Heating Methods

Basics of Heat Transfer

Dr. A. Claude

In the simplest of terms, the discipline of heat transfer is concerned with only two things: temperature, and the flow of heat. Temperature represents the amount of thermal energy available, whereas heat flow represents the movement of thermal energy from place to place. On a microscopic scale, thermal energy is related to the kinetic energy of molecules. The greater a material's temperature, the greater the thermal agitation of its constituent molecules (manifested both in linear motion and vibrational modes). It is natural for regions containing greater molecular kinetic energy to pass this energy to regions with less kinetic energy. Several material properties serve to modulate the heat tranfered between two regions at differing temperatures. Examples include thermal conductivities, specific heats, material densities, fluid velocities, fluid viscosities, surface emissivities, and more. Taken together, these properties serve to make the solution of many heat transfer problems an involved process.

Heat Transfer Mechanisms Conduction: Regions with greater molecular kinetic energy will pass their thermal energy to regions with less molecular energy through direct molecular collisions, a process known as conduction. In metals, a significant portion of the transported thermal energy is also carried by conductionband electrons. Convection: When heat conducts into a static fluid it leads to a local volumetric expansion. As a result of gravity-induced pressure gradients, the expanded fluid parcel becomes buoyant and displaces, thereby transporting heat by fluid motion (i.e. convection) in addition to conduction. Such heat-induced fluid motion in initially static fluids is known as free convection. Radiation: All materials radiate thermal energy in amounts determined by their temperature, where the energy is carried by photons of light in the infrared and visible portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. When temperatures are uniform, the radiative flux between objects is in equilibrium and no net thermal energy is exchanged. The balance is upset when temperatures are not uniform, and thermal energy is transported from surfaces of higher to surfaces of lower temperature. Question: Introduction to Heat Transfer - How Does Heat Transfer? What is heat? How does heat transfer take place? What are the effects on matter when heat transfers from one body to another? Answer: Heat transfer is a process by which internal energy from one substance transfers to another substance. Thermodynamics is the study of heat transfer and the changes that result from it. An understanding of heat transfer is crucial to analyzing a thermodynamic process, such as those that take place in heat engines and heat pumps. 1

Heating Methods

Dr. A. Claude

Forms of Heat Transfer Under the kinetic theory, the internal energy of a substance is generated from the motion of individual atoms or molecules. Heat energy is the form of energy which transfers this energy from one body or system to another. This heat transfer can take place in a number of ways: Effects of Heat Transfer The basic effect of heat transfer is that the particles of one substance collide with the particles of another substance. The more energetic substance will typically lose internal energy (i.e. "cool down") while the less energetic substance will gain internal energy (i.e. "heat up"). The most blatant effect of this in our day-to-day life is a phase transition, where a substance changes from one state of matter to another, such as ice melting from a solid to a liquid as it absorbs heat. The water contains more internal energy (i.e. the water molecules are moving around faster) than in the ice. In addition, many substances go through either thermal expansion or thermal contraction as they gain and lose internal energy. Water (and other liquids) often expands as it freezes, which anyone who has put a drink with a cap in the freezer for too long has discovered. Heat Capacity The heat capacity of an object helps define how that object's temperature responds to absorbing or transmitting heat. Heat capacity is defined as the change in heat divided by the change in temperature. Laws of Thermodynamics Heat transfer is guided by some basic principles which have become known as the laws of thermodynamics, which define how heat transfer relates to work done by a system and place some limitations on what it is possible for a system to achieve. Heat Conduction Conduction is heat transfer by means of molecular agitation within a material without any motion of the material as a whole. If one end of a metal rod is at a higher temperature, then energy will be transferred down the rod toward the colder end because the higher speed particles will collide with the slower ones with a net transfer of energy to the slower ones. For heat transfer between two plane surfaces, such as heat loss through the wall of a house, the rate of conduction heat transfer is: Calculation

= heat transferred in time = = thermal conductivity of the barrier = area = temperature = thickness of barrier 2

Heating Methods

Dr. A. Claude

Heat Convection Convection is heat transfer by mass motion of a fluid such as air or water when the heated fluid is caused to move away from the source of heat, carrying energy with it. Convection above a hot surface occurs because hot air expands, becomes less dense, and rises (see Ideal Gas Law). Hot water is likewise less dense than cold water and rises, causing convection currents which transport energy.

Convection can also lead to circulation in a liquid, as in the heating of a pot of water over a flame. Heated water expands and becomes more buoyant. Cooler, more dense water near the surface descends and patterns of circulation can be formed, though they will not be as regular as suggested in the drawing.

Convection cells are visible in the heated cooking oil in the pot at left. Heating the oil produces changes in the index of refraction of the oil, making the cell boundaries visible. Circulation patterns form, and presumably the wall-like structures visible are the boundaries between the circulation patterns.

Heating Methods

Dr. A. Claude

Convection is thought to play a major role in transporting energy from the center of the Sun to the surface, and in movements of the hot magma beneath the surface of the earth. The visible surface of the Sun (the photosphere) has a granular appearance with a typical dimension of a granule being 1000 kilometers. The image at right is from the NASA Solar Physics website and is credited to G. Scharmer and the Swedish Vacuum Solar Telescope. The granules are described as convection cells which transport heat from the interior of the Sun to the surface.

In ordinary heat transfer on the Earth, it is difficult to quantify the effects of convection since it inherently depends upon small nonuniformities in an otherwise fairly homogeneous medium. In modeling things like the cooling of the human body, we usually just lump it in with conduction. Heat Radiation Radiation is heat transfer by the emission of electromagnetic waves which carry energy away from the emitting object. For ordinary temperatures (less than red hot"), the radiation is in the infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum. The relationship governing radiation from hot objects is called the Stefan-Boltzmann law: Calculation

Perspiration Cooling of Body When the ambient temperature is above body temperature, then radiation, conduction and convection all transfer heat into the body rather than out. Since there must be a net outward heat transfer, the only mechanisms left under those conditions are the evaporation of perspiration from the skin and the evaporative cooling from exhaled moisture. Even when one is unaware of perspiration, physiology texts quote an amount of about 600 grams per day of "insensate loss" of moisture from the skin. 4

Heating Methods

Dr. A. Claude
The cooling effect of perspiration evaporation makes use of the very large heat of vaporization of water. This heat of vaporization is 540 calories/gm at the boiling point, but is even larger, 580 cal/gm, at the normal skin temperature.

Heat Transfer by Vaporization If part of a liquid evaporates, it cools the liquid remaining behind because it must extract the necessary heat of vaporization from that liquid in order to make the phase change to the gaseous state. It is therefore an important means of heat transfer in certain circumstances, such as the cooling of the human body when it is subjected to ambient temperatures above the normal body temperature. Greenhouse Effect The greenhouse effect refers to circumstances where the short wavelengths of visible light from the sun pass through a transparent medium and are absorbed, but the longer wavelengths of the infrared re-radiation from the heated objects are unable to pass through that medium. The trapping of the long wavelength radiation leads to more heating and a higher resultant temperature. Besides the heating of an automobile by sunlight through the windshield and the namesake example of heating the greenhouse by sunlight passing through sealed, transparent windows, the greenhouse effect has been widely used to describe the trapping of excess heat by the rising concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The carbon dioxide strongly absorbs infrared and does not allow as much of it to escape into space.

Sunlight warms your car Increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide Global warming Role in the absence of water on Venus?

A major part of the efficiency of the heating of an actual greenhouse is the trapping of the air so that the energy is not lost by convection. Keeping the hot air from escaping out the top is part of the practical "greenhouse effect", but it is common usage to refer to the infrared trapping as the "greenhouse effect" in atmospheric applications where the air trapping is not applicable. Greenhouse Effect Example Bright sunlight will effectively warm your car on a cold, clear day by the greenhouse effect. The longer infrared wavelengths radiated by sun-warmed objects do not pass readily through the glass. The entrapment of this energy warms the interior of the vehicle. The trapping of the hot air so that it cannot rise and lose the energy by convection also plays a major role.

Heating Methods

Dr. A. Claude

Short wavelengths of visible light are readily transmitted through the transparent windshield. (Otherwise you wouldn't be able to see through it!)

Shorter wavelengths of ultraviolet light are largely blocked by glass since they have greater quantum energies which have absorption mechanisms in the glass. Even though you may be uncomfortably warm with bright sunlight streaming through, you will not be sunburned. Resistance heating The generation of heat by electric conductors carrying current. The degree of heating for a given current is proportional to the electrical resistance of the conductor. If the resistance is high, a large amount of heat is generated, and the material is used as a resistor rather than as a conductor. In addition to having high resistivity, heating elements must be able to withstand high temperatures without deteriorating or sagging. Other desirable characteristics are low temperature coefficient of resistance, low cost, formability, and availability of materials. Most commercial resistance alloys contain chromium or aluminum or both, since a protective coating of chrome oxide or aluminum oxide forms on the surface upon heating and inhibits or retards further oxidation. Since heat is transmitted by radiation, convection, or conduction or combinations of these, the form of element is designed for the major mode of transmission. The simplest form is the helix, using a round wire resistor, with the pitch of the helix approximately three wire diameters. This form is adapted to radiation and convection and is generally used for room or air heating. It is also used in industrial 6

Heating Methods

Dr. A. Claude

furnaces, utilizing forced convection up to about 1200F (650C). Such helixes are stretched over grooved high-alumina refractory insulators and are otherwise open and unrestricted. The electrical resistance of molten salts between immersed electrodes can be used to generate heat. Limiting temperatures are dependent on decomposition or evaporization temperatures of the salt, Parts to be heated are immersed in the salt. Heating is rapid and, since there is no exposure to air, oxidation is largely prevented. Disadvantages are the personnel hazards and discomfort of working close to molten salts. A major application of resistance heating is in electric home appliances, including electric ranges, clothes dryers, water heaters, coffee percolators, portable radiant heaters, and hair dryers. Resistance heating also has application in home or space heating. If the resistor is located in a thermally insulated chamber, most of the heat generated is conserved and can be applied to a wide variety of heating processes. Such insulated chambers are called ovens or furnaces, depending on the temperature range and use. The term oven is generally applied to units which operate up to approximately 800F (430C). Typical uses are for baking or roasting foods, drying paints and organic enamels, baking foundry cores, and low-temperature treatments of metals. The term furnace generally applies to units operating above 1200F (650C). Typical uses of furnaces are for heat treatment or melting of metals, for vitrification and glazing of ceramic wares, for annealing of glass, and for roasting and calcining of ores. Induction Heating Induction heating is a method of providing fast, consistent heat for manufacturing applications which involve bonding or changing the properties of metals or other electrically-conductive materials. The process relies on induced electrical currents within the material to produce heat. An RF power supply sets alternating current within the coil, creating a magnetic field. Your workpiece is placed in the coil where this field induces eddy currents in the workpiece, generating precise, clean, noncontact heat in the workpiece. The higher the frequency, the shallower the heating in the workpiece. Due to hysteresis, magnetic materials are heated more readily than non-magnetic, resisting the alternating magnetic field within the induction coil. 7

Heating Methods
Induced current in the workpiece is most intense on the surface, diminishing below the surface; 80% of the heat produced in the part is produced in the outer 'skin'. The relationship of the current flow in the workpiece and the distance between the workpiece and the coil is key; 'close' coupling increases the flow of current, increasing the amount of heat produced in the workpiece. The size and shape of the water-cooled copper coil must follow the shape of your workpiece and the variables of your process. The correct heat pattern maximizes the efficiency of heating. System output determines the relative speed at which the workpiece is heated (a 5kW system heating a workpiece more quickly than a 3kW system).

Dr. A. Claude

Consider the required temperature change, mass, specific heat and electrical properties of the workpiece, the coupling efficiency of the coil design and thermal losses due to convection, radiation and conduction into your fixturing. Eddy current Heating Eddy currents (also called Foucault currents[1]) are currents induced in conductors, opposing the change in flux that generated them. It is caused when a conductor is exposed to a changing magnetic field due to relative motion of the field source and conductor; or due to variations of the field with time. This can cause a circulating flow of electrons, or a current, within the body of the conductor. These circulating eddies of current create induced magnetic fields that oppose the change of the original magnetic field due to Lenz's law, causing repulsive or drag forces between the conductor and the magnet. The stronger the applied magnetic field, or the greater the electrical conductivity of the conductor, or the faster the field that the conductor is exposed to changes, then the greater the currents that are developed and the greater the opposing field. The term eddy current comes from analogous currents seen in water when dragging an oar breadthwise: localised areas of turbulence known as eddies give rise to persistent vortices. Eddy currents, like all electric currents, generate heat as well as electromagnetic forces. The heat can be harnessed for induction heating. The electromagnetic forces can be used for levitation, creating movement, or to give a strong braking effect. Eddy currents can also have undesirable effects, for instance power loss in transformers. In this application, they are minimised with thin plates, by lamination of conductors or other details of conductor shape. Self-induced eddy currents are responsible for the skin effect in conductors.[2] The latter can be used for non-destructive testing of materials for geometry features, like micro-cracks.[3] A similar effect is the proximity effect, which is caused by externally-induced eddy currents.[4] When a conductor moves relative to the field generated by a source, electromotive forces (EMFs) can be generated around loops within the conductor. These EMFs acting on the resistivity of the material generate a current around the loop, in accordance with Faraday's 8

Heating Methods

Dr. A. Claude

law of induction. These currents dissipate energy, and create a magnetic field that tends to oppose the changes in the field. Eddy currents are created when a conductor experiences changes in the magnetic field. If either the conductor is moving through a steady magnetic field, or the magnetic field is changing around a stationary conductor, eddy currents will occur in the conductor. Both effects are present when a conductor moves through a varying magnetic field, as is the case at the top and bottom edges of the magnetized region shown in the diagram. Eddy currents will be generated wherever a conducting object experiences a change in the intensity or direction of the magnetic field at any point within it, and not just at the boundaries. The swirling current set up in the conductor is due to electrons experiencing a Lorentz force that is perpendicular to their motion. Hence, they veer to their right, or left, depending on the direction of the applied field and whether the strength of the field is increasing or declining. The resistivity of the conductor acts to damp the amplitude of the eddy currents, as well as straighten their paths. Lenz's law encapsulates the fact that the current swirls in such a way as to create an induced magnetic field that opposes the phenomenon that created it. In the case of a varying applied field, the induced field will always be in the opposite direction to that applied. The same will be true when a varying external field is increasing in strength. However, when a varying field is falling in strength, the induced field will be in the same direction as that originally applied, in order to oppose the decline. An object or part of an object experiences steady field intensity and direction where there is still relative motion of the field and the object (for example in the center of the field in the diagram), or unsteady fields where the currents cannot circulate due to the geometry of the conductor. In these situations charges collect on or within the object and these charges then produce static electric potentials that oppose any further current. Currents may be initially associated with the creation of static potentials, but these may be transitory and small. Eddy currents generate resistive losses that transform some forms of energy, such as kinetic energy, into heat. This Joule heating reduces efficiency of iron-core transformers and electric motors and other devices that use changing magnetic fields. Eddy currents are minimized in these devices by selecting magnetic core materials that have low electrical conductivity (e.g., ferrites) or by using thin sheets of magnetic material, known as laminations. Electrons cannot cross the insulating gap between the laminations and so are unable to circulate on wide arcs. Charges gather at the lamination boundaries, in a process analogous to the Hall effect, producing electric fields that oppose any further accumulation of charge and hence suppressing the eddy currents. The shorter the distance between adjacent laminations (i.e., the greater the number of laminations per unit area, perpendicular to the applied field), the greater the suppression of eddy currents.

Heating Methods

Dr. A. Claude

The conversion of input energy to heat is not always undesirable, however, as there are some practical applications. One is in the brakes of some trains known as eddy current brakes. During braking, the metal wheels are exposed to a magnetic field from an electromagnet, generating eddy currents in the wheels. The eddy currents meet resistance as charges flow through the metal, thus dissipating energy as heat, and this acts to slow the wheels down. The faster the wheels are spinning, the stronger the effect, meaning that as the train slows the braking force is reduced, producing a smooth stopping motion. Induction heating makes use of eddy currents to provide heating of metal objects. Strength of eddy currents Under certain assumptions (uniform material, uniform magnetic field, no skin effect, etc.) the power lost due to eddy currents can be calculated from the following equations:[6] For thin sheets:

For thin wires: where: P - power dissipation (W/kg), Bp - peak flux density (T), d - thickness of the sheet or diameter of the wire (m), f - frequency (Hz), - resistivity (m), D - specific density (kg/m3). It should be borne in mind that these equations are valid only under the so-called "quasistatic" conditions, where the frequency of magnetisation does not result in the skin effect, i.e. the electromagnetic wave fully penetrates the material. Therefore, the following things usually increase the size and effects of eddy currents: stronger magnetic fields - increases flux density B faster changing fields (due to faster relative speeds or otherwise) - increases the frequency f thicker materials - increases the thickness d lower resistivity materials (aluminium, copper, silver etc.) Some things reduce the effects: weaker magnets - lower B slower changing fields (slower relative speeds) - lower f thinner materials - lower d slotted materials so that currents cannot circulate - reduced d or coefficient in the denominator (6, 12, etc.) laminated materials so that currents cannot circulate - reduced d higher resistance materials (silicon rich iron etc.) Skin effect In very fast changing fields due to skin effect the equations shown above are not valid because the magnetic field does not penetrate the material uniformly. However, in any case increased frequency of the same value of field will always increase eddy currents, even with non-uniform field penetration. The penetration depth can be calculated from the following equation:
[7]

where: - penetration depth (m)[8], f - frequency (Hz), - magnetic permeability, - electrical conductivity (S/m) 10

Heating Methods

Dr. A. Claude

Dielectric Heating Dielectric heating (also known as electronic heating, RF heating, high-frequency heating) is the process in which radiowave or microwave electromagnetic radiation heats a dielectric material. This heating is caused by dipole rotation. Mechanism Molecular rotation occurs in materials containing polar molecules having an electrical dipole moment, which will align themselves in an electromagnetic field. If the field is oscillating, as in an electomagnetic wave, these molecules rotate to continuously align with it. This is called dipole rotation. As the field alternates, the molecules reverse direction. Rotating molecules push, pull, and collide with other molecules (through electrical forces), distributing the energy to adjacent molecules and atoms in the material. Temperature is the average kinetic energy (energy of motion) of the atoms or molecules in a material, so agitating the molecules in this way by definition increases the temperature of the material. Thus, dipole rotation is a mechanism by which energy in the form of electromagnetic radiation is converted to heat energy in matter. (There are also many other mechanisms by which this conversion occurs.) Dipole rotation is the mechanism normally referred to as dielectric heating, and is most widely observable in the microwave oven where it operates most efficiently on liquid water, and much less so on fats, sugars, and frozen water.[citation needed] This is caused by fats and sugars being far less polar than water molecules, and thus less affected by the forces generated by the alternating electromagnetic fields. On the other hand, frozen water molecules are fixed in place and cannot freely rotate, so they cannot accelerate as much in response to the electromagnetic forces they experience from the external electromagnetic waves. Outside of cooking, the effect can be used generally to heat solids, liquids, or gases, provided they contain some electric dipoles. Power Dielectric heating should be distinguished from Joule heating of conductive media. If conductivity is poor, or frequency is high, such that , then dielectric heating is the dominant mechanism of loss. For dielectric heating the generated power density per volume is calculated by where is the angular frequency, r'' is the imaginary part of the complex relative permittivity, 0 is the permittivity of free space and E the electric field strength. The imaginary part of the complex relative permittivity is a measure for the ability of dielectric material to convert radio frequency electromagnetic field energy into heat. Penetration Communication microwave frequencies penetrate conductive materials, including semi-solid substances like meat and living tissue, to a distance defined by the skin effect. The penetration stops essentially where all of the penetrating microwave energy has been absorbed as (i.e. converted to) heat in the tissue. For this reason, it may be dangerous to stand close to high-power microwave antennas such as those used for broadcasting over long distances (tens of miles); a person in proximity to such antennas may experience severe penetrating burns, which (in the worst cases) may include serious burn injury to internal organs.

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Heating Methods

Dr. A. Claude

Uses The use of high-frequency electric fields for heating dielectric materials had been proposed in the 1930s, for example US patent 2,147,689 (application by Bell Telephone Laboratories, dated 1937) states "This invention relates to heating systems for dielectric materials and the object of the invention is to heat such materials uniformly and substantially simultaneously throughout their mass. ... It has been proposed therefore to heat such materials simultaneously throughout their mass by means of the dielectric loss produced in them when they are subjected to a high voltage, high frequency field. " The modern microwave oven makes use of microwave frequency electric fields for highly efficient dielectric heating. In the natural sciences, the term diathermy means "electrically induced heat" and is commonly used for muscle relaxation. It is also a method of heating tissue electromagnetically or ultrasonically for therapeutic purposes in medicine.[1] In surgery, it is used as a method of electrocauterization, for example in controlling bleeding or cutting through tissues.[2] Therapeutic ultrasound refers to heating of tissues by ultrasound for the purpose of therapeutic deep heating. If precautions are followed no tissue is ordinarily damaged. It is generally used in physical therapy biomedical applications.[3][4] Electric diathermy uses high frequency alternating electric or magnetic fields, sometimes with no electrode or device contact to the skin, to induce gentle deep tissue heating by induction or dipole rotation. If precautions are followed no tissue is ordinarily damaged. It is generally used in physical therapy biomedical applications.[5]

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