If you have ever looked into the insides of a Desktop computer you might have noticed a prominent fan placed over finned metal block mostly made out of aluminium. That's called a heat sink and its designed to take away all the heat generated by the microprocessor. Without a proper heat sink the processor might just burn up or melt away. The heat sink basically spreads out the heat over a larger area thus dissipates heats in lesser time.
Physicist Lee Huang though just the opposite, how about using a heat sink to absorb more heat from a gas stove flame more efficiently? A normal cooking pot as you know has a smooth surface at the bottom. A lot of heat from the burner flame escapes from the sides ending up being uselessly lost to the surrounding. A seemingly simple but effective idea is to attached fins at the bottom/base of the cooking pot. This results in more heat being utilized for heating the content in the pot compared to that of a normal pot with a smooth bottom. This results in lesser cooking time resulting in saving time and money. A great solution for commercial and house hold applications. The finned pots end up being 30-50% more energy efficient then their smooth counterparts.
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| Picture Courtesy http://www.sustainablefoodservice.com |