Heat Analysis of a Vacuum Flask

Materials with low thermal conductivity like aerogel, acrylic, aluminum silicate, superfine glass wool, and phenolic foam are often used as insulation materials in engineering and have noticed increasing applications in other spheres of life, like thermal insulation in buildings and vacuum flasks....

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Chidebe Stanley Anyanwu, Abdelrahman Gad, Hussein Bilal, Daniel Raphael Ejike Ewim
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Universidade Federal de Viçosa (UFV) 2022-12-01
Series:The Journal of Engineering and Exact Sciences
Subjects:
Online Access:https://periodicos.ufv.br/jcec/article/view/15174
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1832569762920529920
author Chidebe Stanley Anyanwu
Abdelrahman Gad
Hussein Bilal
Daniel Raphael Ejike Ewim
author_facet Chidebe Stanley Anyanwu
Abdelrahman Gad
Hussein Bilal
Daniel Raphael Ejike Ewim
author_sort Chidebe Stanley Anyanwu
collection DOAJ
description Materials with low thermal conductivity like aerogel, acrylic, aluminum silicate, superfine glass wool, and phenolic foam are often used as insulation materials in engineering and have noticed increasing applications in other spheres of life, like thermal insulation in buildings and vacuum flasks. The objective of this research is to study the temperature variation of the coffee over 10 hours in a selected vacuum flask while varying the geometrical and material properties of the flask. In other words, change the parameters (without changing the fluid capacity) to minimize the heat loss over time. The range of the bottleneck radius used is from 40 mm to 60 mm, with a step size (increment) of 5 mm. The width of the whole flask is proportional to the bottleneck radius, with constant fluid capacity. The initial design used an outer and inner steel layer with plastic foam in between, and the bottleneck is made from nylon with a radius of 50 mm. This design allows the hot fluid to be at 55 oC after 10 hours in atmospheric conditions. The temperature of the coffee in the vacuum flask made of steel layers with aerogel as insulation was 72.3 oC after 10 hours, while the steel layers and CO2 insulation were 67.9 oC and the acrylic layer and aerogel were 77.89 oC after a 10-hour duration in still air. This simulation was carried out using COMSOL, and the result shows that an acrylic layer and aerogel at a bottleneck radius of 60 mm were the best combination. Verification and validation were carried out to test for convergence of the numerical and analytical solutions.
format Article
id doaj-art-d958ff7d4a9b4d5ab1ae3b0fb0034a49
institution Kabale University
issn 2527-1075
language English
publishDate 2022-12-01
publisher Universidade Federal de Viçosa (UFV)
record_format Article
series The Journal of Engineering and Exact Sciences
spelling doaj-art-d958ff7d4a9b4d5ab1ae3b0fb0034a492025-02-02T19:55:35ZengUniversidade Federal de Viçosa (UFV)The Journal of Engineering and Exact Sciences2527-10752022-12-0181110.18540/jcecvl8iss11pp15174-01eHeat Analysis of a Vacuum FlaskChidebe Stanley Anyanwu0Abdelrahman Gad1Hussein Bilal2Daniel Raphael Ejike Ewim3Department of Civil and Mechanical Engineering Purdue University IN, USADepartment of Civil and Mechanical Engineering Purdue University IN, USADepartment of Civil and Mechanical Engineering Purdue University IN, USADepartment of Mechanical Engineering Durban University of Technology South Africa Materials with low thermal conductivity like aerogel, acrylic, aluminum silicate, superfine glass wool, and phenolic foam are often used as insulation materials in engineering and have noticed increasing applications in other spheres of life, like thermal insulation in buildings and vacuum flasks. The objective of this research is to study the temperature variation of the coffee over 10 hours in a selected vacuum flask while varying the geometrical and material properties of the flask. In other words, change the parameters (without changing the fluid capacity) to minimize the heat loss over time. The range of the bottleneck radius used is from 40 mm to 60 mm, with a step size (increment) of 5 mm. The width of the whole flask is proportional to the bottleneck radius, with constant fluid capacity. The initial design used an outer and inner steel layer with plastic foam in between, and the bottleneck is made from nylon with a radius of 50 mm. This design allows the hot fluid to be at 55 oC after 10 hours in atmospheric conditions. The temperature of the coffee in the vacuum flask made of steel layers with aerogel as insulation was 72.3 oC after 10 hours, while the steel layers and CO2 insulation were 67.9 oC and the acrylic layer and aerogel were 77.89 oC after a 10-hour duration in still air. This simulation was carried out using COMSOL, and the result shows that an acrylic layer and aerogel at a bottleneck radius of 60 mm were the best combination. Verification and validation were carried out to test for convergence of the numerical and analytical solutions. https://periodicos.ufv.br/jcec/article/view/15174Vacuum FlaskThermal InsulationSimulationAerogelAcrylicCOMSOL
spellingShingle Chidebe Stanley Anyanwu
Abdelrahman Gad
Hussein Bilal
Daniel Raphael Ejike Ewim
Heat Analysis of a Vacuum Flask
The Journal of Engineering and Exact Sciences
Vacuum Flask
Thermal Insulation
Simulation
Aerogel
Acrylic
COMSOL
title Heat Analysis of a Vacuum Flask
title_full Heat Analysis of a Vacuum Flask
title_fullStr Heat Analysis of a Vacuum Flask
title_full_unstemmed Heat Analysis of a Vacuum Flask
title_short Heat Analysis of a Vacuum Flask
title_sort heat analysis of a vacuum flask
topic Vacuum Flask
Thermal Insulation
Simulation
Aerogel
Acrylic
COMSOL
url https://periodicos.ufv.br/jcec/article/view/15174
work_keys_str_mv AT chidebestanleyanyanwu heatanalysisofavacuumflask
AT abdelrahmangad heatanalysisofavacuumflask
AT husseinbilal heatanalysisofavacuumflask
AT danielraphaelejikeewim heatanalysisofavacuumflask