A technique for determining surface temperatures of geometrical objects using center temperature values during cooling

Abstract

An analytical approach is proposed to determine surface temperatures of objects of various geometrical shapes (e.g., infinite slab, infinite cylinder and sphere) cooled in any medium using their measured center temperature distributions. This approach utilizes the boundary condition of the third kind in transient heat transfer which is commonly encountered when 0.1< Bi<100 . In industrial applications, surface temperature measurements of such objects are difficult and require excessive instrumentation and operations, as well as more instrumentation time. In addition they may not be as accurate as desired. However, the measurement of center temperatures is easy and inexpensive making this technique more common. Determination of the surface temperature distribution is required for a variety of industrial applications from metal-quenching to cooling food products. This study shows that the proposed approach is capable of determining surface temperatures of various geometrical objects, subjected to cooling, using their measured center temperature data in a simple and accurate manner