Partner Search HUNGARY - Environment
Kubbinga@apre.it

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------- PARTNER SEARCH ENV-PT-EPN-3 --------
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<Reference n.: ENV-PT-EPN-3>
<Deadline: 25/2/2007>
<Programme: > Environment (incl climate change)
<Project Title: SPANTHEON: environment-friendly dome structures >
<Financial Scheme: > Small collaborative project
<Description: Topic ENV.2008.3.1.5.1
The ultimate built environment, the ideal "green habitat", will supply
its own energy requirements, it will not emit CO2 into the atmosphere,
its air will be clean and oxygen rich, its vegetation evergreen, its
climate ever-summer. At the present levels of industrialization and
population concentration in Europe, this ultimate goal can only be
achieved through atmospheric separation, by building such habitats
under giant, transparent domes.
For the past 40 years extensive R+D efforts have been conducted in
many countries, aimed at constructing giant, transparent domes, which
will provide such controlled, ideal environments for large
eco-systems. But, in spite of these efforts, none of today's known
technologies can build domes with clear spans longer than 250 m. This
is due to the fact, that with increasing spans bending moments
increase exponentially, and so larger structures become too heavy.
This Proposal is based on a new Hungarian invention, the Spantheon
system, which makes it possible to build giant dome structures of
unprecedented large sizes. The Spantheon system eliminates bending
moments from the supporting arches, by suspending the prestressed
membrane roof below the arches, using suspension cables through a
series of blocks (pulleys). This mechanism converts nature's
asymmetrical, random membrane loads (snow and wind) into symmetrical
and identical arch loads, which do not cause bending moments.
This technological breakthrough has received International Patent  WO
2006/136867. It is described in www.spantheon.com and was featured in
the December 2007 issue of the Journal of the International
Association of Shell and Spatial Structures. The 3-nation Consortium
of this Proposal will include the Technical University of Budapest,
and Spantheon's Inventor.
We propose to fully evaluate and design (with option to build) a
Spantheon structure to cover a habitat, either already existing, or to
be built, its area potentially exceeding 1 million m2.
The enclosure will provide hermetic seal against polluted air entering
from the outside. Minimal interior CO2 emission will be absorbed by
evergreen vegetation, which will also supply the entire oxigen supply
required for the habitat. The single-season (all summer) climate of
the habitat will support evergreen, tropical or rain-forest
vegetation. Such vegetation shall be selected and adapted to the given
soil to provide maximum oxygen production and CO2 absorption. Select
other vegetation  to provide continuous food supply.
The membrane will be made of special, transparent (glass clear) ETFE
foil, which transmits (unlike glass) 100% of the UV rays, required for
the vegetation's photosynthesis.
The habitat will supply its own required energy, mainly from solar and
geothermal sources  (the ratios of direct use to electric conversion
shall be optimized). In the calm interior of the dome large sheets of
shading, photovoltaic panels, reflective mirrors, etc. will be readily
extended and reconfigured. The membrane's three layers of transparent
ETFE foil (with the enclosed two airspsaces) will provide very
economical thermal insulation, since the dome's surface will minimal,
relative to the airspace is it enclosing. Therefore controlling the
temperature of the entire airspace of the dome, instead of the
individual homes, will mean very substantial savings in the overall
cost of energy, and in the building cost of the homes.
During snowfall the warm inside air will be rising to the outer foil,
to melt off the snow load, thereby reducing the structure's weight
(and cost), and also increasing its maximum clear span capacity. The
habitat's primary water source will be rain (and melted snow), which
will be collected along the dome's perimeter
<excerpt>
<Organisation Type: SME>
<Partner Sought: Not specified>