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9th April 2008

Cambridge Consultants' technology set to blow the house down

• 70 interconnected pressure actuators to simulate a Category 5 hurricane in Canadian 'Three Little Pigs' project
• Other applications for the core technology range from grain feeders to regenerative braking systems

Wind generation technology developed by Cambridge Consultants has, for the first time, been networked and deployed in a vast 'wind simulator' that has generated wind pressures equivalent to a Category 5 hurricane. The wind simulator will roar into action this summer at The Insurance Research Lab for Better Homes in London, Ontario, as it attempts to destroy a house. The exercise is part of the 'Three Little Pigs' project being run by The University of Western Ontario, Canada, to improve safety standards for low-rise dwellings

Other applications for this core technology go far beyond extensions within the structural testing space - for example, testing aircraft wings

The wind simulator takes the form of 70 networked, modular 'pressure actuators', which are mounted against the exterior surface of a full-scale two-storey pitched-roof house. At the heart of each actuator is a fast-acting valve system that allows the simulated wind pressure to reverse direction at up to seven times a second. A sophisticated control and networking system, also developed by Cambridge Consultants, then co-ordinates the actuators to realistically replicate the complex wind effects over the entire surface of the house.

We are going to determine how the rapid changes in pressure and direction of wind cause houses and other light-frame buildings to respond. So far, no one has been able to either simulate this or measure it in an actual storm," remarked Dr. Gregory Kopp, Professor and Canada Research Chair in Wind Engineering at The University of Western Ontario, who is leading the experiments at the 'Three Little Pigs' project. "Thanks to the breakthrough valve and concept models from Cambridge Consultants, we can now create a realistic simulation of a hurricane that will greatly aid our ability to assess the integrity of the structure of a building, the pathways by which the load is transmitted through the structure, and the performance of components. By 'blowing the house down', like in the children's story, we will be able to provide guidance not only with regard to making them safer, but how to do so economically.

As another part of the same project, the pressure actuators are also being deployed in smaller arrays to test the integrity of building components such as panels of glass, and plasterboard. Cambridge Consultants is also testing other applications for the valve in a range of other industries.

"Other applications for this core technology go far beyond extensions within the structural testing space - for example, testing aircraft wings," said Gary Kemp, Programme Director, Cambridge Consultants. "We're looking at breakthroughs in other valve-driven processes as well - ranging from control mechanisms for hopper grain feeding systems, to regenerative braking systems that store the energy generated while applying the brakes and then re-deploy it to help acceleration, potentially improving energy-efficiency of wheeled vehicles."

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