Heat Transfer in a Nutshell

Abstract

No other fundamental science has more relevancy to the topics of energy, building and its HVAC systems than heat transfer. We use basics of convective, radiative, and conductive heat transfer to calculate the amount of heat or cool imposed by the exterior environment and internal elements on our buildings. We use basics of all the three types of heat transfer to calculate how much of this heat or cool is going to be transferred to inside air or out of our buildings. We use conduction mode laws to size our insulations inside the walls of our buildings and around our equipment to reduce the unwanted heat transfer from or to our buildings and systems. We add (deduct) the internal heat load which is transferred to the space in form of part radiation (sensible portion) and part convection to our heat gain (loss) calculations.