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Experiment No. 1 Thermal Conductivity of Insulating Material AIM: To Determine Thermal Conductivity of Insulating Powder

(1) An experiment was conducted to determine the thermal conductivity of an insulating powder using a spherical apparatus with an inner heating sphere surrounded by an outer sphere, with the space between filled with the insulating powder. (2) Under steady state conditions, the temperature difference across the powder layer and the heat input were measured. (3) Using Fourier's law of heat conduction for spherical geometry, the thermal conductivity of the insulating powder was calculated to be 0.1995 W/mK.

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Vikas Rathod
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233 views

Experiment No. 1 Thermal Conductivity of Insulating Material AIM: To Determine Thermal Conductivity of Insulating Powder

(1) An experiment was conducted to determine the thermal conductivity of an insulating powder using a spherical apparatus with an inner heating sphere surrounded by an outer sphere, with the space between filled with the insulating powder. (2) Under steady state conditions, the temperature difference across the powder layer and the heat input were measured. (3) Using Fourier's law of heat conduction for spherical geometry, the thermal conductivity of the insulating powder was calculated to be 0.1995 W/mK.

Uploaded by

Vikas Rathod
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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EXPERIMENT NO.

THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY OF INSULATING MATERIAL

AIM: To Determine Thermal Conductivity of Insulating Powder.

INTRODUCTION:

Insulating material of different types such as asbestos powder, asbestos rope, glass wool,
thermocouple etc. are used in engineering practice to prevent the leakage of heat. These materials
offer a resistance to heat flow and are useful in saving the energy. These material possess a
relatively small value of thermal conductivity. Table 1 gives the list of common used insulating
materials & their thermal conductivity values. Mechanical Engineer should have the knowledge
of the thermal conductivity values, and method to determine these values of the commonly used
material in engineering practice.

Sr. Material Thermal conductivity State


No (k) w/mk
1 Asbestos 0.23 200C
2 Plastics 0.53 200C
3 Wood 0.17 200C
4 Brick 0.23 200C
5 Concrete 1.279 200C
6 Firebrick 0.14 1000C
7 Mineral wool 0.047 500C
8 Plaster 0.779 200C
9 Rubber 0.163 00C
10 Cork sheet 0.042 300C
11 Glass 0.744 200C
12 Urethane foam 0.02 -180 C to 1500C
0

13 Fiber glass 0.05 -1700C to 2300C

APPARATUS:

The apparatus consists of two thin walled hollow copper spheres. The inner sphere
houses an electric heater. The heater is prepared from nicrome strip wound on a mica former and
embedded in mica sheet to insulate it electrically. The inner sphere is placed in the outer sphere
concentrically with single support. The space between the two spheres is filled with
commercially available asbestos-magnesia (lagging material) six cu constantan thermo-couples
are fitted on the outer surface of the inner sphere and six cu constantan thermocouples are placed
on inner surface of outer sphere. Heat terminals and thermocouple terminals are taken out to a
junction box. The assembled unit is placed on a tripod fixed on a wooden platform.
Heat input to the heater is varied by a dimmerstat and is measured by a wattmeter.
Temperature across the spherical layer of insulating powder is measured by taking in average of
thermocouple readings indicated on the temperature indicator.

Heat supplied to the heater is conducted across the spherical layer of insulation and is lost
to surroundings from the outer spherical surface by natural convection and radiation.

THEORY:

Fourier law of for a spherical geometry with radial flow of heat can be written as-

Integrating over the inner radius (ri)

Integrating over the outer radius (ro)

Where Ti is the average inner sphere temperature and to is the average outer sphere temperature.

OBSERVATION:

Heater input of about 30 watts is to be given and kept constant throughout the
experiment. The temperatures at inner and outer surfaces are checked at a time interval of 10
min. till the steady state is reached (Never exceed 30 watts).

Under steady state conditions, the heater input and the temperatures are noted in the final
observations table and are recorded as under-

(i) Heater input = V x I = 33.75 W


(ii) Average inner radius = 0.05m

(iii) Average outer radius = 0.1 m

Ti = Average inner sphere surface temperature.

= (T1+T2+T3+T4) / 4 = (175+174+173+173) / 4 = 173.75

To=Average outer sphere surface temperature

= (T7+T8+T9+T10+T11+T12) / 8 = (51+52+53+53+52+52) / 8 = 39.125

OBSERVATION TABLE:

Sr. Temp. Inner Sphere Outer Sphere (oC)


No. (oC)
T1 T2 T3 T4 T5 T6 T7 T8 T9 T10
1. 175 174 173 173 51 52 53 53 52 52

CALCULATIONS:

k = q ((1/ri)- (1/ro)) / 4π(Ti – To)

k = 33.75((1/0.05)-(1/0.1)) / 4π(173.75-39.125)

k = 0.1995 W /m K

CONCLUSION:

Thermal conductivity of the given insulating powder is 0.1995 W/m K.

VIVA QUESTIONS:
1. What is steady state condition?
2. What is heat conduction?
3. What is thermal conductivity?
4. What is mechanism of heat conduction?
5. What do you mean by temperature gradient?
6. State Fourier’s Law.
7. What is the effect of temperature on thermal conductivity of insulating materials?

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