Estimation of the Calorific Power of a Heating Element

The present paper is aimed to determine the calorific power of a heating source, consisting of a laterally isolated aluminum cylinder, which incorporates an internal electrical resistance for controlling the heat, adjusted to a preset temperature. For this, a glass vessel covering the heating surface and containing a certain mass of water is placed on the cylinder, while the thermal evolution of the water, is monitored by means of a thermocouple probe. We describe a simple model, based on the resolution of the differential equation for the heat balance associated with water, incorporating two gain and loss coefficients (the latter directly associated with the heating power required) and its application to the stationary response achieved at a given time with a steady final temperature. In this way and for different preset temperatures ranging from 30 to 70 ° C (in each case, the actual temperature of the source is determined by infrared thermometer), a table of power values is obtained, whose results can be used in other experiments that require it, such as those related to measures heat conductivities in disk shaped samples.