Design, Simulation and Construction of a Test Table for Temperature Measurement in Metal Bars

Abstract

This article reports on the design, construction, and simulation of a temperature measuring table. The reason for this work is that the Autonomous Metropolitan University lacks adequate equipment for measuring temperature in bars. The existing equipment only allows experiments to be conducted at temperatures below 50°C and takes approximately one hour to reach this temperature. Therefore, this equipment is not functional, as several university courses require students to understand how heat and temperature transfer in metallic elements and these concepts. Therefore, the objective of this project is to design and build a completely new device that allows for temperature measurement in bars at different temperatures. The main requirement for this design is that the operating temperature inside the thermal chamber not exceed 700°C, allowing it to be controlled for testing different materials. Furthermore, the students were challenged to ensure that the manufacturing cost of the equipment would not exceed $3,500.00. Based on this consideration, the following results were obtained: The proposed heating system uses electric resistors, which will be installed and distributed throughout the thermal chamber to maximize heat generation. To achieve this, it was necessary to design a thermal chamber capable of conserving heat. This is achieved through an appropriate selection of refractory materials and a mathematical analysis of heat transfer to the chamber exterior using Fourier's Law. In addition, a structure capable of supporting the weight of the thermal chamber elements will be designed. Finally, a numerical simulation was performed to verify and corroborate the temperature distribution in the thermal chamber. This allowed for the validation of the proposed design and the application of practical knowledge in various areas, such as simulation, heat transfer, manufacturing, and more.