Design and Development of Iot Based Apparatus For Measuring Thermal Conductivity of Insulating Slabs

Abstract

Thermal conductivity is the amount of heat that can be passed through or conducted by any material. Evaluating the thermal conductivity of insulators is critical for many applications. The available thermal conductivity apparatuses are expensive, time-consuming, and tedious to operate. With the advent of nanotechnology, there is a tremendous increase in the research and development of new insulating materials to be used for various applications. So, there is an urgent need to develop a portable, simple, and cost-effective apparatus that can be used in research laboratories to measure the thermal conductivity of newly developed insulating materials. In this regard, a portable and cost-effective thermal conductivity apparatus has been indigenously developed in the laboratory. The apparatus has been used to measure the thermal conductivity of insulating slabs. The values obtained from the apparatus have been verified with known material and found to be in broad agreement with the value available in the literature. The results obtained have been deployed onto the cloud in real-time using the Internet of Things platform. A plot of the thermal conductivity of the insulating slab at different temperatures has been displayed in the cloud. It can be concluded that the developed apparatus can be used to measure the thermal conductivity of any insulating slab with reasonable accuracy. Furthermore, this apparatus gives the same accuracy for measuring the thermal conductivity of metals as long as their dimensions are known, such as metallic bars or slabs. The thermal conductivity of the metals is compared to the standard values and this can determine their purity and if composites such as nanomaterials have been added. It is very useful for the mining industry as well, to measure the thermal conductivity of metals and assess their purity.