Palestine polytechnic university

College of engineering

Mechanical department

Heat transfer
Research: infrared radiators
Done by : Monther alshari
Introduction:
Infrared panel heaters are a relatively new way to heat
your house. They
work very differently to radiators, and have some
advantages when it comes to energy efficiency.
Infrared panel heaters use radiation to heat the room
instead of convection. This means that they deliver heat
directly to people and furnishings rather than trying to heat
the entire space.  Electricity is expensive, so electric
heating is often considered an uneconomical option, but
by transferring heat more efficiently panel heaters can
provide a good alternative to conventional central heating
systems.
So what is the difference between convection and
radiation? And what are the advantages of one over the
other?
Heat always moves from hotter objects to colder ones.
There are several ways in which heat can be transferred
from one place to another. The most common are
conduction, convection and radiation.
 Conduction primarily occurs through solids. Thermal
energy is passed from one atom to another, and so
moves rapidly through an object. Some materials, such
as metal, conduct heat very efficiently. This why the
outside of a radiator quickly warms up when hot water is
pumped through it. Other substances transmit heat
much less efficiently, and so make good insulation.
 Convection is the movement of heat through a fluid,
such as air or water. When a fluid becomes hot its
density decreases, this is why hot air rises. When it
cools down again it becomes denser, and sinks. This
sets up a circulation, and heat is moved from one place
to another by the moving fluid.
 Radiation is the transmission of energy by
electromagnetic waves. Heat is primarily transmitted by
photons in the infrared range of the spectrum. These
carry the energy from its source, and deliver it to any
object which absorbs them. This means that radiation
can pass through any transparent medium, including a
vacuum.
Most central heating systems rely on convection to
distribute heat. Despite their name radiators warm up the
air around them, which circulates through the room. They
emit some thermal radiation, which is why we can feel
heat coming off them. However this isn’t their primary
purpose.
Infrared panels rely on radiation, which makes them quite
an efficient heating system so long as we do not try to use
them in the same way as a normal radiator. Rather than
heating the air an infrared panel delivers heat directly to
the occupants and furnishings of the room. Anyone sitting
in front of a panel will feel warm, even if the air around
them is still fairly cold. This means that much less
electricity has to be used than if the entire volume of the
house has to be heated in order for the occupants to be
comfortable.
This means that infrared panel heaters are particularly
effective in older buildings which have draughts or poor
insulation. Lack of insulation makes a conventional
heating system massively inefficient. The heat produced
by the boiler is constantly lost through the fabric of the
building. This isn’t a problem for infrared heaters since the
heat is delivered directly to the occupants of the room. It is
also absorbed by walls and furnishings, which store heat
much more effectively than air.
Infrared heaters can be used to set up temperature zoning
within a room, since only the area in line of sight of the
heater receives energy. This can be an advantage in large
and draughty rooms, particularly if you will be sat in the
same place for long periods of time. Since the panels are
standalone units, with no pipes, they can be positioned to
fit the layout of the room, even being hung on the ceiling
so that they point down at the people below.  
The main strength of infrared panels can also be their
largest weakness; they provide a directed heat source,
rather than a space heating solution. This means that they
are very reliant on line of sight. If you are directly in front of
the panel you will feel warm, but once you switch off the
heater or move to a different area you will be cold again.
This means that they work best if you plan to stay in the
same area for a while, but aren’t as good if you are going
to be moving around a lot. Infrared panels can’t be
mounted in the same places as traditional radiators, since
furniture will easily block the panel. Walls and furnishings
will reemit energy for a short time after the heater stops
running, but for the most part you will need to keep it on in
order to feel warm.

 The Basics Of Infrared

Heating
 This is the point where you forget everything you
know about the way heating systems work.
Infrared panels transmit heat by way of thermal
radiation and emitting loads of infrared rays –
the same kind of heat emitted by the sun.
 Thankfully, our panels don’t blast you with UV
light too – so they’re completely safe to use!
 These infrared rays bounce around everywhere
in the room. Each time they hit something, the
object absorbs some of the heat, affecting its
temperature on a molecular level.
 The objects, whether it’s the carpet, a sofa, or
even you, then emit that heat back out
through conduction, convection or radiation.
 Conduction is the transferring of heat energy
through the contact between 2 surfaces. This
might occur when you sit on a chair, and the
heat is conducted from the chair to you.
  Convection, as we’ve previously discussed, is
the transfer of heat energy between two objects
with the air acting as the intermediary. You can
feel this as an object gets hotter, and you place
your hand near it without touching it. This is how
standard convection heaters work too – by
heating the air around them.
 Radiation is the transferring of heat energy
between two objects through the
electromagnetic spectrum – without using the air
as an intermediary. The heat is directly passed
from source to target. It’s through this method
that IR panels radiate heat.
 This means that no energy is wasted on heating
the air – you feel the rays directly on your skin.
The feeling is akin to stepping out from the
shade on a summer’s day.
 You can see a visual representation of the
convection heatting vs. IR heating in the
infographic below.

As with all types of heater, the surface of an Infrared

Panel Heater becomes hot during operation. This
temperature is around 70° to 90°C, so it isn’t hot
enough to actually burn anyone touching the panel’s
surface, but sufficiently hot to give them a jolt of
surprise.
Therefore it makes good sense to install your IR
panel out of the way, so as to minimise any potential
danger to children. Fortunately Surya’s Infrared
heating panels are designed to be mounted either
on a wall or on a ceiling, while others can simply be
placed within a suspended ceiling’s grid.
Incredibly simple to install, they’re supplied with
robust aluminium brackets on their rear side,
allowing you to affix them safely and securely to
pretty much any flat surface you choose.
The different types of Surya IR heating panels are
suitable for a wide variety of applications, however,
you may find that some blend into certain locations
more naturally than others.
Uses for infrared radiator:
Infrared emitters and modules are used in numerous
industrial heat processes: Drying and curing of coatings,
forming, embossing, laminating, joining, welding,
browning, heating, preheating and germ reduction.
 Infrared heat technology for
industrial processes
Industrial heat processes need to provide energy at the
push of a button, at precisely the right time and to the
correct place.
 You wish to debur difficult plastic contours?
 Your paint drying must not limit production?
 You need heat for food processing adjusted precisely
within +/-1°C?
Intelligent infrared systems can do this. See how it
works!

How does infrared heat technology

work?
Infrared heat technology works by transmitting
electromagnetic waves which generate heat within the
product.
 Heating requires no contact
 High heat transmission capacity
 Fast transfer with high power
 No energy wasted to a transmission medium

Infrared radiation adjusted to product and process

Part of the electromagnetic radiation is absorbed in
the material, another portion is reflected and the rest
penetrates the materials. Only the absorbed portion
contributes to heating. Each material has its own
absorption spectrum, the range in which the
electromagnetic radiation is best absorbed.
When the emission spectrum of an infrared emitter
is optimally adjusted to a material's absorption
spectrum, the material is heated much faster and
much more efficiently.
 The advantages
 Infrared emitters transmit heat without contact
 Short response times
 Infrared emitters are precisely adjusted to the product
with regard to wavelength, voltage, power and shape
 Precisely adjusted infrared emitter systems increase
process speed, improve quality and save energy
 As with any kind of new technology, there’s going to
be some uncertainty as to how it works. Infrared
heating is no different, and is very much in its infancy
in terms of where it is in the heating market.
 What doesn’t help is that IR heating panels operate
on completely different physical principles when
compared to conventional convection heaters.
.

EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES:
To confirm the authenticity of the theoretical results
the experimental study of the temperature on the
surface of the infrared heater has been done. As the
object of study the electric infrared heater 0.54ɯ0.1
m size of panel type QH 1500 with variable thermal
capacity of 500, 1000 and 1500 W was chosen (Fig. 4)
[2]. Fig. 4. The design of the infrared heater panel. 1 -
metal case; 2 - mounting; 3 - low-temperature THE in
quartz husk; 4 - aluminum profile; 5 – protective
screen The infrared heater consisted of a rectangular
metal case covered with a heat-resistant paint 1; with
the elements of the ceiling mount 2; low TEN 3 was
built in the heating plate - anodised aluminum profile
4; with high-quality insulating material 5 [2], [14] and
[16]. The temperature on the surface of aluminum
profiles measured by an infrared pyrometer "Nimbus
-530/1" absolute error of the device r 0.08 °C [11] and
[12]. The experiments were conducted at various
thermal power heater: Qheat = 500 W; Qheat = 1000
W; Qheat = 1500 W.
References:
 DIAGNOSTYKA, 2016, Vol. 17, No. 3 ISSN 1641-6414 e-ISSN 2449-5220 ANALYSIS OF
THE PROCESSES OF HEAT EXCHANGE ON INFRARED HEATER SURFACE
 www.renewableenergyhub.co.uk
 www.suryaheating.co.uk
Physical Principles of Far-Infrared Radiation
