Silver Building Components · 2020
Solarbreaker Photovoltaic Facade Shutter
- Silver A' Design Award 2020 in Building Components
- CLIENT: Phoenix Enterprise
- Estimated Number of Design Views: 33,794
- Verification code 6E53E74067 · Verify this award
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About Solarbreaker Photovoltaic Facade Shutter
Solarbreaker is a photovoltaic facade shutter that turns building surfaces into energy producing elements. The system is based on extruded aluminium profiles onto which solar panels are mounted. Each panel is tilted at forty five degrees for higher efficiency, and one module of one square metre can power sixteen LED bulbs. Assembly requires almost no tools, because the profiles are placed on the mounting and lock under their own weight. Cables are hidden inside the profiles. Besides facades, the same components can form fences, barriers and blinds.
About the Silver A' Design Award
Solarbreaker Photovoltaic Facade Shutter is a Silver A' Design Award winner, an extraordinarily prestigious recognition granted to top-of-the-line, gorgeous, and impressive designs. Silver winners are tremendously brilliant and exceedingly creative works that illustrate the outstanding expertise, talent, and acuity of their designers. Solarbreaker Photovoltaic Facade Shutter is expected to be a wonderful, showpiece work that is remarkably professional and profoundly innovative. This Silver A' Design Award-winning design is a highly notable, admired invention that benefits and advances the boundaries of art, science, design, and technology. Solarbreaker Photovoltaic Facade Shutter is a vastly envied creation that evokes desires, introduces positive feelings, and sparks amazement and wonderment.
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- Unique Properties
- Our solutions make photovoltaics an integral part of the building. Solarbreaker products make possible to use the entire building facade for energy production without disturbing its aesthetics. The system has been developed to give the greatest configuration options in the simplest possible form. The main application of Solarbreaker are building facades, however, using the flexible capabilities of the system we can build barriers, fences, window blinds or free-standing blinds from it.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- Basic module dimensions 1000mm x 120 mm x 1000mm
- Tags
- Solar panels, photovoltaic, facade shutter, architecture, fence
- Production Technology
- The solarbreaker design is based on extruded profiles. Solar panels are mounted on the main profile. This method of assembly allows to easily separate materials so that the product can be recycled. The solution has been designed to be easy to install. Extruded profiles fold like lego blocks and allow for wide arrangement possibilities.
- Design Challenge
- The biggest challenge of the project was to create a product that would retain its lightness despite the internal electronics and photovoltaic panel
- Research
- The main research was to develop a product which can be adapted to almost any building. This required extensive analysis of the various buildings and their constructions. These studies have resulted in a design that is very easy to assemble. The first tests were made on 3D printed models. The wing loads were tested many times, which allowed the development of aluminium profiles with the required parameters.
- Inspiration
- The main inspiration for the product was the sun protection solutions existing on the market. Large glazed facades, unfortunately, make the rooms get very hot, the sun from the south can be a problem, however, we wanted to turn this disadvantage into an advantage. Solarbreaker allows to use almost the entire building for electricity production and at the same time protect it from the sun.
- Project Duration
- the project was developed in Warsaw. Conceptual work lasted from november 2018. After many prototypes and tests, the project was finally implemented in January 2020.
- Operation Flow
- Connecting profiles and building structures requires almost no tools. The structure is built directly on site from components. Finished profiles with photovoltaic panel just need to be put on the mounting and pressed - under the pressure of weight the element will lock. Solarbreaker is equipped with the elements necessary to connect it to the home power grid. Cable connections are hide inside the profiles, therefore the solution is durable and resistant to weather conditions. The 1m2 module will produce enough energy to power sixteen LED bulbs (80wat in total). Each panel is tilted at an angle of 45 degrees, which ensures the highest efficiency.