The assembly is contained in a thermally insulated enclosure to minimise heat losses. The heat flowmeter gives an output to a digital panel meter on the special control and instrumentation console. Special thermocouples are arranged to measure mean temperatures either side of the test specimen, allowing the temperature gradient across the sample and hence the thermal conductivity to be determined. The Thermal Conductivity of Building Material Apparatus uses a PID controlled flat plate electrical heater and a water cooled flat plate with an integral and highly sensitive heat flowmeter. The 300mm *300mm specimen under test is sandwiched between the heated and cooled plates.
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