ARDIENTE

CONCLUSIONS
SUMMARY
This report describes the most important steps of the
designing process, since the first individual concepts
through technical details, and until the final result
product.
The modification of the first approaches to the final
design was a challenging task process, trying to find an
optimal height, interior heat efficiency, demountable
components, natural ventilation, material optimization
and correct extraction fumes, among others. There
were many problems that were desired to be tackled,
but simplifications were needed in order to proceed
with a feasible, clear and universal product concept. For
example, components such as PCM, solar collectors,
rotational lids for the openings and multiple fans were
discarded after several researches and discussions.
Other components such as PV cells, which were thought
to supply the energy for the heat exchangers and fans,
were no further developed due to priority of the main
solar chimney concept. However, as it is mentioned in
the architectural application chapter, this component
can be adjustable to every building need.
from the first approaches. Therefore it triggered into a
slower technical designing process and into undesired
modifications of several already plans.
Another issue was related to the smoke machine,
which was an essential aspect of the prototype
construction project. Many attempts were tested and
discussed during the previous weeks before and during
construction process, but all of them were not effective
enough for the desired visual air flow concept. In the
last days, a new machine needed to be bought to solve
this problem, as well as adjusting some components to
make it work.
Overall, the result achieved during this period fulfils
largely the expectations of every member of the group.
Bucky Lab was not only a basic design course, but also a
combination of different subjects that helped greatly to
develop efficiently Ardiente design concept. Moreover,
the opportunity to put in practice the knowledge and
construct the prototype in scale 1:5, was an enriching
and useful experience for the team.
The principles based on passive natural ventilation
through a solar chimney were combined with the idea
of a reduced module of two-floor height, capable to
extract the interior undesired air from lower rooms and
introduced the heat into the upper ones through heat
exchangers.
The main difficulties found in order to develop the solar
chimney box were about structural analysis. In order
to obtain the maximum thermal gain from the solar
radiation was by using a thin aluminium box, expected
to be around 2 mm thickness. However, after the first
rough calculations it ended up with a 5 mm thickness,
which was considered not to be efficient enough. The
final solution that was concluded from the structural
report was the necessity of adding internal ribs, so that
deformation could be minimised and thinner sheets
could be achieved. All this long process took longer
than was expected and in addition, the results differed
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