EMISSIVITY APPARATUS

Emissivity Apparatus

NOTE:
Every effort has been made to ensure that the information contained in this manual is accurate;
however no labiality is accepted for errors. Should an error be discovered please inform the
company in writing, giving full details. Any experimental results given are for guidance only and
are not guaranteed as exact answers that can be obtained for a given apparatus; due to the
complex variables applicable to most experiments.

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Emissivity Apparatus

Table of Contents
1.

Page
INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................... 1

2.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION .......................................................................................... 2

2.1 Unit Assembly ............................................................................................................ 2

3.

SUMMARY OF THEORY ............................................................................................ 3

4.

EXPERIMENTS ............................................................................................................ 5
4.1 Objective ..................................................................................................................... 5
4.2 Procedure .................................................................................................................... 5
4.3 Observations ............................................................................................................... 5

APPENDIX A
APPENDIX B
APPENDIX C

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Experiment Data Sheets

Typical Experimental Result
Sample Calculations

Emissivity Apparatus

INTRODUCTION:
Emissivity is a measure of the efficiency in which a surface emits thermal energy. It is
defined as the fraction of energy being emitted relative to that emitted by a thermally
black surface (a black body). A black body is a material that is a perfect emitter of heat
energy and has an emissivity value of 1.
The EES Emissivity Apparatus is capable of measuring the emissivity of almost all
materials by the comparison with the black body.

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Emissivity Apparatus

GENERAL DESCRIPTION:
The experimental set up consists of two circular Aluminum plates identical in size and
provided with heating coils at the bottom. The plates are mounted on an asbestos cement
sheet and are kept in an enclosure so as to provide undistributed natural convection
surroundings.
The heat input to the heater is varied by separated dimmer stats and is measured by using an
ammeter and a voltmeter/wattmeter with the help of double pole double-throw switches. The
temperature of the plates is measured by thermocouples. Separated wires are connected to
diametrically opposite points to get the average surface temperatures of the plates. Other
thermocouples are kept in the enclosure to read the ambient temperature of enclosure.
Plate-1 is blackened by a thick layer of lamp black to form the idealized black surface
whereas the plate-2 is the test plate whose emissivity to be determined.
The heater inputs to the two plates are dissipated from the plates by conduction, convection
and radiation. The experimental set up is designed in such a way that under steady state
condition the heat dissipation by conduction and convection is same for both the plates.
When their surface temperatures are the same and the difference in the heater input readings
is because of the difference in radiation characteristics due to their different surface
emissivity.

2.1

Unit Assembly:

1
5

4
2
3

1.
3.
5.

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Black Plate
Test Plate Power Regulator
Test Plate

2.
4.
6.

Black Plate Power Regulator

Control Panel
Chamber Thermocouple

Emissivity Apparatus

SUMMARY OF THEORY:
All substances at all temperature emit thermal radiation. Thermal radiation is an
electromagnetic wave and does not require any material medium for propagation. All
bodies can emit radiation and have also the capacity to absorb all or part of the radiation
coming from the surroundings towards it.
An idealized black surface is one which absorbs all the incident radiation with reflectivity
and transmissivity equal to zero. The radiant energy emitted per unit time per unit area
from the surface of the body is called the emissive power and is usually denoted by e.
The emissivity of a surface is defined as the ratio of the emissive power of the surface to
the emissive power of the hypothetical black surface at same temperature. It is denoted
by .
Thus,

e
eb

For a black body absorptivity = 1, and by the knowledge of Kirchoffs Law emissivity of
the blackbody also becomes unity.
Emissivity being a property of the surface depends on the nature of the surface and
temperature.
It is obvious from the Stefan-Boltzmann Law that the prediction of the emissive power of
a surface requires knowledge about the value of its emissivity and therefore much
experimental research in radiation has been concentrated on measuring the value of
emissivity as a function of surface temperature. The present experimental set up is
designed and fabricated to measure the property of emissivity of a test plate surface at
various temperatures.
Below table gives approximate values of emissivity for some common materials for ready
references.
Temperature
Metal
Non Metal

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Polished Copper, Steel,

Stainless Steel, Nickel
Aluminium (oxidized)
Brick, Wood, Marble,
Water

90~540 C

Emissivity
0.15, increases with
temperature
0.2~0.33

20~100 C

0.8~1

20 C

Emissivity Apparatus

Under Steady State Conditions,

Pb = Power applied to Black Plate in Watts (W).
PP = Power applied to Test Plate in Watts (W).
A = Area of the Plates in square meters (m2).
As the diameter of both plates are 150 mm so,

d2
4

Tb = Temperature of the Black Plate in Kelvin (K).

TP = Temperature of the Test Plate in Kelvin (K).
TS = Temperature of the surroundings (Chamber) in Kelvin (K).
Eb= Emissivity of Black Plate = 1.
E = Emissivity of Test Plate.
= Stephen Boltzmann constant = 5.67 x 10-8 W/m2K4.

Pb Pp (Eb E ) A(Tb4 Ts4 )

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Emissivity Apparatus

EXPERIMENT:
4.1

Objective:
To determine the emissivity of the given plate by comparing with black body

4.2

Procedure:
1. Put on power supply and keep both dimmer states at zero initially.
2. Increase the power input to black plat to 30 watts and tittles bit less to test
plate i. e. 27 watts.
3. Check the temperatures of both plates after few minutes. And adjust input of
test plate in such a way so that both plates having same temperature. For that
trial and error method is used for fair steady state condition.
4. After attaining steady state condition note down the temperatures of test plate.
Black plate and surrounding and power input.
5. Above procedure may be repeated for several electrical power inputs.
6. Always keep dimmer state at zero before starting.
7. Increase power input slowly.
8. Do not touch black plate.
9. Use stabilized electric supply.
Observations:
Sr. No.

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Black Plate
Pb
Tb

Test Plate
PP

TP

Chamber Temperature
TS

Emissivity Apparatus

APPENDIX A
Experiment Data Sheets

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Emissivity Apparatus

Experiment

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Sr. No.

Black Plate
Pb
Tb

PP

Test Plate

Sr. No.

Black Plate
Pb
Tb

PP

Sr. No.

Black Plate
Pb
Tb

PP

Sr. No.

Black Plate
Pb
Tb

PP

Sr. No.

Black Plate
Pb
Tb

PP

TP

Chamber Temperature
TS

TP

Chamber Temperature
TS

TP

Chamber Temperature
TS

TP

Chamber Temperature
TS

TP

Chamber Temperature
TS

Test Plate

Test Plate

Test Plate

Test Plate

Emissivity Apparatus

APPENDIX B
Typical Experimental Results

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Emissivity Apparatus

Experiment
Sr. No.
1

Black Plate
Pb
Tb
39.6
60.7

Test Plate
PP
TP
36.4
59.7

Chamber Temperature
TS
31.2

Plot a graph between emissivity E on y-axis and test plate temperature TP on x-axis.

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Emissivity Apparatus

APPENDIX C
Sample Calculations

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Emissivity Apparatus

Experiment

Pb Pp (Eb E ) A(Tb4 Ts4 )

A

d2
4

3.14 x (.15)2
0.0177 m2
4

39.6 36.4 (1 E)(5.67 x108 )(0.0177)[(60.7 273)4 (31.2 273)4 ]

3.2 (1 E)(5.67 x108 )(0.0177)[12400089700 8563214817]

3.2 (1 E)(5.67 x108 )(0.0177)[3836874883]

3.2 (1 E)(3.851)
E 1

3.2
3.851

E 0.017
With this emissivity the test plate is made of aluminum

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