CHG 2314

Heat Transfer Operations

Winter 2011
Assignment 4
Professor: Dr. Boguslaw Kruczek February 2, 2011

DATE DUE: February 9, 2012 at 4:00 p.m. in the Assignment Box

Problem 1

Answer the following questions:

a) Heat is transferred from hot water flowing through a tube to air flowing over the tube. To enhance
the rate of heat transfer, should the fins be installed on the tube interior or exterior surface? Please
justify. Would your answer change if the air was hot while water cold?
b) Consider a rod connecting two surfaces at the same temperature (Ts), which is in the environment
in which air temperature is T such that T > Ts and the heat transfer coefficient between air and
the surface of the rod is h > 0.

T, hc
TS TS

T T

TS
x
0 L

i) On the T-x diagram provided above, please draw the temperature profile along the rod, and
comment on the key features of the profile.
ii) Is the conductive heat flux along the rod constant? If not, where are the minimum and the
maximum conductive heat fluxes?
iii) Could fin analysis be used to predict the exact temperature along the rod? If so, define the fin
in the above figure and specify the boundary conditions required to solve the governing
differential equation.
 c) Consider a straight rectangular fin having width (w) which much greater than its thickness (t), i.e.
w >> t. The fin is attached to the base at temperature TB, which is greater than the temperature of
air (T) in contact with the fin, and greater than the temperature of surroundings (Tsur). The fin on
one side is exposed to a constant solar flux (Gs). The absorptivity and emissivity of the fin are the
same, i.e., = , and the fin can be treated as a small object in large surroundings. The convective
heat transfer coefficient between the fin and the air is h.

i) Please write the energy balance for a differential element of the fin described above.
ii) Starting from the energy balance for the differential element, please derive the differential
equation, which governs the temperature distribution along the fin, and comment on the
obtained equation.

d) Consider the three fins shown in figure below.

i) If all the above fins are made from the same material, work in the same thermal environment,
have the same base temperature, TB, the same length, L, (L = ro ri in case (c)), and the same
thickness at the base, please draw, on a single diagram provided below, the corresponding
temperature profiles, T(x) or T(r). Please explain the key features of the temperature profiles.

T
TB

T
x or r
0 or ri L or ro

ii) If in addition all three fins had the same width (the width of fin (c) is 2ri, where ri is the inner
radius), please arrange the fins in the order of: (1) increasing efficiency; (2) increasing
effectiveness, and justify your answer.

Problem 2
A water heater consists of a steel tube (k = 20 W/m K), with inner and outer radii of r1 = 13 mm and r2 =
16 mm, respectively, and eight integrally machined longitudinal fins, each of thickness t = 3 mm. The fins
extend to a concentric thin-wall tube, which is of radius r3 = 40 mm. The outer concentric tube was
supposed to be perfectly insulated; however in reality it is exposed to cold air at temperature T,a = 5oC
and the corresponding convection coefficient ha. The temperature of hot air flowing through the annular
region formed by the larger concentric tube is T,o = 150oC, and the temperature of water flowing through
the inner tube is 20oC.
 Actually, no
insulation

Air
T,a, ha

a) Sketch the equivalent thermal circuit of the heater and relate each thermal resistance to
appropriate system parameters for: i) the actual case without insulation; ii) the case with perfect
insulation of the outer tube.
b) If hi = 5000 W/m2K, ho = 200 W/m2 K, and ha = 20 W/m2 K, what are the rate heat transfer per
unit length from hot air to cold water, and heat loss per unit from hot air to cold outside air?