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Nanotechnology for High Performance Thermal Insulation
Nanotechnology can be used to develop high performance thermal insulation for building envelope construction. The thermal resistivity of open porous insulating material increases when its effective pore size decreases. This well established principle creates the opportunity for nanoporous materials to be used as the 'core material' for extremely effective vacuum insulation panels or VIPs.
Vacuum guarded hot plate (VGHP) apparatus
NRC-IRC researchers have been working studying the long-term performance and material characterization of VIP during the last five years. As part of this research program, NRC-IRC is in the advanced stages of investigating innovative low-cost nanoporous core materials for VIP construction.
This work is using the Institute's recently developed vacuum guarded hot plate (VGHP) test apparatus, which can characterize the thermal conductivity of open-porous insulating materials at various pressure levels starting from 1 Pa to 101,325 Pa (atmospheric pressure).
What are Vacuum Insulation Panels?
The construction of Vacuum Insulation Panels is strictly based on the physics that the absence or reduction of gaseous pressure inside a porous material increases its thermal insulating potential. Accordingly a VIP is made with open porous core materials enclosed in an impermeable gas barrier (Figure 1) and has three major components (Figure 2):
Figure 1: Vaccuum insulated panel (VIP)
- The “core material”, which imparts mechanical strength and thermal insulating capacity by preventing the free flow of the gas/air molecules and thereby reduces the ability of heat transfer through air conduction. Ideal core materials should have open cell structure, very small pore diameter, resistance to compression due to atmospheric pressure and very high resistance to infrared radiation.
- The “gas barrier / facer foil”, which provides the air and vapor tight enclosure for the core material. The long-term performance of VIP is highly dependent on the performance of the gas barrier of facer foil.
- The “Getter / desiccant”, which is added inside the core material to adsorb residual or permeating atmospheric gases or water vapor in the VIP enclosure. Addition of “Getter / desiccant” increases the performance and longevity of VIPs.
Figure 2: Schematic construction of VIP
Advantages of VIP
The thermal insulating capacity of VIPs is up to 10 times higher than conventional insulating materials (see below) VIPs are particularly useful in places where space is at a premium or where energy demand is high, such as the Canadian North. The higher insulating values of VIPs can effectively reduce the thickness of building envelopes. In cases where the size of framing members is governed by their ability to contain insulation materials rather than by structural strength, the size of insulation cavities can be reduced, with a saving in materials, a maximization of usable building space and a reduction in waste and recycling needs at the end of the building service life.
Thermal insulating capacity of VIP compared against several common insulating materials
