Insulation Materials in Refrigeration and Air Conditioning

1. INSULATION MATERIALS
Mr. Sawan A.Wani
Assistant Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering
P.V.P.I.T.Budhgaon

2. INSULATION
●Benefits of Insulation
●Insulation Materials
●Effects of Insulation Thickness on Equipment Pipings

3. Benefits of Insulation
1. Conserves energy by reducing Heat loss or
gain
2. Properly designed and installed insulation
systems immediately reduce the need for
energy.
3. Controls surface temperatures for personnel
Protection and Comfort.
4. Insulation reduces the surface temperature of
piping or equipment to a safer level, resulting in
increased worker safety.

4. Benefits of Insulation
5. Facilitates process temperature control.
By reducing heat loss or gain, insulation
can help to maintain the process temperature to a
pre-determined value.
6. Prevents Condensation on Cold Surfaces
Sufficient Insulation thickness with a
good vapor retarder is the most effective means
of controlling condensation and limiting
corrosion on cold piping, ducts, chillers and roof
drains.

5. Benefits of Insulation
7. Prevents or reduces damage to Equipment from
exposure to Fire or Corrosive Atmospheres
When used in combination with other
materials, fiber glass and rock and slag wool
insulation help provide fire protection, grease and
air-duct fireproofing and electrical protection.
8. Controls Noise
Insulation materials can be used to form
a sound barrier between the source and the
surrounding area.

6. Insulation Materials
●Wide range of insulation materials is available.
●Basic requirements of modern construction uses only few
types of insulating materials which meets the
requirements.
●Selection of insulation material should be based on initial
cost, effectiveness, durability, the adaptation of its
form/shape to that of the component and the installation
methods available in each particular area.
●From an economic point of view, it may be better to
choose an insulating material with a lower thermal
conductivity rather than increase the thickness of the
insulation in the hold walls.

7. R-Value
●The R-value can be defined as the resistance that
any specific material offers to the heat flow.
● A good insulation material should have a high R-
value.
●R-value increases with increase in thickness of the
insulation material.
R-Value = x/l
x → Insulation thickness
l → Length of Material

8. Classification of Insulation Materials
●Low Temperature Thermal Insulation
●15.6°C through 0°C (60°F through 32°F) i.e.
Cold or chilled water.
● -0.6°C through -73.9°C (31°F through -
100°F) i.e. Refrigeration.
●-73.9°C through -267.8°C (-101°F through -
450°F) i.e. cryogenic.

9. Classification of Insulation Materials
● Intermediate Temperature Thermal Insulation
●16.1°C through 99.4°C (61°F through 211°F) i.e. Hot
water and steam condensate.
●100.0°C through 315.6°C (212°F through 600°F) i.e.
Steam, high temperature hot water.
● High Temperature Thermal Insulation
● 815.6°C through 1316.1°C (601°F through 1500°F) i.e.
Turbines, breechings, stacks, exhausts, incinerators,
boilers.

10. Insulation Materials
●Asbestos
●Fiber glass
●Mineral Wool
●Elastomers
●Foam insulations

11. ASBESTOS
●Asbestos is a mineral fiber that has been used
commonly in a variety of building construction
materials for insulation and as fire-retardant.
●Asbestos was commonly used before 1970 in
building products because it was fireproof, a good
thermal insulator, and easily made into fabrics,
pipe coverings, and other materials.

12. ASBESTOS
●Advantages
●Pipe and furnace insulation especially in homes.
●Hot water and steam pipes are usually coated with
asbestos sheets.
●Fire Proof
●Disadvantages
●Asbestos is known to cause several cancers, mainly
lung and gastro-intestinal cancers.
●Low R-Value

13. Fiber Glass
●Fiber glass pipe insulation is
a molded, heavy density, one
piece insulation made from
inorganic glass fibers bonded
with a thermosetting resin.
●It is produced in 3 inch
lengths with or without a
jacket.
●R-Value (per inch) is 3.33

14. Fiber Glass
●Advantages
●It is used on mechanical and process piping in
power, process and industrial applications, and in
commercial and institutional buildings.
●Most fiber glass pipe insulations can be used on
systems from 0 to 1000°F.
●Disadvantages
●It is highly costlier and causes skin allergies.

15. Rock Wool Pipe Insulation
●Rock wool (or mineral
wool) pipe insulations are
precision cut pipe coverings
composed of high density
mineral wool.
● It can be used in a wide
range of applications for hot
and cold piping ranging
from –120°F to 1200°F.
●R-Value (per inch) is 3.7

16. Rock Wool Pipe Insulation
●Advantages
●This rock wool insulation is frequently used in high
temperature industrial process power plants, power
stations, petrochemical complexes, etc for steam
and process pipe work and for commercial hot/cold
water systems.
●Disadvantages
●Its not a fire proof.
●Provide poor insulation when wet.

17. Elastomers
●Elastomers are available in pre-
formed shapes and sheets,
elastomeric insulations possess
good cutting characteristics and
low water and vapor
permeability.
●The upper temperature limit is
104.4°C (220°F).
●Elastomeric insulation is cost
efficient for low temperature
applications with no jacketing
necessary.
●R-Value (per inch) > 4

18. Elastomers
●Advantages
●The easiest and quickest method to insulate
already existing pipe work is to use elastomeric
(nitrile rubber) insulation material.
●High thermal stability.
●Disadvantages
●It is not a fire-retardant material.

19. Foamed Plastic
●Insulation produced from foaming plastic resins
create predominately closed-cellular rigid
materials.
●They have high thermal resistance (R-Value) value.
●R-Value ranges from 3.75 to 7.
●Various type of foam insulation materials are:
●Polyisocyanurate
●Polyurethane
●Polystyrene

20. Foamed Plastic
●Usually of the foam insulations, polystyrene is used
since it is easier to recycle than polyisocyanurate or
polyurethane , it can easily be melted down and
reformed into other products.
●But, Polystyrene used to blow with CFCs, that destroy
the earth's protective ozone layer.
● Now Extruded Polystyrene (XPS) uses hydro chloro-
fluorocarbons (HCFCs) that are not as dangerous but
can still destroy to the earth's protective ozone layer.