GATE AG 2022 • Q65 NAT • 2 Marks

Section 7: Dairy and Food Engineering

Heat and Mass Transfer

Subtopic: Steady state heat transfer in conduction, convection and radiation

Question Statement:

A walk-in deep freezer wall is made of 120 mm thick brick layer on the outside followed by 75 mm thick concrete and 50 mm thick cork layers inside. The mean temperatures measured over inside and outside wall surfaces are −18 °C and 24 °C, respectively. The thermal conductivity of brick, concrete and cork are 0.69, 0.76 and 0.043 W m⁻¹ K⁻¹, respectively. Considering one square meter wall surface area, the heat transfer rate in W is ____________. [round off to one decimal place]

Official Answer Key:

29.0 to 30.0

Step-by-Step Solution & Explanation

• Total thermal resistance (per unit area) R = L1/k1 + L2/k2 + L3/k3 = 0.120/0.69 + 0.075/0.76 + 0.050/0.043 • = 0.17391 + 0.09868 + 1.16279 = 1.43539 m²K/W • Heat transfer rate q = ΔT/R = (24−(−18))/1.43539 = 42/1.43539 = 29.26 W Computed value: 29.26 W (within official range 29.0–30.0) Appendix A — Consolidated Answer & Topic Table Appendix B — Section-wise Weightage & Preparation Observations Preparation Observations • General Aptitude (15%) and Engineering Mathematics (13%) together account for 28 of the 100 marks — nearly a third of the paper — and are largely syllabus-independent of AG-specific content, making them high-value, broadly transferable preparation targets (especially numerical ability, reasoning, calculus, linear algebra, numerical methods). • Agricultural Process Engineering (Section 6) is the single largest core-AG section by weightage (20%), spanning size reduction, drying/evaporation, psychrometry, storage, and processing — disproportionately high-yield for focused revision. • Soil and Water Conservation Engineering (Section 4, 17%) is the largest 'engineering fundamentals' section, blending fluid mechanics, soil mechanics, hydrology, surveying and erosion control — a broad section benefiting from strong basics in fluid mechanics and hydrology numericals. • Farm Machinery and Farm Power together (Section 2 + 3) contribute 27% of the paper and are numerically heavy (machine design, IC engines, tractor mechanics) — formula fluency and unit-consistency practice pay off disproportionately here. • Irrigation and Drainage Engineering (7%) and Dairy and Food Engineering (3%) are comparatively low-weightage this year, but both draw on concepts (Thiem's equation, D-values/thermal death time) that recur across multiple GATE AG years, so they should not be skipped entirely. • Across the paper, roughly 55% of the marks (36 of 65 questions from Q21 onward in NAT-heavy zones, plus scattered 2-mark MCQs) are numerically computed rather than purely conceptual — strong command of formula derivations and careful unit tracking is the single highest-leverage preparation activity for this paper.

Practice This in Real CBT Exam Interface

Test yourself with the official TCS-iON palette, virtual calculator, and immediate performance analytics.

Launch CBT Mock Test