Heat Transfer Questions and Answers with Step by Step Solutions

Provided by Heriot-Watt University for MSc. in Renewable Energy Engineering Students (Foundations of
Energy)
Note: the material is for educational use only.
Q1.
A wooden shed with a ground plan of 3m by 4m and a height of 2.5m is made of wooden planks with thickness
10mm. Windows in the walls have an area of 3 m2, and the roof has an area of 15m2. The thermal
conductivity of wood is k = 0.1 W/m.K and of the 2 mm-thick glass is k = 0.26 W/m.K. Assume that the heat
transfer coefficient from the inside air to the surfaces is h = 5 W/m2.K and from the outer surfaces to the
outside air is h = 50 W/m2.K. The floor conducts heat to the ground with an additional thermal resistance of
R = 0.2 K m2/.W.

The inside is to be kept at 18 oC while the outside air temperature is –5 oC and the ground temperature +2
o
C.

Calculate
a) The heat loss to the ground, the heat loss to the air through the side walls, the heat loss to the air through
the roof, and the heat loss to the air through the windows. With that, give the total heating load
b) If you could insulate only one component, which one would you choose?
c) Assuming a layer of insulating material of thickness 30mm with conductivity
k= 0.04 W/m.K or an additional pane of glass with an air gap of 10mm between the panes (conductivity of
air: 0.026 W/m.K), calculate the total heat load.
Solution:

a) Thermal resistance networks is a combination of the heat convected to a surface the heat conducted
through a surface and the heat convected away from the surface; The thermal resistance to heat loss through
the floor is;

R floor  Rint ernal  Rconduction  Rexternal

1 d wood 1
R floor   
hint ernal k wood hexternal
1 0.01
R floor    0.2
5 0.1
R floor  0.5 Km 2 / W

Therefore, the heat loss through the floor, Qfloor, is;

AT
Q floor 
R floor
12  18  2
Q floor 
0.5
Q floor  384 W

The thermal resistance for the roof is;

1 0.01 1
Rroof   
5 0.1 50 .
Rroof  0.32 Km 2 / W

Therefore, the heat loss through the roof, Qroof, is;

15  18  5
Qroof 
0.32
Qroof  1078 W

The thermal resistance for the walls is the same as for the roof: Rwalls= 0.32.The wall area is;

Awalls  2  3  4  2.5  3
Awalls  32 m 2

The heat loss through the walls is;

 32  18  5
Qwalls 
0.32
Qwalls  2300 W

The thermal resistance for the windows is;

1 0.002 1
Rwindows   
5 0.26 50
Rwindows  0.23 Km 2 / W

The heat loss through the windows is;

3  18  5
Qwindows 
0.23
Qwindows  300 W

As a result, the total heat loss is Q= 4062W.

b) Since the bulk of the heat loss is lost through the side walls, one should insulate the side walls.

c) The insulation has a thermal resistance of Ri= 0.75Km²/W. With the added insulation, the thermal
resistance of the wall becomes;

Rwalls  0.32  0.75

.
Rwalls  1.07
This reduces the heat loss through the walls to;
32  18  5
Qwalls 
1.07
Qwalls  688 W

The window then becomes:

1 0.002 0.01 0.002 1
Rwindow     
5 0.26 0.026 0.26 50
Rwindow  0.62 Km 2 / W
This reduces the heat loss through the windows to;
3  18  5
Qwindows 
0.62
Qwindows  111 W

With that the total heat loss is reduced to 2261W, which is a reduction of 45.5%

Q2.
An electronic chip of surface 50mm by 20mm generates 2W of waste heat. The circuit is covered by a layer
of insulating material of thickness 2mm with thermal conductivity of k= 0.2 W/m.K. For safe operation, the
temperature of the circuit must not exceed 60oC.

a) Find the heat transfer coefficient required to keep the temperate at the safe limit if the cooling air has a
temperature of 25oC.
b) Recommend a suitable type of convection
c) Calculate the temperature of the surface of the chip.

Solution:

a) The surface area of the chip 0.05  0.02  0.001 m2 . The required cooling rate is;

Q  UAT
Q
U 
AT
2
U
0.001  60  25
U  57.1 W / m 2 K

or a total thermal resistance, Rtotal, of 0.0175 m2K/W.

As this is made up of the conduction through the insulation layer and the convection, the convective heat
transfer coefficient can be calculated as;
1 d
Rtotal  
h k
1
 d
 h   Rtotal  
 k
1
 0.002 
h   0.0175  
 0.2 
h  133 W / m2 K
b) A heat transfer coefficient of over 100W/(m2K) clearly calls for forced convection if using air as the
cooling fluid.

c) Since we know the heat flow rate, 2W, the heat transfer coefficient, h = 133 W/m2K, and the air
temperature, 25 oC, the surface temperature can be calculated as;

Q  hA Tsurface  Tair 
Q
Tsurface  Tair 
hA
2
Tsurface  25 
133  0.001
Tsurface  40.037  C

Alternatively;
T kA
Q  kA  Tcircuit  Tsurface 
d d
Qd
Tsurface  Tchip 
kA
2  0.002
Tsurface  60 
0.2  0.001
Tsurface  40 C 

Q3.

A radiator has water with a temperature of 60 oC circulating in it. The heat transfer coefficient from the
water to the radiator material is 200 W/m2K, the thickness of the material 2mm and its thermal conductivity
is 40 W/mK The heat transfer to the room air is 18 W/m2K, and the U-value for the heat loss from the room
to its surrounding through a surface of 30m2 is 2 W/m2K

a) Calculate the heating rate required to maintain the room at 18 oC if the outside temperature is 3 oC.
b) Find the surface of the radiator required to provide the heating rate
c) Describe how you would keep the size of the radiator compact while still providing the heating rate.
d) Calculate the temperature of the radiator
Solution:
a) The heat loss from the room is;
Q  UAT
Q  2  30  15
Q  900 W

b) The radiator area required is;

AT
Q  UAT 
R
QR
A 
T
The Total thermal resistance is;

1 0.002 1
R  
200 40 18
R  0.061 K / m W
2

The area is therefore;

200  0.061
A
42
A  1.3 m 2

c) Using an extended surface area such as fins.

d) The temperature of the radiator can be calculated;

Q  hATradiator  Tair 
900
Tradiator  18 
18  1.3
Tradiator  56.5  C
Q4.

The diagram shows a conical section fabricated from pyroceram (k = 3.46 Wm-1K-1). It is of circular cross
section with the diameter D = ax, where a = 0.25. The small end is at x1 = 50 mm and the large end at x2 =
250mm. The temperatures are T1 = 400K and T2 = 600K, while the lateral surface is well insulated. Using
one-dimensional steady state conduction in the x-direction with constant thermal properties of the
materials:
a) Derive an expression for the temperature distribution T(x) in a symbolic form, assuming one-
dimensional conditions. Also sketch the temperature distributions.
b) Calculate the heat rate qx through the cone.

T2 T1
x
qx
x1
x2

Solution:

T2=600K
T1=400K

x
qx

x1= 0.05m
x2 = 0.25m

a) From the heat conduction equation (slide 26 in the lecture slides), we can write, the heat transfer rate qx
be

dT
q x  kA (1)
dx

Where A = (D2/4) = a2x2/4.

Substituting A and rearranging equation (1), we get,

 4q x dx
 kdT (2)
a 2 x 2
Integrating equation (2) from x1 to any x within the cone and recalling that qx and k are constants it follows
that,
x T
4q x dx
a2 
x1
x2 T

 k dT (3)
1

Hence

4q x  1 1
     kT  T1 
a2  x x1 
And solving T

4q x  1 1 
T (x)  T1     (4)
a2 k  x1 x 

qx can be determine by evaluating the equation (4) at x=x2, T(x2) = T2.

Hence, we can write the equation (4) as

4q x  1 1  a 2 k T1  T2 
T2  T1      qx  (5)
a 2 k  x1 x2  1 1
4  
 x1 x 2 

Substituting qx in equation (4), the temperature distribution becomes,

 (1 / x)  (1 / x1 ) 
T (x)  T1  (T1  T2 )  (6)
 (1 / x1 )  (1 / x2 ) 

From this results temperatures may be calculated as a function of x and the distribution will be as:

T
T2

T1
x
x1 x2
b) From the equation (5) the heat transfer rate will be

  0.252  3.46Wm 1K 1  400  600 K

qx   2.12W
 1 1 
4  
 0.05m 0.25 