PanelDuct: Rewards in pipeline for ingenious ductwork

Plans for a new state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Co Mayo have been announced by 2015 Irish Times InterTradeIreland Innovation Award winner PanelDuct.

The new plant will include an advanced and highly innovative steel metal folding machine to manufacture the special interlocking joints with both air and water-tight seals which are at the heart of the patented PanelDuct product.

The PanelDuct product is an innovative pre-insulated solution for the installation of air conditioning ductwork. The product is supplied in modular flat-panel format to minimise transport costs and installed in just one operation with the panels clicking together on site. Furthermore air tightness is assured due to integral compression seals.

PanelDuct R&D manager Conal O’Neill is responsible for the procurement of the new plant as well as setting up the new streamlined production facility.

He explains that once the plant has been commissioned it will bring hugely increased production capacity for the main component which is a flat pre-insulated panel of varying sizes and that it will now be possible to fabricate this in dimensions of up to 3m in width and any length which is transportable by road.

Tesco Ireland was among the company's earliest customers with the new solution first being installed in the company's Dundalk store and more recently at its Ballincollig outlet.

Tesco consulted with specialist mechanical services advisers JV Tierney & Company in Dublin when they were initially presented with the PanelDuct concept and thorough critical appraisal of the system was conducted before the decision was made to proceed with installation.

The JV Tierney team also kept an overseeing role post-installation to ensure that the promises of reducing air leakage and minimising energy losses were delivered.

“I am very optimistic that this success will result in building services managers and construction advisers outside this country giving serious consideration to the use of PanelDuct in for similar applications,” says O’Neill.

The product’s benefits are not restricted to the retail sector. JODA Engineering Consultants director and senior mechanical engineer Tom O’Flynn views it with particular interest for hospital and healthcare projects where contamination within ductwork distribution systems can be a significant cause for concern.

Noise reduction

He believes that any innovation which reduces the risk by minimising ingress into the return side of air-handling systems which can be recirculated is a very welcome development.

O’Flynn is also a keen advocate of the high-energy-use operators such as those charged with running swimming pool facilities combining the solution with other technologies such as intelligent controls, high efficiency condensing gas boilers and heat pumps, and low consumption evaporative cooling systems.

“If we can save electrical motor power by reducing air leakage, which can be as high as 30 per cent over traditional ductwork systems, we are going to recommend these products to our clients”, he says.

Another testimonial comes from Jason Smith, director at Kilkenny-based Noel Lawler Consulting Engineers. He points to the acoustic benefits which a composite panel bring in terms of noise reduction and the single-fix installation which dramatically reduces the installation time, which he says is always welcome.

Patrick McCaul, who runs the long established Patrick McCaul Environmental Consulting Engineers practice in Omagh, explains that his firm operates both north and south of the border and that the issues which their clients keep encountering include the need for reduced energy bills and carbon emission reductions.

“We welcome PanelDuct and would encourage other innovators to adopt it as rewards through positive business growth will follow in both home and export markets which are wide open for exploitation,” he says.

Export markets are very much top of mind for PanelDuct and the company has recently appointed Brian Mulhare, who has a background in the gas and air handling industries, as their sales director with responsibility for creating a sales infrastructure on the home market and for building a global export sales network for the company.

Export opportunity

“PanelDuct represents a very exciting export opportunity,” he says. “Winning the Irish Times InterTradeIreland Innovation of the Year 2015 was critically important for the company as was our ability to secure worldwide patents.”

The advantages of the PanelDuct solution are exemplified by one of the company's current projects, a new data centre in Sweden. "The ductwork was shipped out in three road containers which would compare to 14 if a traditional ductwork system was to be despatched for this project," Mulhare explains.

“The speed of installation is very high on the agenda for the customer in this particular case. This project demonstrates our ability to satisfy this and future quick-fire building programmes from a distance and that there is a demand for our innovative patented product regardless of distance from the production plant in Co Mayo.”

The future looks bright for the company with other similar projects in the pipeline for commercial buildings in Holland, Denmark and the UK and a burgeoning order book on the domestic market.

“The demand is there for the product and our new production facility will help us to meet it,” Mulhare says.