Insulation industry news from Global Insulation

World: The vacuum insulation panel industry represented by VIPA International reports that it is pleased to see that standardisation activities on this technology are progressing well around the world. Standards are key tools to accelerate the market acceptance of new products and to create a level playing field for all companies in the market.

In Europe, the CEN Technical Committee 88 (thermal insulating materials and products) Working Group 11 (vacuum insulation products - VIP) has drafted the factory made vacuum insulated panels (VIP) for buildings specification. The draft standard is now under voting process by the national standardisation bodies in Europe. Some comments were received and will be analysed at the next meeting of the CEN TC 88 WG 11 in October 2017 to decide on the next steps, address the comments and start a new round of inquiries with the national standardisation bodies or proceed with the publication of the standard in its current format.

Also in Europe, the VIP group of the GSH (Güteschutzgemeinschaft Hartschaum e.V. - a neutral and independent European Association of Thermal Insulation Manufacturers) responsible for drafting the quality and testing regulations of the RAL VIP Quality Mark 960 has almost completed reviewing the current rules. Once completed, discussed with RAL (German Institute for Quality Assurance and Labelling) and approved, the RAL VIP Quality Mark will be extended to four VIP applications (refrigerators and freezers, building and construction, hot water tanks, temperature-controlled boxes and containers) irrespective of which core material is used for the particular VIP.

In April 2017 the International Standardisation Organisation (ISO) VIP group had its first meeting in Canada. Professor Phalguni Mukhopadhyaya is the convener of this group. In China, the Nanjing Fiberglass Institute is leading the review of the Chinese VIP standard. The group plans to extend the current standard to all applications. The drafting process is expected to be completed by 2018.

VIPA International says that it is closely following all these standardisation discussions and is keeping its members informed about all developments. The association believes in the value of standards and would welcome global harmonisation as much as possible.

Belgium: Members of the Vacuum Insulation Panel Association, VIPA International, have appointed Gregor Erbenich of Porextherm as the new president of the association. He succeeds Roland Caps from Va-Q-Tec, who decided to step-down following his two-year tenure in the position.

Erbenich is the Head of Sales & Marketing NTI within Morgan Advanced Materials Thermal Ceramics – Porextherm. He has been serving as a Board member of the association since January 2015 and as chair of the Public Affairs Working Group since early 2016.

Belgium: VIPA International, the Vacuum Insulation Panel Association, has said that the European Committee for Standardisation (CEN) is set to complete a final draft standard for the for the use of vacuum insulation panels (VIP) technology in building applications by the end of 2016.

“The VIP industry is looking forward to the publication of this standard. This was one of main motors driving the creation of the association and in the past year we commissioned three studies that will hopefully accelerate some of the technical discussions within Working Group 11. Standards are key tools to increase customer trust in new products so we hope this will impact very positively on the market acceptance of vacuum insulation panels,” said president of VIPA International, Roland Caps

The CEN Technical Committee 88 (thermal insulating materials and products) Working Group 11 (vacuum insulation products - VIP) is responsible for drafting the buildings specification for the factory made vacuum insulated panels. The Technical Committee 88, WG 11, has agreed on a general procedure to extrapolate the results of accelerated aging tests, both for silica and non-silica core materials like glass fibres. This allows determining the mean thermal conductivity values throughout the considered service lifetime of the panels, which for applications in the construction industry, similar to other insulation materials in this industry, is set to 25 years.

VIPA International plans to extend the procedures defined by the CEN TC88/WG11, which apply only to buildings, to other applications where VIPs are used like appliances, hot water tanks and containers or boxes for temperature sensitive goods. A separate quality and testing regulation already exists and is being reviewed together with an approved Inspection and Certification Body. A special VIP Quality Mark will be awarded to VIP manufacturers that comply with these rules.

For an article on the history of VIPs and VIPA see the May 2016 issue of Global Insulation

Belgium: VIPA International, the Vacuum Insulation Panel Association, has commented on new regulations on energy efficiency labelling ahead of a vote by the European Parliament. It believes that the current system of labelling is too complicated for consumers so it welcomes the work by the European Parliament and the European Council to develop a new scale for energy related products. The Industry, Research and Energy Committee of the European Parliament is scheduled to take a vote on the issue on 14 June 2016

"We are convinced that the new energy label will be an important measure to correctly inform the European consumers on the actual energy efficiency performances of appliances, and we therefore support the work of the European Institutions in this direction," said Gregor Erbenich, Chairman of the Public Affairs Working Group of VIPA International.

VIPA International notes that the frequency of the rescaling will be a central issue to ensure the reliability of the label. Therefore, it recommends that any rescaling should be performed separately for each product, not via a fixed periodic review. It suggests that only simple and standardised information should be included in the database of energy efficient products. Finally, it recommends that all energy labels should be clearly visible in shops.