Heat Flux Sensors for Advanced Building Materials, Roofs & Thermal Insulation R&D
FluxTeq heat flux sensors are used in advanced building materials research to measure heat transfer through experimental roofs, insulation panels, adaptive surfaces, mass timber systems, thermal mass assemblies, asphalt concrete, and bio-based materials. These measurements help researchers characterize thermal conductivity, validate heat-transfer models, compare new materials, and develop building technologies that reduce heating and cooling energy use.
Recommended Products:
Ultra-09
Surface sensor for roofs, insulation, and adaptive materials.
PHFS-09e
Large-area heat flux plate for material and panel testing.
FluxDAQ+
Multi-channel heat flux and temperature logging for research setups.
Why Heat Flux Sensors for Advanced Building Materials?
Advanced building materials often work by changing how heat is absorbed, stored, transferred, reflected, ventilated, or released. Temperature measurements alone cannot fully describe that behavior. A material may stay relatively cool because it reflects sunlight, stores heat internally, exchanges heat with ventilation air, emits infrared radiation, or simply resists conduction. To understand the actual thermal performance, researchers need to measure heat flux directly.
Heat flux sensors help quantify how much heat is moving through a material or surface in real time. This is useful for thermal conductivity testing, insulation R-value measurement, dynamic insulation research, mass timber heat-exchanger studies, green roof monitoring, asphalt thermal characterization, passive radiative cooling, adaptive roof materials, and bio-based insulation development.
For advanced materials R&D, direct heat flux measurement can support:
-
thermal conductivity testing
-
insulation and R-value characterization
-
adaptive roofing and thermoregulating surface studies
-
mass timber and dynamic insulation research
-
green roof thermal performance monitoring
-
asphalt concrete and pavement heat-transfer studies
-
bio-based insulation material development
-
validation of analytical, CFD, and energy models
-
comparison of experimental building-envelope materials
The studies summarized here were conducted by independent researchers. FluxTeq did not necessarily design, perform, or validate the experiments. These publications are provided as examples of how FluxTeq sensors and DAQ systems have been used in battery thermal research.
Passively adaptive radiative switch for thermoregulation in buildings
Deice, 2024
Link: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666998623003046
Application: Adaptive roofing materials, passive thermoregulation, radiative heating and cooling
Relevant sensor: PHFS-09e
Summary:
This paper developed a tile-like passive radiative switch that can automatically transition between heating and cooling states without external electrical power. The device uses wax-motor actuation to open and close louvers, switching between a black solar-absorbing state and a white infrared-emissive cooling state. The authors describe the concept as a potential roofing-tile technology for reducing both heating and cooling energy use in buildings.
FluxTeq PHFS-09e heat flux sensors were used during outdoor power tests on the roof of Harold Frank Hall at the University of California, Santa Barbara. The researchers logged heat flux and T-type thermocouple readings from the PHFS-09e sensors every 0.5 seconds while controlling Peltier elements beneath the tiles. The paper reports that the device reduced cooling energy by 3.1× and heating energy by 2.6× compared with non-switching devices.
The Design of Mass Timber Panels as Heat-Exchangers (Dynamic Insulation)
Frontiers in Built Environment, 2021
Link: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/built-environment/articles/10.3389/fbuil.2020.606258/full
Application: Mass timber heat exchangers, dynamic insulation, low-carbon building materials
Relevant sensor category: Ultra-09
Summary:
This paper investigated how mass timber panels could be designed as heat exchangers, or “breathing walls,” by adding optimized air channels through the material. The goal was to combine structural, ventilation, and thermal functions into a single low-carbon building material system. The authors describe this as a way to reduce the need for additional insulation, cladding, and HVAC components while supporting carbon-storing construction.
FluxTeq Ultra-09 sensors were used to measure heat flux and temperature on both surfaces of the test panels. The paper states that the interior heat flux sensor was placed in a routed indent so the thermally active surface would sit flush, and that the sensor size influenced the spacing of the channels in the panels.
The experiments measured steady-state heat exchange, transient response after a step change in heating, periodic heat transfer under outdoor temperature swings, and buoyancy-driven ventilation through the panel. The authors concluded that optimized wood panels could achieve low dynamic U-values without external insulation, while also supporting ventilation heat exchange.
Link: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0378778822001219
Application: Green roof monitoring, roof heat-transfer measurement, solar and water-balance studies
Relevant sensor: PHFS-09e
Summary:
This paper describes a green roof monitoring project at the University of Pécs in Hungary. The project included an approximately 45 m² extensive green roof and two similarly sized control roof sections, including one control roof with added XPS insulation. The monitoring system was designed to measure roof temperatures, solar radiation, water balance, and thermal behavior over time.
The paper states that three heat transfer densitometers were planned for each roof surface, and that the designed sensor type was the PHFS-09e Large Surface Area Heat Flux Sensor. The intent was to measure heat transfer density as part of a broader system for evaluating green roof energetics, absorbed/reflected radiation, and seasonal thermal behavior.
Green Roof Temperature Distribution Monitoring System
EXPRES, 2022
A comparative analysis of the thermal conductivity measurement of asphalt concrete under steady-state and transient heat transfer conditions
Materials and Structures, 2026
Application: Asphalt concrete thermal conductivity, pavement heat-transfer characterization
Relevant FluxTeq product: Ultra-09
Summary:
This paper compared steady-state and transient methods for measuring the thermal conductivity of asphalt concrete. The authors prepared twelve asphalt mixtures using different aggregate sources, air-void levels, and maximum aggregate sizes, then compared a custom steady-state heat-transfer setup with a Hot Disk TPS transient method. The study is relevant to pavement durability, urban heat island mitigation, asphalt solar collectors, snow-melting systems, and pavement thermal-energy storage.
A FluxTeq Ultra-09 Plate Heat Flux Sensor was used in the custom steady-state setup to measure unidirectional heat flow across asphalt specimens positioned between heating and cooling plates. The paper explains that the PHFS directly quantified one-dimensional heat flux through its calibrated internal thermal resistance layer, and that thermal paste was used to reduce contact resistance and improve measurement precision.
The study found that the steady-state method better represented the full specimen thickness of heterogeneous asphalt mixtures, while the transient TPS method was more sensitive to localized aggregate structure near the sensor contact zone. Table 6 specifically identifies the steady-state sensor as a plate-type heat flux sensor, FluxTeq Ultra-09, with dimensions of 9.2 cm × 8.7 cm.
Link: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1742-6596/2042/1/012152
Application: Thermal mass, buoyancy ventilation, passive building design
Relevant sensor: Ultra-09
Summary:
This study tested scaling rules for coupling internal thermal mass with buoyancy ventilation. The researchers compared wood and concrete thermal masses in small test chambers located in Alabama and Montreal. The goal was to determine whether properly designed wood thermal mass could perform similarly to concrete when thickness and surface area were optimized.
The paper states that thermal mass front surface temperature, back surface temperature, and heat flux were measured using FluxTeq Ultra-09 or GreenTeg surface and heat flux sensors. The experiments found that wood and concrete chambers performed equivalently when designed according to the scaling rules; in Alabama, both chambers achieved measured temperature damping of approximately 0.81, with similar measured maximum ventilation flow rates.
Synchronized coupling of thermal mass andbuoyancy ventilation: wood versus concrete
Journal of Physics, 2021
Biochar Composites for Sustainable Thermal Packaging Applications
IAPRI Member Conference Proceedings, 2023
Link: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0306261923007286
Application: Bio-based insulation, thermal packaging, R-value and thermal conductivity testing
Relevant sensor category: PHFS-09e
Summary:
This conference paper studied biochar composites as sustainable insulation materials for temperature-controlled packaging. The researchers explored combinations of biochar and a bio-based binder as potential alternatives to expanded polystyrene for applications such as vaccine, food, and pharmaceutical transport. The abstract reports that several biochar-binder combinations achieved performance comparable to EPS, and one achieved about 10% lower thermal conductivity than EPS.
The study used a FluxTeq PHFS-09e heat flux sensor to measure heat flow and compute R-value. The experimental method used an EPS cooler with ice to create a constant internal temperature, then replaced the cooler’s top panel with fabricated biochar composite panels. The test ran for six hours, and thermal conductivity values were calculated from measurements acquired between hours three and six.