Experiment T1

Measurement of the Calorific Value of a Solid/Liquid using a Bomb Calorimeter.

1. Understand the concept of a calorimeter in general and a bomb calorimeter in particular

with all its components. What is the thermodynamic principle on which it works and why
is it called a bomb calorimeter.
2. Identify a suitable control volume for the system, write the first law of thermodynamics for
the same and figure out which quantities must be known for determining the calorific value
of a solid/liquid sample. Hence, understand the concept of water equivalent.
3. Determine the water equivalent of the calorimeter by conducting the experiment twice (two
replicates).
4. Now use the sample provided to you and determine its calorific value with 2-3 replicates.
5. Determine the uncertainty associated with your measurements.

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 Experiment T2 Determining emissivity of a copper plate

In the study of radiation heat transfer from the surface, its emissivity plays an important role.
The emissivity of a metallic surface varies with its temperature, roughness, and its degree of
oxidation.
In this experiment, you will estimate the emissivity of an unknown material using
measurements of temperature and heat input. The experimental setup employs two plates:
one test plate (unknown emissivity) and another black plate of the same dimension heated
by electric heaters from the backside of the plates. The plates are placed inside an enclosure,
which may be considered to be very large.
The heat input to both the plates are controlled using two separate variacs and are measured
by digital Voltmeter and Ammeter. The temperature of the plates is measured by
thermocouples. The ambient temperature is also measured by a thermocouple placed inside
the chamber.
1. Study the experimental setup to understand the role of heat convection and radiation
in the apparatus.
2. Note that the two plates are of equal size. Use the principle of conservation of energy
to describe the dependence between heat input using variacs to the two plates and
their individual temperatures.
3. Gradually increase the heat input to the black plate and fix the voltage at 16 V.
Then gradually increase the heat input to the test plate and set it at about 15 V. Allow
the system to stabilize and then increase/decrease the voltage of the test plate so that
the temperature of the two plates is equal. You will need some trials to arrive at this
condition. At this stage, note the temperatures of the plate and the ambience. Also
note down the voltage and current supplied to both plates. Using this data, estimate
the emissivity of the test (copper) plate.
4. Repeat the same experiment for two different voltages for the black plate (say 20 V
and 24 V). Does the emissivity remain constant with the increase in power supply to
the two plates? Justify your answer.
5. Mention the sources of error and report uncertainty in your measurements.

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 Experiment T3 Thermal conductivity of a metal rod
The objective of this experiment is to determine the thermal conductivity of a metal rod using
the Fourier’s law. Subsequently, plot the temperature distribution along the length of the
metal rod and estimate the uncertainty in your predicted value.
The apparatus consists of a solid brass rod with a diameter of 31.7 mm and a length of 310.0
mm. One end of the rod is fitted with a copper flange with a diameter of 82.0 mm and a
thickness of 5.0 mm. An electric heater is attached to this end of the rod. The other end opens
up to a cooling water chamber through which cooling water is passed at a controlled rate.
Four thermocouples are also inserted up to the center of the rod to measure the axial
temperature. Two thermocouples are also in contact with the insulated portion to estimate
the heat loss to air.
1. Understand the working of the setup.
2. To begin your experiments, FIRST switch ON the cooling water pump. Then switch ON
the electric heater and set the voltage to 30 V using the variac and allow steady state
to be attained. Note the thermocouple temperatures being reflected by all the
thermocouples. Also, note down the ambient temperature. Note the readings of the
voltmeter and ammeter as well. Using these measurements, estimate the thermal
conductivity of the sample. Compare your thermal conductivity predictions against the
theoretical value of 111 W/m-K measured at room temperature.
3. Repeat the experiment for four other voltage settings (say 35V, 40 V, 45 V and 50 V). In
all these experiments, pay special attention to switch ON the cooling water pump
before the heater is switched ON. Also do not exceed the voltage limit of 50 V.
4. For all experiments, plot the longitudinal temperature profile of the rod for different
voltage settings, keeping the cooling water flow rate constant. Also, estimate the heat
loss to the surroundings.
5. Report the uncertainty in your measurements.

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 Experiment T4 Steady-state, steady-flow analysis of a shell-and-tube heat exchanger

You are required to understand the working of a single shell pass and two-tube pass heat
exchanger. The number of tubes is 5 and each tube has an outer diameter of approximately
10 mm with a wall thickness of 1 mm. The tubes are made of copper. Hot water flows through
the tubes and the cold water is on the shell-side of the heat exchanger. The cold water absorbs
heat from the hot water (which is heated by a 2 kW electric heater) and the warm water is
discarded into the drain. Special care must be taken to achieve a steady-state condition in this
experiment. Best results will be obtained for equal flow rates of the two fluids (why?).
The objectives of this experiment are:
1. To calibrate the rotameter on the cold-side flow using a stopwatch and a measuring
flask.
2. Perform an energy balance on the heat exchanger and report the uncertainty in your
calculations.
3. For at least three flow rates, determine the product of the overall heat transfer
coefficient and heat transfer area (i.e., 𝑈𝐴).
4. For three different tube-side flow rates, estimate the shell-side heat transfer coefficient
and compare it with theoretical calculations using an appropriate approximation of the
geometry and flow conditions.
5. Calculate the effectiveness of the heat exchanger.

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Experiment T5: ( to be done along with T3) Determination of Flow and verification of
Bernouli’s Principle

The experimental set up consists of a horizontal perspex duct of smooth variable cross-section
of convergent and divergent type. The section is 40 mm x 40 mm at the entrance and exit and
40 mm x 20 mm at the middle. The total length of duct is 90 cm The piezometric pressure P
at the locations of pressure tapping’s is measured by means of 11 piezometer tubes installed
at an equal distance of 7.5 cm along the length of the conduit. The duct is connected with
supply tanks at its entrance and exit end with means of varying the flowrate. A collecting tank
is used to find the actual discharge.
Considering friction less flow along a variable area duct, the law of conservation of energy
states *for an inviscid, incompressible, irrotational and steady flow along a streamline the
total energy (or head) remains the Same. This is called Bernoulli's equation.

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