LOCIE focuses on the characterization of walls. This includes the thermal and hygric properties of materials, as well as air transfer through walls.
The HRBox is a double hygrothermal chamber. It consists of two glove boxes connected by an airlock. Each chamber is independently controlled for temperature (between -5 and +40°C) and humidity (from 9% to 98% RH) by a heat exchanger and a cryothermostat, as well as saturated salt solutions. The humidity level contained in the material is monitored by weighing directly inside each chamber (continuous or discontinuous weighing, max: 600g). This setup allows for conventional hygric characterization of hygroscopic materials (sorption isotherms, vapor permeability, etc.), but dynamic experiments are also possible thanks to the rapid passage of samples through the airlock. This allows the measurement of the buffer capacity of materials ("moisture buffer value") as well as the kinetics of sorption/desorption between two humidity levels. In addition to the actual characterization of materials, the data obtained can then be used in modeling to predict phenomena or in inverse methods to determine the characteristics of a material based on a much smaller number of experiments.
Regarding the study of air transfer through walls, experimental benches have been designed for this purpose. At the material level, the SAPI box (Small Air Path Investigation box) is used to characterize the air permeability of individual materials or simple assemblies on a small scale. The APIE box (Air Path In Envelopes box) was built for airtightness studies on larger walls (0.7 m x 2 m).
LOCIE also has a C-THERM thermal conductivity meter that can quickly measure the surface thermal conductivity of low-conductivity materials.