Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The building balance point temperature is the outdoor air temperature when the heat gains of the building are equal to the heat losses. [1] Internal heat sources due to electric lighting, mechanical equipment, body heat, and solar radiation may offset the need for additional heating although the outdoor temperature may be below the thermostat set-point temperature.
Development of a thermal equilibrium in a closed system over time through a heat flow that levels out temperature differences. Two physical systems are in thermal equilibrium if there is no net flow of thermal energy between them when they are connected by a path permeable to heat. Thermal equilibrium obeys the zeroth law of thermodynamics. A ...
where is the thermal conductivity of the material, = (,) is the temperature, and = (,) is a vector field that represents the magnitude and direction of the heat flow at the point of space and time . If the medium is a thin rod of uniform section and material, the position x is a single coordinate and the heat flow q = q ( t , x ) {\displaystyle ...
Thus, the two systems are in thermal equilibrium with each other, or they are in mutual equilibrium. Another consequence of equivalence is that thermal equilibrium is described as a transitive relation: [7]: 56 [10] If A is in thermal equilibrium with B and if B is in thermal equilibrium with C, then A is in thermal equilibrium with C.
These concepts of temperature and of thermal equilibrium are fundamental to thermodynamics and were clearly stated in the nineteenth century. The name 'zeroth law' was invented by Ralph H. Fowler in the 1930s, long after the first, second, and third laws were widely recognized.
The zeroth law of thermodynamics states: If two systems are each in thermal equilibrium with a third, they are also in thermal equilibrium with each other. This statement implies that thermal equilibrium is an equivalence relation on the set of thermodynamic systems under consideration.
If the outside diurnal temperature swing frequently oscillates around a desired (balance point) temperature, adding thermal mass may increase the hoursof comfort in a giventime interval. Thermal mass may act as a liability to keep a space comfortable e.g. when it is only used intermittently.
An explicit distinction between 'thermal equilibrium' and 'thermodynamic equilibrium' is made by B. C. Eu. He considers two systems in thermal contact, one a thermometer, the other a system in which there are several occurring irreversible processes, entailing non-zero fluxes; the two systems are separated by a wall permeable only to heat.