Measurement of local wall heat transfer coefficient in randomly packed beds of uniform sized spheres using infrared thermography (IR) and water as working medium

The needs for compact and effective heat transfer equipments are in growing demand and porous media caters to this need. Packed beds are a simple type of porous media devices which help in transport of mass, momentum and heat. The applications of packed beds are in chemical reactors, distillation, catalysis, thermal energy storage, food processing, solar power plants and several other areas. They act as enhancement devices for different transport processes. In the present study, the behavior of wall heat transfer coefficient with randomized packing of uniformly sized spheres is investigated.