SiO2 aerogel, a highly dispersed solid three-dimensional nanomaterial, is the solid material with the lowest known thermal conductivity.
If
Your impression of aerogel is only fixed here
That would be a bit of a shame!
Aerogel is also called "blue smoke" because it is light as mist and blue in color. It shows many strange properties in the fields of thermal, optical, electrical, mechanical and acoustic, and is known as "the magic material that changes the world". Aerogel was first made by American scientist Kistler in 1931 through the method of hydrolysis of water glass. With the deepening of aerogel research and the gradual improvement of supercritical drying technology, the solid particles constituting aerogel tend to be finer and the distribution of micropores tend to be more uniform, thus making the material with lower density and higher porosity.
Aerogel insulation mat
It is a kind of flexible insulation material which is compounded with aerogel material in a flexible substrate through a special process. And the traditional insulation materials are mainly aluminum silicate, glass wool, rock wool, rubber, polyurethane, etc. In the past decades, the traditional insulation materials in their respective fields play a huge value, providing insulation for industry and reducing energy consumption for urban buildings. With the development of the times, the progress of science and technology, the traditional insulation materials are increasingly unable to meet the requirements of people for efficient energy saving. Such as: poor insulation effect, easy to fire, easy aging, short service life, etc.. So there is no new insulation material to replace these traditional insulation materials? That is nano aerogel insulation mat. Aerogel insulation mat and the traditional insulation material comparison has the following advantages.
Low thermal conductivity
The index to measure the heat preservation effect of the insulation material is the thermal conductivity, aerogel insulation felt thermal conductivity in 0.020W (m.K), while the traditional thermal insulation material thermal conductivity in 0.028W (m.K) ~ 0.045W (m.K), due to the low thermal conductivity, can be thinner insulation thickness to achieve the same thermal insulation effect. In the following illustration, the use of aerogel insulation mat can effectively reduce the thickness of the wrapping layer and reduce heat loss.
Class A non-combustible fire rating
Aerogel insulation mat belongs to inorganic materials, with completely non-combustible Class A fire resistance, while traditional insulation materials, rubber and polyurethane belong to organic materials, prone to fire.
Good waterproof effect
Aerogel insulation felt water repellent rate of more than 99%, while allowing water vapor through, has a unique hydrophobic permeability, therefore, in the use of the process can effectively reduce the generation of condensation, the maximum extent to avoid corrosion under the insulation layer (CUI). The traditional insulation material is very easy to absorb water in the process of use, resulting in higher thermal conductivity, lower insulation effect and corrosion caused by the pipe layer.
Wide operating temperature range
Aerogel insulation felt use temperature is very wide, from -200 ℃ low temperature to 650 ℃ high temperature can be used normally. And the traditional insulation materials, ordinary rubber plastic lowest can reach -40 ℃, and high temperature can only reach 120 ℃; high temperature field, aluminum silicate can withstand up to 800 ℃, but not low temperature, and most of the rest of the insulation materials, the highest temperature is only to about 100 ℃.
Long service life
Aerogel insulation mat has a service life of 15 years or more, which is 3-5 times longer than traditional materials, and can effectively reduce the cost of insulation material replacement and construction operation. Aluminum silicate and rock wool in traditional insulation materials will collapse structurally after 3-5 years of use, resulting in higher thermal conductivity and the need to replace the insulation material again.
The figure below shows the structural collapse of aerogel insulation mat and traditional insulation material.
Traditional insulation materials
Aerogel insulation mat
Application Scenarios
01 Long distance transmission heat pipe network
Steam pipeline networks, such as thermal power plants, oil extraction enterprises, etc..
Urban centralized heat supply primary pipe network.
02 Space-constrained adiabatic scenes
Gas turbines, steam turbines and other major equipment for power stations.
Integrated pipeline corridor.
Buried steam pipes.
Arrangement of shorthanded pipelines.
03 High temperature and high humidity environment
Heat, chemical and other enterprises in the southern coastal areas.
Trench arrangement of pipes (to solve the problem of corrosion CUI under the insulation layer).
04 Fire and heat insulation double demand
New energy vehicles.
Power cells (battery cases).
Fire-rated smoke exhaust ducts.
Application Cases
A petrochemical mining enterprise's steam boiler insulation pipeline originally used 200mm two-layer composite silicate tile insulation. The pipe diameter Φ130, the medium inside the pipe is steam, the normal operation temperature is about 310℃, after years of operation, the insulation effect of the pipe line declined, and the local heat loss is serious. The 40mm aerogel insulation felt of Zhongning Technology was used for replacement and insulation test, and the test results showed that the aerogel insulation felt was thinner than the original composite silicate use thickness, and the energy saving rate reached 45%.
Therefore, in the heating pipe network using aerogel insulation material insulation, pipe insulation effect is good, pipe heat loss is low, energy saving and emission reduction effect is obvious, at the same time, aerogel material has the advantages of long service life, convenient construction, safety and environmental protection, etc., is an important means to solve the difficulties of steam pipe insulation.
