The Cooper Union

Dept of Chemical Engineering

ChE342

Heat and Mass Transfer Practice Set Problem II

1.
Water is boiling in a 25-cm-diameter aluminum pan (k = 237 W/mK) at 95C.
Heat is transferred steadily to the boiling water in the pan through its 0.5cm-thick flat bottom
at a rate of 800 W. If the inner surface temperature of the bottom of the pan
is 108C, determine (a) the boiling heat transfer coefficient on the inner
surface of the pan and (b) the outer surface temperature of the bottom of
the pan. (1254 W/m2.K; 108.3o)
2.
A transparent film is to be bonded onto the top surface of a solid plate inside
a heated chamber. For the bond to cure properly, a temperature of 70C is to
be maintained at
the bond, between the film and the solid plate. The transparent film has a
thickness of 1 mm and thermal conductivity of 0.05 W/mK, while the solid
plate is 13 mm thick and has a thermal conductivity of 1.2 W/mK. Inside the
heated chamber, the convection heat transfer coefficient is 70 W/m2K. If the
bottom surface of the solid plate is maintained at 52C, what are the
temperature inside the heated chamber and the surface temperature of the
transparent film? Assume thermal contact resistance is negligible . (127oC;
103oC)

3.

A 2-m x 1.5-m section of wall of an industrial furnace burning natural gas is

not insulated, and the temperature at the outer surface of this section is
measured to be 80C. The temperature of the furnace room is 30C, and the
combined
convection and radiation heat transfer coefficient at the surface of the outer
furnace is 10 W/m2K. It is proposed to insulate this section of the furnace
wall with glass wool insulation (k = 0.038 W/mK) in order to reduce the heat
loss by 90 percent.
Assuming the outer surface temperature of the metal section still remains at
about 110C, determine the thickness of the insulation that needs to be
used. The furnace operates continuously and has an efficiency of 78 percent.
The price of the natural gas is $1.10/therm (1 therm =105,500 kJ of energy
content). If the installation of the insulation, costs $250 for materials and
labor. How long will it take for the insulation to pay for itself from the energy
it? (0.439 yr or 5.3 months)
4
The wall of a refrigerator is constructed of fiberglass insulation (k = 0.035
W/mK) sandwiched between two layers of 1-mm-thick sheet metal (k = 15.1
W/mK). The refrigerated space is maintained at 3C, and the average heat
transfer coefficients at the inner and outer surfaces of the wall are 4 W/m2K
and 9 W/m2K, respectively. The kitchen temperature averages 25C. It is
observed that condensation occurs on the outer surfaces of the refrigerator
when the temperature of the outer surface drops to 20C. Determine the
minimum thickness of fiberglass insulation that needs to be used in the wall
in order to avoid condensation on the outer surfaces.(L = 0.0004468 m or
0.447 cm)
Sheet metal

Kitchen at
25oC
1 mm
--- -- L

Refrigerated space
at 3oC
1 mm
- --

5.
Two 5-cm-diameter, 15-cm-long aluminum bars (k =176 W/mK) with ground
surfaces are pressed against each other with a pressure of 20 atm. The bars
are enclosed in an

insulation sleeve and, thus, heat transfer from the lateral surfaces is
negligible. If the top and bottom surfaces of the two bar system are
maintained at temperatures of 150C and 20C,respectively, determine (a)
the rate of heat transfer along the cylinders under steady conditions and (b)
the temperature drop at the interface. (142.4 W; 6.4oC)
6.

Consider an engine cover that is made with two layers of metal plates. The
inner layer is stainless steel (k1 = 14 W/mK) with a thickness of 10 mm, and
the outer layer is aluminum (k2 = 37 W/mK) with a thickness of 5 mm. Both
metal plates have a surface roughness of about 23 mm. The aluminum plate
is attached on the stainless steel plate by screws that exert an average
pressure of 20 MPa at the interface. The inside stainless steel surface of the
cover is exposed to heat from the engine with a convection heat transfer
coefficient of 10 W/m2K at an ambient temperature of 150C. The outside
aluminum surface is exposed to a convection heat transfer coefficient of 25
W/m2K at an ambient temperature of 40C. What is the heat flux through
the engine cover? (780 W. Contact resistance at the surface is about 0.2% of
total thermal resistance)
7.

Clothing made of several thin layers of fabric with trapped air in between,
often called ski clothing, is commonly used in cold climates because it is
light, fashionable, and a very effective thermal insulator. So it is no surprise
that such clothing has largely replaced thick and heavy old-fashioned coats.
Consider a jacket made of five layers of 0.1-mm-thick synthetic fabric (k =
0.13 W/mK) with 1.5-mm-thick air space (k = 0.026 W/mK) between the
layers. Assuming the inner surface temperature of the jacket to be 28C and
the surface area to be 1.25 m2, determine the rate of heat loss through the
jacket when the temperature of the outdoors is 0C and the heat transfer
coefficient at the outer surface is 25 W/m2K. What would your response be if
the jacket is made of a
single layer of 0.5-mm-thick synthetic fabric? What should be the thickness
of a wool fabric (k = 0.035 W/mK) if the person is to achieve the same level
of thermal comfort wearing a thick wool coat instead of a five-layer ski
jacket? (798 W; 8.32 mm)
8.
In an experiment to measure convection heat transfer coefficients, a very
thin metal foil of very low emissivity (e.g., highly polished copper) is
attached on the surface of a
slab of material with very low thermal conductivity. The other surface of the
metal foil is exposed to convection heat transfer by flowing fluid over the foil
surface. This setup diminishes heat conduction through the slab and
radiation on the metal foil surface, while heat convection plays the
prominent role. The slab on which the metal foil is attached to has a
thickness of 25 mm and a thermal conductivity of 0.023 W/mK. In a

condition where the surrounding room temperature is 20C, the metal foil is
heated electrically with a uniform heat flux of 5000 W/m2. If the bottom
surface of the slab is 20C and the metal foil has an emissivity of 0.02,
calculate (a) the convection
heat transfer coefficient if air is flowing over the metal foil and the surface
temperature of the foil is 150C; and (b) the convection heat transfer
coefficient if water is flowing over the metal foil and the surface temperature
of the foil is 30C. (37.3 W/m2.K; 499 W/m2.K)

9.
Consider a very long rectangular fin attached to a flat surface such that the
temperature at the end of the fin is essentially that of the surrounding air,
i.e. 20C. Its width is 5.0 cm; thickness is 1.0 mm; thermal conductivity is
200 W/mK; and base temperature is 40C. The heat transfer coefficient is 20
W/m2K. Estimate the fin temperature at a distance of 5.0 cm from the base
and the rate of heat loss from the entire fin. (29.8oC; 2.9 W)
10.
A 0.3-cm-thick, 12-cm-high, and 18-cm-long circuit board houses 80 closely
spaced logic chips on one side, each dissipating 0.04 W. The board is
impregnated with copper fillings and has an effective thermal conductivity of
30 W/mK. All the heat generated in the chips is conducted across the circuit
board and is dissipated from the back side of the board to a medium at 40C,
with a heat transfer coefficient of 40 W/m2K. (a) Calculate the temperatures
on the two sides of the circuit board. (b) Now a 0.2-cm-thick, 12-cm-high, and
18-cmlong aluminum plate (k = 237 W/mK) with 864 2-cm-long
aluminum pin fins of diameter 0.25 cm is attached to the back side of the
circuit board with a 0.02-cm-thick epoxy adhesive (k = 1.8 W/mK).
Determine the new temperatures on the two sides of the circuit board
(43.7oC, 43.7oC; 40.6oC,40.6oC)