Patent ID: 8568021

Claim:
A method of measuring heat flux received on a selected area of a surface from a radiant tube heater, said method comprising: (a) providing an enclosing wall along side edges of said selected area which has a predetermined width and length; (b) providing a radiant tube heater having a radiant heating tube mounted a selected height above said surface, said heating tube being located directly above a longitudinal centerline of said selected area and extending parallel to said centerline; (c) providing at least one heat flux sensor and regulating an operating temperature of said at least one heat flux sensor; (d) forming a grid on said selected area, said grid defining a plurality of side-by-side sensor locations each corresponding respectively to an area covered by one heat flux sensor; and (e) measuring the heat flux received at each sensor location by means of said at least one sensor, the or each sensor being moved sequentially from one sensor location to an adjacent sensor location after the heat flux on said one sensor location has been measured.