STTR Phase I: Nano-sphere Modified Fibers for Super Insulating Window Coverings

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。这个小企业技术转让第一阶段项目将展示一种新的窗户隔热技术的有效性，其热性能与隔热墙相当。在美国，建筑物占总能耗的40%以上。由于窗户占平均建筑物垂直表面积的20-40%，因此它们消耗30-60%的加热和冷却能量，每年影响超过4.1千万亿BTU的一次能源，每年花费建筑业主超过400亿美元。我们的创新是使用纳米尺寸的球形二氧化硅颗粒附着在玻璃纤维上，以创造一种具有极小接触点的绝缘材料，可用于制造薄的真空绝缘板。这个第一阶段项目将确定将这些纳米颗粒改性纤维纳入创新的多层真空隔热板的可行性，以实现商业上可行的动态窗帘的目标隔热性能。这项技术将超过美国能源部的目标窗户隔热性能在商业上可行的产品，将作为一个具有成本效益的解决方案，为净零能源的新建筑，以及改造产品，以提高现有建筑的能源效率。通过促进开发和商业化的产品，将大大减少不必要的热传递通过开窗，第一阶段STTR项目的研究将为全球能源和环境挑战提供部分解决方案。真空隔热板新芯材的开发为提高建筑物的能源效率提供了巨大的机会，同时随着时间的推移也节省了大量的资金。这项研究的教育影响将在两个层面上显着：1）大量的工作将由学生在公认的专家的直接监督下进行，2）这项研究将显着推进隔热技术的最新发展。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).This Small Business Technology Transfer Phase I project will demonstrate the effectiveness of a new window insulation technology with thermal performance properties comparable to a well insulated wall. In the United States, buildings account for more than 40% of total energy consumption. Because windows are between 20-40% of the vertical surface area of an average building, they consume 30-60% of heating and cooling energy, representing an annual impact of more than 4.1 quadrillion BTU of primary energy, costing building owners over $40 billion/year. Our innovation is to use nanometer sized spherically shaped silica particles attached to glass fibers to create an insulation material with extremely small points of contact that can be used to make thin vacuum insulation panels. This Phase I project will determine the feasibility of incorporating these nanoparticle-modified fibers into innovative Multilayer Vacuum Insulation Panels to achieve target thermal insulation properties in a commercially viable, dynamic window covering. This technology will exceed the US DOE's target window insulation properties in a commercially viable product that will serve as a cost effective solution for net-zero energy new construction as well as a retrofit product to improve the energy efficiency of existing buildings.By facilitating the development and commercialization of a product that will substantially reduce unwanted heat transfer through fenestration, the research in this Phase I STTR project will contribute a partial solution to global energy and environmental challenges. The development of new core materials for vacuum insulation panels offers enormous opportunities for the improvement of the energy efficiency of buildings while also contributing a substantial financial savings over time. The educational impact of this research will be significant on two levels: 1) a substantial amount of the work will be performed by students under the direct supervision of recognized experts and 2) the research will significantly advance the state of the art in thermal insulation technology.