Heat transfer is the science that seeks to predict the energy transfer that may take place

between material bodies as a result of a temperature difference.

Thermodynamics teaches that this energy transfer is defined as heat. The science of heat
transfer seeks not merely to explain how heat energy may be transferred, but also to predict
the rate at which the exchange will take place under certain specified conditions.
Thermal energy is related to the temperature of matter. For a given material and mass, the
higher the temperature, the greater its thermal energy.
Heat ( Q ) is energy in transit. The transfer of energy as heat occurs at the molecular level as a
result of a temperature difference. Heat is capable of being transmitted through solids and
fluids by conduction, through fluids by convection, and through empty space by radiation.
Work is the transfer of energy resulting from a force acting through a distance.
Heat is energy transferred as the result of a temperature difference.
Conduction is the transfer of heat through solids or stationery fluids.
Convection uses the movement of fluids to transfer heat.
Radiation does not require a medium for transferring heat; this mode uses the electromagnetic
radiation emitted by an object for exchanging heat.
Thermal conductivity, k [W/mK] is a measure of a material’s ability to conduct heat. The
thermal conductivity is defined as the rate of heat transfer through a unit thickness of material
per unit area per unit temperature difference.
The heat transfer co-efficient is sometimes called the film conductance or surface conductance
because of its relation to the conduction process in the thin stationary layer of fluid at the wall
surface.
A Free/natural Convection when a surface is maintained in still fluid at a temperature higher or
lower than that of the fluid, a layer of fluid adjacent to the hot or cold surface gets heated or
cooled by conduction.
A Forced Convection the flow of fluid is caused by a pump, a fan or by the atmospheric winds.
Blackbody
- is defined as a perfect emitter and absorber of radiation. At a specified temperature and
wavelength, no surface can emit more energy than a blackbody.
- absorbs all incident radiation, regardless of wavelength and direction.
- emits radiation energy uniformly in all directions per unit area normal to direction of
emission.
When a surface absorbs a certain fixed percentage of impinging radiations, the surface is called
gray body. A surface whose properties are independent of the wavelength is known as a gray
surface.

A body that reflects all the incident thermal radiations is called an absolutely white body or
specular body.

Regular (specular) reflection implies that angle between the reflected beam and the normal to
the surface equals the angle made by the incident radiation with the same normal.

In a diffused radiation, incident beam is reflected in all directions.

A body that allows all the incident radiations to pass through it is called transparent body or
diathermanous.

Transmissivity varies with wave length of incident radiation. A material may be non-transparent
for a certain wavelength transparent for another. This type of material is called selective
transmitter.

For opaque body, t means that good absorbers are bad reflector or vice-versa.

HEAT EXCHANGER

“Heat exchanger is process equipment designed for the effective transfer of heat energy
between two fluids; a hot fluid and a coolant”.
The purpose may be either to remove heat from a fluid or to add heat to a fluid.

Examples of heat exchangers:

 Intercoolers and pre-heaters
 Condensers and boilers in steam plant
 Condensers and evaporators in refrigeration unit
 Regenerators
 Automobile radiators
 Oil coolers of heat engine
 Evaporator of an ice plant and milk-chiller of a pasteurizing plant

Types of Heat Exchangers

Many types of heat exchangers have been developed to meet the widely varying applications.

Heat exchangers are typically classified according to:

1. Nature of heat exchange process
 A. Direct contact or open heat exchanger
 Complete physical mixing of hot and cold fluid and reach a common
temperature.
 Simultaneous heat and mass transfer.
 Use is restricted, where mixing between two fluids is harmful.
Examples:
(i) Water cooling towers - in which a spray of water falling from the top of the
tower is directly contacted and cooled by a stream of air flowing upward
(ii) Jet condensers.

B. Regenerators
 In a regenerator the hot fluid is passed through a certain medium called
“matrix”, serves as a heat storage device.
 The heat is transferred and stored in solid matrix and subsequently
transferred to the cold fluid.
 The effectiveness of regenerator depends upon the heat capacity of the
regenerating material and the rate of absorption and release of heat.
 In a fixed matrix configuration, the hot and cold fluids pass alternately
through a stationary matrix, and for continuous operation two or more
matrices are necessary
 One commonly used arrangement for the matrix is the “packed bed”.
Another approach is the rotary regenerator in which a circular matrix rotates
and alternately exposes a portion of its surface to the hot and then to the
cold fluid.

C. Recuperators
 In this type of heat exchanger, the hot and cold fluids are separated by a wall
and heat is transferred by a combination of convection to and from the wall
and conduction through the wall. The wall can include extended surfaces,
such as fins.
 Majority of the industrial applications have recuperator type heat
exchangers.

2. Relative direction of motion of fluids

A. Parallel flow - Hot and cold both the fluids flow in the same direction
B. Counter flow - Flow of fluids is opposite in direction to each other - Gives maximum
heat transfer rate
C. Cross flow arrangement
- Two fluids are directed perpendicular to each other. (Example: Automobile
radiator and cooling unit of air-conditioning duct)
- The flow of the exterior fluid may be by forced or by natural convection.

3. Mechanical design of heat exchange surface

 A. Concentric tube heat exchanger
- Two concentric pipes
- Each carrying one of the fluids.
- The direction of flow may correspond to parallel or counter flow
arrangement
B. Shell & tube heat exchanger
- One of the fluids is carried through a bundle of tubes enclosed by a shell and
other fluid is forced through shell and flows over the outside surface of
tubes.
- The direction of flow for either or both fluids may change during its passage
through the heat exchanger.
C. Multiple shell & tube passes
 Single-pass - Two fluids may flow through the exchanger only once.
 Multi-pass - One or both fluids may traverse the exchanger more than once
 Baffles are provided within a shell which cause the fluid surrounding the
tubes (shell side fluid) to travel the length of shell a no. of times.
 An exchanger having n–shell passes and m–tubes passes is designed as n-m
exchanger.
 A multiple shell & tube exchanger is preferred to ordinary counter flow
design due to its low cost of manufacture, easy dismantling for cleaning and
repair and reduced thermal stresses due to expansion.

4. Physical state of heat exchanging fluids

The direction of flow is immaterial in these cases and the LMTD will be the same for
both parallel flow, counter flow and other flow types

A. Condenser - The temperature of hot fluid will remain constant throughout the heat
exchanger. (Only latent heat is transferred)
B. Evaporator - The temperature of cold fluid will remain constant throughout the heat
exchanger. (only latent heat is transferred)