THERMAL

INSULATION
By
Priya Goyal
Department of civil engineering
Thapar institute of engineering and technology
Patiala
✓ Heat transfer takes place from hotter to colder areas.

✓ As a result, heat loss happens.

✓ To overcome this loss in buildings thermal insulation is provided to maintain

required temperature inside the building.

Introduction
 Thermal Insulation?

✓ All the techniques used to limit heat transfer between a hot medium and a cold
medium.

✓ Thermal insulation in buildings means saving the energy of the house by not letting
the outer heat or cold to inside and vice-versa.

✓ The aim of thermal insulation is to minimize the heat transfer between outside and
inside of building.
✓ Thermal insulation indicates the construction or provisions by way
of which transmission of heat from or in the room is retarded.

✓ It can be attained during the design process by providing thermal

insulating materials on the “shell” of the building.

Thermal Insulation
✓ The need for efficient Thermal insulation has became a paramount
importance due to increasing energy costs at high operating temperatures
used in various processes & industries.

✓ Prevention of heat losses by judicious application of thermal insulation is

the simplest method of achieving substantial economy in energy
consumption.

NEED?
 Why thermal insulation is so important to save energy?

✓ It limits the waste of energy resources such as internal heating or cooling.

✓ Great solution to reduce energy consumption by preventing heat gain or loss

through the building envelope. This reduction of unwanted temperature changes
decreases the energy demand of heating and cooling systems.

✓ Reduced energy consumption means, mostly, reduced GHG emissions (

greenhouse gases ).

✓ Insulation has the greatest potential for reducing CO2 emissions

 Advantages of Thermal Insulation

✓ It provides comfort as it keeps room:

✓ cool in summer and
✓ hot in winter.
✓ It saves fuel by minimizing heat transfer,
✓ Prevents condensation or moisture deposition on interior walls and ceilings
✓ It prevents freezing of water taps in extreme winter, and heat loss in case of hot water
system.
 THREE POINTS TO CONSIDER IN USING
THERMAL INSULATING MATERIALS

❑ What is thermal insulator and where it is used?

❑ How does insulation work?

❑ What is the R-value (Thermal resistivity)?

 THREE POINTS TO CONSIDER IN USING
THERMAL INSULATING MATERIALS

❑ An insulator is a certain material that is installed to reduce the rate of heat transfer
from an object to the outside elements.

❑ Changes in the seasons and temperatures can require various thermal insulators in
order to keep heat from escaping specific structures.

❑ The most efficient way to keep anything warm is to preserve the heat that is
already present, by slowing down the rate at which it is lost

Thermal Insulators And Its Uses

 THREE POINTS TO CONSIDER IN USING
THERMAL INSULATING MATERIALS

❑ Thermal-insulated clothing is designed to keep an individual as warm as possible

during the cold winter months.
❑ In buildings, the intent of thermal insulation is to decrease the rate at which heat is
transferred. In summers, to maintain inside cooling as long as possible, thermal
insulators are installed in the roof and walls of a building
❑ Thermal-insulated mugs are designed to keep hot beverages warm for many hours
in any environment. The inner portion of the mug contains thermal insulation that
greatly reduces the rate of heat loss within the mug

Thermal Insulators And Its Uses

 THREE POINTS TO CONSIDER IN USING
THERMAL INSULATING MATERIALS

Insulation commonly works through a combination of two characteristics:

• The insulation material's natural capacity to inhibit the transmission of heat &
• The use of pockets of trapped gases which are natural insulants.

Gases possess poor thermal conduction properties compared to liquids and solids,
and so makes a good insulation material if they can be trapped.

How does insulation work ?

 THREE POINTS TO CONSIDER IN USING
THERMAL INSULATING MATERIALS

Heat is transferred through three mechanisms:

▪ Conduction is the way heat moves through materials,
▪ Convection is the way heat circulates through liquids and gases,
▪ Radiant heat travels in a straight line and heats anything solid in
its path, that absorbs its energy.

How does insulation work ?

 Different Modes Of Heat Transfer

The mode of heat transfer often changes during the

process of heat flow through and within building systems.

For example, the sun transmits heat by radiation to the

earth, it can be absorbed, for example, by a brick wall.
The heat is then transferred by conduction through the
brick and transferred to the indoor air by convection and
to the indoor surfaces by radiation.
 THREE POINTS TO CONSIDER IN USING
THERMAL INSULATING MATERIALS

✓ Insulation is a barrier that minimizes the transfer of heat energy from one material to
another by reducing the conduction, convection and/or radiation effects.

✓ Conduction and convection are suppressed in a vacuum, in which radiation is the

only method of transferring heat.

✓ Radiation is transfer of heat from warm objects by radiating infrared

electromagnetic waves and a shiny material can be used to prevent radiation heat
transfer.

How does insulation work ?

 THREE POINTS TO CONSIDER IN USING
THERMAL INSULATING MATERIALS

❑ The R-value of insulation is a value that is used to measure how well a specific
type of insulation can resist heat flow.
❑ The higher the R-value, the more effective the material is at preventing heat
transfer
❑ Units of measurement
R-Value is an imperial system unit of measurement (°F ft2 sec/BTU)
RSI Value is a metric system unit of measurement (°C m2 sec/J)

R-Value
 THREE POINTS TO CONSIDER IN USING
THERMAL INSULATING MATERIALS

R-value is calculating from a measuring heat flow across a surface where each side is at a
particular temperature

•ΔT is the temperature difference inside and outside the house in °F (or °C for RSI)
•Area is the area of the wall (or ceiling) that's being insulated in ft 2 (or m2 for RSI)
•Time is how long the measurement took place in seconds (same in RSI)
•Heat Loss is how much heat is lost through the wall in BTU (J in RSI)

To convert from an RSI value to an R-value multiply by 6. If one insulation material is put on
top of another insulation material, the R-values just add.

R-Value
 Thermal Insulating Materials

1. Slab or Block Insulation

✓ Blocks are made of mineral wool, cork board, cellular glass, and cellular
rubber or saw dust etc.
✓ Fixed to the walls and roofs to prevent heat loss and maintain required
temperature.
✓ Boards are available in 60cmx120cm (or more area) with 2.5cm thickness.

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 Thermal Insulating Materials

2. Blanket Insulation

✓ Flexible fibrous rolls made from mineral wool,

processed wood fibres, cotton, animal hair
etc.
✓ Available in blanket shape or like paper rolls
✓ Directly spread over the wall or ceilings.
✓ Have a thickness of about 12 to 80mm.
 Thermal Insulating Materials

3. Loose Fill Insulation

✓ Stud space is provided in wall
where windows and doors are
to be provided.
✓ In that studding space of wall
loose fill of some insulating
materials is provided.
✓ The materials are rock wool,
wood fibre wool, cellulose etc.
 Thermal Insulating Materials

4. Bat Insulating Materials

✓ Same as blanket rolls but having more
thickness and are of smaller size.
✓ These are also spreader over the walls or
ceilings.
 Thermal Insulating Materials

5. Insulating Boards
✓ Made from pulp of wood, cane or
other materials.
✓ These pulp is pressed hard with
some stress at suitable
temperature to make it as a solid
boards.
✓ Available in many sizes in the
market.
✓ Provided for interior lining of
walls as well as for partition
walls.
 Thermal Insulating Materials

6. Reflective Sheet Materials

✓ Consist of Reflective sheet materials
like aluminium sheets, gypsum boards,
steel sheet
✓ Have more reflectivity and low
emissivity thus offering high heat
resistance.
✓ The heat gets reduced when solar
energy strike and gets reflected.
✓ These are fixed outside of the structure
to stop the heat entrance into the
building.
 Thermal Insulating Materials

7. Lightweight Materials
✓ Concrete will have more heat resistance
if it is made of light weight aggregates
✓ Light weight aggregates like blast
furnace slag, vermiculite, burnt clay
aggregates etc. can be used.
 Thermal Insulating Materials

In building materials, air pockets provide

additional insulation in hollow glass bricks,
double-glazed windows (consisting of
two or three sealed glass panes with a
thinair space between them).

Insulating properties become poorer if the

air space becomes large enough to allow
thermal convection, or if moisture seeps in
and acts as a conductor.
 Thermal Insulating Materials

✓ Super insulation protection against external

temperature near absolute zero has been
recommended.
✓ Super insulation fabric consist of multiple
sheets of aluminized Mylar, each about
0.005cm thick, separated by thin spacers,
with about 20 to 40 layers per cm.
 General methods of Thermal Insulation
without using anyThermal Insulating Materials

✓ Orientation of building

✓ By providing roof shading

✓ By proper height of ceiling

 General methods of Thermal Insulation
without using anyThermal Insulating Materials

✓ Orientation of building:
✓ The building orientation with respect to sun is an important
thing.
✓ For optimum orientation, there are usually conflicting
requirements.
✓ Minimum transfer of solar heat desired during the day in
summer, while maximum amount of solar heat is required during
winter.
✓ So, the building should be constructed in an orientation in
such a way that it shouldn’t subject to more heat losses.
 General methods of Thermal Insulation
without using anyThermal Insulating Materials

By Providing Roof Shading

✓ By providing roof shading for the
building at the place where sun
directly strikes the building during
peak hours, we can reduce the
heat by shading of roof.
✓ Accurate angle should be provided
for shading to prevent from sun
light.
 General methods of Thermal Insulation
without using anyThermal Insulating Materials

By Proper Height of Ceiling

✓ The heat gets absorbed by the ceiling and emitted downwards that is into the
building.
✓ While the surface temperature of the ceiling does not vary with its height, the intensity of the
long wave radiation, emitted by the ceiling decreases as it travels downwards.
✓ Theeffect of vertical gradient of radiation intensity is not significant beyond 1 to 1.3m.
✓ So, provision of ceiling at 1 to 1.3m height from the height of occupant will reduce
some heat loss.
 Selection Criteria For Building Thermal Insulation

The factors that impact the choice of insulating materials:

▪ Thermal resistance
▪ Cost of insulation (cost per R-value).
▪ Cost of quality materials and workmanship
▪ Area to be covered
▪ Ease of operation, maintenance and replacement.
▪ Fire resistance capabilities.
▪ Environmental impact
▪ Availability
▪ Durability
▪ Dimensional stability (thermal expansion and contraction)
▪ non-absorbent of moisture
▪ insect proof
 Performance of Insulating materials

The most important aspect of an insulation material is its

performance – that it consistently provides the designed-for
resistance to the passage of heat throughout the lifetime of the
building.
 Performance of Insulating materials
Thermal Conductivity / λ (lambda)
It measures the ease with which heat can travel through a material by conduction. It is often termed
the λ (lambda) value. The lower the figure, the better the performance.

Thermal Resistance (R)

It is the measure of resistance to heat flow through a given thickness of material. So the higher
the R-value, the more thermal resistance the material has and therefore the better is its insulating
properties.

Specific Heat Capacity

It is the amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of 1kg of the material by 1K (or by 1oC) . A
good insulator has a higher Specific Heat Capacity because it takes time to absorb more heat before
it actually heats up to transfer the heat.

Performance terms
 Performance of Insulating materials
Density
It refers to the mass (or 'weight') per unit volume of a material and is measured in kg/m3. A
low density material lead to higher thermal conductivities. Therefore, Less dense
materials are better insulators.

Thermal Diffusivity
It measures the ability of a material to conduct thermal energy relative to its ability to store
thermal energy. For example metals transmit thermal energy rapidly (cold to touch) whereas
wood is a slow transmitters. Insulators have low Thermal Diffusivity. Copper = 98.8 mm2/s;
Wood = 0.082 mm2/s.
Thermal Diffusivity (mm2/s) = Thermal Conductivity / Density x Specific Heat Capacity

Performance terms
https://www.cupapizarras.com/usa/news/thermal-insulation-helps-you-to-save-energy/

https://concretecivil.com/thermal-insulation-of-buildings/

https://theconstructor.org/building/building-insulation-types-materials-methods/17741/

https://theconstructor.org/building/thermal-insulation-of-buildings-materials-methods/21404/

Uses of Thermal Insulators By: Shannon Johnson Updated On: September 28, 2017

http://www.greenspec.co.uk/building-design/insulation-materials-thermal-properties/

REFERENCES