How are conduction and convection heating different than infra-red heating?
Heat can be transferred in one of three ways: • By conduction through solid bodies, such as through a windowpane in your heated house to the (cold) outside. The rate of heat transfer by conduction is proportional to the temperature difference and the conductivity of the material used through which it is transferring. • Through convection by warming air and moving the warmed air to a cooler area. For example, a natural gas furnace produces hot air that is moved throughout the building by air ducts. • Through radiant heat transfer, which unlike the other two methods requires no intermediate conductor or convector. Thats because infra-red energy, like light, passes directly from the source to the receiver. The rate of heat transfer depends on the emissivity of the source, the absorptivity of the receiver, the difference between their absolute temperatures, raised to the fourth power, and the distance between them.
