ENSC3007 Lab

Executive Summary
This lab looks at the underlying principles affecting heat exchangers. It uses a
simple counter-current flow heat exchanger to allow inspection of the
relationships between the velocity f the flow of oil and heat transfer coefficients.
From this the overall heat transfer coefficient can be determined and fluid
properties can be determined to calculate the Reynolds, Nusselt and Graetz
numbers. There are large sources of error in this experiment from the lack of
insulation in the heat exchanger and inaccuracy of the thermocouples for
temperature measurements, but it is still very useful in showing the correlation
between fluid velocity and the heat transfer coefficient, as well as illustrating the
thermal boundary layers in laminar flows.

Introduction
The aim of this experiment is to explore the working principles of a countercurrent laminar flow heat exchanger. We will be looking at the principles which
affect the efficiency of the device, while controlling the flow rate of the hot oil
loop. We will be measuring the temperature of the fluids in the system and using
those values to determine the known properties such as specific heat and
thermal conductivity. This will allow us to determine the overall energy balance
for the system and work out the efficiency. We will also be looking at the
relationship between the Nusselt and Graetz numbers in laminar flows. The hot
fluid we will be using is Shell Thermia Oil B in the inner tube and water will be
used as the cold fluid in the outer tubing.

Theory
In this lab, we use a Laminar/Viscous Flow Heat Transfer Unit H970. This is a shell
and tube heat exchanger which maximises heat transfer from the hot to the cold
fluid by using counter-current flow. The hot fluid flows along a length of small
tubing, surrounded by the cold fluid flowing in the opposite direction around the
tubing. Heat passes from the hot fluid to the tubing, and then from the tubing to
the cold fluid. The heat exchanger used in this experiment only has one internal
and one external heat transfer tube, to simplify the heat exchanger. Commercial
applications may have many internal tubes to allow for more efficient heat
transfer.

Experimental Setup
Equipment
We will be using the following heat exchanger apparatus:

In this apparatus, the oil is contained in a continuous loop and flows from the
heating tank, through a pump. It then either flows through the heat exchanger or
back to the tank, for recirculation. The heat exchanger consists of an inner tube,
which is completely enclosed by an outer tube. The hot fluid (oil) travels down
the inside tube, and the water travels in the opposite direction on the outside.

T1
and

T3

measures the temperature of the oil at the entrance to the heat exchanger,

T2

measures the temperature of the oil as it leaves the heat exchanger.

measures the temperature of the tube as the oil enters the heat

exchanger, and

T4

the heat exchanger.

measures the temperature of the tube where the oil leaves

T6

measures the temperature of the water as it enters

the heat exchanger, and

T5

measures the temperature of the water as it exits

the heat exchanger. The water enters the apparatus from the tap which is at a
relatively constant temperature, and exits into a drain.
The measuring tank is graduated in increments of 100mL, so that it is possible to
measure the flow rate of the oil by timing how long it takes to fill up the first
500mL of the cylinder.

Method
1. The flow rate of the water must be set to 15g/s
2. Control valve adjusted to allow fast flow of oil
3. Flow rate for oil determined, by measuring the time taken to fill the 500mL
tank
4. Wait 10 minutes for equilibrium to be reached
5. Record all temperature values (

T1

to

T 6 ).

6. Adjust control valve to a slower flow rate

7. Repeat steps 3 6 two more times (for 3 different flow rates total)

Discussions
The results we measured are below:
Measured Results

Temperature of oil entering

t1 (C)

76.5

78

80.8

Temperature of oil leaving

Quantity of oil collected
Time to collect oil

t2 (C)
V (L)
T (s)

72.9
0.5
8.6

74.2
0.5
12.4

75.7
0.5
20.1

Temperature of tube metal at upper end

T3 (C)

31.2

31.2

30.4

Temperature of tube metal at lower end

T4 (C)

23.2

23

23

Water inlet temperature

T6 (C)

22.9

22.6

22.6

Water outlet temperature

T5 (C)

26.7

26.3

25.9

Water flow rate

mw (g/s)

19

15

15

From these results, we can derive the following results. Appendix 1 shows the full
derivation for run 1.
Derived Results
Mean oil temperature
Oil cp at mean temperature
Oil p at mean temperature
Mean water temperature
Water cp at mean temperature

1
C
cp
(kJ/kg.C)
p (kg/L)
C
cp
(kJ/kg.C)

74.7

76.1

78.25

2.08
0.832
24.8

2.08
0.831
24.45

2.09
0.829
24.25

4.181

4.181

4.181

Log mean temperature difference between oil

and tube
Log mean temperature difference between
tube and water
Log mean temperature difference between oil
and water
Oil mass flow rate

lm,o-t (C)

47.47

48.97

51.54

lm,t-w (C)

1.55

1.80

1.69

lm,o-w (C)
m (kg/s)

49.90
0.0484

51.65
0.0335

53.99
0.0206

Rate of heat transfer from oil

Qoil (W)

361.9

265.3

220.1

Rate of heat transfer to water

Energy balance

Qwater (W)
Q (W)
ho-t (W/m2
K)
ht-w (W/m2
K)
ho-w (W/m2
K)

301.9
60.0

232.0
33.2

207.0
13.2

236

168

132

6392

4047

3560

212

150

119

uoil (m/s)
v (10-6 m2
s-1)

0.6012

0.4170

0.2572

6.5

6.2

k (W/m.K)

0.1288
20.70
970.6
1091.7

0.1287
14.72
724.9
758.8

0.1286
11.62
468.9
469.7

Surface heat transfer coefficient (oil to tube)

Surface heat transfer coefficient (tube to
water)
Overall heat transfer coefficient (oil to water)
Mean velocity of oil
Oil kinematic viscosity at mean temperature
Oil
Oil
Oil
Oil

thermal conductivity at mean temperature

Nusselt number
Reynolds number
Graetz number

We can see from these results that as the flow rate of the oil decreases, so does
the energy balance. The efficiency of the heat exchanger can be determined
from:
.

Q water
.

Q oil
.

Loss=

Q
.

=1

Q oil
For each of our runs, we calculate the following efficiency and % loss.

Efficiency
Percentage loss

1
0.8342
16.58%

2
0.8747
12.53%

3
0.9402
5.98%

In a perfectly insulated experiment, the energy balance should be zero. This

would mean that all the energy leaving the oil would be absorbed by the water,
and there would be no external losses. However in this experiment, there are two
main sources of error.

Firstly, there is tubing between the oil and the water which the heat must pass
through. This will heat up and result in less heat being passed through to the
water. Also, there are external losses to the environment because the apparatus
is not insulated. Some of the energy which goes in to heating the water is lost
from the water which is on the outer side of the tube, and heats up the
.

surrounding air. This means

Qwater

will be lower than

Qoil

, reducing the

efficiency.
There are also large measurement errors associated with the experiment. The
thermocouples used to measure the temperatures at each point have an error of

1 C . We are dealing with temperature differences of the order of

4C

and

so this error is very substantial.

Heat transfer coefficients vs Mean oil velocity

250
200
150
Heat transfer coeffieint (W/m2.K)

100
50
0

Oil to tube heat transfer

coeffient vs mean oil
velocity
Linear (Oil to tube heat
transfer coeffient vs mean
oil velocity)
Oil to water heat transfer
coeffient vs mean oil
velocity
Linear (Oil to water heat
transfer coeffient vs mean
oil velocity)

Mean oil velocity (m/s)

From the graphs we can see that there is a relationship between the heat
transfer coefficients and mean oil velocity. We can see that as the mean oil
velocity increases, so too does the heat transfer coefficient. This is because the
heat transfer coefficient is a function of the energy transfer due to conduction
and convection.

U ow =f ( conduction ,convection)

For all 3 runs, the Reynolds number is less than 2300, and so it is laminar flow.
This means that there is a hydrodynamic boundary layer, which the energy must

pass through to heat up the water. When the oil is travelling at a higher velocity,
the hydrodynamic boundary layer decreases in thickness. The hydrodynamics
boundary layer acts as resistance to heat transfer, and so increasing the velocity
of the oil increases

and

U .

is consistently lower than

h ot
, but follows a very similar curve. This is

because there is some inefficiency in the heat transfer as discussed above.

Oil Nusselt number vs oil Graetz number

25.00
20.00
Oil Nusselt number vs oil
Graetz number

15.00
Oil Nusselt Number

Linear (Oil Nusselt number

vs oil Graetz number)

10.00
5.00

0.00
0.0

1000.0

2000.0

Oil Graetz Number

We can see from the plot that as the Graetz number increases, so does the
Nusselt number. This is because both of these numbers are related to the

velocity of the oil. We have seen that as the velocity increases, so does

h ot
,.

The Nusselt number is defined as:

h ot d i
k
Nu=

Here

di

and

increasing velocity.

are constant, and so the Nusselt number will increase with

The Graetz number is defined as:

Gz=

cp
4m
kL

Here all values are constant, except for

which increases with increasing

velocity. This means that the correlation between the Nusselt and Graetz
numbers is due to their common dependence on the velocity.
We can see that in all tests, the Graetz number is well above 20, and so we are in
the thermally developed region.

Conclusions
In this lab we were able to perform the experiment and obtain values that were
very similar to those expected. We were able to relate the difference in energy
balance to the inefficiency of the heat exchanger, and the uncertainties in the
measurement of the temperatures. We were able to see the impact of the
velocity of the oil through the tube on the thickness of the boundary layers, and
how the increasing velocity of the fluid caused a decreasing boundary layer and
more efficient heat transfer. From this we can conclude that the heat exchanger
should be run at higher oil velocities to increase the heat transfer coefficients,
however this also reduces the efficiency of the overall energy balance and so
there is a trade-off.

Appendix 1

References
Bartlett, D. A. (1996), The Fundamentals of Heat Exchangers, The Industrial
Physicist, American Institute of Physics, pp18-21.

PA Hilton Ltd. Experimental, Operating & Maintenance Manual: Laminar/Viscous

Flow Heat Transfer Unit H970, H970M/E/3, 1988.