Montreal, Canada
June 16, 2002
June 16, 2002
June 19, 2002
2153-5965
17
7.913.1 - 7.913.17
10.18260/1-2--10217
https://peer.asee.org/10217
437
Main Menu
Session 2526
PC-Based Transport Laboratory Experiments
Nam K. Kim Department of Chemical Engineering Michigan Technological University Houghton, MI 49931
Abstract
The transport laboratory course in Chemical Engineering at Michigan Tech has been offered to undergraduate juniors as a 2-credit required course since 2000. The laboratory equipment has been newly designed to accommodate an in-line digital computer for data acquisition. The chemical engineering faculty focused on three essential elements in selecting a system: safe, compact and inexpensive.
Based on an examination of the unit operations commonly found in modern chemical manufacturing plants, a process was designed for implementation. This consists of a flow loop with two tanks, a supply tank and a receiving tank. A ½-HP centrifugal pump is used for transfer and circulation application. The straight pipes of three different nominal sizes (1/4”, 3/8”, and ½”) are used for the study of fluid dynamics. The angles, tees, crosses, orifice, rotameter, ball valves, gate valves, and pneumatic control valves were included for system analysis. A double- pipe heat exchanger was added for non-isothermal operations. The pneumatic control valves are operated by instrument air: one for water flow control and the other for stream flow control. The digital bench scales are used for weighing the fluid.
Thirteen experiments were designed for a one-semester course, including two or three class periods of applied engineering statistics. Some key topics include measurements of viscosity, pressure, and Reynolds number and calibrations of a DP cell and a rotameter, pneumatic control valve and steam traps. The energy losses resulting from the friction of the fluid's movement through the straight pipes, valves, and fittings are computed for the system and compared with the measured values. The operating point is identified on the pump curves with the system curve. The heat transfer coefficients are sought for the heat exchanger and displayed as a function of DT using an in-line PC.
Proceedings of the American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition © 2002 American Society for Engineering Education
Main Menu
Kim, N. (2002, June), Pc Based Transport Laboratory Experiments Paper presented at 2002 Annual Conference, Montreal, Canada. 10.18260/1-2--10217
ASEE holds the copyright on this document. It may be read by the public free of charge. Authors may archive their work on personal websites or in institutional repositories with the following citation: © 2002 American Society for Engineering Education. Other scholars may excerpt or quote from these materials with the same citation. When excerpting or quoting from Conference Proceedings, authors should, in addition to noting the ASEE copyright, list all the original authors and their institutions and name the host city of the conference. - Last updated April 1, 2015