Vacuum Insulated Panels for Building Envelope Thermal Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional building insulation materials are inadequate in preventing heat transfer, leading to high energy costs for heating and cooling due to their inability to completely stop heat conduction, radiation, and convection, especially with rising oil prices and decreasing crude oil availability.
Innovation Solution
The use of vacuum technology in building insulation, specifically in hermetically sealed vacuum insulated panels (VIPs) that eliminate air content to prevent heat transfer by conduction and convection, while using reflective materials like aluminum to reduce radiant heat transfer, achieving a significantly higher R-value per inch.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of energy
If conventional insulation materials (fiber-glass, urea formaldehyde, cellulose, polystyrene, polyurethane) are used, then thermal insulation is provided, but heat transfer by conduction, radiation, and convection cannot be completely prevented
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the air contents from the insulation panel entirely by creating a vacuum, extracting the medium that enables conduction and convection. This eliminates the molecular pathways for heat transfer that exist in conventional solid or fibrous insulation materials, achieving complete prevention of conductive and convective heat transfer.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the physical state of the insulation medium from solid/fibrous material to vacuum (complete absence of matter). This parameter change from having molecules present to having no molecules eliminates the mechanisms of conduction and convection, providing superior thermal insulation performance.
2Loss of energy
If vacuum technology is used to eliminate air contents, then heat transfer by conduction and convection is completely stopped, but the complexity of creating and maintaining hermetic seal increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the building envelope into multiple separate vacuum-insulated panels rather than requiring one large vacuum chamber. Each panel can be independently evacuated and sealed, reducing the complexity of maintaining large-scale hermetic seals while achieving the same thermal insulation effect across the entire building envelope.
3Loss of energy
If vacuum evacuated vessels are used to increase R-value, then thermal resistance is significantly improved, but the cost of materials and manufacturing increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses multiple smaller vacuum panels instead of one large vacuum chamber, allowing for standardized manufacturing processes, easier evacuation, and simplified sealing. This segmentation makes the manufacturing more economical and scalable compared to creating and maintaining a single large vacuum environment.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs thin film barriers to create the vacuum seal, which are more cost-effective and easier to manufacture than traditional rigid vacuum vessel materials. These flexible thin films can be hermetically sealed at lower costs while maintaining the vacuum environment necessary for high R-value performance.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach significantly reduces heat loss in winter and heat gain in summer, leading to substantial energy savings and cost reduction by creating a more efficient insulation barrier that maintains interior comfort with minimal energy expenditure.
Implementation Method 1
creating a vacuum state within a hermetically sealed closed vessel
Implementation Method 2
heat being transferred by all three thermodynamic molecular transmigration of flow mechanisms, i.e. conduction, radiation, and convection
Implementation Method 3
heat being transferred by all three thermodynamic molecular transmigration of flow mechanisms, i.e. conduction, radiation, and convection
Implementation Method 4
heat being transferred by all three thermodynamic molecular transmigration of flow mechanisms, i.e. conduction, radiation, and convection
Implementation Method 5
using reflective materials like aluminum to reduce radiant heat transfer
Data Source
AI summary
A manufactured apparatus formed via a deep drawn stamping process for use within a building as an insulation device applied both to the exterior sheathing of an existing or new edifice and also above the ceiling plane below its roof structure; which consists of two half vessels made from malleable material, each containing similar structural appurtenances on their exterior faces, which when bonded together encase a cruciform rigid plastic grid-like lattice having many apertures therein for the complete removal of air within this subsequently sealed vessel. This complete state of vacuum totally prevents or drastically stops the transmigration of heat energy loss via conduction and convection from the interior of a building's space to the outside environment during the winter months; and vice versa, thus also retarding any interior gain of ambient heat during the hot summer months.