Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering

ChE 351

Final Exam

Date: December 16, 1999 Time: 2 hours

Closed book

NOTE: FORMULAS ON BACK PAGE

Marks
5 Q1 For each of the 4 cases below state if the data is accurate and/or precise. The line is the
actual experimental value and the x 's are the data points from a calibration equation.

a) c) x x x x x xx x x
x x x x x x x xx

b) x d) x x x
x x x x
x
x x x
x
x x x
x

5 Q2 What is an OPTO 22 used for?

30 total Q3 Material and energy balance.

5 a) For this lab, why was it necessary to collect many data points at each flow setting
and not just one?

6 b) Table1 show the experimental data for one run. What are three errors in this table
(with respect to general table formatting)? How would you correct them?

Table 1. The average mass flow rates and mean temperatures with corresponding
standard deviations.
MH (kg/h) Mc (kg/h) MM (kg/h)
Mass flow rate 141.1 176.65487 330
Standard deviation 2.19 12.3 3.21
T1 T2 T4 T5
Temperature 49.5 21.2 41.3 34.0
Standard deviation 0.19 0.12 1.0 0.16
 9 c) From Table 1, what are the important things to point out in the results section?
Recall that T4 is the temperature measured just after the T-junction and T5 is the
temperature measured 40 cm past the T-junction.

10 d) Do the measured and predicted mass flow rates agree within error? To calculate
the experimental error, assume a 5% calibration error in getting the average flow
rates.

30 total Q4 Filling and emptying a tank with air.

A similar lab was conducted as compared to the one you did. However, the inlet air
pressure was increased to 1200 kPag (in your lab it was 600 kPag). All other
conditions where kept the same (inlet air temp = 20 C, all pipe and tank dimensions
are the same). Answer the following questions.

10 a) During the filling process the final measured temperature in the tank was 82.6 C.
When the kinetic energy of the inlet air was included and the initial mass of air in
the tank was not the predicted temperature was calculated to be 149.6 C. For the
final case (includes both the kinetic energy and initial mass), the predicted
temperature was 123.5 C. Calculate the temperate assuming that the kinetic
energy of the entering air and initial mass of air in the tanks is negligible. It is
assumed for all three cases that the system is adiabatic. Which assumptions are
valid and which are not? Assume all calculations are done correctly. Cp = 1.004
kJ/kgK and Cv = 0.717 kJ/kgK.

10 b) For this lab, the polytropic exponent (n) was found to be 1.31. Does the process
more closely resemble an isothermal or isentropic one? What does this mean?

10 c) Should the discharge constant (K1 ) be constant or should it change with time as
the tank is emptying? If it is changing then should it increase or decrease with
time?

30 total Q5 Calibration of orifice meters and rotameters.

15 a) In calibrating a rotameter and orifice meter for air the following data was obtained:

Table 2. Experimental data for calibration of rotameter and orifice meter (air).
Mass flow rate, m Rotameter reading, RR Average orifice output
(kg/h) (% full scale) (S-So)
3.93 10 2.7
13.21 50 23.1
20.54 70 58.2
25.15 90 84.1
29.61 100 99.9
 Find the calibration equations for both the rotameter and the orifice meter. State
clearly the values of n, Co and KR. (used graph paper provided)

5 b) The flow rate of water through an orifice meter is described by the following
equation
2 ( P1 P2 )
m = C D Ao
1 4
(1)
What would be the pressure drop across the orifice if the Reynolds number based
on the orifice diameter is 16400?
Ao = 2.8 x 10-6m2
= 0.2
= 1000 kg/m3
CD = 0.62
M = 0.001kg/ms

10 c) A rotameter tube has an internal diameter of Dt = 1.326 cm (10 %) at the bottom

and Dt = 1.676 cm (90 %) at the top. The maximum diameter of the bob (float) is
DB = 1.280 cm, its density is B = 7.208 g/cm3 and its volume is VB = 2.0 cm3. If
the discharge coefficient (CR) is 0.57, what will be the flow rate of water (in kg/s)
when the float is at a 60 % rotameter reading? The density of water is 1000 kg/m3.
 Formula Sheet

Material and energy balances

Mass: Mass flows in = Mass flows out

Energy: (m& h ) in = (m& h )out

Filling and emptying a tank with air

1
mi hi + vi2 (m 2 u 2 m1u1 ) cv
2

n 1
T P n
=
To Po

k +1
dP A 2 2 ( k 1)
= N (kRT ) 1 / 2 P
dt Vcv k + 1

Calibration of orifice meters and rotameters

m& = K R R R

m& = C o ( S S o ) n

2 gV B ( B f ) f
m = C R ( AT AB )
AB

Dv
Re =

General Equations

h = C p T u = C v T

k = C p / Cv Q(m 3 / s) = v(m / s) A(m 2 )