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FastDry module takes an energy-efficient approach to drying wet walls

FastDry module takes an energy-efficient approach to drying wet walls
The FastDry module is reportedly ready for commercial production
The FastDry module is reportedly ready for commercial production
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A cut-away view of the FastDry module, showing the insulating panel and heating wire
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A cut-away view of the FastDry module, showing the insulating panel and heating wire
Thermal imaging shows how much heat escapes from a wall after a FastDry module is removed (upper right), as compared to other sections where modules are left in place
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Thermal imaging shows how much heat escapes from a wall after a FastDry module is removed (upper right), as compared to other sections where modules are left in place
The FastDry module is reportedly ready for commercial production
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The FastDry module is reportedly ready for commercial production
View gallery - 3 images

Ordinarily, when interior walls become wet due to leaky roofs, burst pipes or flooding, fans or radiant heaters are used to dry them. The new FastDry module, however, is claimed to offer a significantly more energy-efficient alternative.

Created by Germany's Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics, the device takes the form of a rectangular panel that is placed directly against the wet wall in question. Sandwiched between the two screened sides of the panel is a slab of non-flammable mineral fiber insulation – a heating wire runs through the middle of that slab.

As the panel heats the wall, liquid water within the wall material turns to vapor that dissipates out of the wall, through the permeable mineral fibers, and out into the room. At the same time, the insulation helps hold the heat in the wall, minimizing the amount of additional heat that has to be continuously produced by the system.

A cut-away view of the FastDry module, showing the insulating panel and heating wire
A cut-away view of the FastDry module, showing the insulating panel and heating wire

The FastDry module heats the wall to about 55 ºC (131 ºF), and continuously monitors both the surface temperature of the wall and the amount of power being consumed. It is therefore able to monitor the dampness of the wall, since the drier the wall material becomes, the less the amount of power will be used to heat it to the target temperature. This means the module can be turned off and removed from the wall as soon as it indicates that the wall is dry, as opposed to being left running unnecessarily.

According to Fraunhofer, the technology requires only about 15 percent of the energy needed by standard infrared heating plates to do the same job. Additionally, unlike the heavy-duty fans that are often used to dry walls, it operates silently.

A flexible version of the FastDry module is now also in the works, which could be wrapped around architectural features such as columns or wooden beams.

Source: Fraunhofer

View gallery - 3 images
2 comments
2 comments
christopher
Perfect for dog kennels and everyone else with a wall that's a 2 or 3 foot hight and 4 or 5 foot wide (so long as you buy 4 or 5 of these to do all the other walls of your kennel all at once).
Treon Verdery
This is a technology that dries out wet walls from flooding or other causes, take a large $16-20 alibaba electrical blanket and use it as the fabric in a giant embroidery hoop, the giant embroidery hoop then has a tight top electrical blanket fabric that is able to directly surface contact the wall being dried, the embroidery hoop could have something like a kickstand that presses the electric blanket hoop surface against the wall, this wall dryer is likely to be about $32 on alibaba. Also an electric blanket has 4-8 times the surface area of the wall dryer described.