An
air dome can be used for many sports. An air provides a perfect
solution for activities under climatic conditions. The Poly air dome or
presuure hall can be put down on almost any surfac, for example on
a basketball court.
Placing a sports seems to be a big step
for a sports club, in practice it is quite clear. Poly-Ned takes you
through this process in the hand and helps you set up an operation
calculation, applying for planning permission and supervising the
entire construction process.
SubstrateThe
Poly air dome can easily be assembled on any substrate made-to-measure,
whether this is artificial turf or hard court.
LightingOne of the biggest advantages of a Poly
air dome is the fact that it has a large daylight translucent surface.
You will not need artificial lighting during the day and you can,
therefore, enjoy for example playing tennis in daylight! The Poly air
dome can be equipped with different types of lighting for the evening
hours. Below a few types that are often used are described..
| Indirect lighting: 3 light points (2000W each) per court. |
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Indirect lighting: 3 light points (2000W each) per court.
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Connections to a Permanent Building or PropertyIt is
possible, in some cases, to link permanent buildings to the air dome.
This increases the commitment to the game. It is certainly a good idea
to take this into account from the start of the design process in the
case of new developments.
Poly-Ned can provide advice and supply
the required technical information when connecting the Poly air dome to
a permanent building or property. Below you will find a few examples of
permanent connections.
TechnologyA
Poly air dome is created by blowing air under a particular material
(the dome skin), that is fixed around the tennis court. A fan unit is
used for this, this unit may include a heating system. The slight
overpressure that is created when the air is blown in, is responsible
for the typical rounded shape of a Poly air dome. In addition, access
facilities are installed.
Once, anchors are fixed to
the ground every 1,5 meter (approximately), around the perimeter of the
surface to be covered. These anchors have sufficient grip to absorb the
forces that act in the dome.
The anchoring system is
installed once just under the surface layer of theplaying field. This
special anchoring system has been developed by Poly-Ned. Any fencing
that may have been erected next to the football pitch can simple stay; the
damage to the playing field is minimal.
A dome skin consists of
a stainless steel or galvanised steel net, an insulation layer and a
specially coated polyester fabric that ensures that the skin is
waterproof and windproof.
| Application of an anchoring system |
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| The dome's skin consists of several layers |
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Every
air dome has a fan. This fan is installed once by the Poly-Ned
engineers. Air is blown under the dome skin by the main fan. This fan
will continue to be operational even when the steel cable net has taken
its defined form. A separate emergency fan will automatically be
activated should there be a disaster. The pressure in the dome will be
automatically increased when there are high winds.
Heating of an air dome can be achieved by use of a system based on natural gass, hot water/steam or electricity.
This unit can be equipped with a directly fired gas/oil burner or hot water system 90º/70º for the heating of the dome.
The
fan is linked to the dome through two air ducts. The first duct blows
air into the dome. The other duct exhausts the air out of the dome.
This returned air will, next, pass through a heat exchanger and will
again be blown into the dome through the air duct. This ensures a
continuous circulation. The leakage losses of the dome are supplemented
with fresh air from outside. The air pressure in the dome is at least
25-40 mm/waterpillar (250-400 Pa). Should there be a pressure loss due
to, for example, a power failure, the emergency fan will automatically
be activated.
The fan unit may also be positioned outside the fencing that is already in place.
| Example of an air fan unit |
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| Air fan unit connected to an air dome |
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The main entrance uses an integrated swing door. In consultation with the client, many configurations. are possible.
| The main entrance of an air dome |
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| In case of calamities an emergency door can be used |
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In
case of calamities an emergency door can be used. Every Poly air dome
is equipped with one or more emergency doors.
The number depends on the
maximum number of persons that may be present in the dome.
| An equipment door for the supply of objects |
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| In case of calamities an emergency door can be used |
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(Annual) erection and disassembly(Annually)
The dome skin is laid out and the steel net is mounted to the
anchorage. This usually takes place at the end of
the summer season, in
case of a tennis dome. The dome skin, including the net, is
disassembled in the spring so that club
members can again play tennis
outdoors. The mounting and demounting will be supervised by a Poly-Ned
expert supervisor.
| The roll out of the dome's skin |
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| Positioning of the steel net |
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Project ExamplesPoly-Ned
has already realised the “castles in the air” that hundreds of
customers were dreaming about. Below you can find a few typical
examples of sports dome projects.
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