Heat-Transfer Control: Principal Focus on Japanese Research

Abstract

Rapid transient heat transfer of milli- or micro-second order has come to play an important role in advanced engineering and technology, and the demand for active and direct control of heat transfer is growing. In this article, first, the recent needs for heat-transfer control are considered in detail. Then, the difference in concept between heat-transfer control and conventional temperature or thermal control is discussed. In the following sections, the methods of heat-transfer control are divided into passive and active methods, and the active control methods are classified into eight categories: transient heat-transfer method, molecular dynamics method, variable physical property method, external-force control method, boundary-layer control method, phase change method, multiphase media method, and porous media method. With respect to each of them, the controllability of heat transfer and its feasibility are discussed, quoting principally the recent Japanese literature. In the concluding remarks, the future trends of heat-transfer control are described.