Vacuum insulation panels (VIPs) are an emerging technological breakthrough for Canadian residential construction. The high-insulating values of VIPs can contribute to reducing the thickness of highly-insulated building envelopes. The first known Canadian field demonstration of VIPs was located in Burnaby, British Columbia. The project team for the net-zero energy Harmony House Project has used exterior walls with VIPs. Using a number of mock-ups and field tests, the Harmony House team successfully installed 15 mm (9/16 in.) thick VIPs in the center of the stud cavity, covered by a 50 mm foil-faced isocyanurate foam board on the exterior and spray-foam on the interior. This provides an estimated effective insulation value, when averaged over the entire wall, of 6.8 m2 x K/W (RSI) or 38.5 ft² x F/Btu.
Design-stage thermal and hygrothermal analyses and the construction and monitoring ofVIP wall assemblies showed that these systems do exhibit superior overall performance. Field construction of a home with VIPs demonstrated that builders in cold-climate countries can build thin-profile, low-heat loss wall systems.
Based on the construction and monitoring of VIP wall assemblies, it appears that VIPs are a viable option in the marine climate of Northwestern North America. Field performance of VIP walls show that the wall assembles must utilize a vented rainscreen cavity to protect from wind-driven rain penetration and to promote drying to the exterior; most importantly, north facing and other walls that do not receive exposure to solar radiation must use a preservative-treated exterior structural sheathing to minimize the possibility of fungal growth on the sheathing.
Presented at Thermal Performance of Exterior Envelopes of Whole Buildings XII, December 2013
Citation: Thermal Performance of Exterior Envelopes of Whole Buildings XII
Product Details
- Published:
- 2013
- Number of Pages:
- 9
- File Size:
- 1 file , 4.6 MB
- Product Code(s):
- D-BldConf13-65
