METROLOGY OF ENERGY QUANTITIES

The objective evaluation of the performance of solar thermal systems, as well as of renewable energy sources on a more general level, is a prerequisite not only for the improvement of the products themselves, but for the broader dissemination of the relevant applications. This has been the launching point for the involvement of the Laboratory with the metrology of energy quantities, an activity presenting the following basic elements:

• The development and evaluation of proper models, simulating the energy behavior of products and installations, based on the in-depth knowledge of the respective physical processes.
• The availability of reliable metrological infrastructures, so much as in terms of experimental observation equipment, as much as in terms of measuring know how.
• The development of methods and tools for the estimation of the quality of the result of a measurement, as well as for the quantitative assessment of the uncertainties characterizing this result, through the use of proper error propagation techniques (stochastic error models, error propagation , Monte - Carlo simulation).
• The active contribution to the strengthening of the national infrastructures for Standardization-Quality-Tests-Metrology (Hellenic Laboratories Association HellasLab, accreditation system, certification schemes).

Within the upcoming objectives of the Laboratory, the further development of methods and infrastructures for the evaluation of energy performance are included, as well as the measurement of thermo-physical properties of materials (with emphasis on nanofluids), the development-implementation of complex measurement systems, and the elaboration of error propagation models for measuring set-ups of complicated architecture.