Effective thermal performance analysis of vacuum insulation panel with metal-less film and infrared-dried core material

Applying enhanced insulation products to buildings can improve building energy performance, thereby reducing carbon emissions during operation and aiding in the mitigation of climate change. Vacuum insulation panels (VIPs) exhibit superior insulation performance than conventional insulating panels, but it is necessary to reduce the heat loss at the edge through the envelope material of VIPs and improve their weak constructability. In this study, infrared-dried core materials and metal-less films were developed and applied to improve the thermal performance of VIPs, and a VIP composite board was proposed to improve the constructability. The manufactured VIPs and VIP composite boards were experimentally and numerically analyzed to evaluate the effective thermal performance, considering heat loss at the edges and connections. The dry core improved the thermal conductivity of the center of the VIP by 25% compared to the wet core, and the metal-less film resulted in the greatest reduction in heat loss with respect to the edges and connections. The effective thermal conductivity of a 0.6 m × 0.6 m metal-less VIP with two connected metal-less VIPs is 3.4 mW/m K, including thermal bridges at edges and connections. The variation in the effective thermal conductivity of the VIP composite board according to its thickness and the effective thermal conductivity of the VIP provides a reference for manufacturing VIP composite boards that can suitable meet thermal performance requirements if also future aging studies would give good enough results.