Building Block with Radon Venting Channels
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing building blocks do not effectively reduce radon levels in indoor environments, as radon can penetrate through cracks in concrete floors, posing health hazards and exceeding safety limits.
Innovation Solution
A building block design featuring a first block, a second block, and an insulation block with channels that extend through the insulation block, allowing radon to be collected and removed from beneath a concrete floor, thereby improving indoor air quality.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If channels are added to the building block to remove radon, then radon reduction capability is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The building block is divided into three distinct segments: a first block, a second block, and an intermediate insulation block. The channels are specifically formed within the insulation block segment, allowing radon removal functionality to be isolated to a specific segment rather than complicating the entire building block structure. This segmentation enables the radon reduction feature to be added without fundamentally redesigning the core structural components.
Solution Approach 2:
The intermediate insulation block serves as a mediator that hosts the channels for radon removal. Rather than integrating channels directly into the structural blocks, the insulation block acts as an intermediary carrier that provides both thermal insulation and radon venting pathways. This intermediary approach allows the radon reduction system to function independently while maintaining the integrity of the primary structural blocks.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If channels extend through the insulation block for radon removal, then radon removal efficiency is improved, but manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The channels are pre-formed within the intermediate insulation block during the insulation block's manufacturing process, before the insulation block is assembled with the first and second blocks. This preliminary action allows the channels to be created using standard insulation block manufacturing techniques, avoiding the need for complex post-assembly channel installation or modification of the structural blocks.
Solution Approach 2:
The channel formation process extracts material from the intermediate insulation block to create the radon removal pathways. By taking out material only from the insulation block and not from the structural blocks, the manufacturing process remains relatively simple while still achieving the desired channel functionality for radon venting.
3Temperature
If multiple layers of building blocks are arranged for insulation, then thermal insulation performance is improved, but radon removal capability deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The intermediate insulation block is designed to perform multiple functions simultaneously: it provides thermal insulation between the first and second blocks, and it serves as the carrier for channels that remove radon. This multi-functionality ensures that adding insulation layers does not compromise radon removal capability, as each insulation block layer can independently perform both insulation and radon venting functions.
Solution Approach 2:
The channels extend continuously through the intermediate insulation block, ensuring uninterrupted radon removal pathways even when multiple layers of building blocks are stacked. This continuity of the channel system through the insulation layer maintains effective radon removal capability while preserving the thermal insulation performance of the multi-layer construction.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution effectively reduces radon levels in buildings, enhancing indoor climate health by allowing radon to be conveyed out of the building through the channel system, thus addressing the issue of radon penetration and improving thermal insulation.
Implementation Method 1
Radon is able to penetrate into a building through cracks and crevices facing soil because a lower air pressure usually is present inside a building compared to beneath a building
Implementation Method 2
an insulation block; wherein the insulation block is being arranged between the first block and the second block
Data Source
Figure 1a
Figure 1b
Figure 2a
AI summary
A building block is disclosed. The building block in the orientation intended during use comprises: - a first block; - a second block; - an insulation block; wherein the insulation block is being arranged between the first block and the second block; wherein the building block is having an extension in a longitudinal direction X; in a depth direction Y and in a height direction Z; wherein the building block accordingly comprises a number of distinct surfaces, which in pairs are being mutually separated by an edge. The building block is characterized in that the building block comprises one or more channels, wherein one or more of these one or more channels define(s) a passage from one distinct surface to another distinct surface.