Assiut University 3rd Year Mechatronic

Faculty of Engineering First Semester 2020/2021

Mechanical Engineering
Cooling of Electronic Equipment
Department
Tutorial 3

1- Consider one-dimensional heat conduction through a cylindrical rod of diameter D and

length L. What is the heat transfer area of the rod if (a) the lateral surfaces of the rod are
insulated and (b) the top and bottom surfaces of the rod are insulated?
2- Consider heat conduction through a plane wall. Does the energy content of the wall
change during steady heat conduction? How about during transient conduction? Explain.
3- Consider heat conduction through a wall of thickness L and area A. Under what
conditions will the temperature distributions in the wall be a straight line?
4- Why are the convection and the radiation resistances at a surface in parallel instead of
being in series?
5- Consider steady one-dimensional heat transfer through a multilayer medium. If the rate of
heat transfer is known, explain how you would determine the temperature drop across
each layer.
6- The bottom of a pan is made of a 4-mm-thick aluminum layer. In
order to increase the rate of heat transfer through the bottom of the
pan, someone proposes a design for the bottom that consists of a 3-
mm-thick copper layer sandwiched between two 2-mm-thick
aluminum layers. Will the new design conduct heat better? Explain.
Assume perfect contact between the layers.
7- What is thermal contact resistance? How is it related to thermal
contact conductance?
8- Will the thermal contact resistance be greater for smooth or rough plain surfaces?
9- A wall consists of two layers of insulation pressed against each other. Do we need to be
concerned about the thermal contact resistance at the interface in a heat transfer analysis
or can we just ignore it?
10- Consider two surfaces pressed against each other. Now the air at the interface is
evacuated. Will the thermal contact resistance at the interface increase or decrease as a
result?
11- Consider a 1.2-m-high and 2-m-wide glass window whose thickness is 6 mm and
thermal conductivity is k = 0.78 W/m · °C. Determine the steady rate of heat transfer
through this glass window and the temperature of its inner surface for a day during
which the room is maintained at 24°C while the temperature of the outdoors is -5°C.
Take the convection heat transfer coefficients on the inner and outer surfaces of the

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 window to be h1 = 10 W/m2 · °C and h2 = 25 W/m2 · °C, and disregard any heat transfer
by radiation.
12- A cylindrical resistor element on a circuit board dissipates 0.15 W of power in an
environment at 40°C. The resistor is 1.2 cm long, and has a diameter of 0.3 cm.
Assuming heat to be transferred uniformly from all surfaces, determine (a) the amount of
heat this resistor dissipates during a 24-h period, (b) the heat flux on the surface of the
resistor, in W/m2, and (c) the surface temperature of the resistor for a combined
convection and radiation heat transfer coefficient of 9 W/m2 · °C.
13- The roof of a house consists of a 3–cm-thick
concrete slab (k = 2 W/m · °C) that is 15 m wide and
20 m long. The convection heat transfer coefficients
on the inner and outer surfaces of the roof are 5 and
12 W/m2 · °C, respectively. On a clear winter night,
the ambient air is reported to be at 10°C, while the
night sky temperature is 100 K. The house and the
interior surfaces of the wall are maintained at a
constant temperature of 20°C. The emissivity of
both surfaces of the concrete roof is 0.9. Considering
both radiation and convection heat transfers,
determine the rate of heat transfer through the roof,
and the inner surface temperature of the roof.
If the house is heated by a furnace burning natural gas with an efficiency of 80 percent,
and the price of natural gas is $0.60/therm (1 therm = 105,500 kJ of energy content),
determine the money lost through the roof that night during a 14-h period.
14- The wall of a refrigerator is constructed of fiberglass
insulation (k = 0.035 W/m · °C) sandwiched between two
layers of 1-mm-thick sheet metal (k = 15.1 W/m · °C).
The refrigerated space is maintained at 3°C, and the
average heat transfer coefficients at the inner and outer
surfaces of the wall are 4 W/m2 · °C and 9 W/m2 · °C,
respectively. The kitchen temperature averages 25°C. It is
observed that condensation occurs on the outer surfaces of
the refrigerator when the temperature of the outer surface
drops to 10°C. Determine the minimum thickness of
fiberglass insulation that needs to be used in the wall in
order to avoid condensation on the outer surfaces.
15- A wall consists of two layers of insulation pressed against each other. Do we need to be
concerned about the thermal contact resistance at the interface in a heat transfer analysis
or can we just ignore it?

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16- Consider two surfaces pressed against each other. Now the air at the interface is
evacuated. Will the thermal contact resistance at the interface increase or decrease as a
result?
17- A1-mm-thick copper plate (k = 386 W/m · °C) is sandwiched between
two 5-mm-thick epoxy boards (k = 0.26 W/m · °C) that are 15 cm by
20 cm in size. If the thermal contact conductance on both sides of the
copper plate is estimated to be 6000 W/m · °C, determine the error
involved in the total thermal resistance of the plate if the thermal
contact conductances are ignored.
18- A 4-m-high and 6-m-wide wall consists of a long 18-cm by 30-
cm cross section of horizontal bricks (k = 0.72 W/m · °C)
separated by 3-cm-thick plaster layers (k = 0.22W/m · °C). There
are also 2- cm-thick plaster layers on each side of the wall, and a
2-cm-thick rigid foam (k = 0.026 W/m · °C) on the inner side of
the wall. The indoor and the outdoor temperatures are 22°C and -
4°C, and the convection heat transfer coefficients on the inner
and the outer sides are h1 = 10 W/m2 · °C and h2 = 20 W/m2 · °C,
respectively. Assuming one-dimensional heat transfer and
disregarding radiation, determine the rate of heat transfer through
the wall.
19- A 12-m-long and 5-m-high wall is constructed of two layers of 1-cm-thick sheetrock (k
= 0.17 W/m · °C) spaced 12 cm by wood studs (k = 0.11 W/m · °C) whose cross section
is 12 cm by 5 cm. The studs are placed vertically 60 cm apart, and the space between
them is filled with fiberglass insulation (k = 0.034 W/m · °C). The house is maintained
at 20°C and the ambient temperature outside is -5°C. Taking the heat transfer
coefficients at the inner and outer surfaces of the house to be 8.3 and 34 W/m2 · °C,
respectively, determine (a) the thermal resistance of the wall considering a representative
section of it and (b) the rate of heat transfer through the wall.
20- Consider a 5-m-high, 8-m-long, and 0.22-m-thick wall
whose representative cross section is as given in the figure.
The thermal conductivities of various materials used, in
W/m · °C, are kA = kF = 2, kB = 8, kC = 20, kD = 15, and kE
= 35. The left and right surfaces of the wall are maintained
at uniform temperatures of 300°C and 100°C, respectively.
Assuming heat transfer through the wall to be one-
dimensional, determine (a) the rate of heat transfer through
the wall; (b) the temperature at the point where the sections
B, D, and E meet; and (c) the temperature drop across the
section F. Disregard any contact resistances at the
interfaces.

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21- Steam at 320°C flows in a stainless steel pipe (k = 15 W/m · °C) whose inner and outer
diameters are 5 cm and 5.5 cm, respectively. The pipe is covered with 3-cm-thick glass
wool insulation (k = 0.038 W/m · °C). Heat is lost to the surroundings at 5°C by natural
convection and radiation, with a combined natural convection and radiation heat transfer
coefficient of 15 W/m2 · °C. Taking the heat transfer coefficient inside the pipe to be 80
W/m2 · °C, determine the rate of heat loss from the steam per unit length of the pipe.
Also determine the temperature drops across the pipe shell and the insulation.
22- A 5-m-internal-diameter spherical tank made of 1.5-
cm-thick stainless steel (k = 15 W/m · °C) is used to
store iced water at 0°C. The tank is located in a room
whose temperature is 30°C. The walls of the room are
also at 30°C. The outer surface of the tank is black
(emissivity є = 1), and heat transfer between the outer
surface of the tank and the surroundings is by natural
convection and radiation. The convection heat transfer
coefficients at the inner and the outer surfaces of the
tank are 80 W/m2 · °C and 10 W/m2 · °C, respectively.
Determine (a) the rate of heat transfer to the iced water
in the tank and (b) the amount of ice at 0°C that melts during a 24-h period. The heat of
fusion of water at atmospheric pressure is hif = 333.7 kJ/kg.
23- Consider a cold aluminum canned drink that is initially at a
uniform temperature of 3°C. The can is 12.5 cm high and has
a diameter of 6 cm. If the combined convection/radiation
heat transfer coefficient between the can and the surrounding
air at 25°C is 10 W/m2 · °C, determine how long it will take
for the average temperature of the drink to rise to 10°C. In an
effort to slow down the warming of the cold drink, a person
puts the can in a perfectly fitting 1-cm-thick cylindrical
rubber insulation (k = 0.13 W/m · °C). Now how long will it
take for the average temperature of the drink to rise to 10°C?
Assume the top of the can is not covered.
24- A2-mm-diameter and 10-m-long electric wire is
tightly wrapped with a 1-mm-thick plastic cover
whose thermal conductivity is k = 0.15 W/m · °C.
Electrical measurements indicate that a current of 10
A passes through the wire and there is a voltage drop
of 8 V along the wire. If the insulated wire is exposed
to a medium at T∞ = 30°C with a heat transfer coefficient of h = 24 W/m2 · °C, determine
the temperature at the interface of the wire and the plastic cover in steady operation.
Also determine if doubling the thickness of the plastic cover will increase or decrease
this interface temperature.

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