An Improved Guarded Parallel-Plate Method for Measuring the Thermal Conductivity of Fluids in the Critical Region

A description is preseInted of the construction and operating procedure of an improved guarded parallel-plate instrument for measuring the thermal conductivity of fluids in the critical region. With the improved arrangement, it has been possible to reduce the temperature differences across the fluid layer between the two horizontal plates to values as low as 0.3 mK, thus allowing the thermal conductivity of fluids to be measured at temperatures as close as 20 mK to the critical temperature. The instrument has been used to measure the thermal conductivity of methane and of a mixture of methane and ethane in the close vicinity of the critical point.