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Characteristics - Advantages - Ecology - Recycling - Manufacturing - Handling
Vacuum insulation panels (VIP) do need significantly less space than conventional insulation (such as mineral wool) material. Our panels only need one fifth of the thickness of conventional insulating materials to achieve comparable insulation values. The VIP can be compared with a thin coffee packaging. In both cases the core material is wrapped in a metal coated foil and the air inside was evacuated. Of course the goal of both applications is different. The evacuation process is reducing significantly the heat conductivity of the panel. The evacuated air inside the coffee package keeps the flavour of the coffee.
The core material of high quality vacuum insulation panels mainly consists of silica (preferably fumed silica). Cheaper VIPs contain glass fibre as core material. Unfortunately these VIPs do have tremendous ecological and technical disadvantages. Therefore Vaku Isotherm decided not to produce any VIPs made of glass fibre.
Silica is used in many appliances in daily life such as cosmetics, food, tyres and other diverse industrial applications. Source of fumed and precipitated silica is sand which is made either on a flame (fumed) or through water glass. The result is a microporous structure (5-50 Nanometer) which is highly important for the physics of the vacuum insulation panel.
Heat conduction can be divided into three effects: Solid state conductivity, infrared radiation, convection. To achieve an optimal insulation material all three parameters need to be reduced to a minimum.
Thanks to the microporous structure of the silica (5-50nm) only a very small contact area is existent. Therefore the solid state conductivity is reduced to a minimum compared to other materials. The effect of convection is reduced in the process step of pressing the core material. Then the pores are very small with the results that the gas molecules hit each other only occasionally. The infrared radiation can be reduced by adding opacifier to the core material. All in all the heat conductivity value is already pretty good in this state in comparison to other insulation materials: 0.20 W/mK.
A significant reduction of the heat conductivity value can be achieved by evacuation of the air inside of the panel. The gas molecules are then reduced to a minimum inside the core. The effect is that convection is nearly eliminated so that the heat conductivity value reduces to a value of smaller than 0.004 W/mK.
Advantages
The big advantage of vacuum insulation panels is the extraordinary insulation effect in comparison to conventional materials. Vacuum insulation panels need roughly one fifth of the thickness of conventional insulating materials to achieve comparable insulation values. Due to that specification significant economic and ecologic advantages are the result. It makes efficient insulation possible whereas it was not achievable before. It safes valuable space. In times of urbanisation with its consequences this characteristic is an important advantage in nearly every application.
Ecology
Climate change is scientifically proven. Efficient insulation is more important than ever to reduce emissions. With our environmental friendly vakuVIP products it is possible to significantly reduce energy consumption and therefore protect the environment.
Recycling
Most vacuum insulation panels consists of silica as core material. As there is no difference between silica and sand it is automatically environmental friendly, non-toxic and physiological. Also the metallic coated envelope around the core can be recycled and is non-toxic.
Manufacturing
Saving energy is important – with vacuum insulation made by Vaku Isotherm you are on the safe side. With our manufacturing plant in Germany/Frankenberg we produce sustainable and energy efficient. All production processes starting from the core manufacturing up to the final VIP are done in our plant. This gives us the possibility to recycle all residual materials and guarantees short and efficient transportation. We produce solar power on the roof of our plant to underline our commitment to the environment.
Handling of VIPs
vakuVIP Ultra High performance insulation materials are high-tech products. Nevertheless they are easy to handle and process. Please see our document handling advices for VIPs or contact us for more information.