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WO-2026093604-A1 - INSULATION PANEL, METHOD OF MANUFACTURING AND USE THEREOF

WO2026093604A1WO 2026093604 A1WO2026093604 A1WO 2026093604A1WO-2026093604-A1

Abstract

The insulation panel (100) comprises an envelope (20) within with a core (10) of compressed microporous insulation material is provided. The envelope (100) comprises a first and a second facer (21, 22), which are united at a side into a flange (30). The flange (30) is provided with a first edge (31) and a second edge (32). The first edge (31) constitutes a removable closure, which can be removed at a later stage to enable elongation of the core (10) of compressed microporous insulation material and therewith bending of the insulation panel (100) to be arranged at a curved surface of an object.

Inventors

  • DULLAERT, Kris

Assignees

  • MICROTHERM NV

Dates

Publication Date
20260507
Application Date
20251104
Priority Date
20241104

Claims (13)

  1. 1. Insulation panel comprising an envelope and a core of compressed microporous insulation material within said envelope, which insulation panel extends in a first main direction and a second main direction and has a thickness wherein said envelope comprising a first facer and a second facer that are mutually attached on opposed sides of the insulation panel in said first main direction and in said second main direction, which microporous insulation material comprises an inorganic insulation powder, an opacifier and a fiber, wherein the envelope comprises a flange on at least one of said opposed sides of the insulation panel in said first main direction, said flange embodied by said first and second facer material, wherein said first and second facer material are fixed to each other by means of a closure on a first and a second edge of said flange in said first main direction, said first edge delimiting said core of microporous insulation material, wherein the closure on the first edge of the flange is removable.
  2. 2. Insulation panel as claimed in claim 1, wherein the closure on the first edge is embodied as a seam, for instance a stitch.
  3. 3. Insulation panel as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein the panel has a thickness in the range of 12 to 50 mm.
  4. 4. Insulation panel as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the inorganic insulation powder is selected from the group comprising pyrogenic silica, pyrogenic alumina, precipitated silica, precipitated alumina and mixtures thereof.
  5. 5. Insulation panel as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the core of microporous insulation material has a density in the range of 100 to 500 kg/m 3 , preferably 200 to 420 kg/m 3 , which density is measured prior to removal of said removable closure on the first edge of the flange.
  6. 6. Insulation panel as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the flange has a length in the first main direction, which is from 2 to 20%, preferably from 3 to 10% of a length of said core of microporous material, when measured prior to removal of said removable closure on the first edge of the flange.
  7. 7. A method of manufacturing an insulation panel as claimed in any of the preceding claims, comprising the steps of: Providing an envelope that comprises a first and a second facer, said envelope is provided with at least one flange and at least one opening, wherein said flange is defined by means of a removable closure mutually connecting said first and said second facer; Inserting microporous material into said envelope via said opening, said microporous material comprising an inorganic insulation powder, an opacifier and a fiber; Compressing said microporous material into a core of microporous material, and Closing said opening of the envelope to obtain the insulation panel. 9
  8. 8. A method of arranging an insulation panel at a curved surface, comprising the steps of: Providing the insulation panel as claimed in any of the claims 1 to 6; Removing the removable closure, and Pressing said insulation panel with a press, so that the core of microporous insulation material elongates into said opened flange, therewith obtaining a deformed insulation panel; Fastening said deformed insulation panel at the curved surface.
  9. 9. The method as claimed in claim 8, wherein the press is a curved object such as a pipe.
  10. 10. The method as claimed in claim 9, wherein the curved surface is a surface of said curved object.
  11. 11. A curved insulation panel obtainable with the method as claimed in any of the claims 8 to 10.
  12. 12. A curved object insulated with the curved insulation panel as claimed in claim 11.
  13. 13. An insulation panel obtained by removal of at least one removable closure from the insulation panel as claimed in any of the claims 1 to 6.

Description

Insulation panel, method of manufacturing and use thereof FIELD OF THE INVENTION The invention relates to an insulation panel comprising an envelope and a core of compressed microporous insulation material within said envelope, which insulation panel extends in a first main direction and a second main direction and has a thickness wherein said envelope comprising a first facer and a second facer that are mutually attached on opposed sides of the insulation panel in said first main direction and in said second main direction, which microporous insulation material comprises an inorganic insulation powder, an opacifier and a fiber. The invention further relates to a method of manufacturing such an insulation panel, and to the use thereof. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Insulation panels of such microporous insulation material have been known and produced industrially for almost 50 years. The term 'microporous' is used herein to identify porous or cellular materials in which the ultimate size of the cells or voids is less than the mean free path of an air molecule at NTP, i.e. of the order of 100 nm or smaller. A material which is microporous in this sense will exhibit very low transfer of heat by air conduction (that is, due to collisions between air molecules). Such microporous materials include aerogel, which is a gel in which the liquid phase has been replaced by a gaseous phase in such a way as to avoid the shrinkage which would occur if the gel were dried directly from a liquid. A substantially identical structure can be obtained by controlled precipitation from solution, the temperature and pH being controlled during precipitation to obtain an open lattice precipitate. Other equivalent open lattice structures include pyrogenic (fumed) and electro-thermal types in which a substantial proportion of the particles have an ultimate particle size less than 100 nm. Any of these materials, based, for example on silica, alumina, other metal oxides, or carbon, may be used to prepare a composition which is microporous as defined above. An opacifier that is used to opacify heat radiation is typically added, as well as some fiber, for instance glass fiber. Optionally a binder may be added to provide increased strength, in which case a heat treatment may be necessary in order to cure the binder. Panels consisting of a core of microporous insulation material contained within an envelope in which is created a tensile strain have particularly good handleability and are described, for example, in GB-A-1 350 661. In the described process, an envelope is formed consisting, for example, of two rectangular sheets of porous woven glass cloth located on top of one another and sewn together around three sides. Powdered microporous insulation material is poured into the envelope and the envelope is then sealed completely. The resulting filled envelope is then subjected to compaction between opposing plates of a press, during which operation there is a build up of pressure within the envelope as the air within the insulation material is expelled through the woven glass cloth. A tensile strain is thereby created in the glass cloth envelope. Bonding of the envelope to the compacted insulation material occurs as a consequence of particles of the insulation material penetrating pores in the glass cloth of the envelope. The taut glass cloth provides rigidity for the resulting panel, which is substantially inflexible and unable to be subsequently wrapped around any curved object, such as a pipe. It has also been proposed to provide a porous envelope of cotton, instead of woven glass fabric, to provide a flat panel which is somewhat less rigid, with the slight resultant flexibility enabling the panel to be shaped to fit some contoured surfaces. However, such cotton fabric has hitherto been of woven form, in the same way as glass cloth, and the resulting panel could not be described as flexible to the extent of being able to be wrapped around a pipe of, for example, about 219 mm diameter. Various means have been adopted to make panels which are more flexible. The panels may be made to conform to an irregular shaped surface by a sewing operation through the panels to cause the envelope material on one major surface to become stitched to envelope material on the opposite major surface. The compacted microporous insulation remains contained between the surface covering sheets of the envelope material. The sewing operation through the panel may be carried out to produce a rectangular lattice pattern such that a quilted form of panel results. Similarly, an overstitched form of a panel may be produced. Flexible panels in quilted form and overstitched form are commercially available under the tradename Microtherm® Quilted and Overstitched from Promat in Belgium. However, these prior art methods of quilting and overstitching involve complex manufacturing processes. Moreover, the thickness of quilted and overstitched flexible panels is normally ava