9452615 Mahdi The University of Texas Pan-American (UTPA) has applied to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) to expand from the 2 year Pre-Engineering program to 4 year Baccalaureate programs in Mechanical, Electrical and Manufacturing Engineering. The application was approved by THECB on April 24, 1992. This proposal is for the development of an undergraduate laboratory in heat transfer to support the Mechanical Engineering Program. The proposed grant will provide the financial resources in order to purchase the following equipment: 1) conduction heat transfer apparatuses, to investigate conduction in solids, 2) 6-pass heat exchangers, to determine the heat transfer characteristics of heat exchangers under various flow conditions, 3) temperature measuring units, to investigate the characteristics of several temperature measuring devices, 4) boiling heat transfer units, to study the different modes of boiling, 5) bench top cooling towers, to investigate their operation 6) thermal radiation units, to investigate the laws of thermal radiation and 7) convection heat transfer units, to study free and forced convection. The proposed laboratory will be an integral part of the MECE 3360/MECE 3160 Heat Transfer course which is required for all mechanical engineering majors. The laboratory will illustrate/reinforce the concepts covered in class. Its main emphasis and effort will be placed on gaining information from the experiments, experiencing the trials and tribulations of experimentation and not simply demonstrate physical principles.
