Prediction of thermal performance of vacuum insulation panels (VIPs) with micro-fiber core materials

Abstract

Compared with traditional insulated materials, vacuum insulation panels (VIPs) are developed to achieve the better insulated performance. Understanding the heat transfer of VIPs is a crucial issue for the purpose of predicting thermal conductivity. To investigate the thermal conductivity, VIPs with micro-fiber core material were prepared and five typical VIPs at different internal pressure varied from 0.1 Pa to 1000 Pa were fabricated. The microstructure of micro-fiber has been measured to for exploring the mechanism of heat transfer. This paper emphasized on thermal conductivity of the porous core material, gases thermal conductivity and thermal radiation to evaluate the performance of VIPs. A validated heat transfer model was applied to analyze the performance of VIPs. The results indicated that the model could predict the thermal conductivity with satisfactory accuracy. Lower mean diameter and internal pressure would result in a deduction of thermal conductivity. However, extra low mean diameter and internal pressure would increase the cost. Reasonable mean diameter and internal pressure should be considered carefully in building applications. Finally, this research provides data reference for studying the heat transfer of micro material, which also discloses the behavior of heat transfer.