Document structure
Pablo's Final Project

Pablo's Final Project

Smart Timber Construction Autonomous Pannel

(1) Problem Statement

Timber structures have benefits such as:

  • Low carbon footprint.
  • Ease to be recycled, reused and dissassembled.
  • Organic and warm aesthetics.
  • Good thermal issolation properties.
  • Lightweight.

However timber also has disadvantages as construction material:

  • It is combustible, i.e. burns with fire.
  • It has low thermal inertia and acoustic insultion (i.e. timber structures tend to getting cold and warm rapidly and do not insulate noise very well).
  • It has limited durability and dimensional stability, i.e. vulnerability to xylophagous organisms and moisture.

(2) Project Hypothesis

My project’s main hypothesis is that timber main disadvantages (i.e. combustibility, low thermal inertia, acoustics, durability and dimensional stability) can be minimized developing a smart pannelized wall system that includes energy generation, automatized temperature regulation, and hydrogel protection. This assumption is based on the fact that hydrogel has high mass (thus it has the potential to increase thermal inertia), low combustibility and high heat capacity, and high durability. Also, it is assumed that it is possible to create an autonomous system that can generate energy, measuring temperature and automatizing heating and cooling.

(3) Proposed solution

Based on my hypothesis, I want to fabricate a composite timber pannel that minimizes the timber main disadvantages as construction material and can be used to develop more environmentally friendly construction systems. I termed that pannel as

Smart Timber Construction Autonomous Pannel

Here I show some initial drafts of the idea including the main parts of the proposed system

For ceating that pannel, I will need to:

  • Design and fabricate with robotic arm/CNC cutting a timber panel frame.
  • Design and fabricate the hydrogel sustrate and encapsulating recipient.
  • Design and fabricate a solar energy generation system.
  • Design and fabricate the electronics/sensors that will serve to monitorize temperature and automatize heating and cooling.
  • Integrate all the above and deliver that as a compact final project item.