Point B has been involved with a research team at Temple University led by Asst Professors Sneha Patel and Rashida Ng to provide consulting and design development services for a project entitled “The Integration of Paraffin-based Phase Change Material within ReD [a Responsive Daylighting Panel].”
The project is supported by a Green Building Alliance Product Innovation Grant awarded in July 2008. Project Partners: Dr. Amy Fleischer [Associate Professor, Mechanical Engineering at Villanova University], Rashida Ng [Assistant Professor, Architecture at Temple University], and Dr. Jon Zuo [President and Chief Technical Officer, Advanced Cooling Technologies].
We helped Sneha and her team by using a touch-probe module for our Shop-Bot to scan an egg-shaped physical model which acted as the geometric primitive which was arrayed across a daylighting panel. We then used input from the research team to build digital surface models from which we generated tool paths for the fabrication of molds in which the PCM (phase-change material) was formed.
Responses to “PCM development with Temple University”
January 7th, 2010 at 12:12 pm
thanks stu. of your two questions the answer is: something else. the white parts are the molds we designed and milled based on the 3d scan of the plastic egg. the molds were used to cast the clear resin panels (not acrylic or glass). where the “something else” really comes in is that we produced two prototypes - one which creates voids in the panel connected by channels through which the phase change material (PCM) can flow, and the other in which the PCM is integrated with the resin and the panel is solid. The PCM is photosensitive so depending on the amount and type of light that the panels are exposed to, their thermal and transmittance properties change - that is the research that the folks at Temple are working on and you should check them out for more info on that.
January 6th, 2010 at 4:32 pm
good post. so you heated up some clear acrylic or glass and smushed it between the two white parts?
or something else?