law .......................................................................................................... 11

6.8 Precautions .................................................................................................................................... 12

6.9 Discussion & Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 12

2
 List of Figures
Figure 1: Radiation heat transfer Apparatus ................................................................................................... 6

Figure 2: Schematic of Apparatus ................................................................................................................... 7

Figure 3: Inverse square law ........................................................................................................................... 8

Figure 4: Graph of ln(x( vs ln(R) .................................................................................................................. 11

Figure 5: Graph of Voltage vs Temperature ................................................................................................ 12

3
 List of Tables

Table 1: Observation table for Inverse square law ........................................................................................ 10

Table 2: Observation Table for Stefan-Boltzmann Law ............................................................................... 12

4
Experiment 6
Study of Radiation Heat Transfer

6.1 Abstract
In this report, two basic laws of radiation heat transfer have been studied and observed by
experiment, namely the inverse square law and Stefan Boltzmann's law. The concept of
radiation is very interesting because the sun and stars contain the principle of radiation in
some way. In this experiment, we first study the change in intensity of radiation at a fixed
distance by changing the temperature of the radiation source to observe Stefan Boltzmann's
law. For the inverse square law, the distance from the light source changes and notes its
influence on the intensity of the detected light radiation. It can be seen from the logarithmic
graph that the intensity of the radiation decreases with the reciprocal of the square of the
distance from the radiation source. According to Stefan Boltzmann's law, the intensity of
radiation emitted by the source increases as the temperature of the source increases. The
difference between the calculated value and the experimental value is due to the emissivity of
the material, and the basic assumption of the law is that the object is an ideal black body.

6.2 Objectives
 To understand different laws related to radiation heat transfer

 To observe the validation inverse square law

 To observe the validation of Stefan-Boltzmann law

6.3 Introduction
Thermal radiation is a mode of heat transfer, which differs significantly from the other two
modes, namely conduction and convection. The fact that radiant energy transfer occurs across
a vacuum is often disturbing to students unless the theory relating to properties of
electromagnetic waves has been presented.

The engineer is not directly concerned with the mechanism by which heat transfer occurs,
sound knowledge of the properties and laws relating to the topic are required.

5
Inverse Square Law for Heat – It states that, the intensity of radiation on a surface is inversely
proportional to the square of the distance of the surface from the radiation source.

Stefan-Boltzmann Law – It states that, the intensity of radiation varies as the fourth power of
the source temperature.

Kirchhoff’s Law - which states that the emissivity of a grey surface is equal to its absorptivity
of radiation received from another surface when in a condition of thermal equilibrium.

Area Factors – It states that the exchange of radiant energy from one surface to another is
dependent upon their interconnecting geometry, i.e. a function of the amount that each surface
can 'see' of the other.

6.4 Experimental Setup

Setup name: Radiation Heat transfer Apparatus

Figure 1: Radiation heat transfer Apparatus

6
 Figure 2: Schematic of Apparatus

6.5 Theory
6.4.1 Inverse Square Law for Heat

The total energy dQ from an element dA can be imagined to flow through a hemisphere of
radius r. A surface element on this hemisphere dA1 lies on a line making an angle φ with the
normal and the solid angle subtended by dA I at dA is dφ1= dA1/r2.

(NOTE: solid angle which is by definition the intercepted area on a sphere divided by r2.)

If the rate of flow of energy through dA1 is dQ1 then dQ1= iφ dφ1 dA where iφ is the intensity
of radiation in the φ direction. i.e. dQ1 α 1/ r2

7
 Figure 3: Inverse square law

6.4.2 Stefan-Boltzmann Law

The Stefan-Boltzmann Law states that: qb= σ (T s4-T a4)

Where:

qb = energy emitted by unit area of a black body surface (Wm-2)

(Note: Energy emitted by surface = 3.040 x Reading from radiometer R-refer to Radiometer
Data Sheet for explanation)

σ = Stefan-Boltzmann constant equal to 5.67 x 10-8 (Wm-2 K-4)

Ts= Source temperature and surrounding (K)

Ta= Temperature of radiometer and surroundings (K)

6.6 Procedure
6.5.1 General Start up Procedure

1. Ensure that the main switches of the Heat Transfer Apparatus is off.

2. Install the radiometer on the horizontal track. The complete installation is shown in
Figure 1.

3. Connect the heater supply cable to the power output socket of the control box.

4. Connect the radiometer cable to the data logger.

8
5. Connect the thermocouples of the heater assembly (TH) and three target plates (TB, TG
and Tr) to the control box. Then switch on the control box.

6. Check the thermocouple reading from the plate should indicate ambient temperature.

7. Check the radiometer on the panel indicates zero.

8. Supply power to the heater, TH temperature and the radiometer reading should increase.

9. As the surface temperature of the heat source increases, observe the readouts of
radiation. The reading should increase.

6.5.2 Procedure of Experiment

A. Inverse Square Law for Heat

1. Connect one of the thermocouples of the target plates say TP, to the control box and
place the plate on the bench, to record ambient temperature.

2. Position the radiometer on the test track at 800 mm from the heat source.

3. Switch on the power to the heaters using switch on the control box.

4. Monitor TH reading on the control box.

5. When TH value has stabilized or reached to controlled temperature, record TB, TH, the
distance 'x', and the radiometer reading 'R'.

6. Next, move the radiometer position to 700 mm from the heated surface and monitor the
reading on the display panel. When the value has stabilized, record Tp, TH, the distance
'x', and the radiometer reading 'R'.

7. Repeat the above procedure by reducing the distance by 100 mm until the radiometer
is 300 mm from the heated surface.

B. Stefan-Boltzmann Law

1. Connect one of the thermocouple of the target plates T p to the Control box and place
the plate on the bench, to record ambient temperature.

9
 2. Position the radiometer on the test track at 800 mm from the beat source.

3. Switch on the power to the beaters using the switch on the control box.

4. Monitor TH reading on control box.

5. When TH value has stabilized or reached to controlled temperature, move the

radiometer to 300 mm from the heated plate. The reading of the radiometer should start
to rise. When the value has stabilized, record Tp, TH, the distance 'x', and the radiometer
reading, 'R'.

6. Next, move the radiometer to 800 mm from the heated plate again.

7. Repeat the above procedure with an increment of temperatures from PID controller.

6.7 Observation and Calculations

A. Inverse Square Law for Heat

S = 27.4 μ Vm2/W

x = 20 cm

V = 4.86 mV

𝑉 4.86 × 103
𝑞𝑒𝑥𝑝 = = = 177.37 𝑊/𝑚2
𝑆 27.4

Table 1: Observation table for Inverse square law

X
V (mv) R (W/m2) ln(x) ln(R)
(cm)
20 4.85 177.38 -1.609 5.178
25 3.35 121.91 -1.386 4.803
30 2.43 87.6 -1.204 4.473
35 1.82 66.8 -1.050 4.202
40 1.434 52.36 -0.916 3.958
45 1.156 42.15 -0.799 3.741

10
 ln(X) vs ln(R)
6.000

5.000

4.000

3.000

2.000

1.000

0.000
-2.000 -1.500 -1.000 -0.500 0.000
ln(X)

Figure 4: Graph of ln(x( vs ln(R)

B. Stefan-Boltzmann Law

S = 27.4 μ Vm2/W

x = 20 cm

V = 0.198 mV

𝑉 0.198 × 103
𝑞𝑒𝑥𝑝 = = = 177.37 𝑊/𝑚2
𝑆 27.4
Ambient temperature = Tamb = 18oC = 291 K

Stefan − Boltzmann constant = σ = 5.6703 × 10−8

T = 125oC = 398 K

−8
qideal = σ(T4 − T4) =
amb(5.6703 × 10 )((398) − (291) )
4 4

qideal = 1016.172 W/m2

T (℃) X V (mv) q exp (W/m2) q ideal (W/m2)

(cm)
125 20 0.199 7.227 1016.172
120 20 0.171 6.278 946.011
115 20 0.155 5.620 878.478
110 20 0.149 5.438 813.506

11
 105 20 0.144 5.256 751.029
100 20 0.121 4.380 690.983
125 40 0.081 2.923 1016.172
120 40 0.063 2.336 946.011
115 40 0.053 1.934 878.478
110 40 0.05 1.825 813.506
105 40 0.046 1.642 751.029
100 40 0.029 1.058 690.983

Table 2: Observation Table for Stefan-Boltzmann Law

Voltage vs Temperature
0.25

0.2

0.15

0.1

0.05

0
95 100 105 110 115 120 125 130
Temperature (℃)

Figure 5: Graph of Voltage vs Temperature

6.8 Precautions
1. DO NOT touch the heater plate while it is hot.

2. Leave the equipment for a sufficient time to cold down the beater plate after switching
off the heater.

3. When assemble the target plates, make sure that the bolt-on thermocouple is facing the
heated surface.

6.9 Discussion & Conclusion

The goal of this experiment was to demonstrate the Inverse Square Law for Heat and the Stefan
Boltzmann Law. The intensity of radiation on a surface is inversely proportional to the square of the
distance between the surface and the radiation source, according to the inverse square equation for

12
 Heat. Preferably yellow light bulb was used for the experimental study. As it can be seen in the above
figure 1 that as the distance is changed the value of intensity also changed. So, according to the law as
distance is increased the value of intensity decreased and vice versa. So, it can also be seen in the
experimental value which clearly depicts the relation. In the second law i.e Stefan Boltzmann law we
changed the arrangement and place the detector in front of black body to find out the emissivity.
Intensity of Thermal radiation increases with temperature as observed in the experiment and it is in
accordance with the Stefan Boltzmann law. The value of emissivity from Stephan Boltzmann law is
close to 1 which verifies the laws.

The log(R) vs log(x) was a very good fit straight line for the inverse square law verification, with an R-
squared value of 0.9997, which is extremely close to unity. The line's gradient is -1.7455, which is
quite near to -2, which is the theoretical gradient value. As a result of the preceding findings, the
inverse square law is accepted. The intensity of radiation varies as the fourth power of the source
temperature, according to the Stefan-Boltzmann Law. Because of mistakes, the experimental results did
not match the theoretical ones in this situation.

The application of this experiment is found in radiation detector. A radiation detector is a device used
to track, detect, or identify high-energy particles or radiation from natural or artificial sources such as
cosmic radiation, nuclear decay, particle accelerators, and X-rays. The intensity of these radiations on
human and animal lives may cause some critical issues. The causes of errors are listed below

Causes of Error:
 Background radiations and radiant energy loss
 Instrument limitations
 Low radiometer response
 Systematic and random mistakes

For Steffen Boltzmann's law, we can see that the intensity of the radiation increases with temperature. This
confirms the results obtained theoretically. Our basic assumption to derive this law is that the radiation
source is an ideal black body with an emissivity equal to one. But there is no perfect black body. The
experiment can be concluded with the experimental validation of the both laws of radiation i.e. inverse
square law and Stefan- Boltzmann law.

13