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Purchased materials for prototype of side panels and worked
late hours to build it. The result was satisfactory in that the 120 cm high and
90 cm wide panel looked like a screen that can be bought in IKEA. The sandwich
construction consists of a centre piece of flamingo (5 cm) flanked by two foils
(1 x 0.8 m) and by two masonite plates. The panel was tested at temperatures up
to approx. 70°C where two disadvantages were discovered. First of all the
masonite is rather smelly, but this odour may decrease after the material has
been warmed up a few times. The second disadvantage was the expansion of the
masonite at elevate temperatures which made the plate bend. Moreover, the
thermal response time for an 80% increase in a 30°C temperature increase
was found to be 10 minutes as opposed to 2 minutes for a freely exposed foil.
This somewhat lengthy response time will most likely cause difficulty for the
individual control of the panels. These experiences were expensive to get as we
managed to get a parking ticket (kr. 480) during one of the visits to the
hardware store Anders Fog.
Some of the potential materials for the foil encapsulation
are: |
|
Material |
Price |
Smell |
Comments |
Tried "full scale" |
|
Masonite |
approx. 100 kr./m² |
yes (at least for 2 days) |
expands when heated |
Y |
|
"Plexi-glass" used by Love |
approx. 700 kr./m² (perhaps half
price) |
? |
|
N |
|
Glass |
middle |
no |
too difficult to work with |
N |
|
Aluminium |
100 kr./m² |
yes (according to Edvard) |
must be painted due to low
emissivity |
N |
|
Rubber |
150 kr./m² |
yes, a little |
rather soft |
N |
|
Plastic |
? |
yes (according to Edvard) |
|
N |
|
Plastic grid |
? |
perhaps |
may increase response time for side-panels,
however too high convective heat loss |
N |
|
Metal-grid |
? |
maybe |
too high convective heat
loss |
N |
|
Laminate |
85 kr./m² |
None from the front, but the rear side
smells a little. Must be sealed. |
Big expansion, somewhat
brittle |
Y |
|
Book binding plastic |
? |
less than masonite |
bubbly surface when heated i.e. does not
look good |
N |
|
PE (poly-ethylene) |
35 kr./m² |
No |
max. 60°C. Expands a lot.
|
Y |
|
Teflon |
very expensive |
no |
|
N |
|
Nylon |
159 kr./m² |
? |
bends heavily |
N |