Hheating, cooling, ventilating, every building has to work hard so that its guests feel comfortable. Not only at home, also in the office. Of course, the energy required for this is high, especially in older houses, and renovation costs a lot of money and time. Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institutes for Building Physics and for Energy Economics and Energy System Technology have therefore developed facade modules in which more environmentally friendly energy technology is already firmly integrated. It should make renovations easier and faster – “minimally invasive”, as the researchers say.
They initially have a very specific type of building in mind: the many German office buildings from the 1950s to 1970s. The scientists put their annual energy consumption at 3200 GWh, but expect that it could be reduced to 600 GWh with their modular façade. Thanks to its typical skeleton construction – with reinforced concrete columns instead of load-bearing walls – the old façade can be removed comparatively easily and the new modules put in place from the outside without the walls having to be torn open or pipes or cables having to be laid.
The individual façade modules are also prefabricated. They fit in with the approach of serial construction, which wants to bring a large part of the production from the construction site to the factory. Proponents of this method hope that this saves time and ultimately costs.
A look behind the facade: The demonstrator of the module facade has to face the measuring instruments and show whether the temperature, humidity and energy balance are correct.
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Image: Fraunhofer
Each of the modules from the Fraunhofer laboratory is storey high, 1.25 meters wide, 30 centimeters deep and able to supply a 24 square meter room with the necessary energy technology. Outside, a solar module first procures the energy and supplies the integrated heat pump with electricity. However, each element also has a power connection. After all, the building services should not be paralyzed in shady times. The engineers installed a fan coil unit in an air gap behind the solar module, through which the heat is released into the room. Individually controllable flaps also regulate the ventilation of the rooms. In winter, the office can be heated via the facade, in summer the system technology reverses the cycle and cools the rooms.
The demonstrator stands. Now he has to show how his components work together. And whether the energy balance keeps what it promises.
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