Optimization of the wall thermal insulation characteristics based on the intermittent heating operation

The intermittent heating operation is used widely, but the heating behavior status is always ignored to simplify the energy conservation design in the present optimization of thermal insulation characteristics and then the heating equipment is assumed to run. To optimize wall thermal insulation characteristics under the intermittent heating operation, six typically-employed walls of different thermal insulation forms were built to analyze the effect of thermal insulation forms on thermal response rate and heat flow in the inner surface comparatively. The comparative results showed that the interior insulation wall and the foamed concrete wall were the most suitable for the intermittent heating condition, while the exterior insulation wall and the self-insulation concrete wall would be relatively poor choices. The interior insulation wall and the foamed concrete wall had the highest thermal response rate and the highest surface temperature, 3 °C–10 °C higher than the other insulation wall examined, while they had the lowest values of inner surface heat flows, 26.8%–50.3% less than the other insulation wall. Keywords: Thermal response rate, Inner surface heat flow, Intermittent heating operation, Thermal insulation form