Heat transfer characteristics of an insulated regular polyhedron by using a regular polygon top solid wedge thermal resistance model

Abstract

The relation of the critical and the neutral thickness and heat transfer characteristics for an insulated regular polyhedron are investigated by using a new regular polygon top solid wedge thermal resistance (RPSWT) model obtained from a solid angle concept. It is found that the dimensionless heat transfer characteristics of the insulated polyhedrons are the same as those of an insulated sphere even though their actual heat transfer rates are different. It is also found that the conventional constant surface area plate model cannot be used to analyze the insulated polyhedrons, especially in situations of small to medium body size and/or with a greater insulation thickness. The single RPSWT model should also be applied to the heat transfer problem of the wedge block with a regular polygon top.