This paper describes a heat flux‐based method for measuring emissivity of a surface. In this method the emissivity of a surface is calculated using direct measurement of the heat flux passing through the surface. Unlike storage‐based calorimetric methods, this method does not require application of known amounts of heat to the surface or the temperature history of a known amount of thermal mass to calculate the surface emissivity. Application and operation of this method is much simpler than calorimetric methods as it does not require careful thermal insulation of the heat radiating body from the surroundings. The low thermal capacitance and scalability of the heat flux sensors can provide good temporal and spatial resolution of the heat flux and, therefore, the emissivity. This technique allows emissivity measurements of the newly developed variable emissivity surfaces with significantly lighter and energy efficient measurement equipment that can operator for long term space missions. In this study, a commercially available thermopile heat flux sensor was used to measure the emissivity of a black paint for a temperature range of −100 to 100 °C. This paper details the concept, experimental setup, and the experiment results.
Heat Flux‐Based Emissivity Measurement
SPACE TECHNOLOGY AND APPLICATIONS INT.FORUM-STAIF 2005: Conf.Thermophys in Micrograv;Conf Comm/Civil Next Gen.Space Transp; 22nd Symp Space Nucl.Powr Propuls.;Conf.Human/Robotic Techn.Nat'l Vision Space Expl.; 3rd Symp Space Colon.; 2nd Symp.New Frontiers ; 2005 ; Albuquerque, New Mexico (USA)
AIP Conference Proceedings ; 746 , 1 ; 32-37
2005-02-06
6 pages
Conference paper
Electronic Resource
English
Heat Flux-Based Emissivity Measurement
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