New solutions for insulated boxes

The worsening of the insulating materials, due to the international environmental protocols, make necessary to study different arrangements and materials for the building of the insulated boxes. The ITC CNR has built three different prototypes of insulated boxes, using a frame in which the thermal bridges were reduced: these frames are built using two metallic frames, closed in each wall by an iron sheet and connected by eight "tiebeams" made with PTFE. 1- the first box used only the new frame and it is insulated by standard polyurethane slabs; 2- the second one is realized with the same frame but the insulation material is constituted by slab of aerogel inserted in a polymeric network; 3- the third one used like insulating material some hermetic envelopes filled by xenon. The K values of the three prototypes were measured and compared with the value of a box of the same dimensions and of the same thicknesses that was built with the standard techniques used in the refrigerated vehicles.