A review of vacuum insulation research and development in the Building Materials Group of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Washington, D.C. : United States. Dept. of Energy ; Oak Ridge, Tenn. : Distributed by the Office of Scientific and Technical Information, U.S. Dept. of Energy, 1991.

xiii, 91 pages : illustrations ; 28 cm

This report is a summary of the development work on flat-vacuum insulation performed by the Building Materials Group (BMG) in the Metals and Ceramics Division of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) during the last two years. A historical review of the technology of vacuum insulation is presented, and the role that ORNL played in this development is documented. The ORNL work in vacuum insulation has been concentrated in Powder-filled Evacuated Panels (PEPs) that have a thermal resistivity over 2.5 times that of insulating foams and seven times that of many batt-type insulations, such as fiberglass. Experimental results of substituting PEPs for chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) foal insulation in Igloo Corporation ice coolers are summarized. This work demonstrated that one-dimensional (1D) heat flow models overestimated the increase in thermal insulation of a foam/PEP-composite insulation, but three-dimensional (3D) models provided by a finite-difference, heat-transfer code (HEATING-7) accurately predicted the resistance of the composites. Edges and corners of the ice coolers were shown to cause the errors in the 1D models as well as shunting of the heat through the foam and around the PEPs. The area of coverage of a PEP in a foam/PEP composite is established as an important parameter in maximizing the resistance of such composites. 50 refs., 27 figs, . 22 tabs.

Insulation (Heat) Thermal properties.
Building materials Thermal properties.
Vacuum Thermal properties.
Information.
Organic Compounds.
Heat Flow.
Mathematical Models.
Thermal Barriers.
Us Doe.
Halogenated Aliphatic Hydrocarbons.
Organic Halogen Compounds.
National Organizations.
Refrigerators.
H Codes.
Thermal Insulation.
Energy Transfer.
Computer Codes.
Us Aec.
Historical Aspects.
Us Organizations.
Numerical Data.
Chlorinated Aliphatic Hydrocarbons.
Structural Models.
Ornl.
Heat Transfer.
Us Erda.
Organic Chlorine Compounds.
Flow Models.
Scale Models.
Data.
Construction Matériaux Propriétés thermiques.
Vide (Physique) Propriétés thermiques.
Energy Conservation, Consumption, And Utilization.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
United States. Department of Energy.
United States. Department of Energy. Office of Scientific and Technical Information.
Fine, H.A.
Graves, R.S.
Weaver, F.J.
McElroy, D.L.
Kollie, T.G.
Childs, K.W.

Location: Library main 306129
Call No.: BIB 251840
Status: Available