Thermally insulating wall units

Abstract

A wall unit comprising oppositely disposed panels defining a cavity between them, the cavity containing insulating means and being filled with dry air or other dry gas, for example nitrogen, the cavity being connected to a volume compensation device for the air or gas.

I claim: 
     
       1. An assembly of wall units for providing thermal and acoustic insulation, each of said wall units comprising at least one outer panel and one inner panel connected to the outer panel, said panels forming a cavity therebetween, the cavity being air-tightly closed, shaped insulating and spacing means disposed in the cavity, said insulating and spacing means being formed of relatively stiff material so as to transversely rigidify the wall unit between said outer and inner panels, means for circulating a dry gas through said wall units, said means comprising a gas supply line communicating with each of said cavities, said supply lines being connected to a common supply line for supplying gas to all of said cavities, a gas take-off line in each cavity spaced from said supply line, said take-off lines being connected to a common take-off line for removing gas simultaneously from said cavities, a volume compensating device for controlling the volume of gas in said wall units, and pump means for recirculating the gas from said take-off lines to said supply lines. 
     
     
       2. The wall unit of claim 1 in which each cavity is airtightly connected with a flexible airtight envelope. 
     
     
       3. The wall unit of claim 1 in which an air dryer and a dust filter are connected with the cavities of the wall units through said common take-off line. 
     
     
       4. The wall unit of claim 1 further including a heating device and a cooling device provided in the path of circulation of the gas. 
     
     
       5. The wall unit of claim 1 in which a second pressure pump is provided in the circulation path of the gas, valve means for controlling flow to said pump for maintaining an above-atmospheric pressure in the cavities, and a pressure vessel located downstream of said pressure pump. 
     
     
       6. The wall unit of claim 5 in which the dry gas is dry air, and the means for supplying additional dry gas to the wall unit comprises an inlet connected to the atmosphere. 
     
     
       7. The wall unit of claim 1 in which the shaped insulating and spacing means are covered on at least one surface thereof with a heat reflecting foil. 
     
     
       8. The wall unit of claim 1 in which the means for circulating the dry gas through the cavity further includes dust filtering means, drying means, and heating and cooling means. 
     
     
       9. The wall unit of claim 1 in which the spacing means are perforated foam plastic plates arranged within said cavity. 
     
     
       10. The wall unit of claim 1 further including reflecting foils positioned outwardly of said insulating and spacing means, said spacing means subdividing the cavity between the reflecting foils into chambers by a number of narrow perforating strips of hard foam plastics. 
     
     
       11. The wall unit of claim 1 in which the spacing means are insulating foam plates with cylindrical perforations. 
     
     
       12. The wall unit of claim 1 in which the spacing means are corrugated foils and spacing strips of foam plastic filling up the cavity and stiffening the wall unit.