7/22/2010

From Bavaria: building materials revolutionizing building and buildings

  Flooring that generates electricity for the buildings in which it is installed. Windows and glass facades capable of alerting owners to possible cracks and other damages. Walls and roofs that have the lightness and beauty of sails or balloons and the translucence of windows—and the resiliency of standard building materials.

These are just a few of the advanced building materials coming out of Bavaria. These materials will revolutionize the construction and operations of buildings.

“Energy harvesting” is one of technology’s hottest buzzwords. It means making use of the energy expended in doing the most mundane of things.

Such as pacing your house’s floor. The pressure from that pacing is turned into electricity by Piezo Parkett ample enough to power in-house communication systems and household appliances. Developed by the Munich-based company of the same name and by Professor Norbert Schwesinger, this parquet flooring can be installed in virtually all homes and offices.

The ultimate example of energy harvesting is provided by EnOcean’s sensors. They run on the power they capture from movement, temperature differences, light or their own operations. This ability to generate their own power joins with their sophistication of sensing and range of wireless broadcasting in making the sensors the hearts of advanced building monitoring and operating systems.

To date, these systems have been incorporated in 100,000 buildings. Not bad for a company founded in 2001 in the southeastern Munich suburb of Oberhaching, and which introduced its revolutionary product in 2003.

It sounds like every building owner’s dream: windows and glass facades that tell you when they need the maintenance or repairs obviating cracks and the damage to property and persons which they cause.
Thanks to Dr. Bernhard Brunner and his team at Würzburg’s Fraunhofer Institute for Research into Silicates, this dream has become a reality. The team has developed sensors that use arrays of ultrasonic-linked, piezoelectric sensor-actuator modules to detect and report the ‘microcracks’ (as short as 5 millimeters) preceding major cracks.

Since nearly all of today’s ultra-high skyscrapers feature outer shells composed primarily of glass (including Burj Khalifa—the world’s highest), these ‘smart’ panels are bound to become mainstays of construction.

Often referred as to a “cathedral of light”, Munich’s Allianz Arena is widely regarded as being the most beautiful stadium in the world. And that’s because of something it doesn’t have: outer walls.  Its exterior is formed by 2760 cushions fashioned out of ETFE foil.

Developed by Dr. Herbert Fitz, this fluorocarbon-based polymer is lighter, stronger (in terms of durability and resiliency) and more translucent than glass. Add in the fact that ETFE is self-cleaning and easy to mold, and you have the reason why the material has become the exterior of choice for museums, trade fair centers, aquatic facilities and, of course, stadiums of all sizes and description.

Main beneficiary of this mushrooming popularity has been aeronautec, the company founded by Fitz’s son Johannes and daughter-in-law Petra and based in the eastern Bavarian town of Seeon.
Aeronautec is the world’s leader in creating the ETFE foils forming the walls, facades, roofs, partitions and other parts of buildings.

Source: Invest in Bavaria

For more information about establishing a location in the State of Bavaria, please contact Jan Danisman, phone: 212-317-0588 or email: info(AT)bavaria.org.