Insulation

The development of liveable space made from shipping containers becomes a trend even in Malaysia with the hot and humid climate persisting throughout the year. For sustaining the indoor comfort, building insulation is well adapted to increase thermal resistance and reduce the dependency on the mechanical cooling systems. The prospective of a shipping container as an efficient construction material and bamboo as a sustainable insulation material is well documented but basic information on the internal environment that has an impact on a person, particularly risk potential towards sick building syndrome (SBS) has been absent. Therefore, the measurements of both indoor and outdoor temperatures, relative humidity and CO2 concentration with two different conditions were done by using different sets of data loggers for at least 70 days under each condition. The first condition is a bare unit of the shipping container and followed by the installation of untreated bamboo as insulation for the second condition. This research reveals that high temperatures were recorded up to 40°C in both conditions and untreated bamboo as insulation increased the relative humidity levels up to the maximum, 100%. The mean values of CO2 concentration are in the range of 1,869 ppm to 2,938 ppm and they reach up to 5,000 ppm at the most of the intervals, indicating a significant contribution to SBS. The condition of the equatorial climate denies the compatibility of the shipping container to be used as the building material of liveable space. The quality and treatment of the bamboo must be the ultimate priority.

Insulation, as a building element, will increasingly play a vital role in improving building energy performance and reducing environmental footprints. This is highlighted by many of today’s insulating materials being based on petrochemicals. The increasing need for sustainable materials has led researchers to seek insulation materials, which have lower environmental burden, e.g. made of natural or recycled materials. Some of the insulation materials currently in their early stage of development are made from agricultural by-products, but there is a long path to get them to market. This study identifies which charac-teristics need attention and research to make them more reliable and competitive. The pa-per reviews current literature and classifies earlier studies of unconventional, bio-based in-sulation materials into four categories: thermal; acoustic; environmental; and mechanical behaviors. This method reveals the hotspots where evidence is currently lacking, thereby suggesting where future research should be directed.

The issues of disposal and environmental problems are increased by the generation of bottom ash from the thermal power plants day
by day; hence, its recycling is required. The present study aimed to make thermal insulation blocks using as raw material bottom
ash and iron ore slime as a binder and to characterize their engineering properties. Two different fineness values of bottom ash were
considered with varying amounts of iron ore slime (0–10%) to make the blocks. Blocks were dried followed by firing at 1000, 1100
and 1200°C, respectively. Cold crushing strength, density and thermal conductivity of these fired blocks showed increasing behaviour
with firing temperature, fineness of bottom ash and iron ore slime content. In contrast, a reverse trend was observed in the case of
porosity. With increasing firing temperature, the formation of lower melting phases like iron silicate followed by iron aluminium
silicate was observed, which imparts the strength inside the blocks. The coarser particles of bottom ash increase the interparticle
spaces, which enhances the apparent porosity, resulting in higher thermal insulation property in the blocks. Blocks having better
thermal insulation property could be possible to make effectively from coarse bottom ash by adding iron ore slime as a binder.

This work studies the changes that occur in transformer insulation properties when voltages with steep fronts and high-frequency contents are applied. With a significant growth in the number of wind-farms and solar-plants that use power-electronic-based converters, the problems associated with such voltages on insulation has led to increasing concerns. Distorted voltages accelerate the transformer insulation degradation. Two identical transformers are studied by energizing independently under power frequency sinusoidal and width-modulated pulse trains. The dielectric characteristics of the test objects, like partial discharge activities, insulation resistance, are periodically measured during the ageing process. After a period of 500 hours of testing the dissolved gases are also analyzed. The results for both transformers are compared and discussed.

A relevant part of research activities dealing with the energy retrofitting of existing buildings is currently focused on the development of highly insulating plasters, which represent a feasible and effective solution as far as thermal bridges, mold growth risk and heat loss reduction are concerned. Within this framework, the EU funded research project " Wall-ACE " started in October 2016. The project involves industrial partners, research centres and public bodies, with the aim of developing, testing and implementing, a new set of high performance aerogel based insulating products. In this first stage, the activity carried out by the authors was mainly focused on internal insulating plasters. The first blends of lightweight samples were experimentally characterized as far as thermohygrometric and mechanical properties are concerned. Moreover, the thermal behavior of typical wall assemblies retrofitted using the developed aerogel based plasters, were assessed through numerical simulations. The first results and the technical issues which have arisen during the initial stage of the research, are here presented.

The goal of this paper is to present the details to develop a homemade air conditioning system with the help of table fan. Use of air conditioning is increasing day by day by which the environment is affected. In order to reduce the bad effect of conventional air conditioning system, it is required to develop an air conditioning system ecofriendly. This article shows that how we can develop an air conditioning system with the help of table fan and other related equipments. This paper will be beneficial for young researchers working in this area and this technique opens the door for further investigation for improving the quality of this type of air conditioning system.

1 2 Documentación técnica SolidNoise GUÍA DE USO DEL MÉTODO SOLID NOISE www.noiselab.net Laboratorio online de acústica para profesionales Página 6 de 36 Hay que evaluar todas las superficies, paredes, pilares, techos, suelos, puertas, ventanas, cristaleras, juntas, etc. En general cualquier superficie que pueda ser una vía de transmisión de ruido de un recinto al otro. Paredes medianeras Paredes laterales Puertas Techos Suelos Juntas Cristales Cristales Techos Suelos Paredes laterales Ventanas Paredes medianeras RECINTO RECEPTOR: VISTA 1 RECINTO RECEPTOR: VISTA 2 Documentación técnica SolidNoise GUÍA DE USO DEL MÉTODO SOLID NOISE www.noiselab.net Laboratorio online de acústica para profesionales Página 7 de 36 Este es un ejemplo de hoja de campo de un ensayo Solid Noise, en la imagen se muestra la parte correspondiente a uno de los dos recintos. Documentación técnica SolidNoise GUÍA DE USO DEL MÉTODO SOLID NOISE www.noiselab.net Laboratorio online de acústica para profesionales Página 8 de 36 PASO 4: CÁLCULO MEDIANTE LA HERRAMIENTA NOISELAB Tras la realización de los ensayos toca el trabajo de oficina, para la realización de los cálculos usaremos la plataforma de Noiselab: http://www.noiselab.net/ A continuación se detallan los pasos a seguir para usar la herramienta de cálculo Solid Noise, damos a INICIAR SESIÓN. Documentación técnica SolidNoise GUÍA DE USO DEL MÉTODO SOLID NOISE www.noiselab.net Laboratorio online de acústica para profesionales Página 9 de 36

Smanjenje emisije CO2 danas predstavlja imperativ u svim sferama privrede, a najviše u sektoru zgradarstva, koji je najveći potrošač. Energetska efikasnost u izgradnji novih zgrada je postala glavni cilj ka smanjenju upotrebe energije na nivou države. Efikasna i racionalna implementacija strategija i politika smanjenja emisije CO2 u zgradarstvu zahteva primenu modernih tehnologija i tehnika u gradnji koje imaju mogućnost da smanje potrošnju i gubitke energije, kako kod omotača zgrada (prozori, zidovi i dr.) tako i kod tehnologija grejanja i hlađenja. U ovom radu dat je pregled aktivnosti koje se mogu preduzeti u cilju povećanja energetske efikasnosti zgrada, kao i nove preporučene tehnologije za grejanje i hlađenje.

The aim of this study was to investigate the usage possibilities of sunflower stalks in the manufacturing of alternative insulation board, which are left as waste (agro-fiber wastes), in the fields and are useless except for firing like a lot of agricultural wastes in Turkey and in the world every year. The sunflower stalks were designed horizontally to produce the board, and its physical properties were compared to the honeycombshaped composite board filled with kraft paper (Control board). Urea formaldehyde (UF) resin, Melamine Urea Formaldehyde (MUF) resin, and the D2 (PVA based) adhesives were employed for producing the composite boards. The physical properties [Chemical analysis, specific gravity, SEM, TGA, sound and heat insulations, ultrasonic pulse, LOI (limiting oxygen index), and combustion characteristics] of all the insulation boards were studied. The average specific gravity value, weight loss determined by TGA, heat insulation ratio, heat conductivity coefficient, sound insulation ratio, ultrasonic transmission speed value, LOI values (for the wooden part + core and wooden part), and weight loss ratio found by the combustion test were 0.29 g/cm 3 , 90.40%, 51%, 0.045 W/mK, 24.03%, 0.46 mm/μs, (28 and 30.5), and 91.72%, respectively. As a result, the composite insulation board was observed to be better than the control board since it presented a higher specific gravity value, higher insulation ratio, lower heat conductivity coefficient, higher sound insulation ratio, lower ultrasonic transmission speed value, and better combustion characteristics with respect to the control board. Araştırılması Özet Bu çalışmanın amacı, her yıl Türkiye'de ve dünyada birçok tarımsal atık gibi hasat sonrası tarlalarda atıl olarak bırakılan ve yakma dışında bir işe yaramayan tonlarca ayçiçeği bitkisi sapının alternatif izolasyon levhası üretiminde kullanılma imkânlarını araştırmaktır. Çalışmada ayçiçeği bitkisi sapları yatay dizayn edilerek üretildi ve fiziksel özellikleri bal peteği görünümlü kraft kâğıt dolgulu kompozit levhalarla (Kontrol levhası) kıyaslanmıştır. Kompozit levhaların üretiminde Üre Formaldehit (UF) tutkalı, Melamin Üre Formaldehit (MUF) tutkalı ve PVA esaslı D2 tutkalı kullanıldı. Üretilen kompozit levhaların fiziksel [Kimyasal analiz, özgül ağırlık, SEM-Taramalı elektron mikroskop görüntüleme, TGA-Termogravimetrik analiz, ses ve ısı izolasyon oranı, ultrasonik ses iletim hızı, LOI (limit oksijen indeksi) ve yanma karakteristikleri] özellikleri araştırıldı. Özgül ağırlığı, TGA sonucu ağırlık kaybı, ısı izolasyon oranı, ısı iletim katsayısı, ses izolasyon oranı, ultrasonik ses iletim hızı, LOI değeri (odunsu dış kısım+süngerimsi öz kısım ve odunsu dış kısım) ve yanma testi sonucu meydana gelen ağırlık kaybı sırasıyla 0.29 g/cm3, %90.40, %51, 0.045 W/mK, %24.03, 0.46 mm/μs, (28 ve 30.5) ve %91.72 olarak tespit edilmiştir. Sonuç olarak, kompozit izolasyon levhasının kontrol levhasına göre özgül ağırlığının daha yüksek, ısı izolasyon oranının daha yüksek, ısı iletim katsayısının daha düşük, ses izolasyon oranının daha yüksek, ultrasonik ses iletim hızının daha düşük ve yanma karakteristiklerinin daha iyi olduğu gözlenmiştir. Anahtar Kelimeler: Ayçiçeği sapı, izolasyon, kompozit, tarımsal lifsel atıklar. Efe FT, Alma MH (2014) Investigating Some Physical Properties of Composite Board, Produced from Sunflower Stalks, Designed Horizontally. Ekoloji 23(90): 40-48.

The mathematical apparatus and the experimental installation for the rapid determination of radon diffusion coefficient in various materials are developed. The single test lasts not longer than 18 h and allows testing numerous materials, such as gaseous and liquid media, as well as soil, concrete and radon-proof membranes, in which diffusion coefficient of radon may vary in an extremely wide range, from 1$10 À12 to 5$10 À5 m 2 /s. The uncertainty of radon diffusion coefficient estimation depends on the permeability of the sample and varies from about 5% (for the most permeable materials) to 40% (for less permeable materials, such as radon-proof membranes).