Phase change insulation system

A thermally insulated wall structure in a building structure between a first zone maintained at a predetermined range of temperatures and an adjacent zone of variable temperature which vary to temperatures higher than and lower than the temperatures of said first zone, said wall structure comprising:

• a laminated sheet of heat insulation material including a first sheet of insulation material facing the zone of predetermined range of temperatures, a second sheet of insulation material overlying said first sheet and facing the adjacent zone of variable temperature,
• said second sheet of insulation material having a heat insulation value lower than the heat insulation value of said first sheet of insulation material,
• an array of pockets formed between said sheets of insulation material and extending substantially uniformly between said first and second sheets of insulation material, and
• phase change material confined in said pockets having a phase change temperature within the range of temperatures of the variable temperature space.

In a building structure having an interior space maintained in a predetermined temperature range and an adjacent variable temperature space exposed to the atmosphere outside the building structure which has high and low temperatures during the course of a twenty-four hour day which are higher than and lower than the predetermined temperature range, the improvement therein of a wall structure positioned in heat exchange relationship between said interior space and said variable temperature space, said wall structure including first and second layers of heat insulation material and an intermediate layer of phase change material positioned between said first and second layers, said phase change material contained in a plurality of pockets formed by bonding two sheets of material together for maintaining the intermediate layer phase change material uniformly dispersed between said first and second layers of heat insulation material, said phase change material having a phase change temperature between the high and low temperatures of the variable temperature space during the course of a twenty-four hour day, said first layer of heat insulation material facing said interior space and said second layer of heat insulation material facing said variable temperature space, and said second layer of heat insulation material having a heat insulation value which is lower than the heat insulation value of said first layer of heat insulation material so that said phase change material more readily absorbs heat from or gives up heat to said variable temperature space.

An insulated building structure having a constant temperature space and a variable temperature space adjacent said constant temperature space reaching high and low temperatures during the course of a twenty-four hour day, said building structure including:

• a wall structure positioned between said spaces and including a layer of phase change material placed in heat exchange relationship between said constant temperature space and said variable temperature space,
• an array of pockets supporting the phase change material substantially uniformly about said layer, said phase change material having a phase change temperature located between the high and low temperatures of the variable temperature space during the course of a twenty-four hour day,
• heat insulation material juxtaposed both sides of said phase change material, with the heat insulation material between said phase change material and said constant temperature space having an insulation value higher than the insulation value of the heat insulation material between said phase change material and said variable temperature space, so that during the course of a twenty-four hour day said phase change material more readily absorbs heat from or gives up heat to said variable temperature space and the phase change material tends to change between a solid state and a liquid state in response to the temperature of the variable temperature space exceeding or dropping below the phase change temperature.

In a thermally insulated building structure having an external wall structure defining a space inside the building structure maintained in a predetermined range of temperatures, and the space external to the building structure being open to the atmosphere and subjected to changing temperatures of the atmosphere, with the external wall structure in heat exchange relationship between the space inside the building structure and the variable temperature space external to the building structure, the improvement therein comprising:

• phase change material contained internally within the external wall structure of said building,
• support means defining pockets therein for supporting the phase change material uniformly distributed in an array throughout the length and width of the external wall structure,
• layers of heat insulation material positioned in said external wall structure on opposite sides of and in overlying relationship with respect to said layer of heat insulation material, with the heat insulation material between the phase change material and the constant temperature space having a higher insulation value than the heat insulation material between the phase change material and the variable temperature space,
• said phase change material having a phase change temperature between the high temperature and the low temperature of the space external to the building in the course of a twenty-four hour day so that in the course of a twenty-four hour day the phase change material tends to change between solid state and liquid state inside the external wall structure of the building in response to the temperature of the atmosphere exceeding or dropping below the phase change temperature.