Ways to Improve the Efficiency of Pipelines Heat Insulation

A significant part of thermal energy is lost precisely during its transportation. By increasing the efficiency of thermal insulation of pipelines, it is possible to reduce significantly heat loss around the world. The purpose of the paper is to develop and validate methods for increasing the efficiency of thermal insulation of pipelines by determining its optimal location. This purpose has been achieved by applying of a modified method for studying the process of heat loss, taking into account the radiation component, to calculate the heat loss and surface temperature of the thermal insulation with different spatial arrangements. For comparison, we analysed three options for the heat loss of pipe with a different spatial arrangement of thermal insulation coated with an aluminium reflective film facing outward, facing inward and in both directions. Comparison of these variants showed that it had been advisable to insulate the pipelines by installing an insulation layer coated with an aluminium reflective film facing in both directions. The main result of paper has been the proposed method for calculating of heat losses, which could be used in the design of thermal insulation of pipelines and the obtained data confirming the correspondence of theoretical calculations to actual values of the surface temperature of thermal insulation taking into account its various spatial arrangements. The importance of the results of the work lies in the possibility of using this technique to assess the effectiveness of thermal insulation of pipelines and determine the best solutions for its spatial location