Experimental Investigation of the Performance of Porous Insulation Materials Under Temporary Humidity

Abstract

To decrease the heating and cooling demand of a building, thermal insulation is a well-known method. The properties of insulation materials are affected by many environmental factors, such as temperature and humidity. In this study, the change of thermal conductivity depending on relative humidity for a cold room was investigated experimentally. Furthermore, glass wool and rock wool were used as insulation materials, and these were compared with each other. Experiments were repeated for different humidity levels for each insulating material, and thermal conductivities of the insulating materials were calculated. Then, the sample cold room application was formed, and cooling load values were determined with changing thermal conductivity. Relative humidity values were determined for dry humidity, 60%, 75%, and 90%. The study found that both insulation materials were significantly affected by relative humidity. The thermal conductivity due to relative humidity increases to the maximum of 21% for glass wool and 27% for rock wool. The cooling load due to relative humidity increases to the maximum of 17.5% for glass wool and 25% for rock wool. This shows that rock wool is affected more by moisture than glass wool.