Experimental Testing of the Wick-Concept Insulation

The wick-concept insulation for cold piping is based on capillary suction of a fibre fabric to remove condensed water vapour from the cold pipe surface to the outer surface of the insulation, from where it will evaporate to the ambient air, as long as ambient conditions allow evaporation. The wick keeps the insulation dry, allowing it to maintain its thermal performance. Long term accumulation of moisture in the insulation material is avoided. Experiments were carried out in a laboratory of the DTU. Existing horizontal environmental chambers were supplemented with a vertical chamber. Two cooling plants maintained fluid temperature between +10 to -10 °C. In all chambers there were single ended cold pipes – two in each horizontal chamber, one in the vertical chamber. Several experiments under various boundary conditions and different second jacketing demonstrated possibilities for use of the wick-concept insulation. These results show that this type of insulation works for pipes with temperature above 0 °C and for common boundary conditions occurring in industry.