HEAT TRANSFER

CHE 3004
Lt Col G. Junior Virgo
Ext. 3263

In our daily activities we often experience

temperature changes of one form or
another.
Examples are
refrigerators, ovens and stoves in our homes
automotive radiators, and electric fans.

Heat:
Energy in transition under the driving force
of a temperature gradient
Driving force:
Bodies or systems at different reference
points interact or are made to interact
causing flow in one direction.

Temperature gradient: from hot to cold or

cold to hot

The difference in temperature is the driving

force that governs this phenomenon and
the process is called HEAT TRANSFER.

The transfer of heat is integral to most

chemical and engineering processes
Heat absorbed or emitted
Fluids heated or cooled

Not only explains the mechanisms involved

but also, the prediction of the applicable
rates and magnitudes

All heat transfer must obey the first

and second laws of thermodynamics

The transfer of heat at the desired rate

is the fundamental principle upon

which this entire course is based

Processes concerned with furnaces, evaporators,

distillation plants, dryers and reactor vessels.
Three means by which heat transfer occurs:
conduction,
convection
radiation

heat transfer at the intermolecular level of a

substance

energetic interactions between adjacent

particles.

high energy is associated with high

molecular activity hence heat applied to a
particular point of a substance is passed on
to other molecules in the immediate vicinity
when they collide with each other.
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Regions with greater molecular kinetic

energy will pass their thermal energy to
regions with less molecular energy through
direct molecular collisions

The rate at which the heat is conducted

from one point to another is directly
dependent on the temperature gradient
between the points.
dT
Qx kA
dx
Fouriers Law holds true

Convective heat transfer

The redistribution of energy due partly to

conduction and fluid motion a combination of
conduction within the boundary layer immediately
adjacent to the heat source and the motion of the
bulk of the fluid brought about by the
displacement of high-energy molecules due to
fluid motion.

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Natural or free convection

the fluid motion results from the changing
thermodynamic properties of the fluid due to the
effects of the temperature difference (eg. density
gradient, thermal conductivity, viscosity &
thermal expansion)

Forced convection.
the motion is influenced by some external force
(usually mechanical)

Newtons Law of Cooling

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The net transfer of heat via electromagnetic

radiation between two opposite surfaces.

Materials at temperatures above absolute

zero will absorb, reflect and emit radiant
heat.

Heat incident on the body excite subatomic

particles to higher energy states

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On returning to their more stable states the

energy is released as radiation.

Radiation is the only means of heat transfer

that does not require a transporting
medium and is the principal means by
which heat from the sun reaches the earth.

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Heat transfer applications are as diverse as

the application of devices that ensure
comfort and a high quality of life in our daily
existence

Usually a combination of one or more of the

three modes mentioned above is involved.

The human body is one of the most efficient

heat transfer devices in operation in our
daily lives.
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Organs involved are the lungs, skins and

kidneys.

We are totally dependent on electricity from

power plants, refrigerators, stoves and air
conditioning system.

Heat exchangers are simply equipment

consisting of two or more fluids at different
temperatures that are physically separated
by a wall to prevent fluid/material mixing.
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Depending on the inlet and outlet

temperatures of the fluid of main concern a
heat exchanger can be employed as either
a heater or a cooler.

The equipment design and orientation on a

process plant depends largely on the nature
of the fluids to be heated or cooled. Hence,
we might employ double pipe (simplest
form), shell and tube, spiral, and plate heat
exchangers.
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H/Es may be categorized as double pass or

multipass types with or without baffles and
fixed or floating heads.

There are, also, contact heaters that

combine say, steam directly with the fluid to
be heated. Ensures maximum heat transfer
but high levels of dilution will result.

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A means of transferring heat between

media and is the main unit operation of
crystallization processes.

Concentration of process streams is the

major application of evaporation, which is
usually accompanied by cooling by way of
the latent heat of vapourization.

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Heat transfer equipment in industrial plants

varies from simple electrical fans for cooling
to huge assemblies of pipes and conduits in
arrangements called heat exchangers,

Cooling fans are used in cooling towers to

cool high volumes of heating fluids (usually
water) that are used in heat exchangers to
cool a particular product.

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Cooling fans also used in electronic circuitry

where the heating effects of electric current
accounts for a very high heat per unit area
in those continually decreasing
components.

Furnaces are equipment used to transfer

heat directly to materials, for example in
the calcining of ceramics, cement clinker or
hydrated alumina in rotary kilns or fluid
flash calciners.

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Furnaces were the earliest wide scale

applications of heat exchange equipment by
mankind during the fabrication of tools and
weapons directly after the storage.

Boilers are heat transfer equipment used

primarily in power plants to produce highpressure steam to drive turbines.

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Evaporators are vessels that concentrate

solutions by boiling and evaporation.

Variations include multiple effect

evaporators connected in series to flash
tanks in an intricate arrangement that
ensures the recovery and reuse of flashed
steam.

Other equipment include heating elements

used in water heaters, and solar panels

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