Mar
12By understanding the basic concepts involved with heat mass transfer you will be able to make changes to your home that improve its overall energy efficiency. Usually the cost involved with keeping our homes warm makes up a large percentage of our payments to utility companies. Without good insulation then the cost of keeping your property adequately heated can be extensive. With most countries still slow to officially get out of recession, it makes sense to learn as much as we can about this topic so that we can minimize our expenditure.
We are taught even at a young age that heat will flow from hot surfaces to cold. This is all too obvious. We know that a piece of furniture next to a heater will become warmer quicker than those objects that are further away. This concept is referred to simply as heat radiation.
When the heat is carried through a solid object then the process at work is referred to as conduction. For example, when you place a poker in a hot fire the heat will be absorbed and conducted through the metal. It is the process of conduction in heat transfer that needs to be understood in full when it comes to insulating our homes. Without the right materials you will discover that more heat is quickly lost through the walls and ceilings in your rooms
The final type of heat transfer is called convection. Convection results when the heat energy is dissipated by air or water. Convection currents are moving bodies. We can see how the global weather systems use convection to transfer heat and energy around the atmosphere. If you have a fan heater then this will also incorporate the principles of convection. A draughty room will lose heat through convection.
Now you understand the basic concepts of how heat is transferred, but how can you take this knowledge and implement it into the design of your home? Well, to begin with you should realize that heat transfer engineering does not just relate to keeping a property warm in the cold winter months, it also is important to ensure that your property does not get too hot during the long summer days. Through the choice of the correct insulation and building materials you can make adaptations that will reduce the amount of heat transferred both out and into your home.
When you check out various materials as insulation look for the “R” rating. This will help you to understand how suitable the product is. The higher the “R” rating the more efficient it will be at stopping the transfer of heat.
Remember that it is not just through your roof that energy can dissipate. Your walls, windows, doors, in fact any physical structure needs to incorporate a design that will reduce the flow of heat. You need to think about the complete property and not just specific parts of the structure.
There have been major advances by Pratt Whitney in the understanding and technology that relate to heat mass transfer over the last 10 years. Now it is easier for us to have control over the way we heat and insulate our homes. Apart from the obvious financial savings there is also the fact that you will lessen your carbon footprint.




