ABSTRACT

The objective of the experiment is to determine the relationship of the speed of rotation

and diameter on power requirement for Baffled and unbaffled tanks. The experiment of

agitation is mostly recording the data obtained using a tachometer to measure or determine the

speed of rotation of the impeller and use this data to determine the objectives require in the

experiment. The data that was gathered showed that for increase of speed of rotation, that also

increases the Re, the power number decreases. This is also true for the diameter since Reynolds

number is proportional to the diameter of tank.

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1. Introduction

Agitation is the induced motion of a material or a mixture in a specific way, usually

in a circulatory pattern inside some sort of container. In the chemical and other processing

industries, many operations are dependent on effective agitation and mixing fluids. There are

a number of uses of agitation, some of these are blending two miscible liquids, dispersion of a

gas in a liquid as fine bubbles, it also helps heat distribution through the mixture or process.

Thus, agitation is not only used in experiments but also in industry. In production, the use of

the agitation systems through the vessel manufacturing improves the product quality by

eliminating uneven distribution of chemicals or components of the product. This is however,

not limited in materials, this also is commonly used in the application of food, dairy, water and

waste water, wine and mineral processing.

Equipment used in agitations usually consists of a container or a tank to hold the liquid

in place while the process is going on, one or more impellers to provide the shear flow, and a

motor to drive the impeller. In order for the impeller to rotate mechanical energy is required,

which in turn transmits this energy to the fluid.

This experiment seeks to understand the relationship between the power number

against Reynold’s number and the effect of speed rotation on power requirement for baffled

and unbaffled tanks. And to know the effect of impeller diameter on power requirement of

Agitation on baffled and unbaffled tanks.

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2. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

Liquids are agitated in a cylindrical vessel which can be closed or open to the air. There

are many factors which may affect the flow patterns in an agitated tank. These factors depend

on the fluid’s properties, the components in the fluid, types of baffles in the tanks, the geometry

of the tank, and the agitator itself. Inside a tank, a propeller or agitator is mounted in the center

of a tank with no baffles. By this usually a swirling flow pattern develops during agitation.

Agitators can be combined with other in tank mixer types. Agitator that is used in large

batches but are not very effective outside of producing flow, promoting heat transfer and

maintaining in-tank uniformly. An agitator cannot work without impeller, which imparts force

to the material being mixed. There are different examples of impellers namely propellers,

turbines, gates, anchors and paddles. Agitators is designed from both mechanical, such as the

design of motor, gear reducer, seal, shaft, and impellers.

Power Number is a dimensionless parameter used for estimating the power consumed

by the agitating impeller. It is also one of the most important parameters in mixing and also

used to predict power consumption. Power number can be calculated by:

𝑃
𝑁𝑝 =
𝜌𝑁 3 𝐷 5

This power number is a function of impeller type, Reynold’s number, and the impeller

diameter to tank diameter ratio. From the equation of Np, it can be observed that if the power

number for a given system is known, the power consumption, P, can be predicted from the

fluid density, 𝜌, impeller diameter, D, and rational speed, N.

Power number data for different type of impellers/turbines, under a give set of conditions are

documented in various technical literature. Typical values of power number (Np) are:

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 • Axial flow impellers, such as marine, helical: 0,25 to 0,75

• Mixed flow impellers, such as kidney, pitch: 0,75 to 2,0

Power Number decreases with an increase in Reynolds number.

The Reynold’s number can be used to classify the impeller operations regimes. If

laminar flow, the power number is inversely proportional to Reynold’s number; if turbulent,

the power number is constant in fully baffled tanks and it is also proportional to the density of

the liquid, to the third diameter. The Reynold’s number can be calculated by:

𝜌𝑁𝐷2
𝑁𝑟𝑒 = 𝜇

As the Reynold’s number increases, the baffled tanks’ power number is evidently

greater compared to the unbaffled tanks.

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3. EQUIPMENT AND MATERIALS:

3.1 Equipment

• Agitator, 2 – blade paddle or square – pitch propeller (three sizes)

• Baffle strips (removable)

• Dynamometer

• Tachometer

• Container (10” diameter, 18” deep transparent)

3.2 Procedure

1. The container was filled with water to almost 14 inches.

2. The impeller was attached to the agitator.

3. The impeller was then immersed in the water inside the container such that the elevation

is about 4 inches.

4. With the dynamometer attached to the shaft, the power requirement was measured for

the different speed of rotation. The speed was measured using a tachometer.

5. The baffle was then placed in the container. Steps 3 and 4 were repeated.

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4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

4.1 Table 1. Recorded speed using the tachometer.

Size of Impeller Trial Without Baffle With Baffle

1 252.1 308.1

3.5 inches 2 230.4 259.4

3 115.9 211.8

1 495.5 269.5

2.75 inches 2 485.7 301.4

3 564.2 305.6

1 1123.0 776.9

2.25 inches 2 1482.1 802.0

3 1009.6 605.0

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4.2 Table 2. Computed values of NRe and NP

Reynold’s Number Power Number

1 198773.80 162644.84 11.32 20.66

3.5
2 167354.50 148644.86 18.97 27.07
inches

3 136644.89 74774.04 34.84 212.64

1 173870.62 319676.78 16.91 2.72

2.75
2 194451.22 313354.21 12.09 2.89
inches

3 197160.90 363999.27 11.60 1.84

1 501224.80 724514.68 0.71 0.23

2.25
2 517418.32 956191.64 0.64 0.10
inches

3 390321.80 651353.54 1.49 0.32

As for the data gathered, all Reynold’s number of baffled and unbaffled are over 4000

so the flow of the experiment is turbulent. As the Reynold’s number increases, the power

number of baffled and unbaffled decreases. This is because as the speed of the impeller was

increased, the power requirement decreases. But increasing the size of the impeller will also

increase the power requirement; however, it doesn’t mean that as an impeller operates ate high

speed is operating efficiently as it can lead to a vortex. All power number are based on the

specification of the dynamo which is 350 MW.

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5. CONCLUSION

Based on the results the power number of baffled and unbaffled tanks decreases as the

flow of the agitation becomes more turbulent. The calculated value of power numbers for the

baffled and unbaffled with a Reynolds number beyond 500000 is near to the typical power

number of common impeller (see in chapter 3). The experiment encountered many errors so

with the variations. However, as the Reynolds number increases, the power number of baffled

is greater than that of the unbaffled thus it can be said that unbaffled impellers consume much

power than that of the baffled under very turbulent circumstances.

6. RECOMMENDATIONS

Since the sticker used in the experiment is not liable, the students who will be

performing this experiment in the future shall use any sticker which reflect light or shiny

stickers.

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7. REFERENCES

1. Geankoplis C.J. 2012, Principles of Transport Processes and Separation Processes,

Pearson Education, Inc. pg. 929.

2. (Kenven010. (n.d.). Experiment-No.-12 - Experiment No 12 AGITATION 1

Objective... Retrieved from https://www.coursehero.com/file/13245615/Experiment-

No-12/

8. APPENDICES

Appendix A. Raw data

Size of Impeller Trial Without Baffle With Baffle

1 252.1 308.1

3.5 inches 2 230.4 259.4

3 115.9 211.8

1 495.5 269.5

2.75 inches 2 485.7 301.4

3 564.2 305.6

1 1123.0 776.9

2.25 inches 2 1482.1 802.0

3 1009.6 605.0

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Appendix B.

Formula used:
𝑃
3. 𝑁𝑝 = 𝜌𝑁3 𝐷5

4.

𝜌𝑁𝐷2
5. 𝑁𝑟𝑒 =
𝜇

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