Technology

How It Works

C-Therm's advanced sensors are based on a very simple thermal property – heat always flows from a hot object to a cold object. The principles of heat transfer that form the basis of C-Therm sensor technology are very effectively demonstrated by your fingertips.

C-Therm sensors work just like your fingertips – they add a small amount of heat when they touch something, and instantly measure how much of that heat is reflected back.

Even when the two items are identical in temperature, the metal feels colder. Why? Wood is not a good conductor of heat, so it is slow to absorb the heat from your hand. Metal has higher thermal effusivity, so the heat from your hand flows into the metal quickly – creating the sensation of it feeling cold.

 
Touch wood. It feels warm.   Touch metal. It feels cold.

C-Therm sensors work like your fingertips, by rapidly determining the rate of heat flow from one material to another. Like your fingertips, our sensors are interfacial – in other words, they supply the heat source and detect the heat flow. Like your hand, they do not require the things they touch (samples) to be a specific size, nor do they destroy or affect the sample being tested.

The C-Therm Advantages

• Rapid testing (from 0.8 to 5 seconds; see specifications)
• Flexible sample size (no maximum size limitation)
• Non-destructive (non-invasive process)

Along with the simplicity of using the technology, is allowing researchers to accelerate their work, and manufacturers to incorporate online effusivity testing as a determinate of quality and homogeneity of their products during production.

Click here for more information on how to sign up for a live demonstration of C-Therm's effusivity technology for PAT applications.

Learn more about heat transfer & thermal conductivity