Transient heat conduction using thermocouples, thermochromic liquid crystals, and numerical simulation

A method for teaching heat conduction, comprising:

• providing an apparatus having:
• a heat-conducting body having four sides,
• two heaters attached to adjacent sides of said heat-conducting body for conducting heat through said heat-conducting body,
• two heat exchangers attached to sides of said heat-conducting body, wherein each heat exchanger is attached to a side of the heat-conducting body that is opposite to the side of the heat-conducting body that the corresponding heater is attached to,
• a thermochromic liquid crystal sheet attached to a top surface of said heat-conducting body, wherein the color of the thermochromic liquid crystal sheet varies due to the transient heat conduction through said heat-conducting body,
• an insulating plate located above the top surface of said heat-conducting body to create a gap between said thermochromic liquid crystal sheet and said insulating plate,
• a plurality of thermocouples attached to a bottom surface of said heat-conducting body for measuring the transient heat conduction within said heat-conducting body, and
• means to record the transient heat conduction within the heat-conducting body;
• selecting a temperature and heat flux boundary conditions for the heat-conducting body;
• recording the temperatures of portions of the heat-conducting body using the plurality of thermocouples;
• and
• recording the colors displayed by the thermochromic liquid crystal sheet with the means to record the transient heat conduction.