RFH 2010, Cover Stories, Colgate News

Colgate Could Patent Insulation Testing Device

Fri, Aug 26, 2011

It's the size of a bread box, runs on 9-volt batteries, is about the weight of a cell phone, and could help home owners conserve energy.

This device in development at Colgate will detect the R-value, or thermal resistance, of insulation in the walls of houses. Michael Michonski '12, is the fourth in a series of students who has been part of the project, and is researching the device's accuracy, stability, mobility, and consistency in Professor Beth Parks's physics lab, and in homes around Hamilton.

Colgate has submitted an application to patent the technology, which Parks hopes to license to a local company that could manufacture it for homeowners.

Funding for the project has come from the Justus '43 and Jayne Schlichting Student Research Fund and the Upstate Institute.