INVERSE TECHNIQUE FOR ANALYSIS OF CONVECTIVE HEAT-TRANSFER OVER THE SURFACE OF PLANT CULTURE VESSEL

A practical method to determine the forced convective heat transfer co efficient over the plant culture vessel was developed. A finite elemen t neural network inverse technique was used to determine parameter val ues of the Nusselt equation, which, in turn, is needed to calculate th e forced convective heat transfer coefficient. The values of the force d convective heat transfer coefficient obtained by the proposed method were then used for the finite element calculation. Thereby, the tempe rature distribution inside a plant culture vessel was simulated. Agree ment was obtained between the finite element results and experimentall y measured temperature distribution inside the plant culture vessel.