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EM/JAN 2013/MEC551

UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MARA

FINAL EXAMINATION

COURSE

THERMAL ENGINEERING

COURSE CODE

MEC551

EXAMINATION

JANUARY 2013

TIME

3 HOURS

INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES
1.

This question paper consists of two (2) parts :

2.

Answer ALL questions from PART A and two (2) questions from PART B in the Answer
Booklet. Start each answer on a new page.

3.

Do not bring any material into the examination room unless permission is given by the
invigilator.

4.

Please check to make sure that this examination pack consists of:
i)
ii)
iii)
iv)

PART A (5 Questions)
PART B (3 Questions)

the Question Paper

an Answer Booklet - provided by the Faculty
a Property Tables Booklet - provided by the Faculty
a two - page Appendix 1

DO NOT TURN THIS PAGE UNTIL YOU ARE TOLD TO DO SO

This examination paper consists of 8 printed pages
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EM/JAN 2013/MEC551

PART A

QUESTION 1
A suitable insulation material and thickness for a furnace door is to be determined from the
available materials listed in Table Q1. The insulation needs to restrict the heat loss to a
maximum of 1000 W/m 2 . The interior surface of the door consists of two metal sheets; the
interior surface is a 10 mm Inconel 600 plate (k = 25 W/m.C) while the outer surface is a 25
mm stainless steel 316 plate (k = 29 W/m.C).
Between the metal plates, a suitable insulation is to be placed with the right thickness as a
design safety requirement. The effective gas temperature inside the furnace is 1200C with a
heat transfer coefficient of 50 W/m2.K within the inner wall. The heat transfer coefficient
between the outer surface of the door and ambient is 12 W/m2.K. The ambient temperature
is 25C.
(10 marks)

Hot gasses

Inconel 600
plate

Ambient

INSULATION

Stainless steel
plate

Figure Q1: General layout of the system

Table Q1: Available materials for selection

Material
Zirconia powder
Mineral fibre
Alumina-silica
Vermiculite

Max Operating
Temperature
980C
700C
1260C
960C

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Average conductivity (W/m.C)

751C-1250C
300C - 750C
0.26
0.20
0.12
0.27
0.17
0.32
0.13

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EM/JAN 2013/MEC551

QUESTION 2
Glycerin flows over a 40 m long heated flat plate at free stream conditions of 10 m/s and
20C. If the plate temperature is held constant at 50C, determine the hydrodynamic and
thermal boundary layer thicknesses at the middle of the plate, as well as the total heat flux
from the surface per unit width.
(10 marks)
Table Q2: Properties of glycerin
T(C)

Pr

u(xi(r*m2/s)

k (W/m.C)

P (kg/m3)

20
35
50

12500

11.8

0.286

1264

3711

3.5
1.5

0.2864

1255

0.2870

1245

1630

QUESTION 3
a)

Heat exchanger performance normally deteriorates after a certain period of time.

Explain in detail the reason for this phenomenon and how it is represented in heat
exchanger analysis. Give an example of that phenomenon in the chemical industry.
(4 marks)

b)

A counter-flow double-pipe heat exchanger is used to heat liquid ammonia

(cp= 4.43 kJ/kgC) from 10C to 30C with hot water (cp= 4.18 kJ/kgC) that enters the
heat exchanger at 60C and exit at 30C. The total area for heat exchanger is 30 m2
and overall heat transfer coefficient is 800 W7m2oC. Calculate the flow rate of ammonia
and hot water in this process.
(6 marks)

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EM/JAN 2013/MEC551

QUESTION 4
Refrigerant-134a enters the compressor of a refrigerator as superheated vapor at 0.14 MPa
and -10C at a rate of 0.08 kg/s and leaves at 0.7 MPa and 50C. The refrigerant is cooled in
the condenser and leaves at 24C. Then, it is throttled to 0.14 MPa by an expansion valve.
Sketch the process on a T-s diagram and determine:
i)

the power input to the compressor (hp),

ii)

the isentropic efficiency of the compressor (%),

iii)

the steam fraction at the inlet of the evaporator (%), and

iv)

the COP of the system if it operates as a heat pump.

Note: 1 hp = 0.746 kW
(10 marks)

QUESTION 5
Air is heated as it flows inside a 5 cm diameter pipe. The heat is supplied at a rate of
1.32 kW from a condenser. The air condition at the inlet is 200 kPa, 20C, 100% relative
humidity and 10 m/s. Calculate the relative humidity and the temperature of the air at the
exit.
(10 marks)

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PARTB

QUESTION 1
A natural gas fuel composed of ethane and methane gases of equal volume is supplied to a
steam turbine power cycle. The combustion air and fuel is assumed at standard reference
states while the combustion products were measured at 1000K. The steam exhaust from the
turbine, flowing at 100 litres/min and 227C, is channelled into a condenser. Water coolant
flows into the condenser at 240 litres/min and 20C. The steam is cooled until fully saturated
liquid and its pressure is assumed constant at 1 atm.
The condenser is a typical one-shell pass and 8-tube pass heat exchanger while the copper
tubes are 10 cm in diameter with negligible thickness.
Determine:
a)

the heat generated per kg of fuel from the combustion process, and

b)

the minimal length of the heat exchanger to achieve the required cooling process by
strictly using the effectiveness-NTU method.

The overall heat transfer coefficient within the condenser is evaluated at 1400 W/m2.C.
The density of both working fluids is simplified at 1000 kg/m3, while the specific heat at
constant pressure for steam is 4.31 kJ/kg.C and for cooling water is 4.18 kJ/kg.C.
The formulation to calculate NTU for this shell and tube heat exchanger is

vi + c2

\j_i_c+vTT?y
(25 marks)

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EM/JAN 2013/MEC551

QUESTION 2
A cast iron pipe (k = 80 W/m.C) whose inner and outer diameters are Di = 10 cm and
D2 = 10.8 cm, respectively flows steam at TX]=320C. The convection heat transfer
coefficient inside the pipe is hi = 60 W.m2.C. The pipe is covered with 3 cm thick glass wool
insulation with k = 0.05 W/m.C. Heat is lost to the surroundings at Tx2 =30C due to
convection heat transfer. The pipe is subjected to a cross wind of 3 m/s.
a)

Calculate the rate of heat loss for every 1 meter of the steam pipe and also the
temperature on the outer surface of the insulation. (You may use properties of air at
40C as given in the table below)
(20 marks)

b)

If you are required to decrease the rate of heat loss, would you increase or decrease
the thickness of the insulation? Do you expect the temperature on the outer surface of
the insulation to increase or decrease with the change that you propose? Comment on
the values of the conduction resistance provided by the insulation and the convection
resistance on the outside surface when the thickness of the insulation is increased.
(5 marks)

air

\(C

JJ J

insulation

pipe

Figure Q2

Temperature
(C)

i mai
Conductivity, k
(W/m.C)

Density, p
(kg/m3)

Dynamic
Viscosity, u
(kg/m.s)

Kinematic
Viscosity, u
(m2/s)

Prandtl
Number,
Pr

40

0.02662

1.127

1.918 x10" 5

1.750 X10"5

0.7255

A ^ = 0.3-

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0.62Re^Pr^
l+(u.4/Pr)^ K

1+

( Re
28200^

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EM/JAN 2013/MEC551

QUESTION 3

Condenser

Expansion Valve
Compressor
Refrigerator Working
Fluid (R134a)

Heating
coils

Evaporator

"
T, = 38C
Tb,i = 26 C
P = 101.325 kPa

r3=2oc

S,i t = 0.5 kg/s

Cooling Section

Heating Section

Air Conditioning Process and Refrigeration Cycle

Figure Q3
Figure Q3 shows an ideal refrigeration cycle using refrigerant 134-a as the working fluid and
operates between 0.2 MPa and 1.0 MPa. The refrigeration cycle is used to cool an air flow in
the cooling section of an air conditioning process. The air enters the cooling section at the
rate of 0.5 kg/s and 1 atm of pressure. Measured dry bulb temperature and web bulb
temperature is shown at 38C and 26C, respectively. The air is cooled until it is condensed
at 15C. The condensed water flows out from this section. Then, the air is heated in the
heating section until it reaches 20C.
Sketch the temperature-entropy diagram and pressure-enthalpy diagram for the refrigeration
cycle. Using the psycrometric chart to assist in analysis, and assuming there is no entropy
generated in the vapour-compression process, calculate:
a)

the rate of heat rejection from the cooling section (kW),

b)

the condensed water flow rate if the condensed water is 15C (kg/s),

c)

the exit relative humidity, 03 and the heating capacity in the heating section if the exit
temperature is 20C,

d)

the refrigerant mass flow rate (kg/s),

e)

the rate of heat rejection into environment from the refrigeration cycle (kW),

f)

the Coefficient of Performance (COP) of the refrigerator, and

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g)

EM/JAN 2013/MEC551

if the air inlet temperature is changed (increase or decrease) at the constant relative
humidity and mass flow rate, how can the exit condition be maintained?

END OF QUESTION PAPER

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APPENDIX 1(1)

EM/JAN 2013/MEC551

REFERENCE FORMULA'S IN THERMAL ENGINEERING ANALYSIS

AT
Ax

Q = -k-A

Q = h-AAT
<7 = 5.67x10- 8

Q = s-(7-A-T4

1 &L
a

j_ar_j_ e_
2

a dt

(d2T

d2T

dxl

dyz

dt

dt ~ r dr\
{

2dT\

dr V

dr J

r'sinO

+- 1

dz

8z2

UA

1
d2T
rlsin' 0 df

( . ndT\
d0{
dO )

lnl S
R = , # = ,J?
hA
kA

m -K*

d2T}

r2 dG2

dr)

w
2

. h) R_
2nL-kx '

q'
k

Tx-T2
<J--F^2(T*-T24)

IX
hL

Kt =

v_=e^A,^J_A
v

M
S=

5-x

S,=

'

0.382 x
Re 1/5

A=

NuL = 0.664 Re 05 Pr I/3

^ = ( 0 . 0 3 7 Re

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Pr X

4- A.

NuL = 0.037 Reu 8 Pr

0.8

.1/3

-871)Pr

Ra = GrYx

1.026

GrL-

T,_]/3

-2
K=- m
P-A
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APPENDIX 1(2)

AT
Q = = UAAT
R
_AT2-AT,

Q = U-AATm
^Tm=F-ATLMrD,
counter-flow

+Q =
-Q =

rhc-Cpc-(TC0Ut-Tcin)

rmln

c=

h-Cph-(Thin-Th0Ul)
b

=c

z-' max

iimax

NTU=A''U
r

y>

max

(T
min

c,m)

-L.-L.-Ml.
P

AF=

~T

V hjn

mmr

AF
(fy _

actual

AF

juel

stoic

fi=*c=I(V/)-ZW)

H=

Y,Ni(hf+K-h)i

- h2-\
m
7

_K-\

m
P
a = ^ = 0.622^0
^a

COP = Smv
mg

h-ha+ ahg

Pv
Pg

mf -ma{co2 -a\)
0.622Pe

_cfi2+Tx) + co2hfgi

ft)9 =
h

K~ h
m

al+ma2=ma3

P -P

co}ma] + a2ma2 = co3mai

aA+ma2h2

o>P
(0.622 + co)Pg

a\ _ a>2-co3

ma2

a^-CDy

_h2-h3
h^-hx

=ma3h3

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