Thermal insulation of houses and thermal imaging

In this experiment a heated up room or house are to be simulated. The solar collector from the Pupil Kit is used for this purpose. Three walls are made up of Styropor, the front plastic plate is the window. The black beaker with hot water serves as "heater" of the room.
The thermal transfer through the wall has influence on the outside temperature. The insulating properties of different walls can be compared by measuring the outwall temperatures with each other.
A correct temperature measurement of the outwall cannot be carried out in this experiment. In the model the heater is very big in comparison to the room, the thermogenerator touches the wall only lightly and mostly leaves an air gap, thermal radiation also contributes to the heating up of the thermogenerator (Thermografie).
The measured thermoelectrical voltages are very small. However, they show an obvious difference between the plastic plate and the Styropor wall.

Benefits

• Experiment is part of a complete solution set with a total of 17 experiments for Renewable Energy Basics and Heat energy
• Versatile solar collector
• Stable setup by using the optical bench

Tasks

1. Why are the walls of houses dammed with additional styropor plates?
2. In this experiment the solar collector from the Pupil Kit is used as a model house. The walls are made up of styropor sheets. The transparent plastic sheet is the window. The thermal transfer through the wall and window are compared measuring the outwall temperatures.

Learning objectives 

• Solar collector
• Heat insulation
• Thermogenerator