At Cantifix we love to use the skills of our in-house development teams to improve and add to our ever-evolving product range – and this enormous, curved, sliding glass roof, which is currently being fitted in Suffolk has given us the chance to really push the boundaries.
As part of a large project involving Sky-Frame doors, glass roofs, Blink switchable glass, and PureGlaze doors; we were asked to design our first curved, sliding glass roof – spanning an area of 108 m2! The roof will cover a swimming pool, and will slide open from the middle – giving the client the option of outdoor swimming when the weather permits.
The design of this roof was not without its technical challenges – we had to construct a large steel support frame that was stiff enough to allow the roof to slide, but thin enough to allow a minimal feel. Our choice of motors was also critical – they had to work in synchronised pairs, and they had to be robust enough to safely move the weight of the roof panels.
To ensure that the design was perfect, we used CAD to model the structure completely in 3D – to see how it would behave under a variety of conditions. We then built half of the structure in our factory to check that real life reflected our 3D modeling (check out a short videoof our factory test). The test structure was built upon a frame that we could manipulate – in order to allow us to predict how movement in the pool structure itself would affect the roof.
Another design challenge was to work out how to use curved glass, but still benefit from maximum solar control. We did this by laminating an XIR interlayer within the glass after it had been curved. XIR film is a product similar to Heat Mirror film, which dramatically reduces u-values and minimises solar gain.
When complete, the roof will contain 32 double-glazed panels; all secured into the steel from below with hundreds of small toggles – and will be the largest sliding roof that Cantifix has ever built.
