Thermo/fluids Education
Thermodynamics:
Thermodynamics is a junior undergraduate course, which focuses on the use of energy and entropy principles to study engineering systems. In the later Thermal Systems Design class, a series of experiments are performed to supplement the lecture component. The laboratories study psychrometric principles in an air duct, steam power cycle response, and jet engine performance.
Fluid Mechanics
Fluid Mechanics is a junior undergraduate course where students learn the basic principles for static and dynamic fluids, which are then complemented by laboratory studies. Experiments study the responses of different pressure gauge designs, the flow and pressure losses for various pipe arrangements, and the flow patterns for airfoil and bluff body geometries.
Heat Transfer:
Heat Transfer is a senior undergraduate course, consisting of studies of conduction, convection, and radiation modes of energy transfer. During the subsequent Thermal Systems Design course, laboratory experiments are conducted to further understand these heat transfer modes. These labs examine one-dimensional axial conduction through various materials, radial conduction through various materials, and combined convection and radiation in an air duct.
Thermal Systems Design
Thermal Systems Design, as a senior undergraduate course, has been taught by several methods in different mechanical engineering curriculums. The intention of this upper-level undergraduate course at WSU Vancouver is to enhance the student's industrial envision and prepare them for mechanical engineering practice before they graduate.
The students apply the concepts of thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, and heat transfer that they have previously learned in relevant fundamental courses, through real world problems and design projects. To increase the ability of students in design and realization of thermal systems, a design competition is set up in class within the course timeframe. For this purpose, the students are divided in groups, each includes three to four members, to design, build, and test a thermal system, such as heat exchangers. They are to work within the realistic constraints, i.e., economical, environmental, ethical, safety, manufacturability, sustainability, etc., on their project. They are then to report the results in a professional fashion and finally present their projects to the faculty and other students. The students' communication and interpersonal skills are also examined through this design competition.
This approach was taken in the Spring semester of 2006 where the students were divided into seven groups to design, build, and test liquid-liquid heat exchangers for some predefined conditions. The groups came up with almost different ideas on designing and building their thermal systems. All the systems were tested by flowing cold water on one side and hot water on the other side. Some of the heat exchangers worked very well and behaved as they were originally designed. However, a few of them faced problems due to the high pressure in water supply lines or too much pressure drop within the heat exchangers. All the groups were able to test their HXs and collect some experimental data. They finally conducted a Wilson Plot technique, using the collected data, to obtain the actual heat transfer correlations for their HXs. The performance of these heat exchangers was then compared with typical brazed plate heat exchangers, manufactured and donated by FlatPlate Inc. It seems the students learned a great deal on thermal systems design and realization from this hands-on project, as summarized below.
| Figure 1. Liquid-liquid heat exchangers, designed, built, and tested by a group of senior students (Spring 2006) | ||
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Concentric rounded tubes, |
Shell-and-tube, one shell pass, eighteen tube passes, copper |
Shell-and-tube, one reinforced shell pass, six copper tube passes, copper tube, Plexiglas shell |
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Concentric rounded tubes,
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Concentric bent tubes, counter- flow, copper tube inside, PVC tube outside |
Shell-and-tube, one shell pass, eight tube passes, copper tube, wooden shell |
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| Concentric bent tubes, counter- flow, copper tube inside, PVC tube outside, well-compacted |
High performance brazed plate |
A cutaway of typical BHPEs |