Board 136: MAKER: Laboratory Improvements for Mechanical Engineering (Phase 2)

Abstract

The convection heat transfer is explored for a new academic laboratory experiment to help address the lack of practical experimentation due to the continued integration of technology. The objective is to design an experiment to be used in the laboratory that enhances the student understanding of convection process and principles. A cost-effective design is generated with three core principles: 1) Low Cost, 2) Low Maintenance, and 3) Concept Visualization. This is achieved through the following description of the apparatus. The plexiglass chamber has a square base with a designated height. At the bottom of the chamber, there is a rectangular section removed to act as an inlet to the chamber. A high powered mini turbine fan is located at the top of the chamber. The fan acts as the driving force that pulls in the surrounding air from the inlet to generate a flow within the chamber. A door is located on the front of the chamber to allow for interchanging of different test geometries. The geometries being used are 3D printed to components either in the form of a fin (External Flow) or a hollowed channel parallel to the flow (Internal Flow). The components are mounted to the door with cylindrical heater connecting the two. The components are heated to steady state, where the average temperature along the surface is calculated. The velocity, surface temperature, and ambient temperature are recorded using a data acquisition system. The resulting convection coefficients are then determined.