MET434/EGR494/ AET524 Thermo-Fluids III

Fall 2014
Homework 1 (Due on: 9/9/14)

1. Consider a person standing in a large room. The exposed surface area of the person is 1.72 m2 and
the surface temperature is 35 oC. The room air is at 25 oC with a corresponding convection heat
transfer coefficient of 8 W/m2.K. The surrounding walls of the room are at a uniform temperature of
27 oC. Assuming an emissivity of 0.85 for the persons exposed body surface, calculate the total heat
transfer rate from the person. If a strong breeze develops inside the room with a corresponding
convection heat transfer coefficient of 22 W/m2.K, determine the total heat transfer rate from the
person.

2. Consider the steady heat transfer between two large parallel plates maintained at the uniform
temperatures of 15 oC (first plate) and 125 oC (second plate). The facing surfaces of the two parallel
plates are 3 cm apart and each plate surface has an emissivity of 0.89. Determine the heat flux
between the plates assuming that the space between the plates is filled with: a) air (k=0.026
W/m.K), b) liquid water (k=0.63 W/m.K), c) loose fill glass fiber insulation and d) evacuated.
Neglect convection heat transfer effects between the plates.

3. Consider a flat plate solar collector placed on the roof of a house. The temperatures at the inner and
outer surfaces of the glass cover of the collector are measured to be 29 oC and 23 oC , respectively.
The glass cover has a surface area of 2.8 m2, a thickness of 6 mm and a material thermal
conductivity of 0.72 W/m.K. Heat is lost from the outer surface of the collector plate by
simultaneous convection and radiation. If the surrounding air is at 15 oC with a corresponding heat
transfer coefficient of 14 W/m2.K, determine the fraction of heat lost from the cover by radiation.
4. Consider a sealed 20 cm-high electronic box, whose base dimensions are 40 cm X 40 cm, placed on
an insulated stand in a vacuum chamber (evacuated room). The electronic box is shown in the figure
below. The emissivity of the outer surface of the box is 0.95. During routine operation, the
electronic components inside the box dissipate a total of 100 W. It is required that for safe operation,
the temperature of the outer surface of the box cannot exceed 55 oC. If the chamber walls are at a
uniform temperature of 30 oC, is radiation heat transfer alone a viable cooling option to operate the
box under the given constraints? If cooling is augmented by allowing airflow over the top surface of
the box (h=12 W/m2.K), what will be the maximum allowable temperature of the air in the chamber
that will ensure safe operation of the box?