Application of the temperature oscillation method in heat transfer measurements at the wall of an agitated vessel

Abstract

The Temperature Oscillation Infra-Red Thermography (TOIRT) was used to measure convective heat transfer coefficients at the inner vertical wall of an agitated and baffled vessel. Two impellers were used: an axial six-blade impeller with pitched blades and the Rushton turbine. The TOIRT method represents an indirect method based on measuring the phase shift between the oscillating heat flux applied to one side of the heat transfer surface and the wall temperature response monitored by a contactless infra-red camera at the same side. On the basis of this phase shift, the TOIRT method can indirectly evaluate the heat transfer coefficient on the other side of the heat transfer surface. Two forms of experimental results are presented in this paper. The first one describes graphical dependencies of the local Nusselt number on the dimensionless distance from the vessel bottom for various Reynolds numbers. The second form describes the mean Nusselt number along the wall as a function of the Reynolds number.