Thermal Conductivity on SWICH

Today, in the European Union, the transaction or rental of a fraction of these buildings requires an improvement in energy performance, where most of the time, the maintenance of comfort temperatures is the largest share of energy costs.

Wall insulation is the solution. But using 16 to 20 centimeters of the interior surface to achieve a compliant performance becomes economically very expensive given the cost per square meter of these buildings.

The solution is to use an innovative product, unique in the world market, which reacts organically (without any electrical or mechanical connection like the skin that covers the body), increasing the resilience of the buildings, i.e. the ability to adapt to outdoor conditions while maintaining the indoor environment unchanged.

SWICH uses ART (Active Resilience Technology) to multiply the efficiency of conventional insulations and thus reduce the total thickness of the insulation. With less than 1 centimeter thickness, SWICH rejects most of the thermal fluxes entering or leaving the walls (or floors) of the buildings. In a second stage, SWICH stores the heat (incoming or outgoing) and uses it or relaxes it when the interior temperatures need it.

Reductions of 40 to 50% of the total wall insulation thickness can be achieved in most cases. Depending on the location (city), the total cost of renovation materials for energy efficiency can be offset by the gain in usable surface area saved.

An environmentally friendly, non-toxic and non-combustible solution, easy to apply and with a service life in excess of 50 years. Designed especially for the passive maintenance of indoor temperatures with high resilience to outdoor conditions, it offers architects, engineers, developers and homeowners a wide flexibility in the use and management of existing natural energy before the need to add or reduce indoor energy levels.  

The case of retirement homes: users are weaker even when healthy and are more prone to illness due to temperatures outside the comfort range. Statistics show increases of deaths in winter and especially in summer due to low or high temperatures for long periods. Conventional insulation alone does not reduce the prolonged convergence of indoors with outdoors temperatures.

SWICH works by repelling most heat radiating from outside to the inside of the buildings during the daytime and absorbs the remaining heat until its storage capacity is filled, but it continues to add insulating capacity to the conventional type of insulation. At night with a small temperature difference SWICH releases that excess heat to the outside and thus being ready to renew the cycle on the following day.

The critical capacity of SWICH on these cycles is that it tends to keep the indoors temperatures at the programmed for a very long time, depending on the amount of product applied. This specific characteristic of SWICH allows for temperatures within the range of comfort and tolerance for those retirement homes without any supplemental energy usage or if needed very reduced. This is a net increase in the capacity of the buildings to resist outside conditions or resilience.

The case of schools: schools change energy needs within an hour period. A classroom with 25 students during a course may have 15 or 35 students the following hour. In winter or in summer, the heat storage capacity of SWICH will enable healthy ventilation during the brakes without significant loss or gain of temperatures (energy). Again, the reflective properties of SWICH prevent the conventional insulation of being overcharged with its own need to resist the transfer of heat, especially in summer. This means that there is a significant increment of thermal resilience of every single classroom in the school. During the winter, the heating system is usually turned to a lower temperature to save energy during the nighttime and during the weekends. It should not be turned off since the building thermal inertia will force a greater energy consumption to get everything operational. During the winter breaks and weeklong vacations, the heating system must continue. SWICH will smooth out the peaks and provide for a greater resilience and thus saving energy without letting the idle maintenance temperatures lowering and rise as much.

A further disadvantage of most inorganic PCM is that they crystalize with sharp pointy needle like formations which tend to perforate the envelope with microscopic pinholes. With the daily cycling of the materials, disaster is always close by and seldom avoidable. SWICH does not form needle like crystals.

One of the basic features of Salt Hydrate based PCMs is that they all depend on a precise water /salt ratio which needs to be maintained. Another interesting feature of salts are that they are often hygroscopic or hydrophobic. This means that they aggressively either pull moisture in from ambient or try to repel moisture and dry out. Either of these causes a change in the necessary salt/water ratio, which leads to degradation of the PCMs performance and ultimately, failure. SWICH solved the problems of moisture migration in and out of the salts by encapsulating them in an extremely low WVTR (water vapor transmission rate) flexible film, which is then heat-sealed. This laminate film includes multiple layers of aluminum foil, which further enhance its moisture barrier credential. Also, an additional amount of salt was added to the formulae, which are hygroscopic, and a small amount of water is added to the hydrophobic formula to make up for any amount of moisture loss or gain that could happen over the years.

#insulation #PCM #energy_savings #thermal_comfort #thermal_mass