Pressure-inflated ETFE foil systems
Foiltec’s Texlon foil system offers designers new opportunities in the development of climatic and transparent envelopes. The system can be engineered to virtually any size or shape and can incorporate variable solar and thermal controls, enabling the envelope to be tuned to the ideal climatic or programmatic solution in real time as the sun moves across the sky. Made of a fluoroplastic film, the Texlon system is self-cleaning and will not deteriorate with UV exposure. It is also engineered to withstand specific and local snow and wind loads.
The Texlon foil elements are stabilized by a slight overpressure between the individual layers of foil. The air-filled elements prevent the foil from becoming slack and provide the system with its excellent thermal properties. However, the air is not part of the structural system, as in the case of air-inflated buildings, where a breakdown in the air supply would cause the entire structure to collapse. With the Texlon system, a breakdown in the air supply would only affect the thermal properties, and the building would remain intact.
Contact: Foiltec NA, Cohoes, New York, USA.
For more information, see Transmaterial: A Catalog of Materials That Redefine our Physical Environment
