An Experimental Test Rig for Estimation of Thermal Conductivity of Fluids by Steady State Approach

Abstract

Present day industries call for high thermal conductivity fluids that are capable of enhanced
heat transfer ability. Measuring thermal conductivity of fluid has been a challenge since a
long time. Various researchers have worked to establish set-ups to find the thermal
conductivity of different fluids. In the present work a novel method of finding thermal
conductivity of liquids using steady state parallel plate hot guarded apparatus is proposed
and fabricated to test its effectiveness in measuring the thermal conductivity value for
different fluids like water, transformer oil and Vulcan Strub coolant oil. The measured values
of thermal conductivity using this devised test-rig are in conjunction with the standard values
with a maximum error of within 5% range. The device can be used for measuring
conductivity of all liquids by considering a thin film steady state condition.