Experimental study of the thermal performance of a building wall with vacuum insulation panels and extruded polystyrene foams

A vacuum insulation panel (VIP) is an inorganic composite insulation panel with a thermal conductivity of almost 0.004 W/(m.K) and a Class A fire resistance rating (noncombustible) that can achieve both heat preservation and fire protection. However, the application of VIPs in the construction industry still has many problems that need to be studied experimentally. In this paper, the building environment cabin is used to simulate wall insulation systems with three different insulation materials or construction methods, including pasted VIP boards, dry-hung composite VIP boards, and extruded polystyrene (XPS) insulation boards, and studying them in different working conditions, such as winter, summer, dry and wet, and assess the insulation performance under adverse conditions such as punctures. The conclusions are as follows: (1) In the thermal resistance test, considering that the heat flow on the surface of the envelope structure is susceptible to external disturbances, the average value of the heat flow on the indoor and outdoor surfaces of the structure should be taken into account when calculating the heat resistance of the envelope structure; (2) the test error of the working conditions under summer changing temperature conditions is greater than the constant temperature working conditions in winter; (3) the thermal resistance of the dry-hung VIP wall is greater than that of the pasted VIP wall because the static air interlayer behind the dry-hung VIPs causes the insulation effect to greatly increase; (4) the measured thermal resistance with the 50 mm pasted XPS is 32% lower than that of the wall with the 12 mm pasted VIPs; (5) after the VIP is punctured, its thermal resistance will be greatly reduced. In a wet environment, the extent of the decline will further increase.