A building element, so designed as one

Recirculation screens usually enter a project through the mechanical drawings: they belong with the chillers. But they hang outside, on top of the building, year after year in wind, snow and sun. Structurally and in terms of fire safety they are building elements, and that is how we treat them.

• Loads to Eurocode (wind, snow) for the project location.
• Membrane engineering to CEN/TS 19102, the European technical specification for membrane structures, together with a specialised engineering office.
• Tension springs and support cables in stainless steel, sized for the actual span; cables in snow zones.
• Connection details to the steel contractor's structure, including the forces the screen introduces.

Biaxially tested per roll

Mesh fabric stretches differently in warp and weft, and from roll to roll. Design with a table value and you get screens that sag after one winter or are over-tensioned. That is why, before production, we have every roll of fabric tested biaxially at an accredited laboratory for lightweight surface structures. The measured strain per roll goes straight into the stress calculation.

Fire safe to the standards

A data centre sets requirements for everything attached to the building. DataAirShield® fabric has been tested by accredited institutes:

• NF P92-503 — class M2 (France).
• DIN 4102-1 — Baustoffklasse B1, schwerentflammbar (Germany), tested free-hanging, no flaming droplets.

Certificates are included in the documentation set, so the fire consultant does not have to rely on a self-declaration.

Ten-year warranty, twenty years proven

• Warranty: 10 years in writing, on fabrics and on the stainless steel springs, rods and cables we supply, linked to a simple maintenance protocol.
• Proven outdoors: mesh screens of ours from 2006 and 2013 are still in place.
• Maintenance: annual inspection, cleaning with water and a soft brush, no pressure washing. Logbook supplied.

Documentation that passes the submittal

Every delivery comes with a complete set, in English or German:

• technical data sheet with pressure-loss data,
• installation manual with sequence and details,
• maintenance manual and logbook,
• warranty declaration,
• fire test certificates and, on request, the structural calculation.

Preparing a specification? We supply the text for the specification clause and the pressure-loss data for the CFD study. Email [email protected].