Küttevõimsus

Küttevõimsus, also known as heating value or calorific value, is a measure of the amount of heat released when a specified amount of a substance is completely burned or oxidized. It is a fundamental property of fuels and is used to compare their energy content. There are two main types of küttevõimsus: higher heating value (HHV) and lower heating value (LHV). The higher heating value includes the heat released from the condensation of water vapor produced during combustion, while the lower heating value assumes that the water vapor remains in gaseous form. The difference between HHV and LHV is the latent heat of vaporization of water.

Küttevõimsus is typically expressed in units of energy per mass, such as joules per kilogram (J/kg) or megajoules per kilogram (MJ/kg), or per volume, such as joules per cubic meter (J/m³) or megajoules per cubic meter (MJ/m³). Different fuels have vastly different küttevõimsus values. For example, wood has a significantly lower küttevõimsus than natural gas or gasoline. This property is crucial for engineers and scientists when designing combustion systems, selecting fuels for power generation, or calculating energy efficiency. Understanding küttevõimsus helps in determining the potential energy output of a fuel source and optimizing its use.