摘要 |
A thermally insulating panel structure (2, 60) is created by filing the space (16, 67) between two panels (4, 6, 61, 62) with a gas exhibiting low thermal conductivity at a moderately low pressure so to substantially eliminate convection heat flow through the insulating region but not so low as to substantially reduce conduction heat flow through the insulating region. Doing so greatly increases the thermal insulating qualities of the structure without the problems associated with evacuating the region to extremely low pressures. The seal (14, 50, 66) at the edges (10, 12, 64, 65) of the panels can define one or more barrier regions (44, 46) which reduce air leakage into the insulating region.
|