Optimizing Performance for Next-Gen Sustainable Building Materials at uOttawa

Overview: Validating the Future of Green Tech

As the global construction industry shifts toward carbon-negative solutions, the development of high-performance, sustainable materials has never been more critical. This case study explores how the Ceratina Data Logger provided the essential data foundation for validating next-generation composites.

By integrating Phase Change Materials (PCM) into bio-based structures, researchers can create building envelopes that passively regulate temperature and humidity. To move these materials from the lab to market, high-precision thermal monitoring is required to prove energy-saving performance and reliable ROI to commercial developers.

"There's no additional software to learn. It just directly gives you the Excel file which is super easy to access." — Christine Z.

The Challenge: The Limitation of Off-the-Shelf Sensors

When testing complex, porous building materials, standard off-the-shelf equipment is rarely ready for immediate lab integration, typically requiring significant internal engineering from research teams to function within their specific experimental setups. Prior to this partnership, the research team lacked a specialized electronic data logging system capable of handling the unique environmental and physical requirements of hemp-composite testing.

The baseline for data collection was essentially manual. Without a ruggedized, multi-point electronic hub, the team relied on manual methods that were both labor-intensive and prone to human error. Christine Z. recalled the limitations of previous attempts:

"In the first attempt, I used the regular analog thermal measuring tools. For that one, you have to look at it every half an hour manually." — Christine Z.

Because no existing retail solution offered the flexibility to integrate custom sensors into a unified, high-frequency logging system, the research was restricted by repurposed tools that were not built for industrial science.

The Solution: The Ceratina Data Logger Advantage

The Ceratina Data Logger was deployed as a robust, localized hub to eliminate these monitoring gaps. For this deployment, the focus was on high-reliability, offline data capture that could withstand the rigors of long-term laboratory testing.

Engineered for Precision and Accessibility

To meet the demands of advanced material testing, the Ceratina system focused on ease of deployment and direct data access:

• Automated Recording: Christine highlighted the ease of the initial setup: "You don't have to press any button, you just have to place the sensor and it will start right away automatically recording the data."

• Direct CSV Data Architecture: Data was recorded directly to an SD card. Christine noted that this direct access was a key benefit: "It directly gives you the Excel file which is super easy to access."

• Universal Flexibility: "It has great flexibility on how many probes that you could have."

Results: Closing the Gap Between Theory and Reality

By leveraging the Ceratina system, the team established a high-granularity data workflow that completely replaced manual measurements. Despite the physical challenges of the probe size, the logger provided the reliability needed to refine the experiment. Christine observed:

"The accuracy and consistency is pretty good so far. The error is within my range."— Christine Z.

The logger’s consistency allowed the team to identify exactly where their physical setup was failing, allowing them to calculate precise offsets and effectively "clean" the data to bring experimental results in line with the high standards required for commercial building certification.

The Roadmap: Future Scalability & Real-Time Intelligence

While this deployment prioritized localized SD-card access for security and ease of processing, the Apidae ecosystem offers seamless paths for future project scaling, including remote Wi-Fi visibility and the ability to integrate wire-type thermocouples directly into the casting process.

Conclusion: A Strategic Monitoring Partnership

This project highlights the essential role that custom, Canadian-engineered data logging plays in bringing sustainable innovations to market. By solving the limitations of standard sensing with direct, easy-to-process data, the Ceratina Data Logger is helping the next generation of building materials achieve the high-fidelity validation needed for global adoption.