greenTEG’s heat flux sensors integrated into TH Nürnberg’s experimental houses

greenTEG AG: TH Nürnberg builds a housing complex to test new building materials and other methods to further reduce energy consumption. greenTEG’s heat flux sensors are integrated into the  wall construction to monitor the thermal behavior of a new type of insulation material.

Reducing energy consumption with innovative technologies

The housing complex consists of eight units designed as best-practice projects to demonstrate a sustainable energy supply of living quarters according to the Plusenergy-Standard. The aim of the project is to develop new technologies and methods which will surpass the current status-quo in thermal insulation, energy generation, energy storage and energy supply. Future housing projects and smaller industry operations shall profit from this new methods  and technologies.

Thermal characterization of insulation materials with heat flux sensors

One focus of the project is to test a newly developed material with a very high insulation quality. This new material is fabricated on the basis of hydrophobic silicic acid which is then filled into bricks with a high insulation quality. To measure how the new material reacts under real conditions, the researchers integrated greenTEG’s heat flux sensors directly into the bricks and will then measure the thermal behavior.

From left to right: heat flux sensor mounted on brick, brick with cables for data read-out, brick with now invisible cables in the larger wall construction.

U-value measurements made easy

greenTEG’s sensors measure the thermal energy transfer through a material. With this information the thermal behavior of a material can be characterized and based on the data improved. greenTEG also offers a complete measurement solution (gSKIN® U-Value Kit) to assess the insulation quality (U-value, aka as R-value) of a building element. The gSKIN® U-Value Kit consists of a heat flux sensor, a data logger with two temperature sensors and an analysis software.

More about greenTEG’s U-Value Kit and building technology applications can be found here.

Do you have a similar project in mind where you would like to make measurements with our sensors? Then contact us to discuss a potential collaboration!