Heat Transfer Thermodynamics Lab

The Department of Mechanical Engineering Heat Transfer and Thermodynamics Lab complements the Thermodynamics (ME 3410) and Heat Transfer (ME 3440) lecture courses and provide practical experience in thermal sciences area. 

The lab space is used primarily for teaching Heat Transfer and Thermodynamics Lab (ME 4403), where experiments are conducted covering heat transfer modes, thermodynamics power, refrigeration cycles, and renewable energy - while emphasizing data interpretation and report writing skills. A group project is also part of the lab course, to insure every ME student gains thermal design experience.

The lab has the additional function of providing research equipment for students and faculty in thermal sciences area, including renewable energy.

  • The Heat Transfer Thermodynamics lab has the following equipment with or without computer control available:

    • (1) Rankine Steam Power Generation Cycle (Turbine Technologies) 
    • (1) Organic Rankine Power Generation Cycle (Edibon) 
    • (1) Refrigeration cycle (Hampden) 
    • (1) Old Refrigeration Cycle for Demonstration Only (Carrier) 
    • (1) Heat Transfer Unit with Controller for convection, radiation and conduction heat transfer (Edibon) 
    • (1) Heat Exchanger unit including tube & shell and plate modules (Edibon) 
    • (1) Saturation Unit with Throttling Valve (Edibon) 
    • (1) Thermal Solar Collector for water heating with UV lamps (Edibon) 
    • (1) Temperature Measurement System with External DAQ Card designed for transient heat transfer experiments (NI) 
    • (1) Temperature Measurement System with USB Connection (Omega) 
    • (1) Cooling Tower (Edibon) 
    • (2) Heater plates 
    • (2) Stirling power generation cyles and a solar parabolic mirror (3B Scientific) 
    • (1) Calorimeter 
    • (1) Internal combustion engine demonstration unit 

     

  • Experiments from the following list may be conducted in the Heat Transfer Thermodynamics lab:

    • Transient Heat Transfer (Lumped Systems) 
    • Design of an apparatus to determine thermal conductivity 
    • Solar Collector Efficiency 
    • Steam Power Generation (Rankine or Organic Rankine) 
    • Tube and Shell Heat Exchanger NTU effectiveness 
    • Refrigeration and Heating Cycle 
    • Saturation Pressure/Temperature Measurements 
    • Determination of “Quality of a Saturated Mixture” 
    • Free and Forced Convection Heat Transfer 
    • Thermal Radiation 
    • Conduction Heat Transfer with axial and radial cylindrical modules 
    • Gas Power Generation using a Stirling engine 

Location:
Engineering Technology Center, Building Q
Room Q-241

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