Balehaus supplied with ventilation by Windowmaster

Windowmaster has supplied a natural ventilation system featuring its weather station, for the innovative Balehaus building on the Bath University campus.

The Bath Balehaus is constructed from straw modules created by Modcell which are erected around a timber frame and covered in lime render and wood cladding.

Modcell is the creation of White Design in Bristol and Integral Engineering Design.

The NV Advance natural ventilation system was retrofitted to the building by Windowmaster's service department.

The Balehaus is designed as a low energy building and the Windowmaster system allows air temperature and quality in the house to be maintained with minimal energy expenditure.

It automatically opens and closes windows in response to internal and external temperature, CO2 levels and weather conditions.

The experimental building was constructed from straw because it is an environmentally friendly, renewable building material.

Due to straw's high insulating properties, houses made of straw bales require almost no conventional heating, keeping running costs low and minimising environmental impact.

Windowmaster was chosen to provide the window automation system for the Balehaus at Bath because of its ability to provide a complete installation, in particular the central computer control system.

The installation includes motors, window actuators, various sensors and a weather station.

The control system understands and knows how the wind speed and direction on all facades will influence the airflow through the windows on each level and location in the facade.

Windowmaster determines the Cp values (pressure coefficients) individually for each window by calculating the relevant air pressures from different wind speeds and directions.

Windowmaster carries out computational fluid dynamic (CFD) calculations for 16 wind directions for the specific building and its surroundings.

Based on the calculations the Cp values are determined and programmed into the control system, enabling the precise control of the individual windows resulting in an optimal indoor climate.

Each zone operates independently of the others according to the specific external conditions relevant to those windows and the internal environment.

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