HEAT TRANSFER Essay 1

Heat is one of many forms of energy that can be transformed into each other in accordance with the First Law of Thermodynamics. However, it is important to note that the energy contained within any substance cannot be regarded as heat. In fact, heat only exists when it is transferred between two media and then only due to a temperature difference between those media. There are many misuses of the word heat. It is not uncommon to describe the temperature in an oven as being 350 degrees of heat. Also, the energy contained in a medium is sometimes said to be the heat contained within that medium. These uses, as well as other misuses, are excluded by the definition: heat is energy in transit due to a temperature difference. Heat transfer is one of the most ubiquitous processes in nature. It is also commonly encountered in virtually all devices, machines, instruments, and living creatures. With such a broad range of application, heat transfer becomes a key part of the engineering knowledge base. Like most undergraduate subjects, the subject matter taught in heat transfer courses represents the academic view of the topic. That view is highly sanitized and drastically simplified compared with reality. The homework problems in the typical undergraduate course are also contrived to be solvable by use of the knowledge base that is conveyed in standard textbooks and in the classroom. Expertise in solving such problems is misleading because those problems have almost nothing in common with reality. One of the major goals in this version of heat transfer is to bridge the gap between academia and the real world of engineering. To fully accomplish this goal would require an almost complete discarding of the currently standard topical coverage in favor of subject matter that reflects present-day engineering practice. Of even greater significance is that a new set of tools would have to be taught that is capable of dealing with the true complexity of real-world problems. The foregoing discussion explains the absence of a textbook for this course. Instead, the subject matter of each lecture will be conveyed in essays that will be sent directly to the inbox of everyone who is a participant in this class. The subject matter of this course will include the three modes of heat transfer that are illustrated in Fig. 1.1: conduction, convection, and radiation. As can be seen in the figure, conduction takes place in the rod that is held at one end by a human hand while the other end is situated in a stream of very hot gaseous products of combustion. The latter end absorbs energy from the hot gases by a process called convection. Once the energy has been absorbed by the rod, it passes 1.1

from the hot end to the cooler end of the rod by a process of collisions among molecules, atoms, and even free electrons. Since heat conduction depends on interactions between very small particles, it is the mode of heat transfer that is invisible to human senses. Convection is the process by which heat is transferred between a moving fluid and a surface. There are, in Fig. 1. 1 The three modes of heat transfer fact, two steps in this process. In the first step, the fluid is transported in bulk from locations distant from the surface to the neighborhood of the surface. In that neighborhood, the actual energy transport occurs by conduction between the fluid molecules and those of the surface. Thermal radiation is the third of the traditional heat transfer processes. It is really a remarkable means of energy transport because of its capability of acting over long distances. For example, solar radiation is emitted by the sun and is carried by packets of radiant energy called photons over a distance of approximately 93,000,000 miles in about eight minutes. This capability sets radiation transport in a special category compared with conduction and convection which usually act over short ranges. In confirmation of the ubiquitous presence of heat transfer in virtually every walk of life, a few examples will serve as validation.

Geothermal energy

Solar energy

1.2

Refrigerator

Air conditioner

Cooling towers of a nuclear power plant

Active volcano

1.3