Monday, March 19, 2007

COCONUT HUSKS: A SUBSTITUTE FOR THERMAL FOAM AS HEAT INSULATOR IN BUILDING CONSTRUCTION by Maricar Francisco, Roy Carola and Dr. Tomas Ganiron Jr

ABSTRACT
This study focuses on the study of the reliability and efficiency of coconut husks as heat insulator used in structural designs such as theaters, gymnasiums, stadiums, offices, residential, buildings, warehouses, and hangars.Being situated in the tropical region, the Philippines have two climates in the whole year wet and dry seasons. During the dry seasons which normally last for six months, from December to May, extreme heat (28-34) degree Celsius) covers the whole country specially the congested urban areas. People take their rest, have fun work in buildings. But for this building to be conducive to such activities, one requirement is the habitability which means availability of cooling systems, like air-conditioning units and/or electric fans. But not all have the luxury of getting this extravagant equipment. In order not to jeopardize revenue outputs for commercial businesses, people may resort to some cheaper options to sustain their operations. In the advent of modern technologies these days, few people know about the usefulness of coconut husk. . But aside from the notion of it as simply used coconut blanket for erosion, there are many more dimensions to it. From flexible packaging to building materials to electrical capacitors, the properties of coconut husk form provides a lot of benefits to mankind. It can be used as heat absorber. It can hold heat to some extent and is used by some building for this purpose. Through posh condominium and commercial buildings use air- conditioning system as their means of cooling their surroundings, the availability and employment of coconut husk as a material for heat insulation in the building constructions considering its cheaper cost cannot be disregard. The important thing that comes in to our mind is on how to reduce the heat that the roof of a certain building being observed. When our research will goes on may be we can found it out that using the coconut hush and aluminum foil could help our country and people by giving them the information about this kind of materials can be use as their insulator and in affordable price.
People in construction business can have a wide variety of options with regard to the materials and equipment that can be used to maximize the absorption of heat in building designs. Asses the reliability, effectiveness and efficiency of employing coconut husk as heat absorber to the building and other structures requiring cooling system.Have a model study on the standards of using the aluminum foil in structural designs.
The formulation of the study being conducted uses the experimental method of research. The researchers used to prepare this method of research to determine the ability of the material to be used as to temperature test is concerned.The experiment uses coconut husk in the form of blanket and aluminum foil (flexi foil).
For insulation, were the data should be gathered from the two model of roofing (in buildings roof): one is being applied by the experimental insulation and the other has none to provide a reference for comparison.
The coconut husks in the form of blanket and aluminum foil (flexi foil) were used as insulating materials in roofing. These materials were directly applied in the roofs, in which the coconut husk is first to attach beyond the galvanized iron sheets (G.I.) roofing, followed by the aluminum foil that will served as heat storage that passes through the foam. The experimental model need the heater, to be able to make the room heated so as the presence of heat the researcher can gather temperature data in both house model, which the one contain the insulation materials and the other has none.