Kingspan Holdings (Irl) Limited

Kingspan Insulation Limited

Kingspan Holdings Limited

Malcolm Rochefort

Adrian Pargeter

Daniel Mack

Vincent Coppock

Lynne Ripley

Philip Holland

Vacuum insulation panels, methods for manufacture thereof, and applications thereof are described. The vacuum insulation panels comprise a porous insulating core encapsulated in an envelope to which a vacuum is applied. The envelope is coated with a waterproof coating layer which increases the robustness of the vacuum insulation panel.

Vacuum insulation panel

The present invention relates to a vacuum insulating panel (VIP). The VIP comprises an insulating core () having upper () and lower surfaces () and at least one substantially planar reinforcing member () arranged on the upper () or lower surface () of the core (). The reinforcing member () is porous and substantially rigid. The VIP further comprises a barrier envelope, optionally in the form of a barrier film (), arranged to envelop the insulating core () and the planar member (). The present invention also relates to methods of manufacturing a vacuum insulating panel (VIP).

Vacuum insulating panel

A microporous insulation material mixture is blended and the blended mixture is spread across a lower conveyor belt which is trained over rollers. To aid the spreading of the mixture a spreading device is used. The mixture is delivered by the conveyor to a pressing system which in this case comprises an upper conveyor belt. The pressing system also comprises a nipping means provided in this case by a plurality of upper and lower nipping rollers. The gaps between the individual rollers are adjustable. An upper fleece liner is led from a delivery roller to lie between the upper conveyor belt and the insulation mixture and a lower fleece liner is fed from a delivery roller to lie between the insulation mixture and the lower conveyor belt. The fleece liners may be used to encase the core prior to enclosing in an envelope and applying a vacuum.

Method and apparatus for manufacturing an insulation panel

Phenolic closed-cell foam comprises a hydrocarbon blowing agent and includes an alkali metal silicate in an amount of at least 1% by weight. The foam has an aged thermal conductivity as determined by the procedures of EN13166:2008 of less than 0.025 W/m&#xb7;K. The foam is formed from a phenolic resole resin mixture having a water content of greater than 15% by weight but less than 24% by weight.

Phenolic foam

A vacuum insulating panel comprise a first sheet of a flexible material, a second sheet of a flexible material and a bridging element of a flexible material extending in a generally rectilinear waveform between the first and the second sheets. The bridging element and the sheets define therebetween a plurality of separate generally rectilinear evacuated compartments containing a self-supporting insulating element. The bridging element comprise first flat regions extending along the inside face of the first sheet, second flat regions extending along the inside face of the second sheet, and connecting regions extending between the first and second flat regions, There are seals between the flat regions of the bridging element and the inside face of the sheets. If one compartment is punctured only that compartment is affected. The seals prevent loss of vacuum in adjacent compartments.

A prefabricated composite insulation board comprises a facing of a flexible sheet material and a plurality of vacuum insulation panels (VIP) adhesive bonded thereto. A body of insulating foam overlies the vacuum insulating panels and the carrier. There are gaps between adjacent vacuum insulation panels and these gaps are filled with the foam. Alternatively, groups of VIP's may be positioned close to one another and gaps left at defined locations. These gaps may be used to provide regions at which the panel may be cut to a desired length without cutting through and VIP's. External markings such as cut-lines may be provided to indicated the location of these gaps.

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Ludlow, United Kingdom

Malcolm Rochefort