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

该奖项由2009年《美国复苏和再投资法案》(公法111-5)资助。这个小型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，其隔热性能可与良好的隔热墙相媲美。在美国，建筑物占总能耗的40%以上。由于窗户占普通建筑垂直表面积的20%-40%，它们消耗了30%-60%的供暖和制冷能量，每年对一次能源的影响超过4.1万亿BTU，建筑物所有者每年花费超过400亿美元。我们的创新是使用附着在玻璃纤维上的纳米球形二氧化硅颗粒来创造一种具有极小接触点的绝缘材料，可以用来制造薄的真空绝缘板。这个第一阶段的项目将确定将这些纳米颗粒改性纤维引入创新的多层真空绝缘板中的可行性，以在商业上可行的动态窗帘中实现目标隔热性能。这项技术将在商业上可行的产品中超越美国能源部的目标窗户隔热性能，该产品将成为净零能源新建筑的成本效益解决方案，以及提高现有建筑能效的翻新产品。通过促进产品的开发和商业化，通过开窗大幅减少不必要的热量传递，这个第一阶段STTR项目的研究将有助于部分解决全球能源和环境挑战。真空隔热板新核心材料的开发为提高建筑物的能效提供了巨大的机会，同时也随着时间的推移节省了大量的资金。这项研究将在两个层面上产生重大的教育影响：1)大量的工作将由学生在公认的专家的直接监督下完成；2)这项研究将显著促进隔热技术的最先进水平。

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.