A n E x p e r i m e n t a l P e r f o r m a n c e C o m p a r i s o n o f V I P s W a l l
711
AN EXPERIMENTAL PERFORMANCE COMPARISON OF VIPs
WALL ACCORDING TO THE INSTALLATION METHOD
Jin-Hee Kim
1
, Se-Hyeon Park
2
, Jun-Tae Kim
3
1
Green Home Energy Technology Research Center, Kongju National University, South Korea,
2
Graduate School, Department of Architectural Engineering, Kongju National University, South Korea,
3
Departments of Architectural Engineering, Kongju National University, South Korea
Abstract
The energy consumption in buildings has recently increased and in some countries, it
reaches almost 40% of the total energy use. Therefore, there are various efforts to
minimize energy loss or maximize energy conservation in buildings, one of which could
be to improve the thermal performance of building with high efficiency insulation. The
building envelope should be considered initially for this purpose, as it appears to be
more closely related to the building energy performance. There are various ways to
improve the thermal performance of the envelope, such as adding more conventional
insulation to the envelope and using the state-of-the-art insulation materials. VIPs
(Vacuum Insulation Panels) were recently introduced to the building sector as a highly
insulating material. A VIPs is a high performance insulation that is five to eight times
thinner than conventional insulation materials used in buildings with the same heat
transfer coefficient (U-value). However, it should be used with caution in building
application because it is more fragile and smaller than conventional insulation materials.
In particular, heat loss arises at the panel edges due to the thermal bridge effect and
depending on the adjacent materials and attachment methods. If heat loss increases
through the thermal bridge, the thermal performance of a building envelope with VIPs
can decrease. Therefore, it is important when applying VIPs to a building envelope to
prevent the formation of a thermal bridge. The aim of this study is to evaluate thermal
performance of VIP wall in relation to the thermal bridge effect depending on the VIPs
installation methods. For this study, two experimental models of building wall with VIPs
were tested and compared: wooden lath type and joiner type.
Keywords:
vacuum insulation panels, thermal performance, installation method, thermal
bridge, building envelope
Introduction
The amount of energy consumed by the residential and commercial building sector in
OECD countries is 1951 M toe and 638 M toe, respectively. This amounts to
approximately 40% of the total energy consumption of the world, revealing that energy
consumption in buildings is a significant issue. Moreover, the cooling and heating energy
used is substantial, as it comprises more than 50% of the energy consumption of a
typical building (Lausten 2008). This implies that reducing the heating and cooling
energy consumption in buildings will lead to a significant reduction in CO
2
emissions
from buildings.
A concept known as the zero-energy building was introduced recently, and efforts have
been made to minimize energy consumption in buildings and produce energy to make
buildings more energy self-sufficient. In particular, a high-performance insulation
envelope is important and therefore needs to be considered first for zero-energy
buildings. Therefore, in an effort to minimize the energy losses of building envelopes, the
