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Conduc on, Convec on and Radia on Heat Transfer

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purposes. You may not copy informa on from this web site for monetary gain.

Informa on on the general physics of heat transfer is readily available on the internet. This page
does not make an eort to repeat that informa on or add anything to it. This page covers the
basic principles necessary to understand solar home design and modelling.

Energy in the form of heat is typically transferred from a higher energy state to a lower energy
state. In most cases this means transferring heat from a warmer loca on to a cooler one. There
are 3 basic ways that this takes place.

Conduc on.

Conduc on always requires mass contact. That means something with mass in contact with
something else with mass. An object or substance with mass can be solid, liquid or gas.
Neighboring molecules are responsible for transferring energy from one object or substance to
another or for moving energy deeper into a substance or emi ng it at the surface. Heat energy
increases the energy of the molecule and free electrons can transport that energy to neighboring
molecules. The energy transfer is always from higher energy to lower energy or from a warmer
area to a cooler one. If the outside temperature is cooler than the inside then energy transfer is
to the outside. If the inside is cooler than the outside then energy transfer is to the inside. The
same formula is used regardless of direc on. Energy transfer due to conduc on is typically
computed using a simple formula.

Q = (delta T) / R * A

Where, Q is the heat transferred in Btu/sf-hr,

delta T is (T warmer - T cooler) in degrees F,

R is the R value of the material in sf-deg F-hr/Btu,

and A is the area of the surface in square feet.

The driving force is delta T. The greater delta T the faster energy moves. The resistance to that
movement is in R. The R value is the reciprocal of the U-value. R values or U values for materials
are given for a set of standardized condi ons. That means if your condi ons are not the same as
the standardized condi ons then you cannot assume the material has the R value or U value
given.

Convec on

Convec on is like conduc on. Instead of the absolute temperature for the energy transfer
surfaces, delta T is a reec on of the temperature dierence before and a er the transfer took
place. In a convec ve heat transfer, winds or some gas at a higher velocity than the subject
sweeps by the subject surface and grabs all the high energy molecules and sweeps them away.
Those molecules have a lot of poten al energy. Eventually they smash into something else and
that poten al energy is converted into kine c energy. The energy is imparted into the surface that
they smashed into. Its much like a car hi ng a brick wall at high speed. Its amazing we can't hear

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it. All we get to hear is this whistle when it tries to squeeze itself through a very small hole or
crack at high velocity. The formula for compu ng convec ve heat loss is:

Q = (Delta T) / R * A, just like the conduc on heat transfer equa on. The dierence is that Delta T
in this case is the temperature dierence before and a er the conduc on took place. It is a
number between 1 and 10. When in doubt use 7.

Radia on

If you go to this website, h p://jersey.uoregon.edu/vlab/elements/Elements.html and click on

each element you should note that each element has a unique absorp on spectrum in the visible
light range. If you select the emission op on you will see that each element emits energy at very
par cular wavelengths, the same wavelengths it absorbs energy at. It does not absorb or emit
energy at any other wavelengths, just the ones given in the absorptance or emi ance spectrum. It
does not emit energy at a par cular wavelength un l it has reached the temperature associated
with that wavelength. When an object is red hot, then it glows red and it is giving o energy
specically in the frequencies that correspond to that color or that energy level or the
temperature associated with it. When its even ho er it will appear yellow. The higher energy or
the ho er colors move to the le toward the blue.

Here is an example from h p://astro.u-strasbg.fr/~koppen/discharge/ its the emission spectra of

carbon

and this is the emission spectra of oxygen

The atoms absorb and emit energy at dierent frequencies depending on their own bonding and
electron congura ons.

This color bar showing the visible light range with the wavelengths came from
h p://mrsec.wisc.edu/Edetc/cineplex/movies/CConnect/BlueLight/moviepages/em_el.htm

Shorter wavelengths mean higher frequencies. Higher frequencies are related to higher
temperatures. A ho er object is closer to the blue end of the spectrum and cooler objects are
closer to the red. At Yellowstone, the ho est springs are blue.

At room temperature an ideal black body is emi ng energy mostly in the long wave infrared
region of the electromagne c spectrum and at all wavelengths. Many objects in our surround act
like this. They absorb heat from warm air, heated objects near or in touch with them or directly
from the sun. They then heat up a li le and start ge ng rid of that heat by emi ng energy in the

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long wave por on of the IR spectrum. If you heat that black body up enough it will start emi ng
energy in the visible wavelengths.

Emissivity

The emi ance of a material refers to its ability to release absorbed heat energy. This is a number
between 0 and 1 or 0 and 100%. A true black body has an emissivity of 1. It is capable of ge ng
rid of any heat energy it absorbs because it emits energy in all wavelengths, ideally. That means
regardless of temperature, it is capable of ge ng rid of the energy it gains. There is li le such
thing as an ideal black body. Most bodies are "grey bodies" which means they absorb and emit
energy at certain wavelengths only. Nothing gives o radiant energy unless it is at the appropriate
temperature to do so. The higher the temperature the more energy is given o per unit me
when compared to something at a lower temperature. Many common non metal materials have
an emissivity somewhere around 85% to 95%. That means under average habitable Earth
condi ons they are capable of ge ng rid of 85% to 95% of the heat energy they gain by re-
emi ng that energy as heat in the long wave por on of the IR spectrum.

Many metallic materials on the other hand may have emissivity values closer to 1 or less than 1
(1%). Metallic materials such as chrome, le out in the sun side by side with something painted
black, will get much ho er than the black surface. It is true that the black surface is absorbing all
wavelenghts of the visible spectrum (ideally), conver ng the energy from the photons it gains into
higher temperature, then radia ng that energy in the long wave por on of the IR spectrum. The
key is that it is releasing everything it absorbs. It probably has the ability to release energy in
mul ple wavelengths simultaneously so it can keep up with the incident solar gain. The chrome
on the other hand may be highly reec ve to the incoming radia on but it cannot easily get rid of
the energy it gains . It heats up more and more. Chrome has a very low emissivity, a piece of
wood painted with latex or oil based black paint has a fairly high emissivity. Le out in the hot sun
the chrome will feel much ho er than the black painted wood.

Emissivity is dependent on wavelength. When a material is capable of absorbing energy at a

par cular wavelength it is also typically capable of emi ng energy at that same wavelength.The
chrome may not be able to radiate the energy it absorbs un l it reaches a signcantly high
temperature. The black painted piece of wood will likely never get that hot when both are
exposed to direct sunlight.

The ability of an object to absorb energy, or more specically heat energy, or thermal radia on is
called its absorp on factor. The spectral absorp on factor is equal to the emissivity of an object.
This rela on is known as Kirchhol's law of thermal radia on. The absorp on and emissivity of a
material are the same number and absorptance spectrums are frequently generated from
emmisivity spectrums.

The reectance of a material is the dierence between the aborptance and 1. The absorptance
and reectance sum to 1 for any material or 100% at a given wavelength. Reec vity at one set of
wavelengths does not mean you can deduce emissivity at any other wavelengths as they do not
sum to 1 or 100%. If a material such as a white painted piece of plywood has 95% reec vity in
the visible por on of the spectrum that does not mean it has 5% emissivity in any part of the IR
por on of the spectrum. It means that if the material reects 95% of the radia on at wavelength
800 nm, then at 800 nm it has an emissivity of 5%.

Radiant barrier materials like Aluminum have low emissivity in the mid and long infrared
spectrum, or in the range 3-15 micrometers. That means they have low absorp on in those

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frequencies, which means they have high reec vity to those frequencies. They may absorb a lot
of energy at other wavelengths.

Most objects at room temperature will emit radia on concentrated in the range of 8 - 25
micrometers.

1 nanometer (nm) = 0.001 micrometers.

This website has a list of common materials and gives the emissivity at various temperatures for
those materials. This informa on is cri cal because emissivity or absorptance is only a valid
parameter at a certain temperature which correlates to a specic frequency.
h p://www.coleparmer.com/techinfo/techinfo.asp?htmlle=Emissivity.htmHYPERLINK
"h p://www.coleparmer.com/techinfo/techinfo.asp?
htmlle=Emissivity.htm&ID=254"&HYPERLINK
"h p://www.coleparmer.com/techinfo/techinfo.asp?htmlle=Emissivity.htm&ID=254"ID=254

If you go to h p://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/emissivity-coecients-d_447.html there is a list

of emissivity coecients for many common materials. The emissivi es given in the table are for
approximatey 80 degrees F.

Infrared Services has 3 full pages of emissivity values at room temperature for an extensive list of
materials. This informa on is for use with their infrared cameras. h p://www.infrared-
thermography.com/training.htm

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