The Role Of Reflective Insulation In A Building

By Author: Eric Judy
Total Articles: 5
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Reflective insulation in a building is used to offer thermal insulation. Thermal insulation guarantees thermal comfort to the occupants of a building during both winter and summer. Heat flows from a warm to a cool place by default. During winter, heat flows from the warm indoors towards the cold outdoors. In summer the reverse is true. Reflective insulation is designed to resist both these heat flows.

Basically, reflective insulation is designed to reduce unwanted heat loss or gain and decrease the energy demands of heating and cooling. Reflective insulation involves the building designs and techniques aimed at addressing the main modes of heat transfer that is radiation and convection materials.

During the winter the goal of reflective insulation is to reduce heat flow out of the building. The building envelope that is the windows, doors roofs, walls and air infiltration barriers are crucial avenues of heat loss. However, with the right insulation many of these heat loss avenues are transformed into sources of heat conservation. Reflective insulation incorporates air spaces as part of the system to retard the ...
... convective flow of heated air thus maintaining warm temperatures inside the room. It is important to note that the less natural airflow into a building the more mechanical ventilation will be needed to maintain human comfort. High humidity may result to lack of airflow or condensation. Moisture on the other hand may reduce the effectiveness of reflective insulation by creating a thermal bridge.

Reflective insulation works most efficiently during hot conditions. During summer, solar radiation forms the greatest source of heat energy. The energy can either enter the buildings through windows and other similar accesses, or heat the building shell to high temperatures hence increasing heat transfer through the building envelopes and increasing the building temperatures. To reduce these high temperatures, solar gain should be reduced through either light colored roofing, paints, coating or reflective insulation. The convection is normally weak for downwards heat flow while the radiation dominates the heat transfer across an air space. Reflective insulation helps in radiating the heated air back to the upper building envelopes thus maintaining a cool in the lower parts of the building.

How well an insulation works in resisting heat flow depends mainly on where and how the it is placed and how much material is used. Reflective insulation enriched with aluminum or air space offers the best barrier to heat flows.

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