Sensible heat is thermal energy that causes temperature changes and is transferred by conduction or convection. It is used in weather forecasting, HVAC, and can be stored for later use. It differs from latent heat, which is exchanged during phase changes. Various methods can be used to measure or estimate sensible heat, from thermometers to statistical methods.
Sensible heat is the name of the energy in the form of heat that causes an increase or decrease in temperature. Its name comes from the fact that it can be perceived as a change in temperature. The transfer of this type of thermal energy occurs by conduction or by convection.
Adding this form of heat causes an increase in temperature while its removal causes a decrease in temperature. It is distinguished from latent heat, which does not change the temperature of a substance. Rather, latent heat is heat that is exchanged between a substance and its surroundings during a phase change that occurs at a constant temperature, such as solid ice melting into liquid water.
Various techniques can be used to measure or estimate sensible heat depending on the particular circumstances. In very simple cases, such as measuring the temperature rise of a substance in a kitchen or laboratory, a thermometer may suffice. This would not be practical on very large scales, such as when measuring sensible heat flux, or heat transfer per unit area over time, of a large geographic region. For such situations, the sensible heat flux can be estimated using a statistical method known as eddy covariance or measured by an optical device known as a large-aperture scintillator.
Sensible heat is of interest in fields such as meteorology and climatology, where it is used in short-term weather forecast calculations and long-term climate modeling. The earth’s surface absorbs the sun’s heat in the form of radiation and converts it into sensible and latent heat. Its conversion into sensible heat causes changes in the temperatures of the earth’s surface, both land and water, and its atmosphere.
Another area where this form of heat is important is heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC). Sensible heat load is a factor that determines the required temperature of air supplied to a room and the airflow rate required to maintain the desired room temperature. It can be used for HVAC calculation purposes in the form of the sensible heat ratio (SHR), which is the amount of sensible heat divided by the total amount of heat in a given space. HVAC equipment is selected such that the SHR of the system is compatible with the SHR of the room or building for which it will be used.
Sensible heat can also be stored for later use by increasing the temperature of a material which will later release that heat for use when desired. For example, solar energy can be concentrated and stored in this way during daylight hours and then drawn to be used from the storage during hours when the sun is not shining. The materials that can be used as storage media depend on storage temperature, system size, and other factors. They can include such diverse materials as water, various types of stones, molten salts, liquid metals, and more.
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