Creative Ways in Which Heat Transfer Boosts Efficiency

As technology has advanced over the decades, most systems have become more efficient and powerful by becoming more complex. However, in many instances, thermal management systems have advanced by utilizing simpler and more natural heat transfer processes. For example, instead of using complicated equipment to create chilled air and combat electrical waste heat, more modern thermal management systems rely on their abilities to rapidly absorb and transfer waste heat. With an eco-friendly cooling fluid and a heat exchanger designed to facilitate its flow, transferring heat can achieve high-performance thermal management with much greater efficiency than older electrical cooling solutions.

Using methods like phase-change cooling

There are several different ways in which heat can be transferred naturally from one area to another. For example, natural convection occurs due the heated air or fluid being less dense, and forced convection involves the use of minimal equipment, such as fans, to speed up the process. In many heat exchangers, the heat transfer process is handled by innovative phase-change cooling, which takes advantage of a fluid’s latent heat of vaporization. This is the point at which a liquid evaporates after absorbing enough heat, but before there’s a rise in the surrounding temperature. Once the fluid is heated, it can more easily transfer the heat within the heat exchanger.

Transferring heat to use it instead of dissipate it

When electrical cooling is accomplished through heat transfer methods, it can much more easily maintained, and at much lower cost, than more traditional electrical cooling solutions. The lower costs are due largely to the reduced need for energy and the simpler equipment that doesn’t require as much maintenance. However, companies can also significantly boost their efficiency in several important areas by making more strategic use of modern heat transfer technologies. In some applications, the heat that the cooling units collect can be transferred to other processes and repurposed, helping companies substantially reduce their overall energy costs even further.

Using chilled fluid for below-ambient cooling

Despite the many different benefits of most common heat exchangers, some companies rely on applications that require more than the ambient cooling temperatures they provide. One of the biggest advantages to heat exchangers and heat transfer technologies is that they can be created to provide below-ambient cooling with just as much efficiency. This has helped companies eliminate their reliance on more cumbersome processes, like air conditioning and air compression, and dramatically streamline their operations as a result. The ability to provide below-ambient cooling at optimal efficiency and low overall cost has helped more companies take advantage of creative heat transfer techniques.

For more information about how companies can transfer heat to boost their efficiency, call Noren Thermal Solutions in Taylor, TX, at 866-936-6736.