Method for heat loss survey

Claim 3

The method according to claim 1 wherein said step of determining total heat loss comprises summing heat loss values for incremental portions of the surface to obtain heat loss values for the entire surface.

Claim 4

The method of claim 1 wherein said correlating step is accomplished by scaling heat loss of said overall temperature profile according to directly measured heat loss at selected points on said sub-areas of the surface to thus derive overall heat loss of the surface.

Claim 5

The method of claim 1 including quantifying long term heat loss from the surface, comprising: (a) evaluating an operating history of the surface and its environment to establish data including ranges of internal operating temperatures, external convective flowrates, external ambient temperatures and external radient heat sources/sinks; (b) arranging said data into sets of operating parameters which can statistically provide a comprehensive long term range of heat loss rates for the surface; (c) effecting the conditions of each of said sets of operating parameters and conducting a heat loss survey; (d) establishing the period of time for which the total heat loss will be modeled; and (e) checking the operating history and multiplying the total heat losses of each survey of said surface established by a weighting factor-relative to the fraction of the total modeled time and the portion of said modeled time that each set of operating parameters represents.

Claim 6

The method of claim 4 wherein permanently-installed instrumentation and full-time heat loss monitoring capability is provided, comprising: (a) collecting a set of temperature profiles as recited in (a) through (c) of claim 4 with no heat loss readings being taken; (b) based on the constraints of (a) and (b) of claim 1, dividing the surface into areas of analysis, each of said areas of analysis being permanently instrumented with means for direct temperature measurement and/or means for direct heat flux measurement devices; (c) collecting multiple sets of heat loss data according to (a) through (c) of claim 4; and (d) developing a comprehensive heat loss profile for each set of operating conditions; (e) conducting statistical routines applied to the collected temperature data, and said statistical routines being employed to produce the temperature at each unmetered matrix element based on the temperatures of nearby metered elements; (f) using calculated elemental flux for each data set, calculating numerical U values for each element in the data set; (g) solving an array for the finite element solution of the overall system heat loss based on values of temperature and elemental heat loss from (e) and (f) of claim 5; (h) selectively subdividing a said array into heat loss from any individual surface or other set of elements; and (i) following preparation according to (a) through (h) of claim 5, calculating and reporting heat loss for any instant of time, said calculating and reporting being computer generated within seconds after an instantaneous sampling of the temperatures at the permanent thermocouple sites.

Claim 7

The method of claim 5, wherein a plurality of instrumentation sites are located within selected areas of said surface having steep temperature gradients.

Claim 8

The method of claim 5, wherein (a) heat measurement devices are permanently installed at selected locations on said surface; and (b) collecting heat flux samples is accomplished by portable heat flux measurement devices.

Claim 11

A method as recited in claim 8 wherein said thermal image presents heat loss variations in the form of colors representing temperature ranges.

Claim 12

A method as recited in claim 9 wherein scaling is accomplished by comparing the heat loss of said selected position as appearing on the thermal image and determining the various heat loss rates represented by all of the color variations as the result of said comparison.

Claim 13

A method as recited in claim 10 wherein said calculating step comprises summing the heat loss represented by the areas encompassed by each range of heat loss represented by said colors of said thermal image.

Claim 16

The method according to claim 12 including summing heat loss values for the selected zones of the structural surface to obtain heat loss values for the entire surface.

Claim 17

The method of claim 12 wherein said correlating step is accomplished by scaling heat loss of said selected zones according to directly measured heat loss at selected points on said zones of the surface to thus derive overall heat loss of the structural surface.

Claim 18

The method of claim 12 wherein: (a) step (a) includes selecting surface areas of the structural surface having substantially common exterior heat loss characteristics and producing a thermal image of said selected surface area; (b) step (b) includes selecting a position on each of said selected surface areas for direct heat loss measurement and producing a thermal image of said selected surface areas; (c) step (b) includes identifying each selected position on said selected surfaces of said thermal image; and (d) step (c) includes scaling said thermal image to said direct heat loss measurement calculating overall heat loss from said selected thermal image.

Claim 19

The method of claim 15 wherein a plurality of instrumentation sites are located within selected areas of said surface having steep temperature gradients.

Claim 20

A method of claim 16, wherein (a) heat measurement devices are permanently installed at selected locations on said surface; and (b) the collecting of heat flux samples is accomplished by portable heat flux measurement devices.

Claim 21

The method of claim 15 wherein said thermal image presents heat loss variations in the form of colors representing temperature ranges.

Claim 22

A method as recited in claim 18 wherein scaling is accomplished by comparing the heat loss of said selected position as appearing on the thermal image and determining the various heat loss rates representing by all of the color variations as the result of said comparison.

Claim 23

The method of claim 19 wherein said calculating step comprises summing the heat loss represented by the areas encompassed by each range of heat loss represented by said colors of said thermal image.