Page 1 Heat Transfer Project Zirconium Billet Temperature by Brent Staley and Brad Smith

Page 2 Background Zirconium rods are used to house the fuel pellets in nuclear reactors Prior to extrusion, the billets must be lubricated to prevent sticking on the die The billets must be heated to a specific temperature for the lubricant to cure properly

Page 3 Objective Heat a Zirconium billet to a desired temperature in a barrel of water and measure the time Calculate time needed to achieve desired temperature and compare with measured time

Page 4

Page 5 Calculations Assumptions: –Infinite cylindrical shape assumed –Temp. of the barrel wall equals temp. of the water –Thermal properties are constant throughout the billet –Spatial effects were considered –Temp. of the water is constant throughout the barrel

Page 6 Calculations Free Convection of Concentric Cylinder

Page 7 Calculations

Page 8 Experimental Setup Popcorn can - hold the water Pyrometer – measure the surface temperature of billet Thermometer – measure temperature of the water Overhead bridge with block of wood – lower the billet into water Heat plate – heat water to desired temp. Stop watch – for obvious reasons

Page 9 Experimental results Temp. water – 180 F Starting temp. of billet – 78 F Final temp. of billet – 166 F Calculated time from 78 F to 166 F – 228 sec Measured time – 180 sec Difference of 48 sec

Page 10 Conclusions The calculated time was 1.27 times longer than the measured time We can attribute this discrepancy to: -End effects of the billet - Interference of the pyrometer with water vapor - 1 st order approximate assumption method is just that – an approximation