Development of a Constant Temperature Hot and Cold-Water Supply System (CT50WS) for Laboratory Application

Abstract

Over 95% of Nigeria undergraduate students enrolled in public universities. Public universities in Nigeria are however poorly funded and lack adequate facilities. The recent rise in the foreign currency against the Nigerian Naira has further increase the cost of purchasing and maintaining foreign equipment. In this work, a constant temperature hot and cold-water supply system (CT50WS) for laboratory application was developed. This is to explore the production of equipment locally. The developed system was tested on a load and no-load conditions. A shell and tube heat exchanger were used to simulate the load on the component. The system was designed to heat and cool 50 liters of water independently. Results of the tests carried out on the constructed CT50WS on no load condition showed that the actual rate of heat loss from the hot water system is 34.4W. The actual rate of heat gain from the cold-water tank is 16.03W, far lower than the designed heat gain rate of 74.9 W (10%) heat gain rate. When tested on-load condition, the CT50WS was able to continuously supply 100 litre/hr of hot and cold water at a temperature of 50 and 18oC respectively to the heat exchanger. The open market cost of a similar foreign equipment is about 25 times the cost of CT50WS. Its acceptability will further open opportunities in local production of teaching and research equipment, thereby serving as source of job creation and saving the scarce foreign currencies.