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Natural ventilation and natural light in a single installation

The Monodraught SUNCATCHER® natural daylight and ventilation systems are a revolutionary method of effectively conveying natural daylight and natural ventilation from roof level down into the building below by combining the principles of the WINDCATCHER® natural ventilation system with Monodraught’s SUNPIPE® natural daylight system.

This SUNPIPE system maximises the concept of renewable energy by reflecting sunlight and even normal daylight, down through a highly reflective silverised mirror-finish aluminium tube.

A clear polycarbonate top dome seals the light pipe against the ingress of dust and a prismatic polycarbonate ceiling fitting evenly diffuses light into the room or space below. The SUNPIPE system is highly effective in both sunny and overcast conditions and even when it is raining.

The heart of the SUNPIPE system consists of a mirror finished, highly reflective aluminium tube which is electrolytically enhanced anodised aluminium with a 10 year guarantee against discolouration. This specular aluminium surface is coated with PVD and the presence of a UV inhibitor provides outstanding QUV durability with no decrease in total reflectance. The special surface treatment provides excellent colour rendition of natural light.

The SSUNCATCHER is the ideal alternative to rooflights and skylights. It is also an ideal method for providing additional natural daylight and ventilation to internal rooms or spaces, poorly served by other external glazing.

We hear almost every week of the impending threat of global warming and we are also constantly to be reminded of the dangers of HFC and similar man made gases being used for air conditioning systems. The two problems of our planet getting constantly warmer and at the same time more polluted have got to be addressed and Monodraught believe they have the answer with this totally sustainable energy free system to provide light and ventilation to virtually any building.

Volume control dampers at the base of the system with a combined ceiling diffuser can exactly control the volume of airflow through the system and eliminate any excessive heat loss during winter months.

Undoubtedly the advantage of the SUNCATCHER is to provide energy free natural light and natural ventilation in summer months, which seem to get longer and hotter every year.

Night-Time Cooling

Another major advantage of the SUNCATCHER is that the dampers an be programmed to fully open at night-time during summer months to allow the prevailing wind movement to force fresh air down into the room below. This not only provides a 'cleansing' effect purging and removing stale odours fro the room, but achieves all this without compromising the security of the building.

Winter Operation

During winter months the dampers can be programmed to provide background ventilation only. An air quality monitor can also be incorporated so as to override temperatures where necessary. Under normal ventilation strategies the dampers will be set to be between 3% and 5% open. This will allow trickle ventilation whilst avoiding problems of cold draughts entering the building. The limited cold air intake being denser than the internal ambient air falls to floor level allowing the warmer stale air to rise and exit through the controlled ventilation openings.

The system is controlled be manual or fully modulating dampers, linked to temperature and air quality sensors which in turn are linked to a Cylon digital control panel.

Monodraught SUNCATCHER systems are manufactured from 400mm to 1500mm sizes in both circular and square formats. Bespoke shapes and special SUNCATCHER systems can be designed to meet the clients' requirements, but each SUNCATCHER is carefully sized to meet both the ventilation and daylighting requirements of the room or space that it serves.

A new mid range compact system will also be available shortly.

The importance of providing natural daylight and ventilation topping up the virtual 'oxygen' supply that comes with natural ventilation cannot be overstated. For Schools, Doctors Surgeries, Nursing Homes and similar the Monodraught SunCatcher system provides the ability of reducing SAD and SBS and therefore
makes a major contribution
to improving the internal indoor environment at a low capital cost and with no running costs whatsoever.