Aerogel Window

Date of Award

6-2023

Document Type

Restricted (Opt-Out)

Department

Mechanical Engineering

First Advisor

Ann Anderson

Language

English

Keywords

Aerogel window, Energy reduction, building energy reduction

Abstract

Due to increased human demand for energy, research and design have become increasingly interested in novel energy-efficient materials, systems, and measures. This is due to rising indoor comfort demands, concerns about greenhouse gas emissions, and energy price fluctuations. Window design is crucial to achieving energy-efficient buildings, ensuring the occupants' thermal comfort, and meeting government daylight requirements. Aerogels are high-porous dry gels that are 90% - 99% conducted by air. The high air occupancy guarantees lower thermal conductivity than air, and the high transparency makes the aerogel an excellent material for window glazing. The "Rapid Supercritical Extraction Technique" developed by Union College is used to make aerogel samples in the following project. The project serves to test and manufacture samples of aerogel glazing pieces. These pieces aim to retrofit existing windows, allow buildings to provide enough daylight in indoor areas, reduce heat loss due to windows, and lower the long-term cost. This report mainly discusses the design of the 12" x 12" mold to make aerogel samples, as well as the design of the heater in the hot press machine, and the process of adjusting the increasing and decreasing rate of temperature and force. Additionally, one 10.1"x 11" aerogel window with four 5" x 5" aerogel is built for demonstration purposes. Overall, this report will show the full progress of improvement of aerogel window research.

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