Module 3

Conductive & Convective Heat

Transfer
Heat transfer
 Heat transfer deals with the study of rates at which exchange of heat takes place between a hot
source and a cold receiver. In process industries there are many operations which involve
transfer of energy in the form of heat, e.g., evaporation, distillation, drying, etc. And also
chemical reactions carried on a commercial scale take place with evolution or absorption of heat.
It is also necessary to prevent the loss of heat from a hot vessel or a pipe system to the ambient
air.
 In all these cases, the major problem is that of transfer of heat at the desired rate.
 The knowledge of laws of heat transfer, mechanisms of heat transfer and process heat transfer
equipments is of great importance from a stand point of controlling the flow of heat in the
desired manner.

Conduction
 Conduction: It is the transfer of heat from one part of a body to the another part of the same body
or from one body to another which is in physical contact with it, without appreciable
displacement of particles of a body. Conduction is restricted to the flow of heat in solids.
 Examples of conduction: Heat flow through the brick wall of a furnace, the metal sheet of a
boiler and the metal wall of a heat exchanger tube.

Convection
 It is the transfer of heat from one point to another point within a fluid (gas or liquid) by mixing
of hot and cold portions of the fluid.
 It is attributed to the macroscopic motion of fluid.
 Convection is restricted to the flow of heat in fluids and is closely associated with fluid
mechanics. In natural convection, the fluid motion results from the difference in densities of the
warmer and cooler fluid arising from the temperature difference in the fluid mass.
 In forced convection, the fluid motion is produced by mechanical means such as an agitator, a
fan or pump. Examples of heat transfer mainly by convection are : heating of room by means of
a steam radiator, heating of water in cooking pans, heat flow to a fluid pumped through a heated
pipe.

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Conduction
 It is our common observation that when some material object is heated at one of its locations,
then in a short while its remaining parts also get heated.
 This shows that heat flows through the material object from a high temperature region to a low
temperature region.
 The flow of heat in this manner is called as heat conduction or simply conduction, wherein
the particles of object participate in the process but they do not move bodily from the hot or high
temperature region to the cold or low temperature region.
 Conduction refers to the mode of heat transfer in which the heat flow through the material
medium occurs without actual migration of particles of the medium from a region of higher
temperature to a region of lower temperature.
 It is a fact that conduction occurs in solids, liquids and gases but pure conduction is found to
present only in solids, with gases and liquids it is present with convection, so we will consider
here heat conduction in solids for better understanding of conduction mechanism as convection
is not present in solids.

Fourier's Law
• The physical law governing the transfer of heat through a uniform material (whenever
a temperature difference exists) by a conduction mode was given by the French scientist : Joseph
Fourier.
Fourier's law states that the rate of heat flow by conduction through a uniform (fixed) material is
directly proportional to the area normal to the direction of the heat flow and the temperature
gradient in the direction of the heat flow.
Mathematically, the Fourier's law of heat conduction for steady state heat flow is given by

where Q is the rate of heat flow/transfer in watts (W), A is the area normal to the direction of heat
flow in m2 , T is the temperature in K, n is the distance measured normal to the surface, i.e., the
length of conduction path along the heat flow in m, dT/dn is the rate of change of temperature with
distance measured in the direction of heat flow (called as temperature gradient) in K/m. k is a
constant of proportionality and is called the thermal conductivity. It is the characteristic property of a
material through which heat flows.
The negative sign is incorporated in equation (2.2) because the temperature gradient is negative
(since with an increase in n there is a decrease in T, i.e., temperature decreases in the direction of
heat flow) and it makes the heat flow positive in the direction of temperature decrease.
The Fourier's law for a steady state unidirectional (say in the x-direction) heat conduction then
becomes

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where Q is the rate of heat flow, i.e., heat flow per unit time in W, and q is the heat flux, i.e., the rate of
heat flow per unit area in W/m2 (in the x-direction). In further discussion we will make use of Equation
(2.3). The Fourier's law [equation (2.3)] is a fundamental differential equation of heat transfer by
conduction. It is simply a definition of k.
[The heat flux is defined as the amount of heat transfer per unit area per unit time or the rate of heat
transfer per unit area, Q/A.]

Convection
 A large majority of practical applications of heat transfer in the chemical process industries
involve either heat transfer to a fluid or heat transfer from a fluid.
 The heat flow mechanism in solids is by conduction; whereas the heat flow mechanism in fluids
is due to convection.
 Convection is the transfer of heat from one point to another point within a fluid by mixing of hot
and cold portions of the fluid.
 Heat transfer by convection occurs as a result of the movement of the fluid on a macroscopic
scale in the form of circulating currents.
 The circulating currents may be set up either by heat transfer process itself or some external
agency. It is restricted to the heat flow in fluids.
 In the case of convective heat transfer, the physical mixing of the hot and cold portions of a fluid
is responsible for the flow of heat from one place to another within the fluid.
 There are two types of convection.
 Convection is classified as: (i) free or natural convection and (ii) forced convection.
 When the circulating currents arise from the heat transfer process itself, i.e., from the density
differences arising in turn due to temperature differences / gradients within the fluid mass, the
mode of heat transfer is called free or natural convection.
 Examples of natural convection:
1. Heating of a vessel containing liquid by means of a gas flame situated underneath. The liquid at the
bottom of the vessel gets heated, expands and rises because its density has become less than that of the
remaining liquid. Cold liquid of higher density takes its place and a circulating current is set up.
2. The flow of air across a heated radiator/heat of a room by means of a steam radiator.
 When the circulating currents are produced by an external agency such as an agitator in
a reaction vessel, pump, fan or blower, the mode of heat transfer is called forced
convection. Here fluid motion is independent of density gradients
 Example of forced convection :
 Heat flow to a fluid pumped through a heated pipe.
 In general, higher rates of heat transfer are obtained in forced convection as compared to natural
convection owing to a greater magnitude of circulation in the forced circulation.

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  In the case of convective heat transfer taking place from a surface to a fluid, the circulating
currents die out in the immediate viscinity of the surface and a film of the fluid free of
turbulence, covers the surface.
 Heat transfer through this film takes by thermal conduction.
 Since the thermal conductivity of most fluids is low, the main resistance to heat transfer lies in
the film.
 Therefore, an increase in the velocity of the fluid over the surface results in improved heat
transfer mainly because of reduction in the thickness of the film.
 If the resistance to heat transfer is considered as lying within the film covering the surface, the
rate of heat transfer Q is given by

 This is the basic equation for the rate of heat transfer by convection under steady
state conditions, where 'h' is called the film heat transfer coefficient or surface coefficient or
simply film coefficient.
 The value of 'h' depends upon the properties of the fluid within the film region, hence it is called
the film heat transfer coefficient. It depends upon the various properties of the fluid, linear
dimension of surface and fluid velocity (i.e. the nature of flow).
 Numerically, heat transfer coefficient (h) is the quantity of heat transferred in a unit time through
a unit area at a temperature difference of one degree between the surface and surrounding. h has
the units of W/(m2·K) in the SI system. The term 1/h is called as the thermal resistance.

Heat transfer in condensation of single vapour

 The processes involving a phase change, like condensation and boiling are also very important in
industrial practice.
 The change from liquid to vapour state is known as vaporisation and that from vapour to liquid is
known as condensation.
 Condensation is a convection process that involves a change of phase from vapour to liquid
 and it occurs whenever a saturated vapour comes into contact of a cold surface, for example,
 in surface condensers, heat transfer from the vapour to the surface takes place and the vapour
 gets condensed on the surface.
 The process of condensation, which is the reverse of boiling, occurs by two
distinct mechanisms/modes and that too at very different rates of heat transfer.
 The two distinct mechanisms are: (i) dropwise condensation and (ii) filmwise condensation.
1. Drop-wise Condensation:
 When a saturated vapour comes into contact with a cold surface (a surface at a lower
temperature), it condenses and if condensate does not wet the surface, the droplets are formed on
the surface.

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  These droplets grow and ultimately fall down the surface in a random fashion under the
influence of gravity leaving behind the bare metal surface on which further condensation takes
place.
 The condensation occurring by this mechanism is known as dropwise condensation.
2. Film-wise Condensation
 When a saturated vapour comes into contact with a cold surface, it condenses and if condensate
wets the surface, it forms a continuous film of condensate, which covers the entire surface,
through which heat must be transferred.
 The additional vapour is then required to condense into the liquid film rather than directly on the
surface.
 The condensate ultimately flows down the surface under the influence of gravity.
 The condensation occurring by this mechanism is called as filmwise condensation.
 In film-wise condensation, the film covering the surface acts as a resistance to heat transfer,
while in drop-wise condensation, a large portion of the surface is directly exposed to the vapour.
 Because of this the heat transfer coefficients (hence the heat transfer rates) in drop-wise
condensation are four to eight times larger than those for film wise condensation.
 Drop-wise condensation needs a physical preparation of surfaces which is very difficult and
needs to be promoted by introducing certain additives into the vapour stream.
 This type of condensation is very unstable, i.e., difficult to maintain and also the design methods
are not available.
 Because of these reasons, dropwise condensation is not common in industry.
 In general, smooth, clean, uncontaminated surfaces seem to promote film-wise condensation and
oily or greasy surfaces and presence of dirt on the surfaces, i.e., when impurities are present and
surface is contaminated, seem to promote dropwise condensation.
 Film-wise condensation is very common and reliable since most surfaces become wetted after
being exposed to the condensing vapours over a period of time and it is difficult to achieve
dropwise condensation and therefore the condensing equipments in use are designed on the basis
of film-wise condensation.
 Condensers are widely used in the chemical industry.
 For example, in the separation of the constituents of a liquid mixture by distillation, a condenser
converts vapours from the top of the column into liquid distillate and reflux.
 In power plants the surface condensers are used for condensing steam from the exhaust of
turbines into liquid.
 The home air conditioning unit makes a use of air-cooled condenser for liquefication of
refrigerant.

Double pipe heat exchanger

 A heat exchanger is a device used to affect the process of heat exchange between two fluids that
are at different temperatures.
 Double pipe heat exchanger: It is the simplest type of heat exchanger used in industry. It is used
when the heat transfer area required is relatively small.
 It consists of concentric pipes, connecting tees, return heads and return bends.
 The packing glands support the inner pipe within the outer pipe.

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  A double pipe heat exchanger arranged in two legs [i.e., when two lengths of the inner pipe are
connected by a return bend] as shown in is known as a single hair-pin.

• Tees are provided with nozzles or screwed connections for permitting the entry and exit of the
annulus fluid which crosses from one leg to the other through the return head.
• The return bend connects two legs of the inner pipes to each other.
• This exchanger can be very easily assembled in any pipe-fitting shop as it consists of standard
parts and it provides inexpensive heat transfer surface
• In this exchanger, one of the fluids flows through the inside pipe and the other fluid flows
through the annular space created between two concentric pipes either in co-current or counter-
current fashion.
• It is usually employed for decreasing the temperature of a hot fluid with the help of a cold
• fluid when flow rates are low. These are commonly used in refrigeration services.
• These exchangers are usually assembled in effective lengths of 3.65, 4.57, 6 m.
• The distance in each leg over which the heat transfer occurs is termed as the effective length
• The major disadvantages of a double pipe heat exchanger are:
1. Small heat transfer surface in a large floor space as compared to other types (e.g., shell and tube
heat exchanger).
2. Dismantling requires large time and
3. Maximum leakage points.

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 • Apart from this, double pipe heat exchanger is very attractive where the total heat transfer
surface required is small, 9.29 m2 to 14 m2 or less. It is simple in construction, cheap and easy to
clean.

Shell and Tube Heat Exchanger

 For a variety of industrial services where large heat transfer surfaces are required, shell and tube
heat exchangers are commonly used.
 These heat exchange equipments can be fabricated from a wide range of materials of
construction.
 A shell and tube heat exchanger consists of a number of parallel tubes, ends of which are fixed in
the tube sheets and the entire tube bundle is enclosed in a close-fitting cylindrical shell.
 In this exchanger, heat transfer surface is the one that is offered by tubes.
 One of the fluid flows through the tubes, while the outer fluid flows through the space created
between tubes and shell, i.e., outside the tubes.
 These fluids are in thermal contact but are physically separated by a metal wall of the tubes.
 Heat flows through the metal wall of the tubes from the hot fluid to the cold fluid.
 The fluid flowing through the tubes is called the tube fluid/tube side fluid, whereas the fluid
flowing outside the tube is called the shell fluid/shell side fluid.
 If none of the fluids condenses or evaporates, the unit is known as heat exchanger.
 When one of the fluids condenses, then the unit is known as condenser or as heater depending on
whether the primary purpose of the unit is to condense one fluid or to heat the other.
 Similarly, such units may be called as cooler, evaporator, etc. based on a primary purpose for
which they are used.
1. Shell:
 It is usually a cylindrical casing through which one of the fluids flows in one or more passes.
 Shell is commonly made of carbon steel. It may be cut to the required length from a standard
pipe upto 60 cm diameter or fabricated from plates.
 The minimum thickness of shell made of carbon steel varies from 5 mm to 11 mm depending
upon the diameter.
2. Tubes:
 Standard heat exchanger tubes used in many industrial processes may be of various sizes and
lengths.
 The outside diameter of tubes varies from 6 mm to 40 mm.
 The tubes with outside diameters of 19 mm and 25 mm are very common.
 The tube lengths used are 0.5, 2.5, 3, 4, 5 and 6 meters.
3. Tube pitch: The shortest centre-to-centre distance between the adjacent tubes is called as the tube
pitch.
4. Clearance:
 The shortest distance between two tubes is called as the clearance.
 The minimum pitch is 1.25 times the outside diameter of tube.
 The clearance should not be less than 0.25 times the outside diameter of tube, the minimum
clearance being 4.76 mm.

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 5. Baffles: Baffles are commonly employed within the shell of a heat exchanger to increase the rate
of heat transfer by increasing the velocity and turbulence of the shell side fluid and also
as structural supports for the tubes and dampers against vibration.
 The baffles cause the fluid to flow through the shell at right angles to the axes of the tubes.
 To avoid bypassing of the shell side fluid the clearance between the baffles and shell, and the
baffles and tubes must be minimum.
6. Tube sheet: It is essentially a flat circular plate with a provision for making gasketed joint,
around a pheriphery.
 A large number of holes are drilled in the tube sheet according to the pitch requirements.
7. Shell Side and Tube Side Passes:
 With the help of passes (i.e., flow paths) we can change the direction of flow in the shell and
tubes.
 Passes are generally used to obtain higher velocities and longer paths for a fluid to travel,
without increasing the length of the exchanger, that leads to high heat transfer rates.

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  The passes on the shell side are: single pass, two pass, single split pass. The passes on the tube
side are : one, two, four, six upto twelve.
 Passes on the tube side are formed by partitions placed in the shell cover and channels.

 When we use a single pass partition on the tube side, the tube side fluid flows twice through
the heat exchanger.
 In this case the pass partition divides the tubes equally in two sections.
 It is provided in the channel so that inlet and outlet connections for the tube side fluid are
provided on the same channel

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Advantages:
(i) The tube bundle of the exchanger is removable for inspection and mechanical cleaning of the
tubes (from outside).
(ii) It eliminates differential expansion problems.

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