Scientia Publishing House – Sapientia Hungarian University of Transylvania

Transzportfolyamatok és művelettan [Process Phenomena and Unit Operations]

The experimental results from direct measurements, performed at laboratory, pilot or industrial scale, in addition to physics laws and modelling, are successfully used in solving engineering problems. Since the lack of accuracy in experiments could cause erroneous conclusions based on the obtained data, an increased importance for investigation methods should be accorded. This laboratory work manual contains both the theoretical information needed to design and perform measurements and the methodology of data processing.

The description of laboratory experiment has a theoretical part, where the physical basics are presented, followed by the definition of the objectives. Furthermore, the experimental equipment and its operation are described, and, finally, the experimental data processing and the result representing modalities are showed.

Structurally, the guide contains three chapters and large Appedinces parts. The first one, General Aspects, contains the presentation of the main physical quantities and the corresponding dimensional equations (in SI) important for the discipline. The general problems of measurements, the representation modalities of the primary results as well as the basic data processing methods are also presented. Nevertheless, the requirements for experiment reports and the main Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) rules for laboratory work are also included.

The following chapter was focused on the laboratory practices in Transport Phenomena. The Hydrodynamic Measurements is dedicated to the experimental determination of characteristic hydrodynamic quantities. The main lab works from this section are: experimental determinations of the flow type (Reynolds number), of the pipe friction factor and the coefficient of local resistance, calibration of the pressure diaphragm flow meter and rheometer, and measurement of suspensions settling velocity.

The Applications of Heat Transfer discusses some measurements in the field of heat transfer. The main titles are: the analogue hydrodynamic modelling of heat transfer, the study of the condensation heat transport coefficient.
Chapter two concludes with lab works in the field of Mass Transport. Here are presented measurements of the diffusion coefficients in solutions and through membrane as well as the experimental study of the absorption in falling-film column.

Chapter three is dedicated to the laboratory works related to various Unit Operations, namely hydrodynamics (study of mechanical stirrer’s efficiency, determination of filtration constants), heat exchange (determination of overall heat transfer coefficient, of hellicoidal, shell and tube heat exchangers and plate heat exchangers), and separation processes (study of the absorption process in packed columns, of the drying kinetics of wet solids, of component separation by batch distillation, and of the salting out process).
This laboratory guide is completed with a series of appendices, containing material property tables, charts, formulas, and usual nomograms, recommended in the bibliography, which provide useful data and information for the processing of experimental data and for writing of the laboratory reports.

The guide, in principle, is elaborated for internal use for Sapientia University BSc students of food, environmental and biotechnology engineering, valorizing the experience of established schools both in the field of chemical (Iaşi, Bucharest, Veszprém, Budapest) and food engineering (Galaţi, Bacău).