Construction-Scale Concrete Additive Manufacturing and its Application in Infrastructure Energy Storage

Abstract

Construction is filled with labor intensive, hazardous, and often wasteful processes. It is also an enormous industry, so improvements in efficiency could have a tremendous economic impact. Construction-scale additive manufacturing is one path toward achieving those improvements. In this paper, a construction-scale additive manufacturing system, called Sky-BAAM, is presented. In addition to possibly leading to more energy-efficient construction practices, leveraging additive manufacturing in construction opens the solution space to more energy efficient building design. One such design, the EMPOWER wall, is also presented in this paper. The exterior of the wall is shaped to maximize heat transfer, while acting as form work for an internal energy-storage system. This allows energy to be stored in the wall during off-peak times and retrieved during peak periods.

Advanced Manufacturing and Materials for Hydropower: Challenges and Opportunities

“…It was also designed to be relatively easy to set up in remote locations, which could be a significant advantage for construction logistics. SkyBAAM is a research prototype technology that is not yet commercially available; however, it points to the potential to build exceptionally large structures in the future (Atkins et al 2020).…”