MAK 302L HEAT TRANSFER LABORATORY

EXPERIMENT 6) LAWS OF RADIAT HEAT

TRANSFER AND RADIANT HEAT EXCHANCE

1. PURPOSE
To analyze the Inverse Square Law for Heat
To determine of the View Factor
To understand the Stefan-Boltzmann Law
To analyze the Inverse Square Law for Light

2. THEORY
2.1 Inverse Square Law
Radiation from a surface behaves live a hemisphere. At a distance x from the heated surface
the radiation is effectively distributed over the surface of a hemisphere of radius x and as this
distance is increased to 2x the surface area of the hemisphere increases by a factor of four
times. Reading will be taken from the surface of the hemisphere and radius of the hemisphere
is the distance from the source. As the distance increases the readings will therefore reduce by
the inverse square of the distance.

2.2 Stefan-Boltzmann Law and View Factor

The Stefan-Boltzmann law states that for a black body:

( Eqn 1)

where:
qb = Energy emitted by unit area of a black body surface (W/m2)
= Stefan Boltzmann constant (=56.7 x 10-9 W/m2K4)
Ts = Surface temperature of heated plate (K)
Ta = Temperature surroundings including radiometer (K)

If the distance between the heat source and the radiometer is fixed then the reading on the
radiometer will be related to the radiation emitted from the plate by a constant factor C. The
radiation received by the radiometer (qr) is related to the radiation emitted by the source (qr)
by a view factor F where:

(Eqn 2)

It can be shown that this view factor F is related to the angle of view and that for a circular
surface:

(Eqn 3)

where is the half angle of view from the radiometer to the surface. Therefore:

(Eqn 4)

Note: The diameter of the heat source is 100 mm.

1

 3. PROCEDURE

Figure 1. The experiment setup

3.1 Inverse Square of Heat Experiment Procedure

1. Set the experiment as shown in Figure 1.
2. Position the carriage with the radiometer at a distance of 900 mm from the heated plate.
3. Connect the lead from the radiometer to the socket marked R on the front of the HT10X
service unit.
4. Allow the radiometer to stabilize at room temperature then adjust the zero potentiometer until
the reading on HT10X is zero.
5. Connect the thermocouple on the heated plate to the socket T10.
6. Connect the thermocouple on the polished plate to the socket T9 and place the plate.
7. Set VOLTAGE CONTROL potentiometer to minimum and selector switch to MANUAL
then connect the power lead from the heated plate on HT13 to socket marked output 2 at the
rear of the service unit.
8. Switch on the front Mains switch.
9. Set the heater voltage to 20 Volts.
10. Fill out Data Sheet 1.

3.2 Stephan Boltzman Law Experiment Procedure

1. Set the radiometer to 300 mm position.
2. Fill out Data Sheet 2.

3.3 Inverse Square Law for Light Experiment Procedure

1. Setup the experiment as shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2. The experimental Setup for Inverse Square Law Experiment

2. Position the carriage with the lightmeter at a distance of 200 mm from the light source.
3. Set the heater voltage to 20 Volts.
4. Adjust the voltage supply to the light source until the lightmeter output indicates 230 Lux.
5. Fill out Data Sheet 3.
2

4. RESULTS

4.1 DATA SHEET 1

Temperature of Temperature of Radiometer

Distance
the Heated Plate surroundings reading
x [mm] T 10 [C] T9 [C] R [W/m2]
900
800
700
600
500
400
300

4.2 DATA SHEET 2

Heater Voltage [V] Current [A] T10 [C] T9 [C] R [W/m2]

4
8
12
16
20
24

4.3 DATA SHEET 3

x [mm] 200
L [Lux] 230

5. CALCULATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS

5.1 Inverse Square of Heat Experiment

1. Plot a log-log graph of radiation R against the distance x from the heated plate. Calculate the
gradient of the line. Comment on your results.
2. Find s for each measurement and calculate the veiw factor, F, qb and qr.
3. Estimate the cumulative influence of the experimental errors on your calculated values for ,
F, qb & qr.
4. Plot a graph of your calculated values for qr against the measured radiometer readings Rand
comment on the graph.

5.2 Stephan Boltzman Law Experiment

1. Derive results for qb.
2. Plot the graph of qb versus Heater Voltage.
3. Find view factor for different voltages. Do you expect the results to be different? Why?
Explain your answer by consulting Stephan Boltzman Law.
4. Estimate the cumulative influence of the experimental errors on your calculated values for
Ts, Ta, qb.

5.3 Inverse Square Law for Light Experiment

1. Plot a log-log graph of L against x and calculate the gradient of the line. Comment on your
results. Comment on the slope of the line.
2. Comment on the reasons of possible errors.

Note: Please avoid repetition and presenting any unnecessary information in your report. Make
sure your report includes short and brief information on the experiment.