Building physics - Hukseflux India

Building physics / insulation, thermal comfort and energy budget measurement

In building physics, the investigation of the insulation capabilities of walls and building materials is an important subject of study. Hukseflux is the market leader in heat flux measurement related to building physics. The most commonly used sensor is model HFP01. Hukseflux supplies sensors as well as turn-key systems for analysis of thermal resistance of building envelopes and elements.

Insulation, thermal comfort and energy budget measurement

In building physics, the focus of measurement is on several subjects, for example:

What is measured

Typical measurements required in such experiments, are:

Heat flux sensors measure heat transfer. More specifically: the energy flux onto or through a surface, in [W/m²]. In reality, often this surface is the sensor itself mounted on a wall. The source of the heat flux may be:

Heat transfer is driven by temperature differences. Heat always flows from a source to a sink, from a hot to a cold environment.

For high–accuracy temperature difference measurement, matched sensor pairs are used; during production the accuracy of one sensor is checked relative to the other.

Pyranometers measure the radiation received by a plane surface from a 180 ° field of view angle. This quantity, expressed in W/m², is called “hemispherical” solar radiation.

In building physics most common parameters that we measure are:

Sensors of our pyrgeometer product line measure far infra red “longwave” radiation. The most common parameters that we measure are:

Two pyranometer measurements combined with two pyrgeometer measurements are used to calculate the net-radiation.

Specifications

Heat flux sensors, building envelope thermal resistance measuring systems, pyranometers, pyrgeometers and net radiation sensors must be optimised for the demands of different applications. Unique features typically required in building physics are:

Selecting a set of sensors

We can assist you selecting a sensor. A typical checklist is:

what is the application; what must be measured, outdoors and indoors
are there any standards that you must follow
what are the accuracy requirements
how do I organise re-calibration
how can I mount instruments
what data acquisition do I have, can it measure in the millivolt range; if not what kind of input can it accept?
what other things must be measured; usually it is best to use one measurement system performing all measurements. Building physics experiments often have large numbers of temperature sensors. In many cased not the absolute but the relative temperature is important

What we contribute

Hukseflux provides a range of sensors and measuring systems for use in measurement of the energy budget of buildings and characterisation of construction materials. HFP01 heat flux sensor and TRSYS20 measuring system are widely used for on-site measurements on walls, windows and other construction elements. HFP01 heat flux plate is the de-facto standard for heat flux measurement on walls. In high accuracy flux measurement a typical station is equipped with two or more sensors for good spatial averaging.

Our TRSYS20 is a measuring system for analysis of the thermal resistance and the thermal transmittance of building elements by in-situ measurement.

TPSYS20 is used to characterise soils, cements and insulation materials. Our pyranometers are used to measure solar radiation on buildings and to measure solar transmission of windows and solar reflectance of roofs.

Sensors made by Hukseflux passed validation and acceptance testing for a large number of national research institutes.

Advantages

Depending on the exact requirement, we offer:

assistance - select the best sensors for your application
assistance - optimising the sensor – measuring system combination, also looking at the total system (our users often measure more than just radiation)
worldwide support – specialists available in the major economies
calibration support – efficient worldwide calibration organisation
proven performance – we have experience in most applications
traceability - formal metrological traceability to international standards

Take a look at our selection of suitable sensors:

Application notes

Solar heating in building automation

Products

SRA15 series

Spectrally flat Class B albedometers

Measurand	global solar radiation and reflected solar radiation
Optional measurand	albedo or solar reflectance, net solar radiation

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IR02

Pyrgeometer with heater

Measurand	longwave radiation
Optional measurand	sky temperature, surface temperature

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SR15-A1

Analogue first class pyranometer with heater

Measurand	hemispherical solar radiation
ISO 9060:2018 classification	spectrally flat Class B pyranometer

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SR05-D1A3

Digital second class pyranometer with Modbus RS-485 and 0-1 V output

Measurand	hemispherical solar radiation
ISO 9060:2018 classification	spectrally flat Class C pyranometer
IEC 61724-1:2021 compliance	Class B

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NR01

4-component net radiometer

Measurand	downward longwave radiation, global solar radiation, net radiation, reflected solar radiation, upward longwave radiation
Optional measurand	albedo or solar reflectance, sky temperature, solar duration, surface temperature

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