The different types of heat transfer

In thermodynamics, heat is defined as the energy that crosses the boundary of a system when this energy transport occurs due to a temperature difference between the system and its surroundings, cf. [1.1], [1.2]. The second law of thermodynamics states that heat always flows over the boundary of the system in the direction of falling temperature. 

However, thermodynamics does not state how the heat transferred depends on this temperature driving force, or how fast or intensive this irreversible process is. It is the task of the science of heat transfer to clarify the laws of this process. Three modes of heat transfer can be distinguished conduction, convection, and radiation. The following sections deal with their basic laws, more in depth information is given in chapter 2 for conduction, 3 and 4 for convection and 5 for radiation. We limit ourselves to a phenomenological description of heat transfer processes, using the thermodynamic concepts of temperature, heat, heat flow and heat flux, fn contrast to thermodynamics, which mainly deals with homogeneous systems, the so-called phases, heat transfer is a continuum theory which deals with fields extended in space and also dependent on time. 

This has consequences for the concept of heat, which in thermodynamics is defined as energy which crosses the system boundary, fn heat transfer one speaks of a heat flow also within the body. This contradiction with thermodynamic terminology can be resolved by considering that in a continuum theory the mass and volume elements of the body are taken to be small systems, between which energy can be transferred as heat. Therefore, when one speaks of heat flow within 

As in thermodynamics, the thermodynamic temperature T is used in heat transfer. However with the exception of radiative heat transfer the zero point of the thermodynamic temperature scale is not needed, usually only temperature differences are important. For this reason a thermodynamic temperature with an adjusted zero point, an example being the Celsius temperature, is used. These thermodynamic temperature differences are indicated by the symbol i), defined as 

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Heat transfer in boiling is more easily understood when we know how the vapour bubbles form on the hot surface. The following consists of a discussion of the formation and growth of vapour bubbles, with a subsequent explanation of the different types of heat transfer. 

Of the many types of heat transfer equipment used in the process industries, the shell-and-tube heat exchanger is by far the most common. A number of different flow arrangements are possible with shell-and-tube heat exchangers, but the one shell pass-one tube pass and the one shell pass-two tube pass arrangements are the most common. 

The cause of this is not only that there are many influencing quantities that play a role in boiling processes, but also different types of heat transfer depending on the flow configuration and superheating. These different types of heat transfer will be considered first, followed by an explanation of the physical fundamentals of boiling phenomena. The final part of this section will consist of the calculation of the heat transfer. 

Heat is defined as energy transferred by virtue of a temperature difference. It flows from regions of higher temperature to regions of lower temperature. It is customary to refer to different types of heat transfer mechanisms as modes. The basic modes of heat transfer are conduction, radiation, and convection. 

As shown in Fig. 5 for the three-dimensional structure of a typical thermal anemometer, different types of heat transfer occur in and around the microchip structure [2]. Based on the model developed previously [2], a complete modeling of the thermal state of the flow sensors can be obtained as follows. 

Different types of heat transfer processes are called modes. The main modes of heat transfer are convection, radiation, and conduction. For a temperature gradient that exists between a surface and a moving fluid, one should use the term convection. The radiation mode of heat transfer is driven by electromagnetic waves emitted from all surfaces of finite temperature, so there is a net heat transfer by radiation between two surfaces at different temperatures. When a temperature gradient exists in a stationary medium, heat fiows under the law of conduction heat transfer. In the case of solid materials, such as polymers, conduction is the dominant mechanism for heat transfer, involving mainly lattice vibrations and, in few cases, the transfer of kinetic thermal energy from one electron to another. 

The temperature in stirred tank reactors may be influenced by chemical or physical reactions within the tank. Cooling or heating devices might be required to control the process temperature. In many endothermic processes heat has to be added to raise and maintain the temperature of the bulk. In other exothermic processes heat is removed to avoid hot spots. Heating and cooling of the process fluid are accomplished by heat transfer between the process fluid and a heating or cooling media that is circulated within a closed heat transfer surface. Different types of heat transfer equipment are used in industrial processes such as jackets, external or internal helical coils, as sketched in Fig. 7.10. Heat transfer from the bulk of the tank to the heat transfer medium can be calculated by the standard heat transfer model ... 

Fundamental models correctly predict that for Group A particles, the conductive heat transfer is much greater than the convective heat transfer. For Group B and D particles, the gas convective heat transfer predominates as the particle surface area decreases. Figure 11 demonstrates how heat transfer varies with pressure and velocity for the different types of particles (23). As superficial velocity increases, there is a sudden jump in the heat-transfer coefficient as gas velocity exceeds and the bed becomes fluidized. 

Some processes have large heat transfer requirements. This may result in large inventories of material within the heat transfer equipment. If the material is thermally unstable it would be inherently safer to reduce the residence time in the heat exchanger. Options to minimize heat exchanger inventory include the use of different types of heat exchangers. Inventories in shell and tube heat exchangers can be reduced by the use of turbulators in the tubes to enhance heat transfer coefficients, and by placing the more hazardous material on the tube side. 

This type of heat transfer may be described by an equation that is simi lar to the conduction equation. The rate of flow of heat is proportional to the tcmpcraiure difference betw een the hot and cold liquid, and the heat transtei area. It is expressed ... 

Often, a reasonable and convenient way to understand the heat transfer process in a heat exchanger unit is to break down the types of heat transfer that must occur such as, vapor subcooling to dew point, condensation, and liquid subcooling. Each of these demands heat transfer of a different type, using different AT values, film coefficients, and fouling factors. This is illustrated in Figure 10-36. It is possible to properly determine a weighted overall temperature... 

Many correlations are available for heat transfer between liquids and the walls of stirred vessels or the surface of coiled tubes installed in the stirred vessels. For details of the different types of stirrer available, see Section 7.4.1. 

Conductive and Convective Heat Transfer, Thermo Explosion by. There are three fundamental types of heat transfer conduction, convection radiation. All three types may occur at the same time, but it is advisable to consider the heat thransfer by each type in any particular case. Conduction is the transfer of heat from one part of a body to another part of the same body, or from one body to another in physical contact with it, without appreciable displacement of the particles of either body. Convection is the transfer of heat from one point to another within a fluid, gas or liquid, by the mixing of one portion of the fluid with another. In natural convection, the motion of the fluid is entirely the result of differences in density resulting from temp differences in forced convection, the motion is produced by mechanical means. Radiation is the transfer of heat from one body to another, not in contact with it, by means of wave motion thru space (Ref 5)... 

Suppose we take a sample of bone-dry air at some temperature, Ti, and directly contact it with water until it becomes saturated at the same temperature. The water vapor that enters into the air contains with it its latent heat of vaporization. The vapor pressure of water out of the liquid will be greater than it is in the saturated air, causing vaporization to occur and subsequently increasing the humidity of the air-water-vapor mixture. The process of vaporization ends when the vapor pressure of the water in the air becomes equal to that of the liquid. At this condition the air is saturated. During the air saturation process, isothermal conditions for the water can be maintained if heat is supplied to replace the heat lost from it to the gas as latent heat of vaporization. Thus, heat transfer during the saturation of a gas with a liquid can be accomplished without a temperature differential (although this is rarely encountered). This type of heat transfer phenomenon, better known as diffusional heat transfer, is different from conduction, convection or radiation. 

In order to try to clarify the different types of mechanism involving either redox cycles and/or acid-base properties, a study of the surface chemistry of single, doped and mixed oxides is of much interest. The calorimetric technique, by allowing heat transfer measurements, can provide very informative data on the thermodynamics of solid-gas interactions and for the study of the surface and reactivity of these metal oxides. 

Different heat transfer applications require different types of hardware and different configurations of heat transfer equipment. The attempt to match the lieat transfer hardware to the heat transfer requirements within the specified constraints has resulted in numerous types of innovative heat exchanger designs. 

In quite a different application, a novel approach for producing olefins via a hydrocarbon-steam cracking process, without the use of a catalyst, was demonstrated to benefit from the use of a honeycomb monolithic catalytic reactor [28]. A typical problem associated with cracking processes of this type is maintaining the appropriate combination of heat transfer and residence time, which, if not balanced, will lead to either poor conversion... 

Usually, heat transfer rates decrease as temperature decreases, so that the last effects have the lowest rates of heat transfer. By leaving the resistance of these effects higher, the designer can increase the temperature difference across them, thus increasing temperature and heat transfer rates in all the earlier effects. It has been shown that the lowest total area is required when the ratio of temperature difference to area is the same for all effects. When the materials of construction or evaporator type vary among effects, lowest total cost is achieved when the ratio of temperature difference to cost is the same for each effect. However, in most cases where evaporator type and materials of construction are the same for all effects, equal heat transfer surfaces are supplied for all effects. 

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