The insulation of a wall is often expressed in terms of
the H-value.
Typical station for the measurement of energy
balances in buildings, passive solar energy application, and soil energy
storage. Parameters of primary importance are heat fluxes, and (in case of
the soil) thermal conductivity. Usually multiple heat flux sensors are installed
to measure wall- and soil heat flux (1). The soil thermal properties can be complemented by a soil
temperature profile and a soil thermal conductivity measurement (2).
In field experiments, often heat flux sensors are
incorporated into the material, in order to monitor the heat flux through the
different walls.
The problem with the measurement is similar to that in
soils; building materials can have a large variety of thermal properties,
varying from insulating material to concrete. Most conventional sensors are
adapted to concrete or brick, and will show large errors when used in insulation
material.
Also, once incorporated into the material, the condition
of the Heat Flux Sensor generally is no longer known.
Hukseflux has developed two sensors for this
application; the HFP01 for normal routine
measurement application in concrete, brick and similar materials, and the HFP01SC,
for scientific application.
The HFP01SC
(patent pending) offers superior accuracy, improved quality assurance, and can
be used in any material, also insulating types. To achieve this, it uses an
on-line self-calibration, according to the Van den Bos-Hoeksema method. Also the
heat transfer coefficient can be determined.
Independently from the above, thermal conductivity (and
thermal diffusivity) of building materials in the range from 0.3 to 4 W/mK can
be measured using TP01 thermal
properties sensor.
Hukseflux can supply turn key systems for analysis of
thermal resistance of building envelopes and elements. See TRSYS01.
