Class: BE310
Group: M4
Members: Alan Doucette, Adam Furman, Phillip Matsunaga, Lisa Toppin
Date: May, 2002
Abstract:
In this experiment, a liquid flow meter was developed using the self-heating
behavior of a thermistor. Using principles taken from thermodilution
experiments, the phenomenon of self-heating could be harnessed to measure
flow rate. The thermistor’s dissipation factor, DF, was determined
by varying the Reynolds number of the fluid flow. The set up of the
experiment mimicked a thermal dispersion flow meter that allowed for the
determination of the fluid’s volumetric flow rate by measuring the change
in temperature of the thermistor caused by a specific power dissipation.
A linear calibration was found by plotting: According to predictions outlined
in the theory section, the straight-line equation should be y = mx + b,
where m = 3.778 x 10-3 W/K and b = 6.852 x 10-3 W/K and the experimental
data produced the linear equation with m = 3.7 x 10-3 W/K and b = 0.021
W/K. The nearly identical slope shows that the collected data follows
the same trend as the theory predicts. While slight discrepancies
are apparent, especially in the y intercepts, there is good agreement between
the slopes.