708 INDUSTRIAL AND ENGtNEERING CHEMISTRY
6
Dividing the original physical case into pieces or increments
will introduce errors, the magnitude depending on the degree
of subdivision. Other errors will come in when the run must
be broken into time increments. Still others will come from
inaccuracies present in heat transfer and other constants.
However, assuming constants to be known (as must be as-
sumed no matter how a problem is solved) and assuming that
enough increments are used largely to eliminate errors from
this type of approximation, the apparatus should be made to
yield very satisfactory results in a large variety of applications.
* * *
Temperature in
INDUSTRIAL FURNACES
Interpretation and Use to Measure
Radiant Heat Flux
H. C. HOTTEL, F. W. MEYER, AND I. STEWART
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass.
C OMMON to most developments in the de-
sign of processing equipment is the transi-
tion from a period of satisfaction with the
prediction of over-all performance to one of profit from a con-
sideration of the detailed performance of the various elements
of the structure. In the field of high-temperature heat trans-
mission the empirical method of building a furnace like one
which was found satisfactory has to some extent been replaced
by designs influenced by calculations based on an analysis of
the mechanism of the heat transmission. Such calculations
have, in general, had an objective no more ambitious than the
prediction of over-all performance, with no consideration of
how the heat is distributed to the various heat-receiving sur-
faces in the radiant section of the furnace. In the case of fur-
naces with heat-receiving surfaces a t a relatively low tem-
perature, knowledge of such heat distribution was not essen-
tial. The high-pressure processes of chemical industry,
however, involve the transmission of heat through surfaces
a t elevated temperatures a t rates which must not exceed
definite values imposed by considerations of strength of the
materials of construction. Hence the spread between aver-
age and maximum heat-input rates per unit of surface deter-
mines the amount of surface required; and, since the unit cost
of such surfaces is high, the need for equalization of heat flow
in the various parts of such furnaces becomes evident. The
first step in that direction is the development of instrumenta-
tion for measurement of heat flow rates in the various parts of
furnaces; that is the objective of the work here described.
A few sporadic attempts in this direction are recorded in
the technical literature. The instrument used was a “ther-
maprobe,” a metal body whose rate of heat absorption can be
measured by observing its rate of rise of temperature. The
earliest device was a spherical probe (1). Later a flat plate,
protected below and on the sides, was used to determine the
heat transfer in a billet-reheating furnace, the instrument being
held above and close to the stock (6). Just this year a boiler
VOL. 28, NO.
A single large Hydrocal, with but eighteen usable standpipe
positions, would apply only to the simpler types of three-
dimensional problems. However, the design can be such that
Hydrocal units may be placed side by side and interconnected
without limit.
Present plans call for gaining some experience in operating
the large Hydrocal before attempting to redesign it. It is
practically a hand-built job, and some changes will have to
be made before production by some instrument maker can
be arranged.
RECEIVED
February 11, 1936
furnace was investigated with a short cylindrical probe (5) of
the same diameter as a boiler tube; the instrument was held
a t various points along a tube axis so that the convection and
radiation characteristics should correspond exactly to those
of a tube. (Presumably the tubes in the lowest banks were
double-spaced and the instrument was inserted in the blank
rows.) Finally the A. S. M. E. Committee on Absorption of
The significance of temperature meas-
urements in industrial furnaces is dis-
cussed. The true gas temperature has
less utility, except in making heat bal-
ances, than the uncorrected reading ordi-
narily obtained with a protected couple:
the latter measures the rate at which heat
would be transferred if the couple were
replaced by a surface at the temperature
of the heat sink. An instrument con-
sisting in principle of a pair of oriented
thermocouples is shown to be capable of
measuring the actual rate of heat flow
across any plane in a furnace. The
instrument was tested at rates of radiant
heat flow across a plane of from 5000 to
18,000 B. t . u . per square foot per hour,
with an average error of 4 per cent in eight
tests. Its application to a study of uni-
formity of heat distribution in furnaces
is discussed.
JUNE, 1936 INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
Radiant Heat in Boiler Furnaces reported this year that they
had considered, for the determination of heat distribution to
the water walls of a boiler furnace, the use of a water-cooled
probe, in which the rise of temperature and the rate of flow of
the water would give data for the calculation of the incident
radiation (7). The instrument was discarded because of un-
wieldiness and of the disadvantage common to the others that
only the radiation towards the tubes or stock is measured;
the heat reradiated or reflected must still be determined be-
fore the net heat-transfer rate is known.
Significance of High-Temperature Measure-
ments
Although the described methods of direct measurement
have not been entirely satisfactory, they suggest the desira-
bility of investigating the significance of high-temperature
measurements as a basis for the development of a satisfactory
instrument. The proper method of measuring a temperature
i n the gas space of a heat exchanger depends on the use 40 be
made of the measurement. It may be of interest either in
evaluating the rate of heat transmission to a near-by surface
or in determining the heat content of the gas passing the
point. If the heat exchanger operates a t low temperature,
both of these uses demand the measurement of “true gas tem-
perature” a t the point, free of errors due to interchange of
radiant heat between the measuring instrument and its sur-
roundings. If the heat exchanger operates a t a high tempera-
ture, the second use still demands the use of true gas tempera-
tine; but the first-i. e., the evaluation of heat transfer rate
to a near-by surface-involves the gas temperature only to the
unimportant degree to which convection contributes to the
total heat transmission in a furnace. Of more importance at
furnace temperature levels is the “true radiation tempera-
ture” of the point, a temperature defined as that attained by
an instrument protected from the possibility of interchange
of heat with its surrounding gas by convection or conduction.
Since at high temperatures the reading of a protected thermo-
couple is nearer the true radiation temperature than the true
gas temperature, such an instrument is superior to the more
complicated high-velocity thermocouple or shielded couple
for judging heat equalization.
Consider a small gray sphere of area A and emissivity (and
absorptivity) p a t some point in a furnace chamber, and let
the furnace temperature be high enough to justify neglecting
heat transmission to the sphere by convection. The heat ab-
sorbed by radiation from the flame, various walls, etc., will
be equal to pAE,, where E , is the average emissive power of
the surroundings, measured a t the sphere. When the sphere
has attained thermal equilibrium a t temperature T, it will be
emitting radiation a t the rate pAuT4, which must equal its
rate of absorption of heat. Then,
E, = aT4 !I )
where u is the Stefan-Boltzmann constant. If the sphere,
representative of the protected thermocouple, is now replaced
by a heat-receiving surface of similar shape but maintained a t
some known lower temperature, T,, the net rate a t which this
surface will receive heat is given by the expression:
Q / A = ap(T4 - Tc4) (2)
The temperature T measured by the protected thermocouple
is a t any point in the furnace; therefore, it is a measure of the
potentiality of that point for transferring heat (provided that
the net heat withdrawn is insufficient to disturb conditions in
the furnace). If, then, a number of protected thermocouples
are installed in a furnace close to the tube bank or other “heat
sink,” and symmetrically placed with regard to it, the differ-
ence between the rates of radiation to the tubes a t the vari-
709
ous points may be calculated from Equation 2. Or, if the
duty and method of operation of a furnace remain steady, a
thermocouple fixed in any point will show the variations in
heat transfer conditions in the furnace from day to day.
Need for Modification of Protected Thermo-
couple
Although the protected thermocouple does provide a basis
for estimating variations in heat flow rates, it is desirable that
an instrument for surveying the distribution of heat transfer
in a furnace should indicate a t any point the actual net radi-
ant heat flow across a plane separating the heat sink (the tube
bank, stock surface, etc.) from the rest of the furnace. As an
ideal instrument consider a thermocouple in the form of a
small plane plate, perfectly insulated on the back and sides.
If this instrument is held in the furnace until an equilibrium
temperature is reached, then, by analogy to Equation 1, the
emissive power E1 of that part of the furnace system “seen”
from the plane of the plate will be numerically equal to the
emissive power uT14 of a black body a t the equilibrium tem-
perature attained by the plate: i. e., for the calculation of
radiation from the furnace in one direction through the plane
of the instrument, we may regard the furnace walls, flames,
etc., as replaced by a “black-body” enclosure a t the tem-
perature T1 attained by the instrument. If this instrument
were placed parallel and close to the plane of the heat sink, the
heat transfer across that plane could be calculated from the
Stefan-Boltzmann equation,
Q/A = a(Ti4 - T S 4 ) p 8 . F ~ (3)
where pa, T , = emissivity and temperature of the sink, respec-
tively
F A = a geometrical factor t o allow for the shape and
arrangement of the sink (8, 4)
( F Ais unity if the heat sink is a continuous plane a t uniform
temperature.) To obviate the measurement of p , and T,and
the calculation of F A , another instrument may be used in the
same plane but facing the sink. It will now be exposed to the
radiation reflected or reradiated from the surface of the sink,
and will attain an equilibrium temperature T zwhich measures
the emissive power of the system on the sink side of the plane
of the instrument.
Combining the two instrument readings, we obtain the net
radiant heat exchange across the plane of the instrument per
unit area :
q / A = E1 - E2 = u(T14 - Tz4) (4)
The net rate of heat transmission from furnace to sink, across
the plane of the instruments, is then the same as that between
two infinite black parallel planes a t the two respective tem-
peratures measured by the instruments. These tempera-
tures are independent of the emissivities of the surfaces of the
thermocouples, provided each of the latter is “gray”-i. e.,
of uniform emissivity throughout the spectrum. It is also
essential that the introduction of the instruments does not
disturb the furnace equilibrium.
In practice a perfectly insulated instrument cannot be con-
structed, nor can convection be eliminated, but allowance
may be made for both of these divergences from the ideal case.
Consider an instrument consisting of two parallel plates, each
of emissivity p , separated by an insulating medium of thick-
ness L and conductivity k , and exposed to gas at temperature
TG; and assume that the coefficient of convective heat trans-
fer h, is the same for both sides. The average rates of radia-
tion incident on the two sides, per unit area, are E1 and El,
and the temperatures in equilibrium, T1 and T2,respectively.
Then the equations of heat flow into each of the two side3
are:
710 INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY VOL. 28, NO. 6
a thermopile and the optical pyrometer; and throughout the
tests the temperature wits held constant at this value. The final
results are given in Table I.

TABLEI. RESULTS
OF EXPERIMENTS
Subtracting and dividing by p , we obtain: Ratio.
Instru- Kctual’to
--Ten i p . ,‘-Rankine-- ment co! 1- Calcd.
Hot Cold stant K Flux
face, face, Differ- Heat (from Heat (Col. 4/
TI Tz ence FluxQ Col. 4) Flux& Col. 5)
B . t . u./hr./ B . t. u . / h r . t
That is, the radiant heat flux across the plane is numeri- SQ. ft. sq, ft,
cally equal to the black-body radiation between infinite planes 1013 734
781
279
385
5,180
6,700
13.86
10.81
4,636 1.118
1166 7,115 0.942
a t temperatures the same as those of the two plates of the in- 1179 787 392 7,170 11.51 7,334 0.997
strument, together with a correction term equal to the tem- 1289 826 463 9,340 11.63 9,480 0.984
1317 843 474 9,760 11.61 9,948 0.982
perature difference multiplied by an “instrument constant,” 1365
1433
856
691
509
562
11,020
13,710
11.75
13.26
11,100
12,960
0.991
1.058
K (the bracketed term), which depends on the surface emis- 1643 992 651 17,880 10.76 18,620 0.960
sivity, the convection coefficient, and the heat conductance a From hot-plate temperature and dimensions.
b From instrument temperatures and average K.

The intensity of radiation falling on the instrument was

FIGURE
I x F. (3)
between the plates of the instrument. It is probable that
the instrument constant will vary with temperature, but
since both numerator and denominator may be expected to
increase with rise of temperature, the variation in the value
of the constant should be small. It must be emphasized that
this instrument constant affects only an additive term, so that
a large error in it will produce but a small error in the calcu-
lated heat transfer. The main term in the evaluation of heat
flux from the instrument temperatures, a(T14 - T2*),is, .in
form, completely independent of the instrument characteris-
tics; but the basic assumptions (that the surfaces of the plates
are “gray” radiators, and that heat flow through the instru-
ment is parallel and normal to the plates) must hold.
Description of Instrument
Such an instrument was built and tested, and is shown in
Figure 1:
varied by varying the distance from the plate a t which it was
held, and was calculated from the dimensions of the system
and the hot plate temperature (2,4). These values for the
heat flux are given in Table I, column 4; by substitution in
Equation 7 a value for the instrument constant was obtained
(column 5 ) . Inspection reveals no trend of variation of K
with temperature; therefore the average 11.9 was used to
calculate the heat flux as measured by the instrument (col-
umn 6). In column 7 the fluxes as calculated from hot plate
data and from instrument temperatures are compared, The
maximum divergence is 12 per cent and the average only 4
per cent, for rates of heat transfer varying from 5,000 to
18,000B. t. u. per square foot per hour.
The instrument constant K was also calculated, assuming
p , (for a dense oxide layer) = 0.8 (3)
h, (vertical plate) = 0.275 (t/H)0.z6= 1.9 B. t. u./sq. ft. X hr.
k (kaolin brick at 932’ F.) = 0.15 B.t. u./ft. X hr. X O F. (3)
The value of R so calculated, 11.4, differs from the experimen-
tal value of 11.9 by less than the limits of experimental error.
The instrument as a t present constructed has a grave dis-
advantage in that the time taken to reach equilibrium is ex-
cessive. At the rate of 5500 B. t. u. per square foot per hour,
the hot plate was still 6” F. from equilibrium temperature
after an hour. An error of 3 per cent (for these conditions)
would be introduced by reading this as the final temperature.
A change in design to cut down the heat capacity of the in-
strument, however, is relatively simple; and the performance
of the instrument here described is otherwise so satisfactory
that it is to be used in connection with studies of industrial
furnace performance.
Literature Cited
(1) Hase, R.,Arch. WBrmewirt., 13, 317 (1932).
(2) Hottel, H. C., Trans. A m . SOC.Mech. Engrs., Fuels Steam Power,
53 119b). 265 11931): Mech. Em..52. 699 (1932).
_ r I

(3) M c A d k s , ’ W . H.‘, “Heat Transmission,” New York; McGraw-

It consists of two stainless-steel disks, 1 inch in diameter and
1/11 inch thick, mounted in an octagonal slab of kaolin brick about
3 inches in diameter and 1 inch thick so that the surface6 are
flush. A chromel-alumel couple is eened into a hole in the
center of each disk, and the leads areTed along the surface of the
disk before bringing them out to the insulating tube, thus mini-
mizing the chance of false temperature readings due to conduction
along the wires. Calibration of the instrument was secured us-
ing as a source of radiation a vertical hot plate, 5.19 X 5.19
inches of nickel, heated by a nichrome resistance grid immedi-
ately behind it. A preliminary survey showed that local varia-
tions in emissive power were less than 10 er cent. For the tests
the average temperature was determinedy! the use of an optical
pyrometer close enough for its field of view to be filled, but with
the object purposely out of focus. The emissivity at the test
temperature was calculated from simultaneous readings with
Hill Book Co., 1933.
(4) Ibid.,Chapter 111.
(5) Schmidt, T. M., 2. V e r . deut. Ing., 79, 926 (1935); Arch. Wdrme-
wirt., 14,11 (1933).
(6) Stoffregen,H., Arch. Eisenhilttenw., 16, 221 (1933).
(7) Wohlenbers, Mulliken, Armacost, and Gordon, Trans. Am. 80c.
Mech. Engrs., RP 57 (4), 544 (1935).
RECEIVED
January 8 , 1936.
The paper on “Heat Transfer Coeffioients on In-
clined Tubes,” by D. F. Jurgensen, Jr., and G. H.
Montillon, IND.ENQ.CHEM.,27, 1466-1475 (Dee.,
1935),was also presented as part of this symposium.
Other papers appeared in the May, 1936, issue.