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2017 March April Marina World

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FLOATING STRUCTURES & FLOAT TECHNOLOGY Floating homes – patent perfect AquaVilla Production AB has filed patents for four new products, which add extra security, strength and energy efficiency to the four models of floating houses it offers in Sweden. After many years of working with city planners, the company, which was founded in 2000 by Richard Bergström, is now selling its products in two locations in Sweden - in Stockholm Nacka at Marinstaden and in Västervik. A new frame structure, called ‘Casabona’, helps make the houses more energy efficient. It comprises a galvanised metal structure integrated with cellular plastic or PIR insulations. AquaVilla says the resulting frame is around 30% lighter than traditional wooden frames. One of the benefits of this is that the level of insulation can be easily adjusted by varying the amount of metal profiles, enabling the company to build in colder climates. The building can also be adapted to meet local building regulations and authority requirements, as well as being built to customer specifications. The most important benefit is that the metal structure, together with hard insulation, does not suck water into the building structure because the material is nonorganic. To increase the safety of the houses on the water, the company has developed a ‘docking buffer’. This is a connector system that prevents houses from swaying when docked to an Aqua pier and when installed in areas with wave heights under 60cm (24in). AquaVilla says the fixings in the concrete have an estimated life expectancy of 100 years, are silent and can be simply replaced if needed. Two villas can be connected to one pier, or six villas to three piers, which can also be connected. There is no upper limit for the number of piers that can be connected together, for wave heights under 15cm (6in). Another patent is for a new system called AquaEnergySystem that uses the energy of the temperature of the water underneath the villa to heat or cool the house. Similar to geothermal heating or cooling, the system uses energy from the water, together with a heat pump and floor heating, to warm up the villa. “Regardless of the air temperature, seawater never goes below 4°C a few feet below the surface,” the company says. “The system preserves this energy in a heat pump before passing it through a hose system, which is moulded in the structure of the villa.” In the summer, the system reverses to work as a cooling system, which saves energy on air conditioning. Furthermore, because no drilling is required, the cost is just 15% of the investment normally required for a geothermal system. The hose of the collector system extracts 65-70% of the building’s heating needs from the surrounding water. It can also provide cooling underfoot during the summer. The heating system has another practical purpose, which is AquaVilla’s fourth patent – the AquaSlipFreeWalking system. This uses waterborne underfloor heating to heat all floors, reducing the risk of slipping on decks, gangways and driveways. AquaVilla says: “The system is very simple and energy efficient, inexpensive to install, maintain and keep in service.” As the water temperature is fairly consistent, it ensures an inexhaustible supply of energy from the water and installation is “a fraction [of the cost] of ground source heating systems.” The company now installs the system on all the piers and regular concrete pontoons it produces. AquaVilla has been cooperating with mooring expert Seaflex for the past two years on the development of concepts that connect the houses to the Aqua pier or other floating structure. This led to Richard Bergström’s invention of the patented docking buffer system, which Seaflex sells internationally as a floating platform connector for houses and other heavy structures. Seaflex CEO, Lars Brandt, stresses the importance of the mooring system. “Forces acting on any floating structure need to be handled by the mooring system,” he told Marina World. The AquaVilla and Aqua pier combination is designed to handle all loadings but a floating home attached to a standard pontoon may not be as secure. “Moorings will need to be updated or the house floated on its own moorings. This is very important and unfortunately something that is often overlooked,” Brandt adds. Contact AquaVilla in Sweden at info@aquavilla.se and Seaflex in Sweden at info@seaflex.net www.marinaworld.com - March/April 2017 55

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