ABSTRACT
This chapter contains complex technical information. It focuses on the determination of the solar energy absorbed by a surface and calculation of heat losses. These needs require an understanding of heat transfer. The field of heat transfer is exciting and challenging. There are heat transfer problems in the fields of solar energy, aerospace, automotive engineering, and home building, to name a few. Disciplines used in heat transfer are mathematics, numerical analysis, testing, and instrumentation. Among the early contributors to the field of heat transfer were Newton, Fourier, Plank, and Boltzmann. Heat transfer is divided into three major areas: conduction, convection, and radiation. Conduction is associated with thermal energy transfer through matter in the absence of fluid motion. Convection is concerned with thermal energy transfer between a flowing fluid and a solid interface. Radiation is energy transfer via electromagnetic waves.
