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HEATTRANSFERbriefnotes

CHEMICALENGINEERING1h:HEAT
TRANSFERbriefnotes
Introduction
Aslongasthereisatemperaturedrivingforcebetweentwopointsheatwillbetransferreddownthe
temperaturegradient(fromhottocold).Everydayexamplesweencounterarecentralheating,air
conditioning,doubleglazing,refrigeration,etc.Inanengineeringcontextheattransferisimportantin
manyunitoperations.Reactantsneedtobeheatedtoreactiontemperature,temperaturesinreactors
needtobecontrolled,distillationrequiresbothboilingandcondensation,etc.Inthiscourse,weaimto
studyheattransferinachemicalengineeringcontext,sothattheprocessofheattransfermaybe
undertoodandthatinitialdesignofaheatexchangermaybedone.
Therateofheattransferdependsonthetemperaturedrivingforce,theareaavailableforheattransfer,
thenatureofthematerialandthemodeofheattransfer(conduction,convectionorradiation).
Conduction
Vibrationalenergyistransferredbetweenatomsormoleculesthatdonotthemselvesmove.Itisthe
basictransfermechanismforheattransferinsolidsbutcanalsooccurthroughlayersofliquidsand
gasesthatarenothighlymobile.Thethicknessofthematerialisimportanttotherateofheattransfer
givingthebasicequation:

Thermalconductivityistheconstantofproportionality.

Moregenerally,

ThisisFourier'slawofheatconduction.
Typicalvaluesofthermalconductivityforarangeofmaterialtypesaregivenbelow:
Copper

390

at300K

Glass

1.05

at300K

Asbestos 0.088

at300K

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Air

0.026

at300K

Water

0.61

at300K

Forcompositeplanarmaterialstheheatflowthrougheachslabisthesame:

Convection
Energyistransferredbylargescale(macroscopic)motions.Thereforeitislimitedtoliquidsandgases
wheretheatomsormoleculesarefreetomove.Asthefluidisaconductingmedium,conductionstill
occurs.Forcedconvectionoccurswhenanexterioragentdrivesthefluidmotion,naturalconvection
occurswhenbuoyancydifferencescausedbylocaltemperaturedifferencesdrivetheflow.
Convectiveheattransfernormallytakesplacefromasolidsurfacetoafluid.Adjacenttoasolidwall
largescalemotionsdieawayleavingavirtuallystilllayeroffluid.Conductivetransferoccursacross
thisfilmwhichisofunknownthickness.

wherehistheheattransfercoefficientforthefilm.Valuesdependonthematerialandonthewayitis
beinghandled.
Wecouldwritebothequationsforheattransferbyconductionandconvectionmakinguseofthe
resistancetoheattransfer,R:

Forconduction

Forafluidfilm

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Whereheattransferprocessesoccurinseries(asindoubleglazing),wemayaddresistances

Radiation
Allbodiesemitenergyintheformofelectromagneticwaves.Whenthisfallsonasecondbodysome
isreflected,somepassesthroughandsomeisabsorbed.Theproportionsofeachdependonthe
physicalpropertiesofthematerial.Thetransferdoesnotdependonthepresenceofanyphysical
mediumbetweenthetwobodies.

Radiantheattransferbecomesincreasinglyimportantwithincreasingsurfacetemperature.
Thegoverningequationis:

istheStefanBoltzmannconstantwithavalueof5.67

Theemissivity, ,isapropertyofasurface.

Blackbody = 1
Polishedmetal = 0.21
Oxidisedmetal = 0.64to0.78
Stronglyoxidisedmetal = 0.95
Mattblackpaint = 0.91

laggedbar1

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DavidBalmer
Lastmodified:ThuSep310:30:52BST

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