Heat transfer coefficient of viscous liquid

[jabenj]

Hi,

I'm working on calculating the heat transfer coefficient of a highly viscous polymer. I know the surface area of my reactor, the time it takes to cool a certain volume of the material, the cooling water supply temp and flow rate. I do not know the temperature differential of my cooling water.

Using batch data, I initially calculated the total BTUs/time of the cooling water supplied, then use that total BTU output in my heat transfer coefficient for the polymer material being cooled in my reactor:

q = h*a(delt T)

where q is my total BTU output of water used,

a is my reactor cooling surface area

and T is the change in temp of the material.

Am I approaching this correctly? I may have oversimplified the problem but not sure. I get 1417 BTU/h ft^2 per Deg F of material.

Does that value even make sense?


Any help would be greatly appreciated.


Thanks

 

[Latexman]

Get/borrow a copy of Kern's "Process Heat Transfer" or look in Perry's Heat Transfer section under batch operations. I think you have all you need to back-calculate a U.

Good luck,
Latexman