1. Design, Construction, and Testing of a Thermal Conductivity Measurement Apparatus for Thermal Science Laboratory at Southern Arkansas University Jase Anderson, Marco Ramos Diaz, & Alma Stratton Dr. Lionel Hewavitharana & Dr. Mahbub Ahmed Southern Arkansas University 100 East University, Magnolia, AR
Objective
To design, build, and test a reliable low cost equipment to measure the thermal conductivity of copper. The additional requirements were that the apparatus should be professional looking, and could be operated by students at Southern Arkansas University.
Introduction
Measurement of thermal conductivity based on the Fourier’s law of heat conduction is a common laboratory exercise offered in most thermal science courses in engineering programs. The equipment used for this exercise can be built in house; saving money, while retaining the required quality. This poster presents a successful attempt to build a thermal conductivity measurement apparatus based on the Fourier’s law of heat conduction.
Materials Used
Design Process
Fabrication
Machining copper rod
Boring holes for water jacket and thermocouples
Sweating copper pipe for cooling
Installing thermocouples
Wrapping the rod with insulation
Constructing stand
Building wood frame
Attaching ABS and fabricating brackets
Attach data loggers
ANSYS Analysis
Experimental Trials
Data was collected from the thermal conductivity apparatus and plotted using four trials. First, the change in temperature vs distance was plotted for all four trials and the slopes from those plots were used for the temperature gradient. Then, The heat flux was found and plotted vs the temperature gradient.
Conclusion
In conclusion we found that the thermal conductivity for the copper rod to be W/m·K. The percent error was found using the standardized value for copper (401 W/m·K).
Percent error was found to be 2.39%
Proceedings of the 2018 ASEE Gulf-Southwest Section Annual Conference The University of Texas at Austin
April 4-6, 2018