Abstract
Hygrothermal assessment is essential to the production of healthy and energy efficient buildings. This has given rise to the demand for the development of a hygrothermal laboratory, as input data to hygrothermal modeling tools can only be sourced and validated through appropriate empirical measurements in a laboratory. These data are then used to quantify a building’s dynamic characteristic moisture transport vis-a-vis a much more comprehensive energy performance analysis through simulation. This paper discusses the methods used to establish Australia’s first hygrothermal laboratory for testing the water vapor resistivity properties of construction materials. The approach included establishing a climatically controlled hygrothermal test room with an automatic integrated system which controls heating, cooling, humidifying, and de-humidifying as required. The data acquisition for this hygrothermal test room operates with the installation of environmental sensors connected to specific and responsive programming codes. The room was successfully controlled to deliver a relative humidity of 50% with ±1%RH deviation and at 23 °C temperature with ±1 °C fluctuation during the testing of the water vapor diffusion properties of a pliable membrane common in Australian residential construction. To validate the potential of this testing facility, an independent measurement was also conducted at the Fraunhofer Institute of Building Physics laboratory (IBP) Holzkirchen, Germany for the diffusion properties of the same pliable membrane. The inter-laboratory testing results were subjected to statistical analysis of variance, this indicates that there is no significant difference between the result obtained in both laboratories. In conclusion, this paper demonstrates that a low-cost hygrothermally controlled test room can successfully replace the more expensive climatic chamber.
Highlights
Over the last three decades, the increased expectations for energy efficient buildings combined with greater thermal comfort has established significant differences between the interior and exterior environmental water vapor pressure
This paper describes the methods employed to develop Australia’s first hygrothermal laboratory for quantifying the diffusion properties of materials using common appliances, which included a round-robin test conducted between Fraunhofer Institute of Building Physics laboratory (IBP) Holzkirchen Germany, and this hygrothermal testing laboratory at the University of Tasmania (UTAS), Australia
This section discusses the result from the climatic control of the hygrothermal test room which was used to quantify the water vapor diffusion properties of the permeable pliable membrane, when the test room was maintained at 50% relative humidity and the temperature remained at 23 ◦C (±1 ◦C) for the material testing periods
Summary
Over the last three decades, the increased expectations for energy efficient buildings combined with greater thermal comfort has established significant differences between the interior and exterior environmental water vapor pressure. This has created the need to manage water vapor diffusion and moisture, and has led to an increased demand for appropriate hygrothermal assessment [1]. The most concerning aspect of uncontrolled moisture in a building is the opportunity for mold to grow within interior spaces. This can have serious implications for the health of the occupants [5,6]. Recent research has shown that high levels of moisture can impact the energy performance of a building and the quality of the indoor air [7,8,9,10]
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