Airwalls from LWT and air curtains from Kampmann were installed in the Rathaus Galerie Essen around 2011.
The owner, Credit Swiss Asset Management, was dissatisfied with the function of the air curtains and had them tested in 2011 to determine whether the installed air curtains or airwalls sufficiently sealed off the building from cold air.
Result: The airwalls from LWT worked in principle, the air curtains from Kampmann failed.
Experimental setup
Dipl.-Ing. Bern Pieper tested real installed systems in order to investigate whether the systems are functional, correctly dimensioned and suitable for preventing cold air from entering the building.
Implementation
In two appointments, the outside temperature, discharge velocity and temperature of air curtains from Kampmann and airwalls from LWT were measured (measuring devices Testo 435-1 und 417). The door air curtains were installed on many outside doors, the airwalls on escalators.
Results
The airwall systems from LWT are functional and in principle suitable to prevent the entry of cold air. However, in this case they were too far away from the door openings, allowing cold air to enter.
The Kampmann door curtains do not reach the nominal air volume and are not sufficiently dimensioned for the given conditions (wind and cold). It could not be proven that the units are suitable to keep cold air out.
