Data Acquisition System For An Undergraduate Fin Heat Exchanger Experiment

In an effort to meet ABET requirements for utilizing Data Acquisition Systems (DAS) in thermal science, the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Loyola Marymount University has developed and incorporated a new experiment into the required junior-level thermal science laboratory course in mechanical engineering. The purpose of the experiment is to teach students what modern data acquisition systems are, and how a personal computer-based data acquisition system can be used to acquire, process and analyze data. The system under consideration consists of a 12”x12”, 1620W (120V, 13.5A) Mirak hot plate, made by the BarnsteadThermolyne Corporation, to which four different fins (one cylindrical, one conical, one rectangular, and one pyramidal) are attached in an upright position. Each fin is eight inches long, and a thermocouple is attached to the base of each fin, where the fin is mounted to the hot plate, as well as at one-inch intervals along the vertical axis of each fin. The thermocouples are connected to an input board that serves as an interface between the thermocouples and the data acquisition system.