Insulating a tank

[daviddor]

Hii everyone,
what would be a trivial way to insulate a plastic tank( 1 m3) full of fruits (thermally). i thought about two layers of polystyrene foam with a thermal conductivity of  W / m . K = 0.03 and then from the outside to put an aluminum foil to block the radiation . And if there is more fancy way to do that?

*I am not actually going to apply this , but just for the calculation of the heat flux through it.

Thank you

 

[IRstuff]

You could use vacuum insulated panels (VIPs) which have lower thermal conductivity and essentially incorporates the reflective surface in the packaging.

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[chicopee]

IRF,do you need to install a vacuum pump for the vacuum insulated panels?

 

[IRstuff]

No, they're pre-sealed, so not modifiable;

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[EdStainless]

There are also formable/cutable glass fiber panels with foil faces that can be used.
You use Al tape to join them.
It is sort of in between the other two options.

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[IRstuff]

OP,

Not sure why you want "two layers" of Styrofoam.

As an alternative to aluminum foil, you can use multi-layer insulation (MLI), which is the shiny stuff you see in satellite photos; they're typically dozens of layers of reflective foil separated by non-conductive webbing.

Of course, you could just find/build a 1 m^3 thermos

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[LittleInch]

Whats with the aluminium foil? does virtually nothing for you.

How thick?

Whatever you do eventually the insides will be the same temp as the outside. Opening the box will let in far more heat.

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Also: If you get a response it's polite to respond to it.

 

[IRstuff]

The aluminum foil is for reflecting infrared radiation, so it's a form of thermal insulation. For satellites, the "foil" is a rather fancier affair with multiple layers of reflective foil separated by thermal spacers, resulting in multilayer insulation (MLI) which is the shiny foil usually seen in images of satellites. These MLIs block the only remaining thermal pathways available on a satellite, once conduction and convection stop doing anything

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[georgeverghese]

Polystrene foam is flammable - use mineral wool / rockwool instead. k value is about the same.