Abstract
Vacuum insulation panels (VIPs), due to their high thermal performance, provide an attractive alternative to traditional building insulation materials, especially as an option for retrofitting old, poorly insulated buildings. This article describes the complete retrofit of all exterior walls of a single-story building in a cold climate using VIPs. A recently-developed low-cost VIP, called modified atmosphere insulation (MAI), was used in this study. Two buildings of near-identical construction were studied, with one remaining unaltered and serving as the baseline while the other served as the retrofit building. The VIPs or MAI panels proved to be a feasible and durable option for retrofitting building envelopes. Thermal performance of both buildings was analyzed using in-situ temperature and heat flow sensors. Numerical models of the two buildings were created, benchmarked using experimental data and used for predictions of annual energy savings due to the addition of MAI panels to the exterior walls. The models predicted significant reduction in the annual heating energy consumption in the retrofitted building compared to the baseline building.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 109430 |
Journal | Energy and Buildings |
Volume | 203 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Nov 15 2019 |
Funding
Funding for this project was provided by the Environmental Security Technology Certification Program ( ESTCP ) under project EW-201512 . ORNL authors are supported by the Building Technologies Office of the U. S. Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC05-00OR22725 with UT-Battelle, LLC. We thank Mr. Philip Childs, Mr. Anthony Gehl, Mr. Jerald Atchley and Mr. Bradley Brown of ORNL for calibration, set up and troubleshooting of all sensors and data acquisition systems as well as Mr. Rohit Jogineedi, a research intern at ORNL, for creating computer aided drawings. We also thank Mr. Lake Lattimore, Ms. Megan Kreiger, and Dr. Andrew Nelson of ERDC-CERL and Mr. Ron Esparza of NanoPore for their support in project execution and the installation of MAI panels. We are grateful to Mr. Steve Rowley, Energy Manager at Ft. Drum, for his efforts to coordinate between the project team and Ft. Drum staff. We thank the Ft. Drum safety office for allowing us to retrofit one of their facilities and the Ft. Drum carpentry shop for their support during the installation of the sensors in the buildings and MAI installation process. Funding for this project was provided by the Environmental Security Technology Certification Program (ESTCP) under project EW-201512. ORNL authors are supported by the Building Technologies Office of the U. S. Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC05-00OR22725 with UT-Battelle, LLC. We thank Mr. Philip Childs, Mr. Anthony Gehl, Mr. Jerald Atchley and Mr. Bradley Brown of ORNL for calibration, set up and troubleshooting of all sensors and data acquisition systems as well as Mr. Rohit Jogineedi, a research intern at ORNL, for creating computer aided drawings. We also thank Mr. Lake Lattimore, Ms. Megan Kreiger, and Dr. Andrew Nelson of ERDC-CERL and Mr. Ron Esparza of NanoPore for their support in project execution and the installation of MAI panels. We are grateful to Mr. Steve Rowley, Energy Manager at Ft. Drum, for his efforts to coordinate between the project team and Ft. Drum staff. We thank the Ft. Drum safety office for allowing us to retrofit one of their facilities and the Ft. Drum carpentry shop for their support during the installation of the sensors in the buildings and MAI installation process.
Keywords
- Building retrofit
- Exterior wall retrofit
- Modified atmosphere insulation
- Vacuum insulation
- Whole building energy analysis