P. Sivashanmugam

EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES ON HEAT TRANSFER AND FRICTION FACTOR CHARACTERISTICS OF TURBULENT FLOW THROUGH A CIRCULAR TUBE FITTED WITH RIGHT AND LEFT HELICAL SCREW-TAPE INSERTS

Experimental investigation on heat transfer and friction factor characteristics of a circular tube fitted with right–left helical screw inserts of equal and unequal length of different twist ratios is presented. The experimental data obtained were compared with those obtained from plain tube published data. The heat transfer enhancement for right–left helical screw inserts is higher than that for straight helical twist for a given twist ratio. The effect of right–left twist length on heat transfer augmentation is presented. The empirical relations for Nusselt number, friction factor relating Reynolds number, twist ratio, and right–left twist distance were formed and found to fit the experimental data within 10% and 20% for Nusselt number and friction factor respectively. Performance evaluation analysis was made, and the performance ratio of more than one was obtained, indicating that the proposed twist inserts can be used effectively for heat transfer augmentation without any loss in pumping power.

Optimization of thermoacoustic refrigerator using response surface methodology

Thermoacoustic refrigerator (TAR) converts acoustic waves into heat without any moving parts. The study presented here aims to optimize the parameters like frequency, stack position, stack length, and plate spacing involving in designing TAR using the Response Surface Methodology (RSM). A mathematical model is developed using the RSM based on the results obtained from DeltaEC software. For desired temperature difference of 40 K, optimized parameters suggested by the RSM are the frequency 254 Hz, stack position 0.108 m, stack length 0.08 m, and plate spacing 0.0005 m. The experiments were conducted with optimized parameters and simulations were performed using the Design Environment for Low-amplitude ThermoAcoustic Energy Conversion (DeltaEC) which showed similar results.

Optimization of thermoacoustic primemover using response surface methodology

Thermoacoustic engines are energy conversion devices that convert thermal energy from a high-temperature heat source into useful work in the form of acoustic power while diverting waste heat into a cold sink; it can be used as a drive for cryocoolers and refrigerators. Though the devices are simple to fabricate, it is very challenging to design an optimized thermoacoustic primemover with better performance. The study presented here aims to optimize the thermoacoustic primemover using response surface methodology. The influence of stack position and its length, resonator length, plate thickness, and plate spacing on pressure amplitude and frequency in a thermoacoustic primemover is investigated in this study. For the desired frequency of 207 Hz, the optimized value of the above parameters suggested by the response surface methodology has been conducted experimentally, and simulations are also performed using DeltaEC. The experimental and simulation results showed similar output performance.

Heat transfer of TiO2/water nanofluid in a coiled agitated vessel with propeller

An attempt is made to investigate heat transfer enhancement using nanofluid in a coiled agitated vessel fitted with propeller agitator. The heat transfer coefficient in coiled agitated vessel for water and TiO2/water nanofluid of 3 different volume concentrations (0.10%, 0.20% and 0.30%) are estimated and compared. The heat transfer coefficient for nanofluid is found to be higher than that for water and also found to increase with increasing volume concentrations. The enhancement in the convective heat transfer using nanofluid is found to be a maximum of 17.59%. Empirical correlations are separately formed for water and TiO2/water nanofluid as well as found to fit the experimental data within ±5% for water and within ±10% for nanofluid.

Heat Transfer Studies in Coiled Agitated Vessel with Varying Heat Input

Heat transfer studies in a coiled agitated vessel with varying heat input is presented using two agitators namely propeller and disk turbine. Heat transfer rate increases with agitator speed for both the agitators for a given heat input. The heat transfer coefficient also increases with heat input for a given agitator speed for turbine agitator for all the heat inputs, whereas for propeller it is increasing up to a certain value and then decreases. The heat transfer coefficient (heat transfer rate) for turbine agitator is higher than that for propeller for all heat inputs. Empirical correlations separately were formed for each agitator and found to fit the experimental values within range of ±15% for both the agitators.

Fuzzy coordinated PI controller: application to the real-time pressure control process

This paper presents the real-time implementation of a fuzzy coordinated classical PI control scheme for controlling the pressure in a pilot pressure tank system. The fuzzy system has been designed to track the variation parameters in a feedback loop and tune the classical controller to achieve a better control action for load disturbances and set point changes. The error and process inputs are chosen as the inputs of fuzzy system to tune the conventional PI controller according to the process condition. This online conventional controller tuning technique will reduce the human involvement in controller tuning and increase the operating range of the conventional controller. The proposed control algorithm is experimentally implemented for the real-time pressure control of a pilot air tank system and validated using a high-speed 32-bit ARM7 embedded microcontroller board (ATMEL AT91M55800A). To demonstrate the performance of the fuzzy coordinated PI control scheme, results are compared with a classical PI and PI-type fuzzy control method. It is observed that the proposed controller structure is able to quickly track the parameter variation and perform better in load disturbances and also for set point changes.

Studies on Performance of Thermoacoustic Prime Mover

Thermoacoustic engines are the devices that convert thermal energy into acoustic energy without moving parts. The main objective of this study is to analyze the performance of a thermoacoustic prime mover measured in terms of onset temperature difference, frequency, and pressure amplitude by varying resonator, stack length, and plate thickness. From the experiments, it is observed that onset temperature difference and pressure amplitude increases with increase in resonator and stack length with minimum plate thickness, whereas the frequency increases with decrease in resonator and stack length with higher plate thickness. The experimental results are compared with simulated results via Design Environment for Low Amplitude Thermoacoustic Energy Conversion software (Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico, USA).

Experimental and CFD Heat Transfer Studies of Al2O3-Water Nanofluid in a Coiled Agitated Vessel Equipped with Propeller

Abstract This paper presents the heat transfer characteristics of Al 2 O 3 -water nanofluid in a coiled agitated vessel with propeller agitator. The experimental study was conducted using 0.10%, 0.20% and 0.30% volume concentration of Al 2 O 3 -water nanofluids. The results showed considerable enhancement of convective heat transfer using the nanofluids. The empirical correlations developed for Nusselt number in terms of Reynolds number, Prandtl number, viscosity ratio and volume concentration fit with the experimental data within ±10%. The heat transfer characteristics were also simulated using computational fluid dynamics using FLUENT software with the standard k -ɛ model and multiple reference frame were adopted. The computational fluid dynamics (CFD) predicted Nusselt number agrees well with the experimental value and the discrepancy is found to be less than ±8%.

Economical synthesis of silver nanoparticles using leaf extract of Acalypha hispida and its application in the detection of Mn(II) ions

Graphical abstract

Impact of acoustic cavitation on food emulsions.

The work explores the experimental and theoretical aspects of emulsification capability of ultrasound to deliver stable emulsions of sunflower oil in water and meat sausages. In order to determine optimal parameters for direct ultrasonic emulsification of food emulsions, a model was developed based on the stability of emulsion droplets in acoustic cavitation field. The study is further extended to investigate the ultrasound induced changes to the inherent properties of raw materials under the experimental conditions of sono-emulsification.