Improvement of insulation material for cool box application

Abstract

Current conventional cool boxes which use expanded polystyrene (EPS) as its insulating material cannot seem to maintain storage at low temperature for long periods. This study aims to determine the effect for different types of insulating materials which can be used in cool boxes to improve its thermal insulation. Using theoretical and simulation approach, three out of six potential insulating materials were chosen in terms of their heat transfer rate, and temperature at the outer wall. The three best insulating materials, polyurethane (PU), expanded polystyrene (EPS) and poly-glass fibre (PGF) were then tested at three different room temperatures experimentally using the thermal insulation test to determine the best insulating material for a cool box. Tensile and density were also conducted to identify the mechanical behaviour and properties of these insulating materials. From the results obtained from the experiment, polyurethane (PU) recorded the longest time taken for ice to change into water at the three different temperatures when compared to other insulating materials. The results showed that when thermal conductivity is low, the heat transferred through the walls of the cool box was also low thus resulting in better thermal insulation of the cool box. This study gives a better understanding in term of thermal insulation and the results obtained from this study can help with the production of better cool boxes with improved thermal insulation.