Design of a semiautomatic device for the measurement of the thermal properties of wall systems

This paper presents the design of a semi-automatic device for measuring the variables to calculate the thermal resistance of wall systems of buildings. The device is inspired in the hot plate technique from ASTM C-177. It consists of two units: A heating plate and cold plate. The hot plate was designed inserting a coiled electric resistance in parallel, fed by a power source. The cold side was designed with coiled plate made of stainless steel and water from a chiller circulates through the plate at constant temperature. Measurements will be in steady state and unidirectional flow through the wall. The system has pneumatic electronic mobile units that allow managing wall system samples up to 400 kg weight and up to 30 cm thick walls. The variables to be measured are surface wall temperatures, hot and cold plates, the voltage, and current supply by a power source. Using this information, the thermal resistance of a wall system will be calculated and analyzed.