This composite innovation is a mold-made brick for modular passive house walls, in which most of the constituents are biobased materials: insulation is done by flax fibre reinforced natural foam (polyols) and the structural part of the module consists in plates made out of 100% natural flax fabrics (LINCORE®).
The aim of this innovation is to allow customers to build their passive house in a short period of time and in locations that are difficult to access.
MOLD-MADE BRICK FOR MODULAR PASSIVE HOUSE
The use of composite materials in our innovation enabled to confer the structural requirement to our modules (resistance to environmental stresses such as wind, snow…) while keeping lightness and optimal manipulability. Moreover, the modules are fixed one another using a dry assembly method.
The use of natural fibres in our composite materials adds a thermal and acoustic insulation to the module properties, as well as an environmental friendly advantage thank to the materials used in our innovation. The modular house being totally passive and made out of biobased non-toxic materials, our innovation is completely in accordance with eco-conception and sustainable development.
The development phase has been conducted by BIOTOPES ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN, Depestele Group and Le Havre University Laboratory (www.univ-lehavre.fr/recherche/lomc/). The laboratory developed and formulated the first samples of the biobased flax reinforced foam (amount of fibres, length of fibres…) and characterized the materials, in the mechanical and thermal point of view. The shaping possibilities of the foam have also been evaluated. The laboratories also tested and characterized the structural part of the module, that were realized with flax reinforcements manufactured by the Depestele Group, and adapted to the requirements of the modular passive house application.
Market potential for this innovation :
The market potential of our innovation is essentially declined in several sectors, for example :
- construction (passive houses, either temporary or final constructions),
- tourism (to fulfil the requirements of housing in touristic zones during holiday periods),
- communication or events organisation (temporary structures …),
- design.
Key benefits of the innovation :
1) Permits to create any type of structures including passive houses or temporary constructions,
2) Fully customisable, light and yet resistant, very easy to assemble,
3) High performance environmental friendly structure,
4) Fire and fumes resistant (F1/M1),
5) Very low thermal conductivity (no thermal bridges),
6) Resistance to UV and environment (wind, rain, snow…),
7) Biobased non toxic materials (more than 90% in volume).
