Foundations for Heat Exchanger Development

P M V Subbarao
Professor
Mechanical Engineering Department
I I T Delhi

Understand the Concept to Know Better Use!!!

Newton’s Law of Cooling
 Realization of Newton’s Law of Cooling

• A general heat transfer surface may not be isothermal !?!

• Fluid temperature will vary from inlet to exit !?!?!
• The local velocity of flow will also vary from inlet to exit ?!?!
• How to use Newton’s Law in a Real life?
• Why Sir Newton discovered such an implicit parameter?
 Newton’s law of cooling : As a principle of
Temperature Measurement

• Historical Background:
• This law of cooling is named after English physicist Isaac
Newton who, in the late 17th century, conducted the first
experiments on the nature of cooling.
• Newton applied this principle to develop an industrial
thermometer with high range.
• The conventional method used in 17th century is thermal
expansion of alcohol as a principle of thermometry.
• These conventional thermometers were used almost
exclusively for meteorological or medical purposes.
• NEWTON was the first, to try to overcome the limitations
of thermometry which restricted it to meteorology or
medicine and to develop thermometers capable of
investigating a wide range of thermal phenomena in the
laboratory.
 Development of Calibration

• The Newton's method of establishing the different degrees

of heat is of this kind:
• A thermometer with linseed- or olive-oil in it, of rather
thick glass, and in fact open except that it is stopped with
cotton to prevent the oil from flowing out,
• He plunges into melting tin, and
• he likewise plunges it into boiling water,
• and into dry earth heated by the Sun
• and into melted snow…..
 Measurements

• Noted the degree of rarefaction of oil at all these

conditions and time taken for the oil to change from one
degree to other degree of rarefaction.
• "first it was found by the thermometer with linseed oil, that
if, when it was placed in melted snow, the oil possessed
the space of 10000 parts;
• then the same oil rarefied with the heat of a human body
possessed the space of 10256 parts.
 Newton’s Measured Scale

• Melting Snow : 0 N
• Heat of Summer : 4, 5 & 6 N…
• Incubated egg & body heat: 12 N
• Greatest heat hand can stand in stirred water & Heat of
blood : 14-3/11 N.
• Greatest heat hand can stand in still water & Heat of blood :
17 N
• Water begins to boil : 33 N
• Water boils vehemently : 34 N
• Water scarcely acquires any greater heat by boiling: 34.5 N
 Newton's Law of Cooling
• Based on the measured values of time and temperatures,
Newton Proposed following hypotheses:
• 1) The rate at which heat passed from the iron to the moving
air was proportional to the temperature difference between
iron and air.
• This law about rate of heat transfer is sometimes mistakenly
referred to as Newton’s law of cooling.
• 2) At equal intervals of time these temperature differences or
excesses were in constant ratio.
• This law is about the time course of the fall in temperature and
is therefore Newton’s ‘law’ of cooling.
 Newton’s Experiments to Develop High Range
Thermometry

• In order to investigate the high range Thermometry:

• Newton resorted to a stratagem which has always been
considered to be ingenious.
• He heated an ingot of iron until it was glowing and with a
pair of tong.
• Another pretty thick heated piece of iron red-hot, which
was taken out of the fire with a pair of pincers, which was
also red-hot.
• Both were laid in a cold place, where the wind blew
continually upon it.
A plausible 'wind tunnel' for Newton's cooling
experiments.
 Measurements made by Sir Newton

• Started putting on thick piece particles of several metals,

and other fusible bodies.
• The time of its cooling was marked, till all the particles
were hardened.
• The time of cooling of the second iron was market, till
equal to the heat of the human body.
Newton’s Law for High Temperature Thermometry

• Then supposing that the excess of the degrees of the heat

of the iron when the particles were hardened above the
heat of the atmosphere, found by the thermometer, were in
geometrical progression when the times are in an
arithmetical progression.
• If the excess of the temperature of the body above its
surroundings is observed at equal intervals of time, the
observed values will form a geometrical progression with a
common ratio.
• The several degrees of heat were discovered ...~
Experimental Results of Newton’s Law of Cooling
 Local Convection Heat Transfer

Consider convection heat transfer as a fluid passes over a surface

of arbitrary shape:
Apply Newton’s law cooling to a local differential element with
length dx.
q  hTs  T 
''
Ts  T

h is called as Local Convection Heat Transfer Coefficient, W/m2K

 The total heat transfer rate Q is

Q   q '' dAs  havg AS Tavg

As

Where, havg is the average convection heat transfer coefficient for

the entire surface.
1

''
q dAs
As As
havg 
Tavg
where
1
Tavg   Ts  T dAs
As As

 dAs
''
Therefore q
As
havg 
 T
A
s  T dAs
 Concept of Solid Fluid Interaction
• Perfectly smooth surface (ideal surface) Real surface
U2
U1

U1

U2
U2

U
U

Φ Φ
Φ

Specular reflection
Diffuse reflection

• The convective heat transfer is defined for a combined solid

and fluid system.
• The fluid packets close to a solid wall attain a zero relative
velocity close to the solid wall : Momentum Boundary Layer.
• The fluid packets close to a solid wall come to thermal
equilibrium with the wall.
• The fluid particles will exchange maximum possible
energy flux with the solid wall.
• A Zero temperature difference exists between wall and
fluid packets at the wall.
• A small layer of fluid particles close the the wall come to
Mechanical, Thermal and Chemical Equilibrium With
solid wall.
• Fundamentally this fluid layer is in Thermodynamic
Equilibrium with the solid wall.
 Heat Transfer in Equilibrium Layer
At the wall for fluid layer : At Thermodynamic equilibrium
 T 
 k fluid A   hAT fluid , wall  T 
T fluid , wall  Twall
 y 

 T 
k fluid  
 y 
h
Twall  T 
• The thickness of stagnant layer decides the magnitude of normal temperature
gradient at the wall.
• And hence, the thickness of wall fluid layer decides the magnitude of convective heat
transfer coefficient.
• Typically, the convective heat transfer coefficient for laminar flow is relatively low
compared to the convective heat transfer coefficient for turbulent flow.
• This is due to turbulent flow having a thinner stagnant fluid film layer on the heat
transfer surface.
 Estimation of Heat Transfer Coefficient
 T 
k fluid  
 y  wall
h
Twall  T 
• Estimation of heat transfer coefficient is basically
computation of temperature profile.
• A general theoretical and experimental study to understand
how the stagnant layer is developed.
• The global geometry of the solid wall and flow conditions
will decide the structure of stagnant layer.
• Basic Geometry : Internal Flow or External Flow.