Mechanical Lab Project

Experimental Determination of Thermal conductivity of

Potato and Apple

Group-7
Prof. Vineet Vasishta

Problem Statement
Knowledge of thermal properties are of great importance to analyze
transport phenomenon and to design food processing system units
such as boilers, evaporators and chillers. In our project we are
performing experiment to determine thermal conductivity of potato
and apple that can be of great importance in determining the amount
of time and heat required to completely process the food.

Motivation
Fond of lays and balaji Potato chips
Difficulty in achieving constant high quality food
Emphasis on techniques to save the lose of energy.
Automation, the hot topic of this era which gave us
the motive to think of something useful for intelligent
systems.

Motivation

The dependency on energy requirement will

increase and thus it becomes more and more
important to energy that we use.

The growth in production is very slow compared to

growth in demand.

Innovative Methods. Eg: British Generators.

Project Description

Used radial conduction of heat to

find the conductivity of the potato.

As shown in figure temperature

varies parabolically w.r.t radius in
cylindrical heat transfer system.

V r^2

Project Procedure

Flat surfaces are cut at the axial ends of

potato to insert thermocouples radially at
different distances and same depth.

Putting thermocouples at same depth

from top surface to maintain same
circular cross section. As the properties of
the potato can vary in different planes
(like density, water content)

For thermocouple needles are used to

create holes and are of equal depth and
thermocouples are planted.

Project Procedure(contd.)

Connecting ammeter and voltmeter the

voltage is gradually increased from 0 V to
70 V for potato and 0 V to 40 V for apple to
avoid burning of samples
Temperature readings are taken at 4
locations:
T0:- Temperature at heater
T1:- Temperature at distance r1
T2:- Temperature at distance r2
T3:- Temperature at distance r3

Project Procedure(contd.)

As the system approaches steady

state the change in temperature
reduces and thus from the Fouriers
law the heat dissipated by heater is
not stored at that point.

These readings are further used to

calculate the values of thermal
conductivity.

Key Assumptions:

Uniform thermophysical properties for

specimens.
Radial heat transfer.
The end convection does not affect the
readings.
Constant humidity.
The heater acts as constant heat source.

Results and their interpretation

Sr. No.

Specimen

Thermal
Conductivity
(Obtained)

Ideal Values

1 (Trial)

Potato

0.43

0.5-0.9

Potato

0.56

0.5-0.9

Potato

0.71

0.5-0.9

Apple

0.39

0.4-0.5

Interpretation of results

Initial increase and then gradual decrease.

The difference in trends obtained for Potato and Apple is due to difference

In moisture contain and evaporation trend.

Variation of temperature with radius

Discussion:

As the temperature of the water content

increases, conductivity increases. When
the temperature reaches boiling point
water evoporates and the conductivity
decreases.
In case of apple the air resistance
between the probe and the body may be
considerable as the seeds do not occupy
all the space.
A layer is formed on the body of heater
which is burnt that may also lead to
change in heat resistance and thereby
effects conductivity

Future Prospects

The thermal properties of food materials can be used

to improve the cooking process heat consumption.
For example:Ballarini-Thermopoint
It could add new concept of smart cooking in future.
In industries such thermal properties of the material
used can help in the more efficient working of the
system.
The intelligent systems can be trained using data
such as thermal conductivity, humidity etc. in order
to estimate the time of cooking needed while
cooking.

Acknowledgement
A special thanks to Ankita Sinha and Zeeshan for their constant
guidance and helping us in procuring equipment. We also thank
Electrical lab staff for providing equipment.

References

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fob4lal4Ro&feature=youtu.be&t=39
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90J0Gl-5ggs&feature=youtu.be&t=36
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nETvSVQzzTw&feature=youtu.be
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBR-bntimrc&feature=youtu.be&t=2
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk%3AElectrical_conductivity

Papers Referred
http://pcfarina.eng.unipr.it/Public/Termofluidodinamica/Utility/Tabelle%20A
limenti.pdf
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/026087749290058E

Group-7
Goutham Solleti

14110129

Chinmay Sonar

14110130

Sai Rohit

14110126

Udit Relan

14110112