so know we have to find out what a transparent gas is?
What makes you think is that air is a poor conductor of heat yet HVAC units use it for transfer.
HA HA I just ordered 2 of them…Movin on to offshore oil rig inspection.
It is called radiant because of its design (not necessarily performance ).
Pretty much every heat transfer in our atmosphere is a percentage (.37 = 37%). If you only have 37% radiant heat transfer the remaining 63% is transmitted a different way.
Its efficiency rating is the percentage of heat transfer that occurs in relation to the other two.
Radiant heat is the only source of energy transfer that can occur through the air. Even though the molecules that make up standard air do conduct, the purpose/design of the particular heater is such that the majority of the energy consumed to create heat is transferred without convection or conduction. The heat transfer rate through air by conduction significantly diminishes with distance where it rapidly falls off within a very short distance of the radiating source. Unlike Radiated heat which can travel great distances and still deliver a huge percentage of its energy.
The radiant heater in a workshop will function with the doors wide open and the wind blowing. The amount of conduction/convection that occurs is considered a loss because it does not heat the subject because it is blown away.
HVAC units are designed to transfer their heat to the air through conduction and distribute it throughout the house through convection. The equipment is located outside of the living space in many cases and does not rely at all on radiant heat transfer. Radiant heat transfer from this type of equipment is a loss. That is why there is foil faced insulation on the inside of your furnace.
When the sun shines on your house and makes it warm inside, the energy comes from the sun through radiation. It is absorbed by the exterior roof (for example) that conducts the heat. Air on the other side of the roof picks up some of the heat through conduction and uses convection to transfer the heat to the ceiling below. At the same time, heat is radiated from the roof to the ceiling below directly through the air. Because the roof does not touch the ceiling, no conduction occurs at this point. The heat transferred to the ceiling conducts through the ceiling components where again conduction, convection and radiation heat the inside the house.
Is this clear as mud?
How heat transfers from the sun to the air inside your house is classified by the heat transfer method that produces the greatest percentage of heat transfer. This can be very difficult to determine and is the reason for considerable debate.
Is it better to insulate the attic or install a radiant shield to reduce HVAC cooling load ?
Radiant barriers are highly reflective and prevent radiant load from passing through.
Radiant barriers have a low emissivity, which means they do not absorb and re-emit heat energy well.
Radiant barriers however tend to be highly conductive so how and where they are utilized is critical.
Adding more insulation basically slows down heat transfer until the solar load (the sun in this case) moves below the horizon. If it slows it down enough (long enough), that heat never reaches the interior because it reverses direction as the solar load is removed (heat always moves from a higher temperature object to a lower temperature object). When the sun is out, heat energy moves towards the cooler interior of your house. When the sun goes down, that heat which is trapped in the installation changes direction and moves back towards the exterior.
Which one works the best for your application? You decide.
All objects on earth radiate heat at a rate relative to their emissivity (emissivity changes with temperature; Planks curve). The radiant heat transfer rate is the net emissivity of the two objects. In other words, there is no such thing as hot and cold, only warm and warmer.
Actually, Bob, the first line was copied directly from an engineering site. I think a better version for the radiant energy transfer in the field we work in is:
"Heat transfer due to emission of electromagnetic waves in the visible and infrared regions of the electromagnetic spectrum is known as thermal radiation."
Did you go through the graphics included at the bottom of my post?
Air is a transparent gas…something that light, which is electromagnetic radiation, will pass through.
PS…Just did a bit of googling to find some radiation equations:
I passed (with a very good mark) the 2nd year university course, “Theory of Electricity and Magnetism”. On the final exam was an interesting question to challenge even the best of us: Calulate the EMF (voltage) developed, from wingtip to wingtip, on a jetliner flying through the earth’s magnetic field at a certain geographic location. I did get the correct answer but just saw some stuff that was way above my level of understanding then… and now!..
Homogeneous wave equation in curved spacetime
The next year in university, I switched from math/physics/chemistry/engineering into biology as I became aware of the environmental screw-ups that were beginning to emerge…streams that I swam in at 3-8 years of age were now polluted, the Atlantic salmon was disappearing and no longer was a commercially viable fishery, DDT spraying was causing decreases in bird populations (bald eagle, peregrine falcon, etc). After loooking at that equation…I glad I made the switch. As they say, the higher you go in academia…you know more and more about less and less…
If you can grasp the simple concepts of heat transfer only, you’re way ahead of 99% of the population.
Does this help?
Amazing info and theory and it does help, I thank you all.
I hope you all stay right where you are, I don’t need the competition;)
Yes though the single word links are empty.
Nothing I did not know except the electromagnetic part.
If memory serves me electro magnetism means lining up - or + poles of the electrons as in a electric motor or producing electricity.
I need to study up on how it is involved in heat transfer since in microwaves it is simple enough to figure exciting electrons produces movement and thus friction produced from the movement causes heat just as it does when rubbing ones hands together but I am a primitive cavemen on the rest .
Induction Heat?
Hmmmm
Not that far off from microwaves except I think micros work on the water molecules.
**Induction heating **is the process of heating an electrically conducting object (usually a metal) by electromagnetic induction, where eddy currents are generated within the metal and resistance leads to Joule heating of the metal. An induction heater (for any process) consists of an electromagnet, through which a high-frequency alternating current (AC) is passed. Heat may also be generated by magnetic hysteresis losses in materials that have significant relative permeability. The frequency of AC used depends on the object size, material type, coupling (between the work coil and the object to be heated) and the penetration depth.