Characterization of Insulation Performance, Poststability, and Foaming Process of Rigid Polyurethane Sandwich Panel for Cold Storage Warehouse
Publication: Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 29, Issue 9
Abstract
Polyurethane (PU) is a commonly used insulation material for cold storage warehouses. The insulation performance of PU sandwich panels made from blended blowing agents were reassessed by k-factor measurements and insulation thickness calculation based on the cold warehouse design standard, which has proven the significant impact of blowing agent difference on energy saving. The foam poststability was also evaluated by mathematic profiling. The developed three-dimensional paraboloid model based on gridding measurements has provided a scientific method for panel shrinkage evaluation. Cell microstructure characterization and postgrowth angle coefficients calculation were further performed for better understanding the shrinkage problem at the microscopic level. The foaming process model of continuous panel production was developed based on reactivity profiling characterization which has provided a theoretical solution to panel processing.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the NSFC (Grant No. 21403119). The authors thank the kind assistance offered by the Honeywell Shanghai Lab for analytical work, Jiangsu Jingxue for providing trial opportunities and panel specimens, and Bayer China, BASF China, and Wanhua China for supplying the preblended polyols and isocyanates for this study.
References
Asdrubali, F., and Baldinelli, G. (2011). “Thermal transmittance measurements with the hot box method: Calibration, experimental procedures, and uncertainty analyses of three different approaches.” Energy Build., 43(7), 1618–1626.
Asdrubali, F., D’Alessandro, F., Baldinelli, G., and Bianchi, F. (2014). “Evaluating in situ thermal transmittance of green buildings masonriesA case study.” Case Stud. Constr. Mater., 1, 53–59.
ASTM. (2010). “Standard test method for steady-state thermal transmission properties by means of the heat flow meter apparatus.” ASTM C518-10, West Conshohocken, PA.
Baldinelli, G., and Bianchi, F. (2014). “Windows thermal resistance: Infrared thermography aided comparative analysis among finite volumes simulations and experimental methods.” Appl. Energy, 136, 250–258.
Baser, S. A., and Khakhar, D. V. (1994a). “Modeling of the dynamics of R-11 blown polyurethane foam formation.” Polym. Eng. Sci., 34(8), 632–641.
Baser, S. A., and Khakhar, D. V. (1994b). “Modeling of the dynamics of water and R-11 blown polyurethane foam formation.” Polym. Eng. Sci., 34(8), 642–649.
Bikard, J., Bruchon, J., Coupez, T., and Silva, L. (2007). “Numerical simulation of 3D polyurethane expansion during manufacturing process.” Colloids Surf., A, 309(1), 49–63.
Bikard, J., Bruchon, J., Coupez, T., and Vergnes, B. (2005). “Numerical prediction of the foam structure of polymeric materials by direct 3D simulation of their expansion by chemical reaction based on a multidomain method.” J. Mater. Sci., 40(22), 5875–5881.
BRE (Building Research Establishment). (2000). “Field investigations of the thermal performance of construction elements as built.”, Watford, U.K.
British Standards. (2000). “Thermal performance of building materials and products—Determination of thermal resistance by means of guarded hot plate and heat flow meter methods—Thick products of high and medium thermal resistance.” EN 12939, London.
British Standards. (2001a). “Thermal performance of building materials and products—Determination of thermal resistance by means of guarded hot plate and heat flow meter methods—Dry and moist products of medium and low thermal resistance.” EN 12664, London.
British Standards. (2001b). “Thermal performance of building materials and products—Determination of thermal resistance by means of guarded hot plate and heat flow meter methods—Products of high and medium thermal resistance.” EN 12667, London.
British Standards. (2010). “Thermal performance of windows and doors-Determination of thermal transmittance by the hot-box method complete windows and doors.” EN 12567–1, London.
Chattopadhyay, D. K., and Webster, D. C. (2009). “Thermal stability and flame retardancy of polyurethanes.” Prog. Polym. Sci., 34(10), 1068–1133.
Chinese Standard. (2010). “China code for design of cold store.” GB 50072-2010.
Geier, S., Winkler, C., and Piesche, M. (2009). “Numerical simulation of mold filling processes with polyurethane foams.” Chem. Eng. Techol., 32(9), 1438–1447.
Guo, A., Javni, I., and Petrovic, Z. (2000). “Rigid polyurethane foams based on soybean oil.” J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 77(2), 467–473.
Haberstroh, E., and Zabold, J. (2004). “Modelling and simulation of the foam formation process.” J. Polym. Eng., 24(1–3), 377–390.
ISO. (1996). “Thermal insulation—Determination of steady-state thermal transmission properties—Calibrated and guarded hot box (ISO 8990:1994).” EN ISO 8990, Geneva.
ISO. (2007). “Building components and building elements—Thermal resistance and thermal transmittance—Calculation method.” ISO 6946, Geneva.
Jarfelt, U., and Ramnas, O. (2006). “Thermal conductivity of polyurethane foam–best performance, Clamers University of Technology.” 10th Int. Symp. on District Heating and Cooling, Goteborg, Sweden.
Kuhn, J., Ebert, H. P., Arduini-Schuster, M. C., Büttner, D., and Fricke, J. (1992). “Thermal transport in polystyrene and polyurethane foam insulations.” Int. J. Heat Mass Transf., 35(7), 1795–1801.
Mao, D., Harvey, A. D., and Edwards, J. R. (2005). “Development of low-diffusion flux-splitting methods for gas-liquid flows with interface propagation and phase variation.” Wittransactions Eng. Sci., 50, 327.
MINITAB 16 [Computer software]. Minitab, Inc., State College, PA.
Monteavaro, L. L., da Silva, E. O., and Costa, A. P. O. (2005). “Polyurethane networks from formiated soy polyols: Synthesis and mechanical characterization.” JAOCS, 82(5), 365–371.
Seo, D., and Youn, J. R. (2005). “Numerical analysis on reaction injection molding of polyurethane foam by using a finite volume method.” Polymer, 46(17), 6482–6493.
Thomas, G. B., Maurice, D., Weir, J. H., and Giordiano, F. R. (2005). Thomas’ calculus, 11th Ed., Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ, 892.
Wu, J. W., Sung, W. F., and Chu, H. S. (1999). “Thermal conductivity of polyurethane foams.” Int. J. Heat Mass Transf., 42(12), 2211–2217.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 29 • Issue 9 • September 2017
Copyright
©2017 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Nov 8, 2016
Accepted: Feb 23, 2017
Published online: May 19, 2017
Published in print: Sep 1, 2017
Discussion open until: Oct 19, 2017
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.