For more than 75 years, the International Achievement Awards (IAA) recognize outstanding and innovative projects representing the latest accomplishments in design and manufacture incorporating specialty fabrics. The 42-category competition, sponsored by IFAI since 1946, is an excellent opportunity for IFAI members and non-members to display work, gain professional recognition and become distinguished on an international level.
The IAA’s have recognized technical skill and design excellence in projects across the industry that incorporate specialty fabrics into their design. Entries are judged by industry experts and design professionals who are individually selected for their expertise in a particular field of study or product area. To view the IAA website, click here.
For more than 75 years, the International Achievement Awards (IAA) recognize outstanding and innovative projects representing the latest accomplishments in design and manufacture incorporating specialty fabrics. The 42-category competition, sponsored by IFAI since 1946, is an excellent opportunity for IFAI members and non-members to display work, gain professional recognition and become distinguished on an international level.
The IAA’s have recognized technical skill and design excellence in projects across the industry that incorporate specialty fabrics into their design. Entries are judged by industry experts and design professionals who are individually selected for their expertise in a particular field of study or product area. To view the IAA website, click here.
Pvilion’s Solar Powered Expeditionary Tent System is the first product of its kind to conveniently align solar, energy storage, cooling, and heating, to offer a fully off-grid expeditionary system that can function in any setting. The fabric used on this structure is Pvilion’s signature solar cell integrated fabric, meaning that these tents can generate sustainable power for communications, lighting, environmental controls, and electrical devices fully independently from the grid. It is a highly capable shelter that has solar fabric, integrated tent, floor, and liner for thermal performance. It is immediately operational in any environment. Its convenient design allows for easy set-up, transport, and function. The lightweight tent offers 200 square feet of usable space and can be fully erected in 20 minutes.
Fully relocatable and integrated with lightweight solar powered fabric, Brooklyn-based Pvilion’s Lightweight Solar Canopy can provide sustainable power anywhere that receives sunlight. This unique application of solar eliminates the need of having two separate systems for shade/shelter and sourcing power. Pvilion integrates solar power into fabric to achieve one turn-key product that provides visually appealing shade as well as outlets for charging, lighting, ventilation, climate control all in an easy to install manner. Easy to set-up and relocate, this product offers flexibility and independence to those that utilize this sustainable fabric product.
Pvilion’s Hands-Off Expeditionary Tent (HEXT) is a rapidly deployable shelter system built with defense, industrial and commercial applications in mind. This tent has been developed by Pvilion for the USAF in support of additive manufacturing, space operations, and expeditionary forces. Its advanced design reduces the labor, manpower, and time required to erect and dismantle temporary shelters for austere and remote environments. The structure can be entirely deployed at the push of a button without human intervention in less than three minutes. Where large labor forces and much time were previously required, the Hands-Off Expeditionary Tent structural system allows for fewer logistics operators managing more parallel processes. This rapid sequence allows more time to focus on mission accomplishment and less time required for logistics and setup. The tent fully erects itself in a matter of minutes, literally with the push of a button. It features walls, doors, optional solar powered integrations, and allows for plenty of space for meetings and operations to take place.
Soon Pvilion canopies will keep patrons of the Mosholu Golf Course driving range cool in the shade, as they practice directly above the Croton Water Filtration Plant.
Pvilion on the Course
Construction on this project with its fully sustainable “living roof” began again in 2015. The driving range located within the golf course features natural water elements, inspired by the native habitats found in the park. Featured on the driving range directly above the water treatment plant, will be 31 Pvilion canopies. These canopies will shade patrons that utilize the driving range in the golf course.
Rendering of the upcoming project by Pvilion
What is the Croton Water Filtration Plant?
The Croton Water Filtration Plant, located in the Bronx, is the first water treatment plan located within New York’s boroughs. Not only is it the oldest water supply system in New York City, but it is also the largest underground water filtration plant in the United states. The plant stretches for twelve acres beneath the ground, located beneath the Mosholu Golf Course inVan Cortlandt Park
Fully Hidden Underground
Responsible for processing a third of the city’s drinking water, The Croton is one of the largest infrastructure projects in New York City. Fully underground, the treatment plant is 12 stories tall. You would never know it from above, though. On the surface, all that’s visible are wetlands, park grounds, and golf course.
To learn more about the Croton Water Filtration Plant Project, click here.
In some of the world’s most hazardous locations, a resilient and autonomous common denominator is often found – solar energy. From offshore oil rigs to remote mine sites and the frontlines of conflict zones, solar power functions where others fail, and it does so without the need of refuelling or regular maintenance. But what makes solar such a ‘no-brainer’ that even the oil and gas industry must turn to it? And what other hazardous locations can be electrified with solar? Blake Matich reports.
Pvilion’s solar tent structure is designed to provide quick access to both power and shelter in various difficult settings. The solution has been adopted by the US Army, which sees various applications in disaster response, contingency response, emergency preparedness, hurricane relief and humanitarian aid.
Solar panels may seem a juxtaposition in the midst of oilfields and atop offshore oil rigs. But thanks to its resilience and dependability, solar has found a home in some of the world’s most remote and hazardous locations, including those devoted to the extraction of fossil fuels.
“For remote critical power applications, PV is more often than not the only solution,” says Mark Cerasuolo, a director at US-based solar controller company Morningstar. And there is no shortage of remote critical power applications. Cerasuolo puts the global network of oil and gas pipelines at 3.2 million kilometers, featuring over 65,000 extraction and operation sites (9,000 of which are offshore). “Yet the growing influence and adoption of ‘Digital Oilfield’ technologies requires power to run on nearly every mile of pipeline and at every site – from the Indian Ocean floor to the Sahara Desert.”
And yet, while diesel and gas generators require continual refuelling, regular maintenance and often replacement (all extremely expensive tasks in remote and hazardous locations like mines or unmanned offshore platforms), a PV system requires little more than sunshine. “They can run for years without being touched,” added Cerasuolo, who pointed to solar arrays still in operation on satellites that have been in orbit since the 1960s as an example. “PV’s capex is soon offset by its superior opex, and that translates into bottom-line benefits very quickly.”
The digitization of oilfields not only enables increased productivity and savings, but means operations are a whole lot safer. However, these benefits all depend on “PV being the most cost-effective means of reliably powering remote systems and delivering ‘greener oilfield’ benefits.”
On an offshore oil platform, PV is often the most practical option to power valve and motor control, sensor systems, communications, lighting and navigation systems and even bird-deterrence systems.Image: JCE
Taking an offshore oil platform as an example, a PV system powers valve and motor control, sensor systems, communications, lighting and navigation systems and even bird-deterrence systems. “The last is part of life at sea,” continues Cerasuolo. “Bird droppings are corrosive and can quickly affect machinery on a platform if not managed properly.” Moreover, “offshore platforms often have helidecks for transporting personnel” which are “equipped with powerful lighting systems, and our solar controllers have the load management capabilities these lighting systems require.”
The term “hazardous” doesn’t simply refer to a location’s remoteness or environmental dangers – it’s precisely defined. In North America, Underwriters Laboratories and the Canadian Standards Association use a Class/Division/Groups method, meaning a hazardous location is defined when gases, liquids and vapors (the Class) may be present (the Division) and which include substances such as hydrogen, gasoline, propane and others (the Group). Outside North America, the International Electro-technical Commission and the European Committee for Electro-technical Standardization use a “Zone System.”
Compared to alternatives, PV systems are much better suited to HazLoc standards. Often developers custom-design PV power systems in enclosures and skids for oil and gas customers, with some specializing in explosion-proof container systems where Morningstar’s charge controllers operate for years in a small, sealed space. Cerasuolo noted the technology’s fanless design reduces the potential of harmful vapors and gases flowing over circuitry, as does encapsulating internal components. “It’s quite common for Morningstar to be the second choice in such circumstances,” says Cerasuolo. “After the first controllers installed have failed in the field.”
PV systems are often better placed than others to meet safety standards in hazardous locations such as remote oil extraction sites.Image: SunWize
Solar in conflict zones
It is said that an army marches on its stomach, but as Brooklyn-based solar fabric and structure developer Pvilion’s Julia Fowler told pv magazine, the US Army is already marching on its solar technology. “We have fully developed a turnkey solar powered integrated structure that provides shelter, power, and climate conditioning in remote and austere environments.”
In short, Pvilion developed a solar tent, a structure as easy to put up as it is to pack away and “fully independently powered.” While technology has advanced rapidly in recent decades, the tent doesn’t seem to have evolved much beyond the classic hutchie – a stick with a sheet draped over it. But Pvilion likes to think of its tents as “the Swiss Army knife of tents, as they are designed to provide more with less.”
“Not only do they provide shelter, but they provide power, convenience, adaptability, heating and cooling, and protection from the elements… with the goal of maximizing mission-objective readiness.” Of course, those missions are not always of the combat variety. “Our structures provide solutions in many different settings and applications,” says Fowler. “To name a few, disaster response, contingency response, emergency preparedness, hurricane relief, humanitarian aid, refugee centers.”
Part of this variability is the solar tent’s position in the energy-water nexus demonstrated by “Project Arcwater”, which sees the tent’s solar energy generation used to harvest water in an agile combat deployment situation.
Senior Master Sgt. Brent Kenney of the 52nd Fighter Wing, Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany.Image: US Department of Defence/Spangdahlem Air Base
In March 2022, Senior Master Sgt. Brent Kenney of the 52nd Fighter Wing, Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany, received the 2022 Spark Tank trophy at the Air Force Association’s Warfare Symposium for “Project Arcwater”. In Kenney’s estimation, a three-day 30-person mission that would normally cost $40,000 would, with the help of the solar tent and its powering of other tech such as the water harvester, cost under $600 while providing the same combat capability.
That 98% cost reduction is put down to using 83% less fuel, less cargo space, no longer paying for water, and all with a package that is quicker and lighter. The water harvester alone negates the need for a new pallet of water every six days, representing a $9 million saving annually across the US Air Force.
Additionally, the solar structures come with ready-to-use battery kits further reducing dependency on diesel. “The kits provide modular 4 kWh battery kits, and are typically used in multiples of six, for a total of 24 kWh of readily available power,” says Fowler.
High-altitude installations
The Indian government’s Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) aims for the country to reach 40% cumulative installed electric capacity from non-fossil fuel-based energies by 2030. But as one of the most densely populated countries in the world, India will have to take advantage of its high-altitude regions to reach its ambitious solar targets.
However, Saurabh Nirgudkar, a project engineer at Evergy Engineering India who contributed to the World Bank’s “Live Wire” series on “Installing Solar Power Plants in Snowbound Areas: Lessons from Himachal Pradesh, India,” told pv magazine that there is no shortage of hazards and obstacles when it comes to snowbound and high-altitude solar projects.
The projects themselves are susceptible to high winds capable of taking the module off the racking systems and even compromising the stability of the mounting systems themselves. Moreover, the modules need to be rated up to 4,000 m altitude while also being capable of operating at extremely low temperatures and withstanding a minimum of 5,400 Pascal of pressure from wind and snowloads.
Nirgudkar pointed to a number of ways to overcome these challenges, such as the addition of back rails to mounting structures and the use of gravity weights instead of deep drilling in fragile snowbound soil strata. Moreover, due to the high UV penetration, rain and snow, cabling should be installed within the mounting structure and under the PV modules. Any exposed cabling should sport additional plastic piping.
This notion was seconded by Olivier Haldi, head of business development for Stäubli Electrical Connectors, a company which has been at the forefront of solutions for PV in hazardous locations from projects in Antarctica, to projects 2,500 meters above sea level on the Muttsee dam in Switzerland and even as high as 5,000 meters above sea level in Chile’s Atacama Desert. Haldi told pv magazine that, “Generally speaking, if your product (connector) is already at or close to the limit under ‘normal’ conditions, it’s not designed for and won’t manage harsh environments. So you need a certain margin in your product design, technology and material.”
Combiner boxes, transformers and inverters (preferably string) also require shelter under panels and extra protection in case of exposure. What is more, these often remote and precarious locations also pose a range of logistical challenges, not only for installation but also offtake. Such challenges necessitate rigorous planning and site selection criteria.
While engineers have worked out methods to overcome the challenges of high-altitude, there remains the begging question of why high-altitude regions are suitable for PV in the first place?
For anyone who has spent time at altitude the answer is straightforward. Not only do PV systems prefer cooler temperatures, but the clear open skies above the cloud line along with higher levels of irradiance ensure greater yields. Take the focus area of the World Bank study, the Spiti Valley, which “receives almost 300 days of clear sunshine annually” and considering “the land at such high altitudes is predominantly barren and slopy terrain of low value, this cuts down on land cost significantly.”
Nirgudkar believes “there is a bright future for such projects. Huge steps are already being taken in this direction with Minister of Power India and the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) looking at the possibility of setting up a 10 GW renewable energy project in Leh, Ladakh, which is at an altitude of more than 3,500 m. A battery energy storage system of 12 GWh is also proposed to be installed.”
“The local community also benefits from these projects,” continued Nirgudkar. Benefits include employment opportunities and economic boosts, not to mention a chance to alleviate a dependency on expensive diesel fuel which has come as a result of “erratic electricity supply.”
Representing more than a decade of collaboration between its principals – Colin Touhey, an electrical engineer, Todd Dalland, a pioneering designer and inventor in the field of lightweight structures, and Robert Lerner, AIA, an architect who has led new technology development programs involving lightweight, deployable structures for NASA, the U.S. Army, and the U.S. Air Force – Pvilion is a small company based out of Brooklyn, New York, that designs and manufactures solar powered fabric products. In recent years, its team has grown to approximately ten members.
Well on its way to revolutionizing the alternative energy industry, Pvilion’s market offerings include alternative solar solutions in the architectural, fashion, event, hospitality, disaster relief, municipal and military spaces, to name a few. Its product portfolio ranges from stand-alone solar canopies, solar military tents, grid-tied long span structures, and solar powered charging stations, to building facades, backpacks and clothing. While simple in theory, its integration of solar cells with fabric in order to build textile products that can generate electricity has been largely met with success over the past decade. Any surface that receives sunlight has the opportunity to be used as a surface that can generate electricity. As cofounder and CEO Touhey says, “That’s the most exciting thing; [it’s] incredibly thrilling.”
Coldplay Music of the Spheres tour. Photos courtesy of Pvilion.
A Different Kind of Shade
For consumers and businesses that seek Pvilion’s signature solar shade, it offers a convenient, customizable product line available for order. Customers can choose from permanent architectural pieces, semi-permanent canopies, and fully mobile structures. While its roots are well established in its local NYC community (including at the New York Botanical Gardens, New York Public Library, outdoor dining areas and other community gardens), you can find Pvilion’s tents in many other settings wherever the sun shines around the globe.
Changing the Event Industry
Of course, not everyone that wants to incorporate more sustainable practices is in the market for a brand new tent. To offer a solution for those in the event industry that want to add solar capabilities to their own tents, Pvilion recently partnered with Anchor Industries, the largest tent manufacturer in the United States, to offer clip-on tent attachments that can be applied to pre-existing event tents. The clip-on attachments are easy to connect to all event tents and come with a fully integrated battery kit. These kits allow event hosts to set up anywhere and power their events fully off the grid, while reducing the need for harmful emission-emitting diesel generators.
Rocking the Solar Market
Recently, Pvilion has provided the Grammy-award winning band Coldplay and its production team with easy-to-transport solar fabric kits to help power their Music of the Spheres world tour. Beginning in Costa Rica, Pvilion’s solar fabric kits are traversing the globe with the famous band. Lightweight and easy to set up and take down, the kits consist of sheets of Pvilion’s solar fabric that can be built anywhere that receives sunlight. The fabric solar panels charge the kits’ batteries through the day and power the stage underworld at night.
Defense
The small Brooklyn-based company isn’t only changing the way it powers events and concerts. It is also working with the U.S. Air Force Rapid Sustainment Office to provide the USAF with sustainable tents for expeditionary use. The Solar Powered Integrated Structures (SPIS), or SPIS, are fully self-sufficient tent systems that include heating, air conditioning, lighting and power sources for plugging-in off the grid. Fully operational in both expeditionary and austere environments, they reduce emissions and the USAF’s logistical footprint in any global setting.
Hospitality
Pvilion has also partnered with Zion Spirit Group to collaborate on the creation of rentable resort suites in Zion National Park in southwest Utah. These resort suites will feature sustainable designs and beautiful, organic-inspired architecture. In total, Spirit will create 36 suites and four homesteads for rent, directly adjacent to Zion National Park. Designed by Nomadic Resorts, the process of bringing these suites to life will begin later this year. Pvilion’s contribution includes the namesake of the suites, as well as the design and fabrication of the leaf-shaped rooftops for the “Leaf Suites.” Just like actual leaves, these beautiful rooftops will convert sunlight into energy and will use 25 kW of Pvilion’s photovoltaic fabric technology.
Making a Shift
As the world makes the shift to more sustainable practices, alternative solar solutions like Pvilion’s solar fabric offer a realistic solution. The state of California has already banned the use of fossil fuel-emitting portable generators in many settings, and others are expected to follow suit. There is unlimited potential for the integration of solar energy into non-traditional fabric surfaces. From awnings, to boat covers, to industrial structures, and everything in between, solar fabric offers a flexible opportunity to generate sustainable energy anywhere. While Pvilion offers its products directly to commercial consumers, it also maintains partnerships with businesses as an OEM provider of their solar fabric products, establishing it as a pioneer in the alternative energy industry.
Dan Walczyk and Glenn Saunders have always enjoyed tinkering and taking things apart. This passion eventually led them to work as engineers and professors in the study of industrial robots, textile automation, fusing and composites. Today, as professors at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, they strive to produce the best engineering students and thus restore the manufacturing businesses globally. Listen in and learn more on our latest episode of Talking Textiles.
This episode is hosted by Pvilion co-founder and CEO, Colin Touhey.
To view this podcast on the IFAI website, click here.
