Department of Petrochemical

College of Technical Engineering

Duhok Polytechnic University

HEAT TRANSFER
Second YEAR

Name Of student: Maran Munir Hameed

Group : B
Name of Experiment; Free and forced convection heat transfer from
finned and pinned plates
No. of Experiment : 2
HEAT TRANSFER
Maran Munir

Objective
Determination of heat transfer coefficient h , for free and forced convection in different geometries.

Apparatus
Figure 1 shows the experimental instrument in details. This unit has the following components:
The vertical air duct (1) with a cross-sectional area
of 120 120mm and a length of
2
1m is used to
guide the air flow over a heated surface. The
ambient air enters the duct at the bottom and
heated air leaves the duct at the top (11)
The air duct has several measuring glands (2) that
enable one to record the temperature at various
locations by using a type-K thermocouple (3). In
addition, a fan with flow sensor (4) blows air into
the duct and measures its volumetric inlet flow
rate. Two thermistors (5, 6) record the inlet and
outlet temperatures of the air flow.
Assemblies of heaters and heated surfaces with
different geometries (7-9) can be mounted inside
the duct using simple toggle-type fasteners. The
different heated surfaces (flat plate, pipe bundle or
fins) are each heated by four resistive heaters with
maximum heating power of about 170 W. The
applied voltage to the heaters is adjustable for
achieving variable heat output. There are bi-
metallic strips to interrupt the supply of power,
when certain temperatures are established (also
used to ensure that the temperature does not
exceed 120°C).
The control and display unit (10) allow controlling
the power supply and regulate the fan speed and
heaters power. In addition, this unit displays the
electrical power supplied to the heaters, the
volumetric flow rate of air, the inlet and outlet air
temperatures, and the temperatures measured with
the type-K thermocouple. A PC is connected to
the apparatus for data acquisition.
Figure 1: Components of experimental apparatus.

) 2
HEAT TRANSFER
Maran Munir

Figure 3 shows different geometries for the heated surface;

Flat plate,
Pipe bundle (needle fins),
Rectangular fins.
Air flows past the heating element and absorbs heat in the process. Sensors record the volumetric flow rate of
the air, the heating power and the temperatures at all relevant points. The measured values can be read on
digital displays. At the same time, the measured values can also be transmitted directly to a PC. Free and
forced convective cooling will be investigated on all three surface configurations. Comparison between the
flat plate results and the results of finned surfaces can be used to find the effects of fins on the heat transfer
coefficient under free and forced convection heat transfer.

(a) (b) (c)

Figure 3: (a) Flat plate, (b) pipe bundle, and (3) rectangular fins

Theory
There are three modes for heat transfer: convection, conduction, and radiation. The convection heat transfer
plays an important role in many industrial applications. The convection heat transfer is usually subdivided
into free and forced convection. In the forced convection, the fluid is blown or pumped past the heated surface
using a pump or a fan, while in the natural (or free) convection, fluid flow is naturally achieved by buoyancy
effects, i.e., density variation in the fluid.
The heat transfer rate to the fluid Q can be calculated using the fist law of thermodynamics for the heated
fluid,
Q=mh (1)

5
 Experimental Procedure
Startup Procedure

1. Connect the mains input power supply plug to a nearest single-phase electrical supply .

2. Turn the heater power control knob and fan speed control knob fully anti-clockwise

3, Connect the fan supply lead to the socket at the side of the control panel.

4. Connect the temperature probe lead to the socket beneath the control panel.

5. clamp the fiat heat exchanger into the duet using the two toggle clamps and plate connect the heater power supply
lead to the socket on the cover exchanger

6.Connect the plate temperature (TH) connector to the socket on the heat exchanger .

7. Place the meter into the bracket situated on the side the duct. Then, connect the cable to the connection beneath the
control panel.

8. Ensure that the sensor hole is aligned with the direction of the air flow when inserting te probe through the wall of
the duct.

9.Switch on the main power Check that the.

10. Check that the LED temperature meter and watt-meter are illuminated . check that the temperature meter
indicates ambient temperature.

11. Increase the heater power in the exchanger by rotating clockwise.

12. The power supplied to the exchanger should be shown in watts on the meter

13. witch on the fan increase the speed by rotating the fan speed knob and clockwise

14. Observe that the air velocity is indicated on the indicator.

15, check that the plate temperature (TH) increases.

16. Set the heater power control and fan speed control knob to minimum.

Shutdown Procedures
1. switch off the heater and turn the power control knob fully anti-clockwise.

2. set the fan speed control knob to maximum to cool down the hot plate heat exchanger,

3. Turn off the main power supply after plate heat exchanger has cooled down to room temperature.