International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 137 (2019) 1258–1262

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International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijhmt

Technical Note

Heat tubes: Conduction and convection

Adrian Bejan
Duke University, Durham, NC 27708-0300, USA

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: This note offers a clear view of heat transfer fundamentals in terms of ‘heat tubes’, which are macroscopic
Received 21 December 2018 architectures for the flow of energy through complex energy systems. The note focuses on heat tubes
Received in revised form 26 March 2019 with conduction and convection, although heat tubes with radiation through stacks of radiation shields
Accepted 27 March 2019
have also been treated in the literature. It is shown how to shape a heat tube and how to cool it along its
length so that its thermodynamic performance evolves. Several instances of confusion are clarified along
the way.
Keywords:
Ó 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Heat tube
Conduction
Convection
Thermodynamics
Design
Evolution

1. Introduction through the tube, conduction [12,13], convection [5,14,15] or radi-

Science evolves [1–3] in untold numbers of steps and missteps,
big and small. The small missteps are considerably more numerous
and less dangerous than the big. Most errors seem to go unnoticed,
not because readers do not notice or have no time, but because
most scientists shy away from controversy.
Confusion spreads when the big error is repeated ‘as true’ many
times after it was corrected many times. Examples are reviewed in
Refs. [1–10], and their discussion is not repeated here. The danger
is against the young—the students and their future students—who
would be better served by a discipline that is not weakened by con-
fusion and contaminated with untruths. Discipline is a distinct
body of knowledge that has precise terms, rules, principles and
usefulness (Ref. [2], p. 1208).
This note is a brief look at the discipline through the lens offered
by a most basic phenomenon and class of devices, the heat tube,
Fig. 1. This new look was inspired by a recent publication [11].
2. Heat tubes
ation [16].
The freedom to vary what happens along L is the physics basis
of the phenomenon of evolution, which unites technological
designs with natural occurrences of the phenomenon [17,18].
What unites the conduction with convection and radiation to con-
stitute the general heat tube phenomenon is the thermodynamics.
In all the heat tubes the current flows one way, from high to low.
All heat tubes are places where thermodynamic irreversibility
occurs. All heat tubes generate entropy, which is a measure of
the loss of useful power in the spaces that the heat tubes occupy
[19].
3. Thermodynamics
In 1974 it was shown [12] with reference to Fig. 1a that the rate
of entropy generation in the heat tube between T2 and T1 is
ZT2
q
sgen ¼ dT ð1Þ
T2
T1

In addition, if the local heat current (q) is proportional to the local

The heat tube is the slender space through which a current (q) longitudinal temperature gradient,
of energy flows unidirectional from a high temperature (T2) to a
lower temperature (T1). The space occupied by the heat tube has dT
q¼K ð2Þ
a known length (L) and volume (V). What happens along L is free dx
to vary, depending on the nature of the energy current that flows where the conductance K is a known constant, then by integrating
Eq. (2) from x = 0 to x = L in Fig. 1a we reach the integral constraint
E-mail address: abejan@duke.edu

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2019.03.160
0017-9310/Ó 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 A. Bejan / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 137 (2019) 1258–1262 1259

Fig. 1. Thermodynamics of leaky insulation in harmony with the greater system that is being served: the India ink drawings I made for my 1979 paper [15]. (a) The space
occupied by a general subsystem that leaks a current. (b) Example of subsystem that fits inside the general rectangle: note the exact dimensions, notation and aligned
placement of the dashed lines, which indicate that (b) is one example of the general drawing. (c) The greater systems that incorporate such leaky subsystems belong to the
two classes that cover the board, power plants and refrigeration plants.

ZT2 K T2
dT L q ¼ T ln ð4Þ
¼ ; constant ð3Þ L T1
q K
T1
dq K T2
The variational calculus minimization of the sgen integral (1) ¼ ln ; constant ð5Þ
dT L T1
subject to the size constraint (3) revealed how the heat current
(or the distributed cooling effect dq/dT) should be distributed The corresponding rate of entropy generation (the minimized rate
along the heat tube [12,16,19]: of destruction of useful energy is
1260 A. Bejan / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 137 (2019) 1258–1262

 2 Z L
K T2 dx
sgen;min ¼ ln ð6Þ R¼ ð10Þ
L T1 0 kðTÞAðxÞ
This solution is general, valid for any heat tube in which the subject to the volume constraint
heat current [q(x) or q(T)] is proportional to the local temperature
Z L
gradient dT/dx, cf., Eq. (2). The nonuniform distribution of heat cur-
V¼ AðxÞdx ð11Þ
rent from high T to low T finds general applicability in the evolu- 0
tion of energy flow design [16,19].
The optimal shape A(x) obtained by variational calculus is
4. Conduction V
A¼ ; constant ð12Þ
L
In 1974 [12] and later [16,19], the applicability of the preceding
thermodynamics was illustrated in terms of heat tubes with heat The associated solution for the longitudinal temperature gradient is
conduction. Such tubes fill the cold zone (the insulation) of all
refrigeration systems, and they limit the performance most dT
¼ constant ð13Þ
severely in cryogenic systems. In conduction heat tubes the pro- dx
portionality constant is These results are valid for any material with unspecified vari-
able k(T). This variational solution is fundamental because it vali-
K ¼ kA ð7Þ
dates and generalizes Ernst Schmidt’s intuitive assumption of
where k is the thermal conductivity of the material, and A is the heat tubes with uniform cross section in the design of fin with
cross sectional area of the heat tube. The solution was generalized parabolic profile [24] and constant thermal conductivity, which
for materials with temperature-varying conductivity [12], with has minimal thermal resistance for a given volume, or minimal vol-
application to low temperature supports and cryogenic insulation. ume for a given thermal resistance.
The solution (4) and (5) also means that in insulation applica- The second drawing in Fig. 2 is from a 2002 publication of the
tions at temperatures comparable with the temperature of the same method and solution [25], which opened with this
environment (T), where T2 – T1 is much smaller than the thermo- statement:
dynamic temperature T[K], ‘‘For the one-dimensional heat conduction problem, shown in
Fig. 2b, the overall thermal resistance is
T2  T1 << T ð8Þ
Z L
the solution reduces to the Fourier expression 1
R¼ dx ð14Þ
0 kðxÞAðxÞ
kA
q¼ ðT2  T1 Þ; constant ð9Þ
L where k(x) is the thermal conductivity and L denotes the length.
The optimization objective is to distribute the thermal conductivity
This is why throughout the evolution of insulation systems in tech-
along the x direction to obtain the minimum resistance if
nology and animal design (hair, fur, sub skin) [20–22] the dis-
tributed cooling feature [Eq. (5)] is absent. Z L

The solution for the limit (T2 – T1)  T was generalized for kðxÞAðxÞdx ¼ fixed ð15Þ
0
nonuniform k(T) and A(x) in 1988 [23] and 1993 [13]. With refer-
ence to Fig. 2a, the problem was to determine the shape A(x) for This is a variational problem with the solution
which the overall thermal resistance is minimal,
constant
kopt ðxÞ ¼ ð16Þ
AðxÞL

Therefore, the thermal conductivity is inversely proportional to the

Fig. 2. Two reports of the variational solution for the optimal shape of a conduction
heat tube: (a) the 1988 version [23], and (b) the 2002 version [25].
cross sectional area, so the high conductivity material should be
arranged at the smallest cross sectional area to minimize the tem-
perature gradient along the heat flow direction. The temperature
gradient will maintain constant if the thermal conductivity dis-
tributes inversely proportional to the cross sectional area.”
The original work [23] was not cited in Ref. [25]. Furthermore,
the conclusion that the temperature gradient should be constant
is not new because it was known since Ernst Schmidt in 1926
[24], and it had become textbook material [13].
Eqs. (14)–(16) are not exactly the same as in the original ver-
sion, Eqs. (10)–(12), because the original function k(T) was
replaced by k(x). This switch makes the math look different, but
not the design solution dT/dx = constant, Eq. (13).
The assumed k(x) violates reality (nature) because the optimal k
(x) varies as 1/A(x). Such a design cannot be made because A(x) is a
continuous function (analytical function, in variational calculus), as
shown by the authors of Ref. [25] in their Fig. 2b, and that means that
their optimal (i.e., chosen) function k(x) must be analytical. The only
way to make an object with such a k(x) in nature is if the object is
made out of an infinite number of materials—an infinite number of
infinitesimally thin slices, each of a different (chosen) material with
its own k value. That, the infinite, is impossible.
 A. Bejan / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 137 (2019) 1258–1262 1261

5. Convection 6. Conclusion

The solution was extended to convection heat tubes [14] and
then generalized for all modes of heat transfer in 1979 [15]. The
purpose of the work was to explain the evolution of counterflow
pairs of blood vessels in the long legs of wading birds, and also
the evolution of counterflow heat exchangers in cryogenic and liq-
uefaction installations.
The convection heat tube is shown in Fig. 1b. This tube is an
example of what can be fitted inside the general tube shown in
Fig. 1a. In the convection tube example (Fig. 1b) there are two
streams in counterflow. The local temperature difference between
them (at x, or at T) is DT. The descending stream is warmer and has
the capacity rate ðmc_ P Þh . The second stream is colder, and its capac-
_ P Þc is different.
ity rate ðmc
The idea behind the convection tube concept is that any surface
(any cut) at x = constant is pierced by two enthalpy streams in
counterflow. The net stream of energy (as enthalpy flow) is ori-
ented the same way as the warmer stream, as shown in Fig. 1b:
_ h  ðmhÞ
q ¼ ðmhÞ _ c ð17Þ
On this background, it is surprising to read the statement made
in the title of Ref. [11]. That statement is wrong because, obviously,
DT/T is not a ‘‘duplicate” of DT. Here is what I wrote about this in
2014 [4] [abbreviations are marked with (. . .)]:
‘‘DT = constant is not new. It was published in 1979 [15] in its
most general form, (. . .) DT/T = constant. The 2002 version
DT = constant, presented in Ref. [27], is nothing more than the spe-
cial case of DT/T = constant in the limit where variations in the
absolute T are negligible over the heat exchanger volume (i.e.,
T ffi constant). That limit is a good approximation for heat exchang-
ers at room and high temperatures, but not for the entire T range of
applications (. . .).”
Is it not clear enough that if DT/T = constant and T = constant
then DT = constant?
Had the constant-DT idea been correct for advancing technol-
ogy evolution, there would have been no refrigeration & power
plant technology (biomedical & military), gas liquefaction, feed
water heating, combined cycle power plants [16], superconductors
& magnetic levitation, and space travel today (cf., Fig. 1c).

If the streams carry fluids that behave as ideal gases or incompress-

Declaration of interest
ible substances, then, along each stream, dhh;c ¼ ðmc _ P Þh;c dTh;c . In
particular, if the capacity rates are balanced
The author declared that there is no conflict of interest.
ðmc _ P Þc ¼ mc
_ P Þh ¼ðmc _ P , then the net enthalpy current is

_ P ðTh  Tc Þ
q ¼ mc ð18Þ Acknowledgement

When there is no distributed cooling (unlike in Fig. 1a), q is con- This technical note was reviewed by a set of anonymous refer-
stant. The convective current (18) was recognized in 1985 by ees. The author thanks the reviewers for their appreciative com-
Weinbaum and Jiji [26] in bio heat transfer [22]. ments and suggestions.
The local rate of heat transfer between the two streams (per-
pendicular to x) is
Appendix A. Supplementary material
dq ¼ UðpdxÞðTh  Tc Þ ð19Þ
Supplementary data to this article can be found online at
where U, p and (pdx) are the overall heat transfer coefficient, the https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2019.03.160.
perimeter of thermal contact between the two streams, and the
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