INSU LATION InsulationProductsforCommercial FACTS ...

1 # rgIntr odu ct io nOver the pas t sev er al yea rs ,manufact ure rs of in sul ati ngco at in gs hav e wid ely pro mot edthe hi gh R-val ues that th ei rpro duct s pro vid e. Whe n us ed toin sula te pipes ,duct s andeq ui pme nt ,the rmalres ist ances orR-va lues of R-19 or R-20 hav ebee n tout ed to owners ofbui ldi ng s an d in dus tri al fa ci lit ies .Thes e kind s of perfo rmanceclai ms ma y see m at tra ct iv e,es pec ial ly when man ufac tur erssay that a sing le co at of theirpro duct can pr ovi de such hi ghtherm al in sul at io n val wev er, a clos er lo ok at thes eco at in gs wi ll co nfirmthe oldad ag e If it sounds too goo d to betrue, it probably is.

2 Th e pur po seof thi s fac t sh eet is to analyzein atechnicall y cr ed ib le manner thereal thermalin sul at in gperformance of the se co at ings .Ther mal Per form anceCon si deration sThe rma l en ergy(heat ) flo ws byone of three ways, th ose beingco ndu ct io n,co nve ctionorra dia ti on. Cond uct ion is th etran sfer of heat due to co nta ctbet weenmo lecu les of an ymateri al . Diffe re nt ma te rial scon du ct heat at dif fer ent rat es,suc h as polysty re ne co ffe e cup sve rs us glas s cup s.

3 Co nve ctiv ehe at tra ns fer is the result of themov eme nt of gas es ,typ ic all y air,car ryi ng he at ene co nv ectio n can be nat ur al ,caus ed by de nsi ty dif fe rence s inthe gas at dif fe re nt temp eratur es,or it can be for ced like windbl ow ing agains t a hot sur fa iati ve heat tran sfer oc cursth roug h the ex ch an ge of ene rgywa ve s betwe en tw o bodies ofdi ffe rent te mpe rat ure s. Thehi gher th e tempe ratu redi ffe renc e be tween th e tw obo di es,th e hig her th e he attran sfe r.

4 A go od examp le is thetran sfe r of ene rg y from th e sunth roug h the vac uum of spa ce toIn su la tio n Pro du ct s for Commercialand Indu stria l App lica tion s:Ther ma l Perf orm an ce ofCo ating s Used to Ins ul at e Pip es,Duct s, and Equ ip mentThisfactsheetanalyzesanddiscussesper formanceclaimsandrecommendationsbymanufa cturersofcoatings(sometimescalledceramic coatings) shows thatthecoatings,evenatthicknessesthatare abovethosetypicallyin stalledin fi elduse,arethreeti meslesseffectiveasinsulators than inchofmin eralfi th.

5 Radi ant ener gy tr an sfercan be enhancedor reducedthr ough th e en ergyemi tt ingcha rac te ri sti cs of the twosurf ac es . Cert ain sur fa cetrea tme nts enhance en ergytra ns fe r, oth er s ret ard pending on the conditionsthat exi st arou nd a hot sur fac e,the pri mar y modeof heattra nsfe r can vary. Mo st ther malin su lat ions use d tod ay ad dr es s allthr ee mod es of he at tran exce pti on to this is ve ry lowem itta nce sur facessuchas br ightfoi ls.

6 In thi s case, the foil canprov id e a fairl y highamo unt ofthermal re sista nce if the re is noforc ed or nat ur al air move me ntarou nd the foil su rf ac e and aslo ng as the foil retains its br ightsu rf ac e, unt ar nished by oxidationor dust bu ild up .So nowthe question is; howdo the ce ram ic coati ngs pro vi desup eri or ther mal re sist anc e inthic kness es of a few ten s oftho usa nd th s of an inch ? Th eliter at ur e for mos t of the seprod ucts is les s than cle ar onthis top ic.

7 So me clai m a ver ylow ther mal conduct iv ity ,wh ileoth ers alludeto su peri orresi st anc e to he at flowbyra dia ti on. Howcan a de si gn eror ownercom pareth e ther ma lperforma nc e and val ue oftra di ti ona l insu lati on ma teri al saga ins t th e h igh tec h cer ami ccoa tings?To measurein-p la ceperforma nc e on ac tu al surf ac esop era ti ng ab ove ambien ttempera ture , NAI MA hired anind ep end ent, NA VLAP cert ifi edtest ing la bor ator y to perf or mcomparis on tes ts underca refu ll ycont rolle d mal Per fo rmanceTes ti ng Resu ltsTwo br ands of com mercial lyav aila bl e coa tin gs were te stedove r a rang e of te mpe ra tur es andreas onab le applic atio nthic knesses.

8 An appara tu s wasdesig ned and buil t to me as urethe he at lo ss from bare stee l pip eand steel pip es coa ted wit hcomm erc ia ll y ava ilabl e ins ula ti onproducts. The ap par atus was ab leto det ermine the hea t los s from apipe wit h relat iv el y thinthic knesses of coati ngs an d aspecime n of in ch thi ckmin er al fib er pip e in sula tio bl e 1: Co ati ng Te sti ng1 Des cri pt ionDe signatio nCoati ng A at 3 in ch es (53 mil s)A 53 Coati ng A at 3 in ch es (11 3 mi ls)A 113 Coati ng B at 35 in ch es (23.)

9 5 mi ls)B 23 .5 Coati ng B at 95 in ch es (59. 5 mi ls)B 59 .5Ta bl e 2: Co mpariso n of Hea t Flows from Insu late d Pi pe s wi thDat a fro m Ba re PipeDel T ( F)Hea t Flow (Btu/ft2 h )Ba reA 53A 113B 59. 5 FG .211 .285 . 0269 .123 0450 .139 0670 .159 0929 .283 0122 7. 0156 4..672 ien t tem pera ture approxi matel y 90 FTa bl e 3: Th ermal Re sis tan ces Est imat ed from a Comparison ofMea su red Hea t Fl ux Data and Hea t Fl uxe s Cal cul at ed Usi ngASTMC 680Pi pe Insulat ionEs timated The rmalResistance(ft2 h F/Bt u) (horizontal)3 Coati ng A (53 mil s) 7 Coati ng A (11 3 mi ls) 7 Coati ng B (23.

10 5 mi ls) 6 Coati ng B (59. 5 mi ls) 6 -i n. mine ral fib 8Pr oc ess temp erat ure 190 Fand ex teri or ai r 90 FInc lud es the ext erio r fil m resistanceTh erm al Resi sta nces are basedon the hea t flu x at the pip e outsi de dia a closerlook atthesecoati ngs wi llconfirm theoldad ag e, I f it soundstoogood tobe tr ue, it probably is. Ea ch of the coat ings wastest ed over a rangeoftempera ture s at two thicknesses,mea su red afte r each coa ting wasfull y cure d.