Abstract
dc:description.abstractSwitchable thermal insulation, in the form of an opaque panel that alternates between thermally conductive and insulated states, can be an effective means of regulating the thermal environment by selectively transferring heat between the indoor and outdoor environments. Pioneering work has been undertaken by researchers to develop switchable insulation technologies intended for applications in the built environment, automotive, and aerospace, where conventional space heating and cooling technologies are either too bulky or too energy consuming to meet design requirements. Switchable insulation technologies are in their infancy and the emerging research on this topic is unstructured and fragmented across disparate application sectors and very few of the adaptive insulation concepts and technologies are actively being pursued by the buildings research community. The aim of this thesis is therefore to advance the understanding of switchable insulation for possible applications in the building envelope. We begin by reviewing and classifying the existing switchable insulation technologies systematically, with a particular focus on their working principles, theoretical performance and improvement opportunities. On the basis of qualitative and quantitative assessment of existing switchable insulation technologies, we design and fabricate a novel switchable insulation system, a multi-layer cellular structure, comprised of an alternating arrangement of snapping and support layers. The switchability, thermal performance, and the controllability of the proposed switchable insulation are examined analytically and numerically in further details, with a particular emphasis on the influence of microstructure design parameters and operational conditions on the overall performance.
Degree
thesis:*- Name dc:type.qualificationname
- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
- Level dc:type.qualificationlevel
- Doctoral
- Grantor dc:publisher.institution
- University of Cambridge
- Year dc:date.issued
- 2020
Author and committee
dc:creator, dc:contributor.*- Author dc:creator
-
- Cui, Hanxiao
- Advisor dc:contributor.advisor
-
- Overend, Mauro
Subjects
dc:subject × 2Rights
dc:rightsIdentifiers
dc:identifier.*- DOI dc:identifier.doi
- https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.66361
- OAI identifier oai:identifier
- oai:www.repository.cam.ac.uk:1810/319240