Heat Transfer Excel Calculations

John Andrew, P.E.

Course Outline

This 4 hour online course defines the design equations of several basic heat transfer systems resulting in Excel print-outs of design parameters and calculated results. Topics include: Conduction, Convection, and Radiation.

The course includes a multiple-choice quiz at the end, which is designed to enhance the understanding of the course materials.

Learning Objective

At the conclusion of this course the student will:

• Have a spread sheet useful for heat transfer calculations;
• Adjust heat energy parameters to meet design specifications;
• Document design calculations in a spread sheet format;
• Convert common metric and U.S. units;
• List useful material thermal conductivities;
• Calculate convective heat transfer coefficients from measured temperatures;
• Compute theoretical convective heat transfer coefficients;
• Use finite difference equations to calculate 2-dimensional temperature distributions;
• Find cooling fin efficiencies;
• Calculate heat exchanger heat transfer rates and efficiencies
• Analyze simple heat transfer by radiation examples;
• Compute combined convective and radiated heat transfers;
• Be able to employ Excel's Goal Seek tool to optimize designs; and
• Use Excel's "Solver" to solve simultaneous equations.
  
  

Intended Audience

The information will be especially useful to students, engineers, and innovators who need tools for creative engineering heat transfer design.

Benefit to Attendees

Attendee of this course will be able to calculate and optimize variables in a useful range of heat transfer projects.


Course Introduction

Excel spread sheets are used to calculate and optimize heat transfer parameters. Calculations have been done with a calculator and written by hand with pen or pencil. Optimizing design values with a calculator is difficult and time consuming. Quite often it is impossible to read and check these documents. As time passes sometimes these documents are lost or are difficult to read. It becomes more difficult to use these documents to make improvements to existing designs. Spread sheets can be stored indefinitely and accessed electronically.

Course Content

You are required to study the Excel Spreadsheet Heat Transfer Excel Calculations. This is the only srudy materials for this course.

The link to the Excel Spreadsheet is:

Heat Transfer Excel Calculations

You need to open or download above Excel Spreadsheet to study this course.

Course Summary

This course provides Excel spread sheets to calculate a range of basic heat transfer parameters. All variables can be adjusted to optimize design goals. Excel print-outs of design parameters and calculated results provide easy to read documentation for checking and future improvements. Topics include: Heat unit conversions, Multi-layer conductivity, Convective heat transfer, 2-dimensional heat transfer, Cooling fins, Heat exchangers, and Heat radiation.

Related Links

For additional technical information related to this subject, please visit the following websites or web pages:

Excel tutorials can be found at: http://www.dslimited.biz/excel_tutorials.html

 

Quiz

Once you finish studying the above course content, you need to take a quiz to obtain the PDH credits.

---

DISCLAIMER: The materials contained in the online course are not intended as a representation or warranty on the part of PDH Center or any other person/organization named herein. The materials are for general information only. They are not a substitute for competent professional advice. Application of this information to a specific project should be reviewed by a registered architect and/or professional engineer/surveyor. Anyone making use of the information set forth herein does so at their own risk and assumes any and all resulting liability arising therefrom.

---