Development of a wall module employing aircap layers

Various technologies are under development to meet the increasing requirements of energy-efficient buildings. An especially high demand exists for research into building facades, which are known to have the highest levels of heat loss compared with other building components. To mitigate this heat loss, Aircaps™ (hereafter “aircaps”) have gained attention because of their insulating performance and low cost. However, because of durability issues, research into aircaps has been limited to their attachment to windows to enhance the insulating performance of building facades. In this study, an aircap module with enhanced layering and durability was developed, and the system's energy reduction performance was evaluated using a real-scale testbed. The following conclusions were drawn: 1) An aircap wall module equipped with frames and polycarbonate layers for greater aircap durability was achieved; 2) Due to its transmissivity, the aircap wall module was capable of lowering lighting energy needs more than other insulators, such as sandwich panels; 3) Aircap wall modules with thicknesses greater than 15 cm reduced the heating and cooling energy consumption more than 5-cm sandwich panels; 4) 10-cm aircap wall modules resulted in electricity consumption lower than 5-cm sandwich panels for lighting, cooling, and heating during both the summer and winter seasons. On account of low altitudes and aircap transmissivity, 5-cm aircap wall modules reduced building energy needs more than 5-cm sandwich panels during the winter season.