Thermal Insulation Strategy of China’s Antarctic Qinling Station

Time: 2025/04/03 Publisher： oiginal Views：

Introduction

China's fifth Antarctic research station - Qinling Station is located on the coast of the Ross Sea in Antarctica, which not only fills the gap in China’s long-term observation in the Antarctic Pacific sector, but also attracts attention with innovative green construction technology. Facing the extreme environment of the Antarctic average annual temperature of -10°C and maximum wind speeds of over 43 m/s, Qinling station has successfully built a "thermal armor" to resist extreme cold with the breakthrough application of polyurethane insulation and door - window systems, providing a safe and energy-efficient "five-star" polar home for researchers.

China’s Antarctic Qinling Station

Materials Revolution

Polyurethane cladding system: breaking the performance ceiling of traditional building materials

Antarctica is known as the "coldest place on the Earth," and the Ross Sea region is known for its violent downwinds. The maximum wind in the area where Qinling station located is equivalent to a category 17 typhoon, and traditional building materials are difficult to withstand the double attack of extreme cold and strong winds. To this end, Qinling station innovatively adopts prefabricated steel structure and modular construction system, and the core technological breakthrough of which focuses on the thermal insulation performance of the outer protective structure - polyurethane insulation material.

Polyurethane skeleton

Energy Efficiency

Polyurethane composite doors and windows: opening a new era of energy conservation in polar buildings

Polyurethane composite material for Qinling station tailor-made non-transparent curtain wall and door - window system. This material is based on polyurethane and reinforced by composite high-modulus glass fiber, which combines light weight, high strength and ultra-low thermal conductivity. The five-glass three-cavity and polyurethane composite profile door - window system is innovated in Qinling station, and the heat transfer coefficient U value is as low as 0.6, which is far beyond the conventional polar building standards. The polyurethane composite profile is insulated from water vapor erosion by vacuum forming process, the bending strength is comparable to steel, and the weight is reduced by 50%, which meets the efficient assembly needs of the short construction period in Antarctica. Five layers of glass filled with inert gas, polyurethane frame bridge design, to minimize heat loss, to ensure that research personnel have sufficient light and clear vision during the polar night, improve station comfort.

Qinling station polyurethane composite doors - windows factory

Polar Armor

PIR super insulation system: create a -50℃ shield for Qinling station

The PIR insulation wall panels used in Qinling station provide excellent insulation performance for Antarctic research stations. The thermal conductivity of the PIR thermal insulation material used is only 0.024 W/(m·K), which is excellent in thermal insulation and ranks first among all thermal insulation materials. PIR's low thermal conductivity and high ratio of closed pores ensure its insulation effect in extreme cold environments, and the fire rate is B1. In ultra-low temperature environment, the material has strong compressive strength and good dimensional stability. The exterior is covered with stainless steel and aluminum composite panels to form a sandwich structure, which enhances the durability and compression strength of the wall panel. More than 1100 curtain wall modules are tightly spliced together with the full-break bridge design to block the cold and heat exchange channel, and the overall heat transfer coefficient is reduced by more than 60% compared with traditional materials, reducing energy consumption and ensuring the safety and stability of the building.

Qinling station PIR insulation wall panel factory

The completion of Qinling station is not only a demonstration of China's polar engineering, but also provides a "Chinese solution" for the global extreme environment building. In the future, with the landing of new materials such as polyurethane in more scenes, the "thermal armor" for exploration of unknown territories will become increasingly tough. The innovative application of polyurethane materials not only cracks the insulation problem of polar construction, but also reflects the global competitiveness of China's green and low-carbon technology.