Experiment No.

2
MEASUREMENT OF THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY OF INSULATION POWDER

Aim: Measurement of thermal conductivity of insulation powder Apparatus required: Voltmeter, Ammeter, Dimmerstat, Stop watch, nsulation powder whose thermal conductivity to !e measured is ta"en in the annulus of a spherical container. #eatin$ coil placed in the inner most core of the spherical container, I tr!du"ti! %here are many situations, where heat loss to the surroundin$s is to !e reduced to conserve the heat. &or example !ac" side of a solar collector, steam or a hot fluid flowin$ in a pipe etc. n such cases, the exterior hot surface is covered !y a material of lower thermal conductivity called as i su#at!r$ 'ecause of demand of such materials, many industries have come up to produce such materials in different cate$ories, shapes and si(es. )ne important cate$ory of insulatin$ material is the powder form. %he powder can ta"e any complicated shape !etween any two containin$ surfaces. n addition, its thermal conductivity is much lower than that of its !asic solid form, !ecause of the lar$er num!er of air $aps present !etween particles. Examples of insulatin$ materials are* +,& material, As!estos, -lass wool etc. T%e!r& .e assume that the insulatin$ powder is an isotropic material and its thermal conductivity to !e constant, therefore, one/dimensional radial heat conduction across the powder is considered. 0onsider the heat transfer throu$h hollow sphere formed !y insulatin$ powder layer pac"ed !etween two copper spheres. 0onsider a hollow sphere of inner radius r1 and outer radius r2 as shown in &i$. 1. ts inner and outer surfaces are maintained at uniform temperatures % i and %o, respectively. %here is no heat $eneration in the solid and thermal

Insulation powder

ro Ti

ri

To

conductivity, " is assumed constant. Fi'$ ( Sp%ere )it% spe"i*ied te+peratures Steady state heat transfer rate throu$h the sphere 2 is $iven !y the E3n 415 as

 = 4 ri ro k (Ti To ) Q ( ro ri ) %he diameter of inner and outer sphere is 166 and 177mm respectively.
Des"ripti! !* t%e setup

415

%he apparatus consists of two thin walled concentric copper spheres. %he inner sphere houses the heatin$ coil. %he insulatin$ powder whose thermal conductivity is to measured is pac"ed !etween the two shells. %he power supply to the heatin$ coil is $iven throu$h a dimmerstat and is measured !y voltmeter and ammeter. %welve 8/type 4chromel/ alumel5 thermocouples are used to measure the temperatures for analysis. Six thermocouples, num!ered as % 1 to %9 are em!edded on outer surface of the inner sphere and six thermocouples, num!ered as % : to %12 are em!edded on inner surface of the outer sphere. &i$ure 2 shows a photo$raph of the set up.

Fi'$ ,

T%er+a# "! du"ti-it& setup *!r p!)der i su#ati!

The mean of temperatures on the inner and outer spheres (Ti and To) are used to evaluate the conductivity from Eq. 1. Heat supplied is computed as: ! V I cos 425 .here V ; #eater volta$e, V ; #eater current, A < ; power factor ; 6.=7 E.peri+e ta# Pr!"edure: 1. +ut on the heater switch and ad>ust the heater input throu$h dimmer/ stat.

2. .ait until steady state condition is reached. ?. Note down the readin$ of all thermocouples throu$h selector switch, voltmeter and ammeter. Resu#ts: +lot mean temperature 412 thermocouples data used5 Vs thermal conductivity 0ompare measured vs literature value of thermal conductivity

Ta/u#ar "!#u+ :

Heater a d te+perature data *!r t%er+a# "! du"ti-it& e-a#uati!

!* p!)der i su#ati! Mean %emp, 6 0 %o %hermal 0ond. .@m8

Sl. No. V 1 2 ? A 7

#eater data 2, . %1

nner sphere temperatures %2 %? %A %7 %9 %i %:

)uter sphere temperatures %= %? %B %16 %11 %12