U.S. patent application number 12/805143 was filed with the patent office on 2011-10-20 for thermal insulator for construction using thermoelectric module.
This patent application is currently assigned to SAMSUNG ELECTRO-MECHANICS CO., LTD.. Invention is credited to Yong Suk Kim, Tae Kon Koo, Sung Ho Lee, Young Soo Oh, Sung Kwon Wi.
Application Number | 20110252814 12/805143 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 44787082 |
Filed Date | 2011-10-20 |
United States Patent
Application |
20110252814 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Lee; Sung Ho ; et
al. |
October 20, 2011 |
Thermal insulator for construction using thermoelectric module
Abstract
The present invention provides a thermal insulator for
construction including: a thermoelectric module inserted in a wall
or floor of a building and including a plurality of thermoelectric
elements; a power supply module for supplying power to the
thermoelectric module; and a power control module for controlling
size and polarity of the power supplied to the thermoelectric
module from the power supply module. This thermal insulator for
construction can provide much better thermal insulation performance
in comparison with a conventional thermal insulator, and it is
possible to reduce thickness of the wall or floor in comparison
with when using the conventional thermal insulator since the
thermoelectric element has very small size. Further, it is possible
to implement a cooling or heating effect only by changing polarity
and size of applied current.
Inventors: |
Lee; Sung Ho; (Seongnam-si,
KR) ; Kim; Yong Suk; (Yongin-si, KR) ; Koo;
Tae Kon; (Seoul, KR) ; Oh; Young Soo;
(Seongnam-si, KR) ; Wi; Sung Kwon; (Seoul,
KR) |
Assignee: |
SAMSUNG ELECTRO-MECHANICS CO.,
LTD.
Suwon
KR
|
Family ID: |
44787082 |
Appl. No.: |
12/805143 |
Filed: |
July 14, 2010 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
62/3.7 |
Current CPC
Class: |
E04B 1/74 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
62/3.7 |
International
Class: |
F25B 21/02 20060101
F25B021/02 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Apr 20, 2010 |
KR |
10-2010-0036450 |
Claims
1. A thermal insulator for construction comprising: a
thermoelectric module inserted in a wall or floor of a building and
including a plurality of thermoelectric elements; a power supply
module for supplying power to the thermoelectric module; and a
power control module for controlling size and polarity of the power
supplied to the thermoelectric module from the power supply
module.
2. The thermal insulator for construction according to claim 1,
wherein the thermoelectric module is attached to an outer surface
of the wall or floor.
3. The thermal insulator for construction according to claim 1,
wherein the thermoelectric module is attached to an inner surface
of the wall or floor.
4. The thermal insulator for construction according to claim 1,
wherein the thermoelectric module is inserted in the wall or
floor.
5. The thermal insulator for construction according to claim 1,
further comprising a temperature sensing module for sensing
temperatures outside and inside the building.
6. The thermal insulator for construction according to claim 5,
wherein the power control module controls the polarity of the power
supplied to the thermoelectric module so that heat flows in a
direction from the outer surface to the inner surface of the wall
or floor, in case that the temperature outside the building sensed
by the temperature sensing module is lower than the temperature
inside the building.
7. The thermal insulator for construction according to claim 5,
wherein the power control module controls the polarity of the power
supplied to the thermoelectric module so that heat flows in a
direction from the inner surface to the outer surface of the wall
or floor, in case that the temperature outside the building sensed
by the temperature sensing module is higher than the temperature
inside the building.
8. The thermal insulator for construction according to claim 5,
wherein the power control module controls the size of the power
supplied to the thermoelectric module in proportion to a difference
between the temperatures outside and inside the building sensed by
the temperature sensing module.
9. The thermal insulator for construction according to claim 1,
further comprising an input module connected to the power control
module and receiving control values for the size and polarity of
the power supplied to the thermoelectric module.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent
Application No. 10-2010-0036450 filed with the Korea Intellectual
Property Office on Apr. 20, 2010, the disclosure of which is
incorporated herein by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] 1. Field of the Invention
[0003] The present invention relates to thermal insulation of a
building, and more particularly, to a technology for improving
performance of a thermal insulator for construction by using a
thermoelectric module.
[0004] 2. Description of the Related Art
[0005] Thermal insulation of buildings for energy saving has been
popular due to a global energy crisis and so on in the early 1970s,
and building regulations have attempted to improve thermal
performance of buildings by regulating separate thermal insulation
standards.
[0006] Thermal insulation is defined as reducing a heat flow by
increasing heat resistance of an object in which heat flows.
Architecturally speaking, this means reduction of a coefficient of
heat transmission of a structure (especially, wall). In order to
reduce the coefficient of heat transmission, it is required to
reduce thickness of a material or to use a low thermal conductivity
material. However, since there is a limit to reduce the thickness
of the material in order to reduce the coefficient of heat
transmission due to design limitations and cost increase, it is
generally more effective to use the low thermal conductivity
material. A thermal insulator is a low thermal conductivity
material and generally includes materials with a thermal
conductivity of less than 0.05 kcal/mh.degree.C.
[0007] Generally, the thermal insulator is a plate material such as
insulated concrete, fiber board, and excelsior board, a granular
material such as granular cork, vermiculite, glass fiber, rock
wool, and slag wool, aluminum foil, heat absorbing glass, heat
reflecting glass, pair glass, and so on. Further, styrofoam, gypsum
board, and rock wool are largely used as a thermal insulation
material for buildings, and wool also can be used as a thermal
insulator.
[0008] These conventional thermal insulators can block a heat flow
between the inside and outside of a building to some extent.
However, since these thermal insulators passively block heat but
can't flow heat in a specific direction, there is a limit to obtain
sufficient thermal insulation performance even though they are
applied to the building.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0009] The present invention has been proposed in order to solve
the above-described problems, and it is, therefore, an object of
the present invention to provide a thermal insulator for
construction capable of improving thermal insulation performance by
using a thermoelectric element as a thermal insulator and
performing cooling and heating of a building.
[0010] In accordance with an aspect of the present invention to
achieve the object, there is provided a thermal insulator for
construction including: a thermoelectric module inserted in a wall
or floor of a building and including a plurality of thermoelectric
elements; a power supply module for supplying power to the
thermoelectric module; and a power control module for controlling
size and polarity of the power supplied to the thermoelectric
module from the power supply module.
[0011] At this time, the thermoelectric module may be attached to
an outer surface of the wall or floor, attached to an inner surface
of the wall or floor, or inserted in the wall or floor.
[0012] Meanwhile, the thermal insulator for construction may
further include a temperature sensing module for sensing
temperatures outside and inside the building.
[0013] At this time, the power control module may control the
polarity of the power supplied to the thermoelectric module so that
heat flows in a direction from the outer surface to the inner
surface of the wall or floor, in case that the temperature outside
the building sensed by the temperature sensing module is lower than
the temperature inside the building.
[0014] Further, the power control module may control the polarity
of the power supplied to the thermoelectric module so that heat
flows in a direction from the inner surface to the outer surface of
the wall or floor, in case that the temperature outside the
building sensed by the temperature sensing module is higher than
the temperature inside the building.
[0015] And the power control module may control the size of the
power supplied to the thermoelectric module in proportion to a
difference between the temperatures outside and inside of the
building sensed by the temperature sensing module.
[0016] Meanwhile, the thermal insulator for construction may
further include an input module which is connected to the power
control module and receives control values for the size and
polarity of the power supplied to the thermoelectric module.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0017] These and/or other aspects and advantages of the present
general inventive concept will become apparent and more readily
appreciated from the following description of the embodiments,
taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which:
[0018] FIG. 1 is a view for explaining a thermal insulation effect
using a thermoelectric module in accordance with an embodiment of
the present invention;
[0019] FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a
thermal insulator 200 for construction in accordance with an
embodiment of the present invention;
[0020] FIGS. 3a to 3c are views illustrating forms in which a
thermoelectric module 202 in accordance with an embodiment of the
present invention is inserted in a wall or floor;
[0021] FIG. 4 is a view for explaining a control method in case
that a temperature outside a building to which the thermal
insulator 200 for construction in accordance with an embodiment of
the present invention is attached is lower than a temperature
inside the building; and
[0022] FIG. 5 is a view for explaining a control method in case
that the temperature outside the building to which the thermal
insulator 200 for construction in accordance with an embodiment of
the present invention is attached is higher than the temperature
inside the building.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0023] Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention
will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
However, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments
disclosed herein.
[0024] In describing the present invention, the detailed
description of known functions and configurations will be omitted
so as not to obscure the subject of the present invention with
unnecessary detail. And the terms described below, terms defined
considering their functions in the present invention, can be
different depending on a user or operator's intention or a
practice. Thus, the definition should be made on the basis of the
contents throughout this specification.
[0025] The spirit of the present invention should be determined by
the appended claims, and the following embodiments will be provided
to allow those skilled in the art to efficiently understand the
spirit of the present invention.
[0026] FIG. 1 is a view for explaining a thermal insulation effect
using a thermoelectric module in accordance with an embodiment of
the present invention.
[0027] A thermoelectric element includes a pair of an N type
semiconductor device and a P type semiconductor device as a basic
unit, and the thermoelectric module consists of a plurality of
thermoelectric elements.
[0028] As shown, when a DC voltage is applied to the thermoelectric
element, heat flows from a lower end to an upper end of the drawing
according to an electron flow in the N type semiconductor device
and according to a hole flow in the P type semiconductor device.
Accordingly, a temperature of a lower heat absorbing portion falls,
and a temperature of an upper heat radiating portion rises. The
reason why an exothermic reaction and an endothermic reaction occur
in the thermoelectric element is that metal in a low potential
energy state loses thermal energy and metal in a high potential
energy state emits thermal energy according to movement of
electrons since it is required to obtain energy from the outside to
move the electrons from the former to the latter according to a
potential energy difference between the electrons in the metal.
This is called a Peltier effect. The endothermic or exothermic
reaction in the thermoelectric element is proportional to the
amount of current flowing to the thermoelectric element. Further,
the endothermic and exothermic reactions occur inversely when
polarity of power is changed.
[0029] The present invention implements a thermal insulator for a
building by using this thermal diode function of the thermoelectric
element, that is, a property that heat flows only in one direction
according to a direction of supplied current.
[0030] FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a
thermal insulator 200 for construction in accordance with an
embodiment of the present invention.
[0031] As shown, the thermal insulator 200 for construction in
accordance with an embodiment of the present invention includes a
thermoelectric module 202, a power supply module 204, and a power
control module 206 and may further include a temperature sensing
module 208 or an input module 210 in case of need.
[0032] The thermoelectric module 202, as described above, consists
of a plurality of thermoelectric elements and is inserted in a wall
or floor of a building. At this time, there is no limitation on the
kind of the building, and a general residential house, a business
building, a prefabricated temporary building, and so on are all
included. That is, the thermal insulator 200 for construction in
accordance with an embodiment of the present invention can be
applied to any kind of a building in which a thermal insulator is
inserted in a wall or floor.
[0033] Each of the thermoelectric elements included in the
thermoelectric module 202 flows heat only in a direction from the
outside (outdoor) to the inside (indoor) of the wall or floor or
only in a direction from the inside to the outside of the wall or
floor so as to maintain warmth inside the building at a
predetermined level. That is, as described above, the present
invention performs thermal insulation of the building by using the
thermal diode characteristic of the thermoelectric element.
[0034] The power supply module 204 is a unit which supplies power
to the thermoelectric module 202. The power supply module 204 may
be configured to convert AC power supplied to the building into
predetermined size of DC power and supply the DC power to the
thermoelectric module 202. Further, in case that a solar panel is
provided in the building, the power supply module 204 may convert
power supplied from the solar panel and supply the converted power
to the thermoelectric module 202. Like this, in case that the power
supply module 204 supplies power to the thermoelectric module 202
by using solar light, it is possible to minimize additional costs
while obtaining a much better thermal insulation effect than when
using an existing thermal insulator since there is no need to use a
separate home power supply for thermal insulation.
[0035] The power control module 206 controls size and polarity of
the power supplied to the thermoelectric module 202 from the power
supply module 204. That is, the power supply module 204 varies the
size and polarity of the power supplied to the thermoelectric
module 202 according to control of the power control module
206.
[0036] Meanwhile, as described above, the thermal insulator 200 for
construction in accordance with an embodiment of the present
invention may further include the temperature sensing module 208.
The temperature sensing module 208 senses temperatures outside and
inside the building in which the thermoelectric module 202 is
provided and transmits the sensed temperatures to the power control
module 206. It is required to vary the amount and direction
(polarity) of current supplied to the thermoelectric module 202
according to a difference between the temperature inside and
outside the building in order to perform a thermal insulation
function required for the thermoelectric module 202. Accordingly,
the power control module 206 receives information on the
temperatures outside and inside the building from the temperature
sensing module 208 and changes the amount and polarity of current
outputted from the power supply module 204 accordingly.
[0037] Further, the thermal insulator 200 for construction may
further include the input module 210. The input module 210 is
connected to the power control module 206 and may include an input
means (button or dial) for user input. A user can input control
values for the size and polarity of the power supplied to the
thermoelectric module 202 through the input module 210, and the
input module 210 transmits the control values to the power supply
module 206 so that the power control module 206 can change the size
and polarity of the power supplied to the thermoelectric module 202
on the basis of the control values.
[0038] FIGS. 3a to 3c are views illustrating forms in which the
thermoelectric module 202 is inserted in the wall or floor in
accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
[0039] FIG. 3a shows a form in which the thermoelectric module 202
is attached to an inner surface of the wall or floor 300, that is,
a surface in contact with the inside of the building, as a thermal
insulator. This is called internal thermal insulation. Further,
FIG. 3b shows a form in which the thermoelectric module 202 is
inserted in the wall or floor 300, as a thermal insulator. This is
called intermediate thermal insulation. FIG. 3c shows a form in
which the thermoelectric module 202 is attached to an outer surface
of the wall or floor 300, that is, a surface in contact with the
outside of the building, as a thermal insulator. This is called
external thermal insulation.
[0040] Theoretically, thermal insulation performance may be the
same regardless of a position of the thermoelectric module 202
under a normal heat flow when the temperatures inside and outside
the building are maintained in a constant state. However, since a
thermal insulation effect shows differently according to the
attached position of the thermoelectric module 202 due to a heat
storage performance and so on of the building structure in a real
situation where the temperatures inside and outside the building
frequently vary, it is possible to select one of the embodiments
shown in FIGS. 3a to 3c by considering this fact when actually
applying the thermal insulator 200 for construction in accordance
with an embodiment of the present invention to the building.
[0041] FIG. 4 is a view for explaining a control method in case
that the temperature outside the building to which the thermal
insulator 200 for construction in accordance with an embodiment of
the present invention is attached is lower than the temperature
inside the building.
[0042] For example, in case that the temperature (0 degree) outside
the building is lower than the temperature (18 degrees) inside the
building, such as winter, with the thermoelectric module 202
therebetween, the power control module 206 controls the polarity of
the power supplied to the thermoelectric module 202 so that thermal
energy flows in a direction from the outer surface to the inner
surface of the wall or floor (that is, heat flows from the outside
to the inside of the thermoelectric module 202). Accordingly, since
heat flows only in a direction from the outside to the inside of
the building, it is possible to prevent inside warm air from
leaking outside through the wall or floor.
[0043] Further, the power control module 206 can increase the
amount of the current supplied to the thermoelectric module 202 in
proportion to the difference between the temperatures outside and
inside the building sensed by the temperature sensing module 208.
That is, since the amount of thermal energy leaking outside
increases according to an increase in the difference between the
temperatures inside and outside the building, it is possible to
offset a heat flow by increasing the amount of the current supplied
to the thermoelectric module 202 in proportion to this. Further, by
applying this, in case of the same temperature difference, the
thermal insulator 200 for construction in accordance with an
embodiment of the present invention can perform a heating function
as well as a thermal insulation function by increasing the amount
of the current supplied to the thermoelectric module 202 to
actively induce the heat flow from the outside to the inside of the
building.
[0044] FIG. 5 is a view for explaining a control method in case
that the temperature outside the building to which the thermal
insulator 200 for construction in accordance with an embodiment of
the present invention is attached is higher than the temperature
inside the building.
[0045] For example, in case that the temperature (30 degrees)
outside the building is higher than the temperature (20 degrees)
inside the building, such as summer, with the thermoelectric module
202 therebetween, the power control module 206 controls the
polarity of the power supplied to the thermoelectric module 202 so
that thermal energy flows in a direction from the inner surface to
the outer surface of the wall or floor (that is, heat flows from
the inside to the outside of the thermoelectric module 202).
Accordingly, since heat flows only in a direction from the inside
to the outside of the building, it is possible to block outside hot
air from flowing into the inside of the building through the wall
or floor.
[0046] Further, as described in FIG. 4, the power control module
206 can increase the amount of the current supplied to the
thermoelectric module 202 in proportion to the difference between
the temperatures outside and inside the building sensed by the
temperature sensing module 208. That is, since the amount of
thermal energy introduced in the inside of the building increases
according to the increase in the difference between the
temperatures outside and inside the building, it is possible to
offset the heat flow by increasing the amount of the current
supplied to the thermoelectric module 202 in proportion to this.
Further, by applying this, in case of the same temperature
difference, the thermal insulator 200 for construction in
accordance with an embodiment of the present invention can perform
a cooling function as well as the thermal insulation function by
increasing the amount of the current supplied to the thermoelectric
module 202 to actively induce the heat flow from the inside to the
outside of the building.
[0047] In accordance with the present invention, it is possible to
provide much better thermal insulation performance by implementing
the thermal insulator for construction using the thermoelectric
element.
[0048] Further, since the thermoelectric element has very small
size, it is possible to reduce thickness of the wall or floor in
comparison with when using a conventional thermal insulator, and it
is possible to implement a cooling or heating effect as well as
thermal insulation only by changing polarity and size of applied
current.
[0049] By using this thermal insulation, cooling, and heating
methods using the thermoelectric element, it is possible to achieve
noise reduction and life extension since additional mechanical
elements are not necessary, and it is possible to implement
environmentally friendly thermal insulation, cooling, and heating
since there is no discharge of additional pollutants.
[0050] Although a few embodiments of the present general inventive
concept have been shown and described, it will be appreciated by
those skilled in the art that changes may be made in these
embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the
general inventive concept, the scope of which is defined in the
appended claims and their equivalents.
[0051] Therefore, the scope of the present invention should not be
limited to the above-described embodiments but should be determined
by the appended claims and any equivalents thereof.
* * * * *