THERMAL INSULATION PANEL FOR BUILDINGS
The thermal insulation panel for buildings is an insulation panel for houses, offices and other edifices, the panel having variable thermal insulation properties that depend upon ambient temperature conditions. The thermal insulation panel for buildings includes a thermally insulating core formed from foam, plastic or the like, and a pair of outer layers that are each formed from a functionally graded material. The thermal insulation core is sandwiched between the pair of outer layers. The functionally graded material may be a laminate in the form of a dense ceramic layer formed of Al2O3 and ZrO2 and a nickel layer, or may be formed from boron nanoribbons or the like.
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1. FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to insulation panels for buildings, and particularly to a thermal insulation panel for buildings constructed from functionally graded material such that the insulating properties of the panel change, depending upon ambient temperature.
2. DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART
Various types of insulation are used in the construction of houses, office buildings and the like. Modular insulating panels formed from fiberglass or other insulating materials are extremely common in construction. Such insulating panels, however, are formed from conventional materials with static dimensions and configurations. Thus, the thermal conductivity of the insulating panel never varies. As such, the insulating panel is effective in reducing thermal conductivity through the walls of the building, but cannot effect any heat exchange itself, thus requiring conventional systems, such as internal heaters, air conditioners and the like, to be the only means for internal temperature control. It would obviously be desirable to provide insulating panels that not only provide effective thermal insulation, but which also serve to enhance desired heat exchange for temperature control within the building.
Thus, a thermal insulation panel for buildings solving the aforementioned problems is desired.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe thermal insulation panel for buildings is an insulating panel for houses, offices and other edifices, the panel having variable thermal insulation properties that depend upon ambient temperature conditions. The thermal insulation panel for buildings includes a thermal insulation core formed from foam, plastic or the like, and a pair of outer layers that are each formed from a functionally graded material. The thermal insulation core is sandwiched between the pair of outer layers. The functionally graded material may be a laminate in the form of a dense ceramic layer formed of Al2O3 and ZrO2 and a nickel layer, or may be alternatively be formed from boron nanoribbons or the like.
It should be understood that any suitable type of functionally graded material may be utilized. The type of functionally graded material forming the outer layers is selected such that the thermal insulating properties of the outer layers changes in response to changes in ambient temperature.
The thermal insulation core may be solid or honeycombed. Alternatively, a hollow housing may be used as the thermal insulation core to receive a circulating, phase changing fluid, similar to that used in conventional refrigeration, air conditioning and the like.
These and other features of the present invention will become readily apparent upon further review of the following specification.
Similar reference characters denote corresponding features consistently throughout the attached drawings.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTSAs best seen in
Using functionally graded material to form the outer layers 12 allows the thermal insulating panel 10 to have relatively high strength and adaptable thermal insulating properties. The functionally graded material is a phase changing material, and may be used as a heat exchanging material in the panel 10, as is conventionally known within heating venting, air conditioning and the like. As will be described in further detail below, the phase changing properties of the panel 10 may be used in combination with heat pumps, air conditioning systems or the like to increase the efficiency of heat exchange with the surrounding environment.
The type of functionally graded material forming outer layers 12 is selected such that the thermal insulating properties of the outer layers 12 changes in response to changes in ambient temperature. The use of such temperature changing materials is described in the article, Mohammad Javad Sadeghi, Payam Masudifar and Foad Faizi, “The Function of Smart Material's behavior in architecture”, 2011 International Conference on Intelligent Building and Management, Proc. of CSIT vol.5 (2011), pgs. 317-322. Further, in the article, Juekuan Yang, Yang Yang, Scott W. Waltermire, Xiaoxia Wu, Haitao Zhang, Timothy Gutu, Youfei Jiang, Yunfei Chen, Alfred A. Zinn, Ravi Prasher, Terry T. Xu and Deyu Li, “Enhanced and switchable nanoscale thermal conduction due to van der Waals interfaces”, Nature Nanotechnology 7,91-95 (2012), boron nanoribbons are shown to have a thermal conductivity variance of up to 45% between upper and lower conductivity limits.
The outer layers 12 may be made from any suitable type of functionally graded material, such as boron nanoribbons, or a dense ceramic of Al2O3 and ZrO2 combined with a metal, such as nickel.
The core 14 may be any conventional thermal insulator, such as foam, plastic or the like. The core 14 may be formed as a solid, or, as shown in
In the further alternative embodiment of
It is to be understood that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, but encompasses any and all embodiments within the scope of the following claims.
Claims
1. A thermal insulation panel for buildings, comprising:
- a thermally insulation core; and
- a pair of outer layers, each of the outer layers being formed from a functionally graded material, the thermal insulation core being sandwiched between the pair of outer layers.
2. The thermal insulation panel for buildings as recited in claim 1, wherein each said outer layer comprises a ceramic layer and a metallic layer.
3. The thermal insulation panel for buildings as recited in claim 2, wherein the ceramic layer comprises Al2O3 and ZrO2.
4. The thermal insulation panel for buildings as recited in claim 3, wherein the metallic layer comprises nickel.
5. The thermal insulation panel for buildings as recited in claim 1, wherein the thermal insulation core has a honeycomb configuration.
6. The thermal insulation panel for buildings as recited in claim 1, wherein the thermal insulation core comprises a hollow housing having an inlet port and an outlet port formed therethrough, the hollow housing being adapted for having a phase changing fluid circulated therethrough.
7. The thermal insulation panel for buildings as recited in claim 6, further comprising a hollow circulation coil fluidly connecting the inlet port to the outlet port such that the phase changing fluid passes through the hollow circulation coil.
8. The thermal insulation panel for buildings as recited in claim 1, wherein the functionally graded material comprises boron nanoribbons.
9. A thermal insulation panel for buildings, comprising:
- a thermal insulation core; and
- a pair of outer layers, each of the outer layers being formed from a functionally graded material, the thermal insulation core being sandwiched between the pair of outer layers, each of the outer layers having a ceramic layer formed of Al2O3 and ZrO2 and a nickel layer.
10. The thermal insulation panel for buildings as recited in claim 9, wherein the thermal insulation core has a honeycomb configuration.
11. The thermal insulation panel for buildings as recited in claim 9, wherein the thermal insulation core comprises a hollow housing having an inlet port and an outlet port formed therethrough, the hollow housing being adapted for having a phase changing fluid circulated therethrough.
12. The thermal insulation panel for buildings as recited in claim 11, further comprising a hollow circulation coil fluidly connecting the inlet port to the outlet port such that the phase changing fluid passes through the hollow circulation coil.
13. A thermal insulation panel for buildings, comprising:
- a thermal insulation core; and
- a pair of outer layers, each of the outer layers being formed from a functionally graded material, the thermal insulation core being sandwiched between the pair of outer layers, the functionally graded material including boron nanoribbons.
14. The thermal insulation panel for buildings as recited in claim 13, wherein the thermal insulation core has a honeycomb configuration.
15. The thermal insulation panel for buildings as recited in claim 13, wherein the thermal insulation core comprises a hollow housing having an inlet port and an outlet port formed therethrough, the hollow housing being adapted for having a phase changing fluid circulated therethrough.
16. The thermal insulation panel for buildings as recited in claim 15, further comprising a hollow circulation coil fluidly connecting the inlet port to the outlet port such that the phase changing fluid passes through the hollow circulation coil.
Type: Application
Filed: May 7, 2013
Publication Date: Nov 13, 2014
Applicant: KING FAHD UNIVERSITY OF PETROLEUM AND MINERALS (Dhahran)
Inventor: KING FAHD UNIVERSITY OF PETROLEUM AND MINERALS
Application Number: 13/889,301
International Classification: E04C 2/36 (20060101); E04C 2/284 (20060101);