ABSTRACT
Vacuum insulation panels have, by design, a thermal bridge at each of the edges of the panel. This paper presents continued work on an edge design that minimizes this effect, a serpentine edge. Numerical modeling as well as laboratory measurements has been done. Results presented here show that this serpentine edge have the potential to reduce the thermal bridge around the edges of a traditional vacuum panel alternatively enable designs with metal foil or thin metal sheet barriers which would allow other core such as glass fibers, open cell polyurethane instead of commonly used fumed silica. Fumed silica or aerogel that have pore-sizes in the nano region might not need stainless steel barriers to reach technical lifetimes of several decades but can still benefit from a sturdier shell. A welded stainless steel envelope helps to create a panel that will withstand handling and other loads in a construction.
