Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
This ageing effect depends on climate conditions, and therefore, many producers of
VIP run accelerated ageing tests under different climatic conditions to provide
reliable thermal performance data.
In order to adapt the VIP for rough construction site conditions or special
application (direct finishing with plaster), the VIP could be enclosed by additional
layers, e.g. fibre, fleece or foam.
3.2 Experiences in Practice
Nowadays, VIP insulation technology becomes more and more known and a
significant number of buildings were insulated with VIP. In the most cases, this
relatively expensive insulation technique in comparison with standard insulation
products, e.g. PS foam or glass wool, was used as 'problem solver'. The VIP
technology offers special advantages where limited construction space does not
allow conventional insulation measures, e.g. low storey heights or surrounding
property, or when living space is extremely expensive, e.g. in city centres. Of
course the highly insulation panels also offer the possibility for an aesthetical slim
architecture.
Findings and experience in the use of VIP in the daily practice on construction
sites were gained from various research projects. In this context, the projects 'VIP
Gebäude' (Schwab et al.
2005d
) and 'VIP PROVE' (Heinemann and Kastner
2010
) conducted by the ZAE Bayern for the period 2000-2010 can be mentioned.
Within the project 'VIP PROVE' 29 commercially realised buildings with a total
area of 8,206 m
2
of installed VIP from different producers were investigated. It is
worthwhile to mention that in this project, buildings were investigated where no
scientific institutes were involved during the construction and the implementation
of VIP. Therefore, more or less the daily construction work was reflected.
3.2.1 Retrofitting of Façades and Roofs
One of the very first façades insulated with vacuum insulation panels belongs to a
200-year-old protected building. VIPs were used in combination with conventional
polystyrene foam insulation for the thermal insulation of the façade on the gable
side because it was the only possible way to preserve the characteristic of the
façade with the low roof overhang and to provide an excellent U-value of
0.19 Wm
-2
K
-1
. The U-value of the historic brickwork was about 0.7 Wm
-2
K
-1
.
The wall structure is depicted in Fig.
10
.
Figure
11
shows the mounting of the VIPs at the construction site. The VIPs
were positioned on the profile rails. After this, the polystyrene rendering panels
were mounted. It is important to avoid air gaps between the VIP to reduce thermal
bridges. Existing air gaps were filled with insulation foam.
