Key Features:

•  Constant-speed fan with variable flow-control valve – for better flow control
• Heater interlock for safety
• Includes Pitot tube traverse for velocity profile measurements and traversing thermocouple to measure temperature distribution across the test pipe
• Includes thermocouples along the test pipe to measure heat transfer
• Accurate digital display of temperatures
• Includes manometers and an orifice to measure pressures and air flow rate

Description:

•  A basic knowledge of forced convection heat transfer theory is valuable in many engineering fields, especially heat-exchanger design. TecQuipment’s Forced Convection Heat Transfer apparatus allows students to examine the theory and associated formulae related to forced convection in pipes
• It is a frame holding a motor-driven fan, piping and
  instrumentation panel
• The fan runs at a constant speed and draws air through a control valve. The air then moves into a u-shaped pipe. An orifice plate in the pipe connects to a manometer on the instrumentation panel to measure the airflow rate. A larger manometer on the instrument panel measures the fan pressure drop.
• The u-shaped pipe connects to a smaller diameter insulated and electrically heated copper ‘test pipe’.
• Students control the power input to the test pipe heater using a variable transformer, while noting the power using instrumentation on the panel. The test pipe discharges to atmosphere.
• Pressure tappings each end of the test pipe connect to a manometer on the instrument panel to measure test length pressure drop.
• A thermometer measures the air temperature at the inlet to the test pipe
• Further thermocouples measure temperature at various points within the test pipe insulation

Learning Outcomes:

•  Derivation of the value of Nusselt number (Nu) and comparison with empirical formula
• Calculation of the local heat transfer coefficient (h)
• Determination of the Stanton number (St)
• Calculation of the friction factor (f) and comparison with experimental value
• Determination of the validity of the Reynolds analogy for air