Abstract

A three-fold design and fabrication of insulation testing rig (ITR) has been demonstrated in this research work via geometric (or architectural) design, stress design and thermal design. A pilot experiment on measurement of external and internal wall and fluid temperature essentially preceded the thermal design using a stainless steel vessel. The average wall and fluid temperature at steady state aided in evaluation of overall heat transfer coefficients. The designs were characterized by formulation of equations specific to the three cardinal areas of the designs. Subsequently, the formulated design equations were optimized to obtain an optimum and critical insulation thickness at the finned bath and dead pipe, respectively, whereas the thickness of construction material (steel sheet) was established by circumferential stress design of the ITR. The three key design parameters aforementioned strongly governed the architectural design of the ITR. The design results (dimension) were further translated into detailed engineering drawings, which aided in the smart fabrication of the ITR. The equipment is quite simple and affordable; it is useful for performance evaluation of insulating materials, in estimating the thermal conductivity of insulating materials and could be deployed as a laboratory equipment for demonstrating heat transfer in thermal systems.