Experimental investigation of methods to reduce outgassing from core materials in the fabrication process of transparent vacuum insulation panels

Abstract

The notion that modern buildings should strive to be net-zero energy buildings (NZEBs) is widely accepted. In order to improve window’s insulation in existing buildings, structured-core transparent vacuum insulation panels (TVIPs) are proposed. TVIPs mainly consist of the structured core material, the low-emissivity film, and the transparent gas barrier envelope. TVIPs have high insulation performance and are inexpensive to manufacture and can be easily installed. However, it is necessary to overcome the issue of preventing the pressure rise inside TVIP after vacuum sealing. The authors constructed an experimental setup by applying the pressure-rate-of-rise-method to establish the fabrication process for TVIPs that prevents the pressure rise. In this experiment, a gas barrier film with a straw was used as the vacuum chamber. This could reproduce the pressure increase in the TVIP after sealing and the gas flow rate in the TVIP is evaluated. The experimental results showed that the internal pressure of TVIP could be reduced to about 1 Pa after vacuuming while heating for 8 hours, coating the core material, and sealing the getter material.