A sophisticated technique to measure thermal properties using inverse heat conduction analysis was proposed and applied to paraffin or packed beds such as copper and metal hydride particles. The technique was extended to a finite hollow cylindrical domain with new accuracy assurance concepts about criterions deciding thermocouple positions in a sample and time period to be solved the inverse solution. The features of the technique are as follows. 1) Arbitrary heating boundary conditions without constant temperature or heat flux can be used. 2) Thermal diffusivity and heat conductivity are quickly and simultaneously obtained after acquisition of transient sample temperature histories and cumulative heat input during sample heating. 3) Estimation errors in thermal properties are assured within 5 %. This technique was successfully applied to measurement of hydrogen absorbed metal hydride bed.
