Story

(more…)

View Timeguard's profile:

Story

The client wanted a light, non-yellowing natural surface to the oak floors in this London property.

To deliver the required effect, a combination of Bona White primer and Bona Traffic Natural polyurethane lacquer was applied.

Depending upon how many coats are applied, Bona White primer is designed to ‘whiten’ the surface from – as in this one coat application – simply providing a subtle pale sheen that will inhibit any yellowing over time, to a true whitewashed look when two or more coats are applied.

Bona Traffic Natural was chosen as the top coat because it maintains the non-yellowing look and feel of pure, untreated wood and, at the same time, offers superior surface durability.

There are six Bona primers offering a choice of colouration from Scandinavian white to rich amber. Using a primer as the initial surface coating is more economical than adding an extra lacquer coat. Like all Bona coatings, Bona primers are very easy to use, reduce side bonding and improve the adhesion of the lacquer.

There are six Bona waterborne top coats to offer you a solution for every environment, whether you are looking for a matt or glossy finish, a natural, untreated look, anti-slip properties or supreme surface durability.

Low VOC Bona primers and lacquers meet the stringent Greenguard emissions standards and all packs carry the Greenguard logo. The global Greenguard Certification programme helps buyers identify products and materials that have low chemical emissions and therefore improve the quality of the air where they are used.

View Bona's profile:

Story

The new Condair DL in-duct adiabatic humidifier offers the accurate humidity control normally only available from steam humidifiers, but with the low energy performance and evaporative cooling benefit of a cold water system. It also incorporates many anti-microbial features that make it one of the most hygienic humidifiers available.

The Condair DL is a hybrid humidifier that combines spray and evaporative technologies to maximise moisture absorption and provide humidity control at ±2%RH. A water treatment system provides pure water to a grid of nozzles located inside the duct. The nozzles spray towards a ceramic droplet separator, which has the dual action of preventing aerosols from travelling down the duct and offering secondary evaporation through its porous surface. This increases efficiency of the system with 95% of the spray water evaporating during both processes.

The spray nozzles initially operate in stages to meet a required output and humidity demand. Following the initial stage control, fully modulating control is then achieved by increasing the water pressure to the nozzles. By responding to humidity demand and output control in this way, the humidifier can deliver the type of humidity accuracy typically only available from a steam humidifier.

The humidifier incorporates an RO water treatment system that ensures only pure water is introduced to the AHU. It then treats the pure water with a patented silver ionisation process that actively inhibits microbial growth and has a residual effect throughout the humidifier. Flush and drain cycles prevent water from remaining in the system to stagnate and optional compressed air drying guarantees moisture cannot remain in the humidifier’s water lines. In addition to these features, optional H2O2 disinfection can be incorporated into the system and initiated via the control panel.

All these features make it one of the most hygienic humidifiers in the world and have earned the unit accreditation by the SGS Institut Frensenius in Germany for hygienic operation. The system was independently tested under real-life operating conditions for a six-month period. Part of the investigation included purposeful microbial contamination to assess the effect. Throughout the test the Condair DL fulfilled all requirements and outperformed the VDI 6022 industry standard for microbial growth, achieving a maximum CFU/ml microbial count 85% less than the recommended limit.

The Condair DL offers both the control accuracy of electric steam humidifiers and extremely hygienic operation but without the high electrical energy costs. By pre-heating the airstream prior to the Condair DL with gas-fired heating, the same volume of moisture can be absorbed by the air as steam humidification provides, but at one third the energy cost due to the economy of gas. If a building’s waste heat can be used for the pre-heating process, the humidification energy savings are even greater.

As with all adiabatic humidifiers, the Condair DL also offers the additional benefit of evaporative cooling during the warmer months. As 1kg of absorbed moisture provides 0.68kW of evaporative cooling to the air, the Condair DL can provide over 680kW of cooling per hour from as little as 1kW of consumed electrical energy.

View Condair's profile:

Story

JS Air Curtains has supplied twelve Mini Optima air curtains for the doorways at the prestigious British Airways i360 observation attraction in Brighton to maintain the internal temperature for visitors and staff.

The stylish Mini Optima air curtain was specifically chosen as the best fit for both the curved inner and outer doorways to keep the cool conditioned air in during the summer and the cold air out during the winter. Each air curtain supplies up to 2,150m³/hr of air and up to 9kW/h of heat making them ideal for protecting the 2.6m high doorways. Units were required in both 1m and 1.5m lengths to cover the various entrance widths, while a grey RAL9006 colour was picked out for the zinc plated steel casing, to blend in with the interior design. A British Airways i360 spokesperson said: ‘‘We are very happy with the performance of the air curtains.”

The slim design of the Mini Optima air curtain makes it an ideal choice for many applications including shops, offices and restaurants. Installation is simple as it is available as a single or, as in the case of the British Airways i360 project, three-phase option. With the power connections situated on the top of the unit, it avoids the need to open the casing to wire it in. Heating can be via LPHW or an electric heater and it is also available as an air only model.

A micro-perforated inlet grille will filter the air entering the unit, avoiding the need to routinely replace or clean internal air filters. All the inlet grille requires for maintenance is a wipe or vacuum occasionally. The air curtain is supplied, as standard, with a manual controller with two fan speed selections or two heater stages for electrically heated models or units. Seven metres of control cable and an infrared hand held remote are included. The unit can also be connected to a BMS.

British Airways i360 is situated on Brighton seafront and is the world’s first vertical cable car. At 162m high it is also the world‘s tallest moving observation tower and offers panoramic 360-degrees views across Brighton & Hove and the spectacular Sussex coastline.

JS Air Curtains, the UK’s leading air curtain specialist, supply an extensive range of air curtains for all commercial and industrial applications. You can find out more by visiting the company’s website at www.jsaircurtains.com

View JS Air Curtains's profile:

Story

Aluminium systems specialist, Sapa Building System, has launched a new commercial door which offers improved product performance.
The Stormframe ST II Commercial Door has been designed to complement the existing Stormframe thermally broken framing system and can also be used with Sapa’s Dualframe Si windows and Elegance curtain walling systems. Using advanced polyamide thermal break technology, the ST II can achieve U values as low as 1.9W/m²k, with double glazing. It has also been successfully tested to the PAS024 security standard which is widely specified across a number of sectors.
“We have designed the ST II to use our standard hardware and door closer options to guarantee a consistent look and feel, across our product range,” said Mark Robinson, Technical Director at Sapa Building System.
“STII can accommodate glazing up to 46mm, and with its 65mm profile depth provides stronger overall construction making the door very robust and suitable for high traffic areas,” concludes Mark.
Recognising the demands of the Equality Act 2010, the ST II incorporates features such as adjustable power door closers and colour contrasting hardware for ease of access. With simplified manufacture, no additional tooling or training is required beyond that for the ST system, avoiding extra costs for the fabricator. The ST II is available in single and double door configurations; open-in and open-out, rebated and pivot options including anti finger traps and low thresholds.

View Sapa's profile:

Story

Keeping innovation at the top of its agenda, high integrity structural fixings manufacturer, Ancon, will further expand its wide product range with new product launches at the UK’s largest event for specifiers in the built environment, Ecobuild 2017.

With four key product zones, the Ancon stand B135, will feature the innovative Nexus brick-faced support system for prefabricated soffits, structural thermal breaks for balcony locations, KSN Anchors for quicker, safer reinforcement continuity at construction joints and a comprehensive range of low thermal conductivity wall ties.

Nexus Brick Soffit Support Systems

Creating architectural brick features including soffits, deep reveals and flying beams has never been easier thanks to the lightweight, brick-faced Nexus® system developed by Ancon and cut-brick specialist Ibstock Kevington.

Combining a specially developed brick faced steel unit with Ancon’s tried and tested MDC stainless steel bracket angle support system, Nexus is quick to install as no mechanical lifting is required, is lighter and easier to handle than precast concrete soffit systems and its two-part design allows full adjustment on site resulting in perfect alignment.

Insulated Balcony Connectors
To help designers meet their thermal performance aspirations, Ancon has once again expanded its range of structural thermal breaks for balcony locations to accommodate even higher loads. Typical applications for these high performance products include large cantilever balconies and situations where column layout or rebar congestion limits the number of connectors that can be installed.

Minimising heat loss while maintaining structural integrity, Ancon balcony connectors are available to suit concrete-to-concrete, steel-to-concrete and steel-to-steel applications. All solutions can also now be specified in stainless steel which is 3x more thermally efficient than galvanised/carbon steel.

KSN Anchor Reinforcement Continuity Systems
The award-winning CARES-approved KSN Anchor system allows engineers to design slab-to-wall connections in reinforced concrete frames without the restrictions on bar length and bar diameter of traditional re-bend continuity systems.

The system works by casting internally threaded anchors into a concrete wall which accept Bartec parallel thread reinforcing bars during construction of the adjoining slab. A new Ancon video demonstrates how KSN Anchors accelerate construction and improve on site working conditions by eliminating the dangers inherent with projecting starter bars and bar straightening required by rebend continuity boxes.

Low Thermal Conductivity Wall Ties
For visitors designing PassivHaus and Zero Carbon projects, a new product innovation from the award-winning Teplo range of basalt fibre wall ties will be unveiled at the show. Samples of Ancon’s low thermal conductivity ties will be displayed including the new Teplo-BF, a new build cavity wall tie with a thermal conductivity of just 0.7W/mK that has exceptional mortar grabbing capability, suitable for use with lime and other slow-drying mortars.

The Ancon stand gives visitors an excellent opportunity to talk one on one with our experienced technical and sales support team who will be happy to help with specific project or business requirements. Contact Ancon on 0114 275 5224, email info@ancon.co.uk or visit www.ancon.co.uk.

View Ancon's profile:

Story

Condair, formerly JS Humidifiers, has developed a new app that accurately determines how much energy could be saved by using in-duct exhaust air evaporative cooling and a heat recovery system, rather than just traditional compressor driven cooling.

Using worldwide weather data from Meteonorm, the myCoolblue app calculates how much energy is needed annually to cool a building. Then, taking into account 10 years of historic weather data from over 300 regions worldwide, the app projects how much cooling each month could be delivered using exhaust air evaporative cooling and how much would still need to be delivered using traditional mechanical cooling.

Exhaust air evaporative cooling uses an adiabatic humidifier to cool the return air from a room and a heat recovery unit to transfer the cool thermal energy to the incoming fresh air stream. The technique can provide several degrees of cooling from just a few kilowatts of electricity, reducing a building’s energy bills and carbon footprint.

By assessing how much of a building’s cooling can be delivered with exhaust air cooling, a HVAC consultant or AHU designer can accurately calculate the viability of an in-duct evaporative cooling system and show its return on investment potential.

For instance, Condair’s myCoolblue app shows that for a building in London needing to maintain an internal condition of 23°C during normal office hours, with 2m x 2m AHU and airflow of 2.6m³/s, the typical annual cooling load would be 33,532kWh. Given the 10-year historic weather conditions for London, myCoolblue app shows that, in an average year, an exhaust air evaporative cooling system could deliver 53% of the required cooling.

The app gives energy projections for hot or average summer conditions and takes into account a comprehensive set of variables to provide an accurate calculation for any project. These variables include the type and efficiency of the heat recovery unit being employed, the location of the fans and the humidifier

configuration inside the AHU, alongside the actual design conditions and operating parameters of the AHU itself.

A chart showing the monthly breakdown in kWh between mechanical and evaporative cooling is presented, along with a diagram of the system configuration and the temperature course supply/exhaust chart. Project details and calculations can be saved to the cloud and accessed later. An email option also allows reports with all the project parameters to be emailed in a pdf format for future reference.

Condair’s myCoolblue app can be downloaded from the App Store for free and is available for iPad only.

Condair Group is the world’s leading specialist in humidification and evaporative cooling, with energy efficient, hygienic and innovative technologies for commercial, industrial and heritage applications. Condair is represented in the UK by Condair plc, which offers system design, manufacture, supply, installation, commissioning, maintenance and spares. Condair plc is the new name for JS Humidifiers following the organisation’s rebranding in October 2014. You can find out more by visiting the company’s website at www.condair.co.uk.

View Condair's profile:

Story

Klober membranes have been used in a couple’s zero carbon eco-home which featured in the latest series of Grand Designs. The five-bedroom, 4,300sq ft timber frame building on the West Pennine moor has Wallint 50 on the warm side of the insulation to provide an air barrier and vapour control layer. By contrast, Permo forte was installed on the cold side of the insulation to enable moisture within the building to escape and provide a weatherproof barrier behind the timber cladding. Its vapour resistance value of 0.15 MN/sg is well below the 0.6 MN/sg requirement for walls.

View Klober's profile:

Story

It is increasingly important in the current climate of public sector budget cuts that public buildings are as energy efficient as possible. In addition the Government wants to be at the forefront of the reduction in carbon in public buildings. One such building is the Foreign and Commonwealth Office which occupies a Victorian, Grade 1 listed building in St. James Place, London and has great historical value. A recent upgrade project at the FCO required the energy monitoring of approximately forty combined heating & cooling circuits in order to calculate and benchmark savings which could be made. The quest for energy and utility efficiency requires the best and most reliable measurement systems and Bridge Controls Ltd from Reading, Berkshire, the nominated BMS specialist on this project, had experience of the Micronics range of heat meters from past projects and specified the U3000 range of ultrasonic flow meters for this project. Bridge Controls undertook the installation of the flow meters and CF51 energy calculators which provide direct communication to the Trend BMS network and energy manager software suite.

Martin Knowles, Bridge Control’s Contracts Manager specified the U3000, a transit time ultrasonic flow meter and the CF51 Heating & Cooling Calculator as ideal for the job. Consequently, 40 U3000s were installed in the heating and cooling circuits throughout the building. The U3000 is designed to work with clamp on transducers and accurately measures liquid flowing through a closed pipe. It eliminates the need for any mechanical parts to be inserted through the pipe wall or to protrude into the flow system and because it takes just a few minutes to install, there is no need to shut down flow or drain the system. The CF51’s multifunctional display means that it is easy to read, providing rapid and clear access to important billing data.

Officials at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office were pleased with the installation which proceeded rapidly with no interruption to the day to day functioning of the office. They would certainly use Micronics heat meters in other Government buildings.

For further information on this project or the Micronics range call Micronics on +44(0)1628 810456, or visit www.micronicsflowmeters.com.

View Micronics's profile:

Story

Imperial War Museums is a multi-branch national museum founded in 1917 to record the story of the Great War and the contributions made to it by the peoples of the Empire. IWM Duxford, a branch of IWM is Britain’s largest aviation museum. The site was originally designed as a Training Depot Station and construction started on 15 October 1917. The buildings have been adapted from their original use and in 2004 work to convert the Armoury into a Visitor Centre and Café was completed. The wet heating system for the café was integral to the Visitor Centre. The Facilities Management team at the site use a Micronics clamp-on ultrasonic flowmeter to monitor the energy use by the Café. The partner is charged for energy usage and Malcolm Price, the Facilities Manager was keen to establish the relative usage to ensure that the charges were apportioned accurately. The museum is committed to sustainability, reduced energy use and effectiveness and energy costs are a major part of the museum running costs, and measuring and monitoring use is a vital tool in achieving this. Malcolm Price saw the Micronics stand at an energy event and was impressed by the simple but seemingly reliable technology.

The Micronics flow meter was chosen because it offered a non-invasive, quick and reliable flow measurement solution. With its easy to follow menu and simple set up it proved to be a cost-effective alternative to a traditional in-line meter installation. No installation drain down or pipe cutting was required and in addition dry servicing is possible so that downtime is kept to a minimum, absolutely vital in a building which is open to the public throughout the year.

Malcolm Price has total confidence in the Micronics product born of many years of experience. “It is crucial to have the ability to monitor the flow in the site. The unit has worked extremely well for 10 years and is still producing the data we require. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to accurately establish the amount of energy being used. This is particularly important in public buildings like the IWM where there is a statutory requirement to be as efficient as possible.”

For further information on this project or the Micronics range call Micronics on +44(0)1628 810456, or visit www.micronicsflowmeters.com.

View Micronics's profile: