Since neoTerra is a passive solar project we are incorporating thermal mass in the form of concrete slabs in the basement and on the first floor (I'll talk about the construction of the suspended first floor slab in a future post).
There's a lot of theoretical info on how much heat can be stored in the slab but there isn't very much practical info on how long it takes for the slab to warm up in the sun, how warm does it actually get and how fast does it cool off at night so I wanted a way to measure the temperature of the slab throughout the day.
My brother Phil is an experienced software engineer so he came up with a really cool system that allows us to embed temperature sensors right in the slab. It uses a very small computer called an Arduino and very precise temperature sensors from Dallas Semiconductor. I'll post details on the project in the How-To section.
There's a lot of theoretical info on how much heat can be stored in the slab but there isn't very much practical info on how long it takes for the slab to warm up in the sun, how warm does it actually get and how fast does it cool off at night so I wanted a way to measure the temperature of the slab throughout the day.
My brother Phil is an experienced software engineer so he came up with a really cool system that allows us to embed temperature sensors right in the slab. It uses a very small computer called an Arduino and very precise temperature sensors from Dallas Semiconductor. I'll post details on the project in the How-To section.
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The sensors are encased in stainless steel sleeves so we can bury them diretly in the concrete. We are putting seven sensors in the basement slab.
Three will get direct sun, three will be in areas that get partial sun and one will be in an area that doesn't get any sun.
We are tying them to the remesh before we pour the slab.
Three will get direct sun, three will be in areas that get partial sun and one will be in an area that doesn't get any sun.
We are tying them to the remesh before we pour the slab.
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