Aerogel products and high-strength polyurethane cushion blocks: core materials of passive residential energy-saving revolution

1、 Energy saving demand and challenges of passive residential buildings

Passive residences aim for extremely low energy consumption and require efficient insulation materials, non thermal bridge design, and enclosed structures to achieve indoor constant temperature. However, traditional materials such as rock wool and polystyrene board have problems such as large thickness and high thermal bridge risk, which restrict the lightweight and energy-saving efficiency of buildings.

2、 Aerogel products: innovative materials for passive housing

Super strong insulation performance

The thermal conductivity of aerogel is as low as 0.015-0.025 W/(m · K), which is only 1/3-1/4 of that of traditional materials. It can significantly reduce the wall thickness (5mm aerogel ≈ 100mm rock wool effect), save building space and improve design flexibility.

Cold and hot bridge isolation

The aerogel felt and coating can directly cover the building structure nodes (such as beam columns, door and window frames), blocking the heat conduction path. The experimental data show that the application of aerogel can reduce the heat loss of the thermal bridge by more than 60%.

Lightweight and durability

The density of aerogel material is low (200kg/m ³), which reduces the building load, and its compressive strength is more than 0.5MPa, with a service life of more than 25 years, meeting the long-term stability requirements of passive residential buildings.

Environmental Protection and Sustainability

The production process of aerogel has gradually shifted to a solvent-free process, which can be recycled and meets the requirements of the EU Green Building Certification (LEED, BREEAM).

3、 High strength polyurethane cushion block: an invisible guardian for cold and hot bridge isolation

In passive residences, high-strength polyurethane pads (density ≥ 600kg/m ³, compressive strength ≥ 8MPa) are used at structural connections (such as bolts, brackets), and their low thermal conductivity (0.035 W/(m · K)) can block the cold and hot bridges formed by metal components. For example:

Embedding polyurethane cushion blocks into the anchoring components of the external wall insulation layer reduces the thermal bridging effect by 80%;

After using cushion blocks for rooftop photovoltaic brackets, indoor temperature fluctuations are reduced by 3-5 ℃.

4、 Future Applications and Market Prospects

Integration of aerogel and intelligent building

In the future, aerogel can integrate a temperature sensitive coating, which can be linked with the intelligent temperature control system to dynamically adjust the thermal insulation performance and adapt to the temperature difference between day and night and seasonal changes.

Market explosion driven by policies

The EU's "2030 Climate Goal" requires that new buildings consume nearly zero energy. China's "Technical Standards for Buildings with Near Zero Energy Consumption" is accelerating its implementation. The global market size of aerogel is expected to exceed 5 billion US dollars by 2027 (data source: Grand View Research）。

Standardized application of polyurethane cushion blocks

With the popularization of passive residential certification systems such as PHI, polyurethane pads may become a mandatory configuration for structural connectors, promoting standardized production in the industry.

5、 Conclusion

Through collaborative innovation, aerogel products and high-strength polyurethane cushion blocks provide passive housing with a "double insurance" energy saving solution: aerogel gel covers the large surface for thermal insulation, and polyurethane cushion blocks precisely attack the thermal bridge. The combination of the two will reshape the building energy efficiency industry chain and help achieve global carbon neutrality goals.