Using transient plane source sensor for determination of thermal properties of vacuum insulation panels
Open accessAbstract
The energy use in buildings has to be decreased to reach the targets and regulations in the European Union. One way of reducing the energy demand is to use vacuum insulation panels (VIP) in the building envelope. To make sure the declared thermal properties of the VIP are valid for the mounted panels, in situ measurements are needed. The transient plane source (TPS) method allows fast measurement of the thermal properties of a variety of materials. However, the large anisotropy of the VIP makes it hard to interpret the temperature increase in the TPS sensor. This paper presents a comparison between an analytical solution, numerical simulations and TPS measurements of polystyrene and polystyrene with aluminum film. Polystyrene and aluminum were used instead of VIP to increase the number of setups. The numerical simulation model was validated by comparing the simulated temperature increase with an analytical solution for the polystyrene sample. The simulated temperature increase in the polystyrene sample after 40 s was 7.8% higher than the TPS measurements. For the case with polystyrene with aluminum film, the deviation was 5.7%. Losses in the wires of the TPS sensor, uncertainties regarding the material parameters and surface resistances could explain the deviations.
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The hot disk TPS method suffers from substantial systematic errors when applied to low-k thermal insulation materials.
“Despite its well-established reliability for a wide variety of common materials, the hot disk TPS method is also known to suffer from a substantial systematic errors when applied to lowk thermal insulation materials, because of the discrepancies between the idealized model used for data analysis and the actual heat transfer process.”
From Analysis and improvement of the hot disk transient plane source method for low thermal conductivity materials (2020) · cites this paper as [16]
Section 2 (page unavailable) reports that TPS measurements of low-density polyethylene foams were consistently 20% higher than steady-state measurements, supporting concern about substantial error for at least one low-conductivity insulation material. It presents several possible causes of the difference, but does not establish that discrepancies between an idealized analysis model and actual heat transfer cause substantial systematic errors across low-k insulation materials. (LLM, conf=0.83)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe measurement error of the TPS method using sensors with common design where the dielectric insulation layer thickness is >30 μm can be significant for thermal insulation materials, especially those with k < 0.05 W m-1 K-1.
“More recently, it has been noticed that the measurement error of the TPS method using sensors with common design where the dielectric (e.g., polyimide and mica) electrical insulation layer thickness is >30 µm can be significant for TI materials, especially those with k < 0.05 W m 1 K -1 . 16-18”
From Analysis and improvement of the hot disk transient plane source method for low thermal conductivity materials (2020) · cites this paper as [16]
Section 5.2 reports a 7.8% difference between simulated and measured TPS temperature increases for polystyrene, a low-conductivity material, and suggests sensor heat capacity as one possible cause of early deviation. Section 2 describes a Kapton-insulated sensor, but the paper does not establish that insulation layers thicker than 30 μm cause significant thermal-conductivity measurement error, or identify a 0.05 W m⁻¹ K⁻¹ threshold. Page numbers are unavailable in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.78)
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Research works printed but not linked: 7
- Almanza, O., Rodríguez-P erez, M.A., De Saja, J.A., 2004. Applic- ability of the transient plane source method to measure the thermal conductivity of low-density polyethylene foams. Journal of Polymer Science Part B: Polymer Physics 42 (7), 1226-1234.
- Carslaw, H.S., Jaeger, J.C., 1959. Conduction of Heat in Solids, second ed. Oxford/Clarendon Press, New York.
- Gustafsson, S.E., 1991. Transient plane source techniques for thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity measurements of solid materials. The Review of Scientific Instruments 62 (3), 797-804.
- Johansson, P., Adl-Zarrabi, B., Hagentoft, C.-E., 2011. Measure- ments of thermal properties of vacuum insulation panels by using transient plane source sensor. In: Proceedings of the 10th International Vacuum Insulation Symposium, September 15-16 , 2011, Ottawa, Canada, pp. 18-21 .
- Miller, M.G., Keith, J.M., King, J.A., Hauser, R.A., Moran, A.M., 2006. Comparison of the guarded-heat-flow and transient-plane- source methods for carbon-filled nylon 6,6 composites: experi- ments and modeling. Journal of Applied Polymer Science 99 (5), 2144-2151.
- Model, R., 2005. Thermal transport properties of layered materials: identification by a new numerical algorithm for transient measurements. International Journal of Thermophysics 26 (1), 165-178.
- Model, R., Hammerschmidt, U., 2000. Numerical methods for the determination of thermal properties by means of transient measurements. In: Suden, B., Brebbia, C.A. (Eds.), Advanced Computational Methods in Heat Transfer VI. WIT Press, South- ampton, Boston, pp. 407-416.
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Zheng, Q., Kaur, S., Dames, C., & Prasher, R. S. (2020) · International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer · doi:10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2020.119331 · Cited by 162 · see citing works
“D10() ref [39] D10() ref [16] 0.”
Background
- Authors
- Johansson, P., Adl-Zarrabi, B., & Hagentoft, C.-E.
- Affiliations
- Chalmers University of Technology (SE)
- Corresponding author
- Johansson, Pär
- Venue
- Frontiers of Architectural Research
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2012-12
- Volume
- 1
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 334-340
- ISSN
- 2095-2635 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2084972896
- Cited by
- 30
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 2 · 2014: 2 · 2013: 1 · 2012: 1
- FWCI
- 0.59
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Frontiers of Architectural Research (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- LA Referencia (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Chalmers Publication Library (Chalmers University of Technology) (submittedVersion)
- Chalmers Research (Chalmers University of Technology) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Materials Chemistry › Thermal properties of materials
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Building and Construction › Building energy efficiency and sustainability
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Computational Mechanics › Heat Transfer and Numerical Methods
- Keywords
- vacuum insulation panels, transient plane source method, thermal conductivity measurement, thermal diffusivity, anisotropy, polystyrene, aluminum thin films, building envelope, building energy efficiency, in situ measurement, numerical simulation, analytical solution, surface resistance
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