Thermal images of buildings in Aldabe Road before and after retrofitting (Picture@VISESA)
Thermographies demonstrate envelope improvement in Coronación District (Vitoria Gasteiz)
17 Aug 2021Once retrofitting works have reached their final stage it’s time to check if the technical solutions for the façades renovations are performing as expected. One of the best ways to find out is to use thermal imaging technology. The technology has now been used in the demo district of Lighthouse City Vitoria-Gasteiz to prove the success of energy-efficient renovation.
Infrared thermography (IRT) or thermal imaging, is a process where a thermal camera captures and creates an image of an object by using infrared radiation emitted from the object. The amount of radiation emitted by an object increases with temperature; therefore, thermography allows one to see variations in temperature and, thus, potential thermal bridges.
When talking about rehabilitation works, a thermal bridge is an area of the building envelope which has higher thermal conductivity than the surrounding areas, creating a path of least resistance for heat transfer. Thermal bridges result in an overall reduction in thermal resistance of the envelope and drives to heat transfer into or out of conditioned space which could eventually lead to façade pathologies or worst indoor comfort conditions in dwellings. Avoiding this heat transfer is one of the main targets of the retrofitting works carried out in Coronación’s buildings and obtaining thermal images of the façades will ensure the optimal performance of the envelope.
Next, some pictures of the retrofitting works and their corresponding thermal image are shown. It can be observed how blue colours in post-retrofitting stage have substituted the orange and red colours from the pre-retrofitting stage. Blue colour stands for a better thermal performance and means that heat from the dwellings is not leaking to the exterior. As a consequence, dwellings show more stable indoor comfort conditions and heating needs are reduced.
As you can see, the pictures speak for themselves!
