The process of heat transfer between particles in a fluidized bed is important for many industrial fluidized bed processes. The problem associated with studying this phenomenon is the confounding effect of particle mixing on heat transfer. The work described here was undertaken to describe the process in which heat is added to a fluid bed process by adding a hot charge of particles to a colder fluidized bed. The rate of heat transfer in this instance can have a significant impact on performance of the fluid bed process, depending upon its application. Both the method of analysis and the results of the work are applicable to other fluidized bed processes, particularly those associated with the thermal upgrading of heavy oil. The method of data analysis, based on binomial statistics, allowed useful data to be extracted from a complex system without the need for a large number of experiments. The analysis also allowed for some assessment of the relative importance of mixing and heat transfer, which has not been possible with other approaches. The results of the experiments were further explored using a bubbling bed model that incorporated both heat transfer and solids mixing. This allowed for the formation of a conceptual model, validated by the experimentation, that explains the relative functions of the two transfer processes in the dispersion of heat from a hot charge of particles to the bulk of a fluidized bed.