Discipline: Chemical Engineering

4th Semester
Subject: Process Heat Transfer
Unit 1
Module Name: Mechanism of Heat Transfer

Dr. Babita Sur

Lecturer in Chemical Engineering
Hooghly Institute of Technology

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Dr. B. Sur, HIT, Hooghly
 Mechanism of Heat Transfer
Conduction-Convection-Radiation
Radiation-Concept of steady & unsteady state heat transfer process

eat transfer is a science, which deals with the flow of heat from a higher temperature to lower
Heat
temperature. Heat cannot be stored and it is defined as the energy in transit due to the difference
in the temperatures of the hot and cold bodies. The study of heat transfer not only explains how
the heat energy transports but also predicts about the rate of heat transfer. When a certain amount
of water is evaporated or condensed,
ndensed, the amount of heat transferred in either of the processes is
same. However, the rate of heat transfer in both the cases may be different.
At this point, it is very important to understand about the basic information that the phases of a
substance (solid, liquid, and gas) are associated with its energy content. In the solid phase, the
molecules or atoms are very closely packed to give a rigid structure (fig.a). In the liquid phase,
sufficient thermal energy is present, which keeps the molecules sufficiently
sufficiently apart and as a result
the rigidity looses (fig.b). In the gas phase, the presence of additional energy results in a
complete separation and the molecules or atoms are free to move anywhere in the space (fig.c). It
must be noticed that whenever a change
change in phase occurs, a large amount of energy involves in
the transition.

Relative molecular distance of different phases of a substance at a fixed temperature (a) solid,
(b) liquid, and (c) gas/vapour

As we are dealing with the heating and cooling

cooling of materials in almost our all the processes, the
heat transfer is an indispensable part of any of the industries. Therefore, heat transfer is a
common subject in many engineering disciplines, especially mechanical and chemical
engineering. Study of heatt transfer has a vital role in the chemical process industries. Chemical
engineers must have a thorough knowledge of heat transfer principles and their applications.

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Dr. B. Sur, HIT, Hooghly
Modes of heat transfer
There are three different modes in which heat may pass from a hot body to a cold one. These
modes are conduction, convection, and radiation. It should be noted that the heat transfer takes
place in combination of two or three modes in any of the real engineering application.
In this section, we will discuss about the three different modes of heat transfer. The discussion
will help us to understand about the conduction, convection, and radiation. Moreover, we would
be able to understand the basic difference between the three modes of heat transfer.

Conduction
Conduction is the transfer of heat in a continuous substance without any observable motion of
the matter. Thus, heat conduction is essentially the transmission of energy by molecular motion,
which may be either migration of free electrons or lattice vibrations. Consider a metallic rod
being heated at the end and the other end of the rod gets heated automatically. The heat is
transported from one end to the other end by the conduction phenomenon. The molecules of the
metallic rod get energy from the heating medium and collide with the neighbouring molecules.
This process transfers the energy from the more energetic molecules to the low energetic
molecules. Thus, heat transfer requires a temperature gradient, and the heat energy transfer by
conduction occurs in the direction of decreasing temperature. Figure shows an illustration for the
conduction, where the densely packed atoms of the rod get energized on heating and vibration
effect transfers the heat.

Different stages during conduction in a metallic rod

The metallic rod is being heated

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Dr. B. Sur, HIT, Hooghly
 The energy is transferred to the atoms and vibrations of the atoms started

As more energy is transferred to the atoms, the vibrations increase and energy is transferred to
other atoms

Convection
When a macroscopic particle of a fluid moves from the region of hot to cold region, it carries
with it a definite amount of enthalpy. Such a flow of enthalpy is known as convection.
Convection may be natural or forced. In natural convection, the movement of the fluid particles
is due to the buoyancy forces generated due to density difference of heated and colder region of
the fluid as shown in the figure (a). Whereas, in forced convection the movement of fluid
particles from the heated region to colder region is assisted by some mechanical means too (e.g.,
stirrer) as shown in figure (b).

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Dr. B. Sur, HIT, Hooghly
 Heat transfer through convection (a) natural and (b) forced

Radiation
We have seen that a medium is required for the heat transfer in case of conduction and
convection. However, in case of radiation, electromagnetic waves pass through the empty space.
Electromagnetic waves travel at the velocity of light in vacuum. These waves are absorbed,
reflected, and/or transmitted by the matter, which comes in the path of the wave. We will limit
our discussion to the thermal radiation. Thermal radiation is the term used to describe the
electromagnetic radiation, which is observed to be emitted by the surface of the thermally
excited body. The heat of the Sun is the most obvious example of thermal radiation.
There will be a continuous interchange of energy between two radiating bodies, with a net
exchange of energy from the hotter to the colder body as shown in the figure below.

Heat transfer through radiation

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Dr. B. Sur, HIT, Hooghly
Steady & unsteady state heat transfer process
Any physical phenomenon generally involves a change in space of its physical properties. Heat
exchange is also accompanied by space-time
space variation of temperature, i.e.,

T = f (x, y, z, t)

Heat exchange between two systems may take place under steady and unsteady thermal
conditions.
Steady state implies that temperature at each point of the system remains constant in the course
of time, and it is a function only of space co-ordinates
co i.e.,

T = f (x, y, z) and

In the case of heat transfer, in particular, it means that both the temperature and the heat flux at
any location remain constant or invariant with respect to time. For example, if we consider the
plane wall in figure below, the flow of heat occurs at steady state at the rate given by

if the temperatures T1 and T2 at the surfaces have been maintained for a sufficiently long time.

Steady state results in a constant rate of heat exchange, and there is no change in internal energy
of the system during such a process. Typical examples of steady state heat transfer are:

1. Cooling of an electric bulb by the surrounding atmosphere,

2. Heat flow from the products of combustion to water in the tubes of a boiler, from the hot fluid
to the cold fluid in a heat exchanger,
exchanger, and from a refrigerated space to cooling surface of the
evaporator.

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Dr. B. Sur, HIT, Hooghly
Under unsteady thermal conditions, temperature of the system changes continuously with time.
Temperature is obviously a function of space and time co-ordinates. i.e.,

T = f (x, y, z, t); ≠0

unsteady state results in heat transfer rate which changes with time. Further, a change in
temperature indicates a chane of internal energy of the system. Energy storage is thus a part and
percel of unsteady heat flow. Typical examples of unsteady heat transfer are:

1. warm up period of furnace,

2. Boilers and turbines,
3. Cooling of casting in a foundry,
4. Heat treatment and stress relieving of metal castings.

A special kind of unsteady process is the transient state wherein the system is subjected to cyclic
variations in the temperature of its environment. Temperature at a particular point of the system
returns periodically to the same value; the rate of heat flow and energy storage also undergo
periodic variations. Examples are:

1. Heating or cooling the water of an IC engine,

2. Heating or cooling of the walls of a building during the 24 hours cycle of the day.

Further, the heat transfer in a system may in one, two or three directions. In a one dimensional
heat flow, there is a single predominant direction in which temperature differential exists and
obviously the heat flow takes place; heat flow in the other two directions may safely be
neglected. For simplicity, solutions to majority of heat transfer problems are obtained by one
dimensional analysis.

Source:
1. B. K. Dutta: Heat Transfer- Principles and Applications.
2. NPTEL Course Online
3. Dr. D. S. Kumar: Heat and Mass Transfer

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Dr. B. Sur, HIT, Hooghly