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Environmental awareness and the need to build energy efficient give a new impulse to Wood Wool Cement (WWC) building products.
Recently the Swedish WWCB producer Träullit (www.traullit.se)
developed a revolutionary new building system with high thermal insulation, consisting of large homogeneous WWC Wall Elements of up to 6 m length and 260 cm height.
The thickness of the WWC elements is up to 40 cm.
The main properties of this unique new building system are:
Due to high thermal insulation values, superior thermal storage capacity and moisture balancing properties, this system is ideal for residential construction, especially for countries with a cold climate such as in Northern regions and mountainous areas. In countries with land climates and warmer to hot climates the same properties help to significantly reduce energy cost for cooling. In all cases the high insulating value is appreciated for maintaining a comfortable indoor climate and living condition
Not only the Thermal Insulation value but also the Thermal Storage Capacity is important, as shown below.
| Comparison of Thermal Insulation and Storage Capacity of various Wall constructions (source Träullit) | Thermal Insulation W/m² ºC (U-value) |
Thermal Storage Capacities KJ/m² °C |
|---|---|---|
| Wood Framed Mineral Wool | 0.14 | 65 |
| Large WWC Wall Element | 0.19 (R=5,26) | 250 |
| Light Weight Concrete | 0.28 | 210 |
| Expanded Clay Blocks (Leca) | 0.50 | 255 |
After the Wall Elements are manufactured in the factory, they are loaded on a truck and shipped to the job site. There, they are installed on the prepared foundation in only one day. First, the Wall Elements are connected by pouring fresh concrete in prepared reinforced vertical cavities where the Elements join. As a second step a reinforced concrete ring beam is poured in a prepared groove on the top of the Elements. Finally, after all concrete is cured, the roof is installed. Optionally, also the roof is constructed using the highly-insulating Träullit wood beam-reinforced long-span WWC Roofing Boards.
Eltomation has recently developed a new production line for the manufacture of Large WWC Wall Elements.
Such a Large WWC Wall Element Plant allows the fully automatic production of up to 75 Elements per day (based on a 3-shift production).
Each Element is up to 6 m in length, 2,6 – 3 m high and 35-50 cm thickness (40 cm as standards).
The Plant is provided with an Eltomatic wood wool machine and automatic Mixing Plant, which produces up to 10 ton wood-cement mixture per hour.
The mixture is evenly distributed in the (3 x 6 m) Forms by means of a newly designed 3 m wide Forming Station.
The Plant further includes an automatic Loop System for handling of empty and full Forms, an automatic Separating Saw,
Demoulding Equipment and a CNC-controlled Machine Centre for cutting the Elements to the proper dimensions, cutting & milling of openings, such as windows, etc.
The Large WWC Element Plant allows the production of outer walls for up to 1500 houses per year.
As a new development, the Large WWC Wall Element Line can be placed side-by-side to a Phase IV WWCB Plant,
which allows production of the full range of WWCB products under one roof.
