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The first objective of this problem - thorough literature review - was conducted on all available references concerning humidity measurement, and visits were made to the American Instrument Company in Silver Springs, Maryland, and the National Bureau of Standards. The survey evaluated the instruments in use today and also explored many of the ideas and concepts that have been suggested in past years as possible means for humidity measurement. A summation of the survey indicated that the electric hygrometer with a ceramic element was a good basic theory for a humidity instrument, but still required development before it,would be of any practical use. The second objective - development of a useful hygrometer - was directed towards the development of the electric hygrometer using a ceramic element. The study that resulted included the evaluation of two methods for determining the change of resistance of the ceramic element, as well as a preliminary investigation of the characteristics of a ceramic element when employed as the sensing element for an electric hygrometer. The element intended for the initial tests, a porous ceramic containing mostly aluminum oxide, was the only material tested, but the tests included elements of the pure ceramic material and the same material after it was soaked in a saturated solution of lithium chloride. With the instruments used, the indications were that both elements were suited for determining the high humidities. The pure element had a lower limit of 50 percent relative humidity, and the coated element a lower limit of 20 percent. Two instruments were used for indicating the change of relative humidity. A vacuum tube voltmeter type instrument was tested, but found unsatisfactory due to variations of readings under the same conditions, drifting of the zero set, and excessive fluctuations of the indicating meter. The other instrument or method used was to apply an A-C voltage across the element, and to measure the resulting current flow. Because the current was maintained above 1 milliampere, heating of the element was caused, resulting in a change of element resistance. However, results with this instrument were sufficient to establish a calibration curve for the apparatus. A comparison of this device and a psychrometer indicated the usefulness of such an instrument, but confirmed that the development was not complete. The overall result of the research indicates that the selection of the ceramic sensing element for an electric hygrometer has merit, but more development is necessary. Two phases of any future work on the problem should be the development of the indicating instrument, and the selection and design of the sensing element. The need for a satisfactory instrument still exists, and the successful development of the type instrument described herein, would undoubtedly meet the requirements. / Master of Science

This document describes the design and deployment of a first generation water vapor density sensing unit, the HumiSense. This device is based on an open, air-filled capacitor which is part of a resonant circuit. The frequency of the resonant circuit mixed with a fixed frequency oscillator is the basis of the method to generate a signal that is associated to the change in water vapor density within the open capacitor with time. The physical testing results were inconclusive given that there were many unresolved artifacts in the data. Several suggestions for improving the device for future device generations were provided. / Graduation date: 2013

HotHumiBox är en försöksutrustning som finns på Linnéuniversitetet och som ska ge bättre kunskap och förståelse om hur fukt och temperatur varierar i en provkropp monterad mellan två kammare där klimatet kan styras var för sig. Syftet med examensarbetet är att undersöka om HotHumiBoxen fungerar väl och huruvida den kan börja användas i undervisningen i olika kurser inom institutionen för byggteknik på Linnéuniversitetet, bl.a. i samband med demonstrationslaborationer vid föreläsningar om fukt. För att genomföra arbetet har mätningar med tre olika klimat utförts på ett provelement som motsvarar en yttervägg som kan finnas i nybyggda typhus. Resultatet av mätningar utförda med HotHumiBoxen presenteras i form av tabeller och diagram och jämförs slutligen med beräkningar av fukt- och temperaturtillstånd. Jämförelsen mellan mätningar och beräkningar visar att givarna som styr klimatet i båda kamrarna visar mycket bra resultat. Däremot visar majoriteten av givarna i provelementet antingen lite för höga eller för låga värden för att resultatet ska anses som tillfredställande. För att få en bekräftelse på att HotHumiBoxen fungerar väl rekommenderas därför att ytterligare mätningar görs. / HotHumiBox is an experimental equipment that is available at Linnaeus University and is supposed to provide better knowledge and understanding about the way moisture and temperature varies in a building element installed between two chambers in which the climate can be controlled separately. The purpose of this work is to investigate whether the HotHumiBox works well and whether it can be used at various courses at the Department of Building Technology at Linnaeus University, such as demonstration laboratory experiments at lectures on moisture. Measurements with three different climates were performed on a building element that corresponds to a wall that could be installed in modern houses. The results of the HotHumiBox measurements are being presented in tables and diagrams and are being compared with moisture and temperature calculations. The comparison between measurements and calculations shows that the sensors which control the climate in both chambers show very good results. On the other hand, the majority of the sensors in the test element show either too high or too low values for the result to be considered as satisfactory. Therefore, it is recommended that some more tests and measurements are done before it can be concluded that the HotHumiBox work well.

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