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Objective
exchange between fluids in a plate heat exchanger, and how varying the cold water
supply affects the heat exchange. In particular, students learned how to apply heat
characteristics of the device. Based on experience with the tubular heat exchanger,
the group expected the heat exchange to decrease along with the cold water flow,
Plate heat exchangers are characterized by their compactness - that is, their
amount of heat exchange per unit area. This corresponds to the overall heat
exchanger for a given application. There are two possible flow configurations for
plate heat exchangers; parallel and counter current operation. The latter was used
gradient. Two advantages of counter current operation are a greater overall heat
Under ideal circumstances, the cold water will absorb all the heat emitted by
the hot water, and such a condition corresponds to an overall efficiency of 100%.
However, in a real system there will always be losses due to imperfections like the
temperature gradient between the system and the ambient atmosphere. The setup
used is shown in figure 2, and the following equations all correspond to it.
The following equations are used to determine the heat transfer. Heat
Where Qe is the heat emitted, mh is the mass flow rate of hot water, cp is the specific
heat at constant pressure, and ΔThot is the temperature difference of the hot fluid
between the inlet and outlet. Similarly, the heat absorbed by the cold fluid is found
using equation 3.
Where Qa is the heat absorbed by the cold water, mc is the mass flow rate of the
cold water, cp is the same as above, and ΔTcold is the temperature difference of the
ηoverall=QaQe×100 (3)
Which is the heat absorbed by the cold fluid divided by the heat emitted from the
Next, the log mean temperature difference must be determined using equation 5:
U=QeA∙ΔTlm×100 (5)
Equipment Description
HT30XC Heat Base unit for HT32 heat exchanger unit. The HT30XC sends
Exchanger information from the experiment to the data logging software via
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Unit USB.
HT32 Plate Consists of two concentric tubes one of which carries the hot fluid
Heat and the other carries the cold fluid. Any temperature difference
Exchanger across the inner tube wall results in the heat transfer between the
Cold water Flow rate is controlled digitally using % valve passage settings of
Data Logger and using special software from the menu it will log the
Water Used as a hot water reservoir before water passes through heat
Cylinder exchanger.
Inlet
Return
Inlet
Outlet
Sensors time and send the information to the computer via USB
connection.
Experimental Procedure
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Dr. Kassegne’s experiment manual. The HT32 plate heat exchanger had to be
secured on top of the HT30X heat exchanger. Once this was done, the cold water
supply was plugged in and turned on. The main switch of the HT30X was switched
on, and then focus was centered on main display. The main display shows the
temperature, flow, and has temperature controls. The water circuits had to be
primed to ensure that there were no air bubbles, and then the hot and cold water
inlets were connected. The hot water outlet was to be connected to the drain at the
bottom of the HT30X heat exchanger unit. The hot water bypass valve was closed,
and the cold water control valve was opened all the way in order to fill the priming
vessel with water. The priming vessel had to be filled in order for the thermocouple
to take readings. Then the cold water outlet was placed in the center drain of the
HT30X. The hot water pump and heater were then turned on by using the switches
next to the main display unit. Finally the hot water control valve was be opened
To begin the experiment, the thermocouple plugs were inserted into the correct
sockets on the HT30X console. The temperature was set to 50 degrees Celsius,
using the main display. The cold water flow rate was set 100% valve opening, and
the hot water flow rate was adjusted to 2.5 l/min. After the hot water reached it
temperature, the pump was turned on, and when the system reached steady state
the data was recorded. Then the run was repeated with 75%, then 50% cold water
valve settings.
Experimental Results
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Calculations/Data Reduction
1. Temperatures
Table 1 – Temperatures
Valve Setting T1 T2 T3 T4
m31000l
100% 4.164
75% 4.165
50% 4.196
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m31000l
100% 4.606
75% 4.098
50% 3.189
ΔTH=T1-T2
ΔTC=T4-T3
Using equation 1,
100% 0.9252
75% 1.068
50% 1.251
Using equation 2,
Qa,100%=0.04595kgs∙4.178 kJkg∙°C∙3.825°C
100% 0.7347
75% 0.8656
50% 0.9798
Using equation 3,
ηoverall,100%=0.7347kJs
0.9252kJs×100
100% 79.41
75% 81.04
50% 78.35
Qloss=Qe-Qa
100% 0.1905
75% 0.2026
50% 0.2708
100% 3448.7
75% 3364.4
50% 3183.2
Discussion of Results
the energy transfer. The readings showed clearly that as the volumetric flow rate of
the cold water increased, while holding that of the hot water steady, the rate of
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energy transfer from the hot water to the cold water decreased. While this may
seem counterintuitive, the explanation is most likely that the hot water heater was
unable to keep the hot water temperature constant throughout the experiment.
With a high flow rate of cold water, the hot water inlet temperature was about 32°C.
At the lowest flow rate of cold water, the hot water inlet temperature rose to about
despite the lower cold water flow rate. However, the overall heat transfer coefficient
After performing data only U proved to agree with our hypothesis, although
the expected values might have been obtained given a steady hot water inlet
temperature. There were two systematic errors that may have been present in this
experiment. One would be if the readings from the thermocouples were inaccurate,
as recorded in the session data. In that case the heat flux values, Qe and Qa would
be affected. Another possible error could have arisen from a lack of equilibrium
being reached before recording data, however we believe this effect to be very
limited, because the system should have had ample time to reach steady state
1. Did the heat exchanger remove more or less heat from the hot stream as the
Interestingly, the heat exchanger removed less heat from the hot stream
when the flow rate was high. The reason is most likely that the heater could not
keep up with the heat transfer, which led to a drop in the hot fluid temperature, and
therefore a lower temperature differential between the two fluids. Had the hot water
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inlet temperature remained constant, the heat transfer would most likely have
increased with increasing cold water flow rate. This theory is supported by the
2. Did the system efficiency increase or decrease as the cold water flow rate
increased?
The trend of efficiency vs. cold water flow rate cannot be determined from
the available data, as seen from figure 5. However, it is assumed that the overall
efficiency would increase with increasing cold water flow rate, because the
temperature differential between the hot and the cold fluid would increase. Note
that this is only valid for a constant hot water inlet temperature. The varying hot
water temperature of this experiment was most likely the reason why there was no
3. Were there any systematic or random errors that affected your measurements
in this experiment? Discuss in detail and suggest innovative ways to minimize such
errors.
errors that may have been present in this experiment. One would be if our readings
from the thermocouples were inaccurate, as recorded in our session data. Another
possible error could have arisen from a lack of equilibrium being reached before the
data recording starts. The first error would be related to the program and/or the
device used in the experiment. The only way to avoid such an error would be to
debug the program and make sure all of the thermometers in the device are
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working properly. The second error can easily be avoided by allowing the system to
Conclusion
The thermal sciences and heat transfer is a very important field within
mechanical engineering. This experiment allows working with heat transfer through
the use of a heat exchanger, and is very helpful in demonstrating how the heat from
explain certain processes occurring. For example, when the flow rate of the cold
water increased, the temperature of each state decreased. The flow rate affected
the temperature of each state as well as the efficiencies and the heat emitted and
absorbed by the system. This shows the major importance of the flow rates when
working with a system that involves heat transfer, such as in cars, houses, or power
plants. Also, the somewhat surprising results emphasize the importance of empirical
References
SDSU - Kassegne