Thin Foil Heat Meter

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Abstract
A thin wafer of low density, compression‐resistant thermal insulation is enclosed between two 0.00064 cm foils of edge‐welded copper‐constantan thermocouple material. The foils are connected to form a low‐impedance differential thermocouple system which produces an emf proportional to the temperature difference between wafer faces. Under steady‐state conditions, the heat flux normal to the wafer is related to the observed emf by a calibration factor computed from known properties of insulation and foil. Experimental calibration confirms to within 5% the correctness of the computed factor. Both theory and experiment show that a meter having a wafer thickness of the order of 0.0025 cm produces steady readings within 0.4 sec after an abrupt change in heat flux. The thermal resistance of the meter is ordinarily negligible compared with that of the air film adjacent to solid surfaces. Normal environmental heat fluxes produce signals read with good precision on modern microvoltmeters.

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