Project description
A new era in mould creation for innovative architectural design
Industry relies on moulds to create all kinds of parts, and the construction industry is no exception, turning out beams, slabs and columns, to name a few. However, creating moulds to produce the innovative, complex and fluid shapes that are gaining hold as energy-efficient components for the building sector is difficult, costly and time-consuming with conventional milling machines and processes. The Romanian SME Sveltedca Partners has developed a unique machine system that can generate all types of curved surfaces in one step for significant savings in cost and time relative to conventional methods. EU funding of the Svelte project will help the team take their revolutionary technology for complex architectural components to market.
Objective
Finding a cost-efficient solution to create fluid, complex shapes has been the Holy Grail of architecture and engineering worldwide. Svelte uses a proprietary, unique, innovative machine system to generate all types of curved surfaces on an industrial scale, in one straightforward operation, at a fraction of the cost and time of current methods. Svelte works on a patented advanced cutting method using a heated SmartWire that changes its shape while moving through foam or wax-based materials to generate the desired surfaces.
Svelte disrupts the currently used CNC milling processes similarly to how 3D printers impacted the prototyping industry, pushing the boundaries of what is possible today to change architecture as we know it. A Svelte produced mould is at least 50% cheaper than a regular milled mould and has the ability to be mass produced in minutes, making the output of a single Svelte system equivalent to approximately 48 CNC machines.
Svelte will therefore enable for the first time growth in the emerging special buildings niche to achieve the spectacular, innovative, energy efficient fluid forms of the future; but also generate substantial savings in the traditional building sector. Integrating Svelte cut shapes in existing building projects preserves their structural integrity, but uses up to 30% less construction materials, adding up to significant savings in energy, water, sand, CO2, coal, methane, NOX, and PM10 particles in Europe’s most polluting industry.
Having confirmed Svelte’s market acceptance and potential during the SME Instrument Phase 1 project, the focus is now on bringing the technology to TRL 9 during the proposed EIC project. In this scope we envision the optimization of the machine’s cutting function and prepare it for scaling to commence commercialization under both a FIAB model, but also as a SaaS solution producing moulds and panels in our own production facility.
Fields of science
Keywords
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
SME-2 - SME instrument phase 2Coordinator
500068 Brasov
Romania
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.