Phase Change Tiles @ Embracing Innovation 6

Embracing Innovation Volume 6:
Technology, research and design thinking in creative practice

CraftACT Craft and Design Centre Gallery

Opening 6.00pm Thursday 21 July 2016

The sixth in the series, Embracing Innovation, captures innovation in the creative arts, with a particular focus on craft and design. Craft practitioners and designer makers are continually embracing digital technologies, research and design thinking, with innovation and advances in these areas changing the way they engage, design and create. The exhibition showcases makers and designers who are exploring these new cutting-edge technologies and thinking in their practice.

Phase Change Tiles : CAD tiles , 31C Phase Change Material, projected heatmap.

Mehrnoush Latifi and Judith Glover (RMIT SIAL and Industrial Design), Stephen Barrass (University of Canberra Digital Design and Media Arts)

A set of tiles (3 x 3) in a square formation to represent a wall section. These are made of slip­cast porcelain with 31C Phase Change Material (PCM) inside. The PCM increases the heat mass of the tiles up to 10 times, so they are effectively 10 x thicker. A video projected on the tiles shows how the air moves across the tiles at a micro­ climate level.

A set of porcelain tiles embedded with a phase change material (PCM). These ceramic tile prototypes were digitally designed using computer CAD to create a 3d surface to enhance airflow. The CAD file was then computer CNC milled wax which was used to cast a 2 part mould for slip-casting the hollow porcelain tiles. A Phase Change Material with melpting point 31C is inserted in the tiles cavity for enhancing the thermal capacity of heat storage and insulation of the prototypes. Phase Change material absorbs the heat hitting the surface of the tiles placed on the exterior of a building. The 3D surface of tiles also creates dynamic air movement across the surface, affecting the heat transfer from the surfaces to the surrounding microclimate. The unique features of the project situate it within the nexus of art, design and science. From one side the design of 3D ornamental shapes of ceramic tiles and the other side the scientific studies of surface articulation and material, adding performance value to such ornaments for building exteriors. These 3D tiles with possible applications for both interiors and exteriors were developed as examples of techno­crafts through systematic comparison design studies, borrowed from a scientific context. The primary micro turbulence and thermodynamic studies created a platform for the development of traditional ceramic material advanced with smart material like PCM that can be used in multiple architectural applications including solar walls and double skin façades.