News

External sun protection keeps offices cool even without air conditioning

Trying to work in hot summer temperatures can quickly become an ordeal. Even those of us who sit at a desk know how the temperature can quickly rise on hot summer days and make it almost impossible to concentrate. To ensure that productivity doesn’t suffer too much as a result, effective sun protection is an important issue for many companies. The company M.A.T.C.H. Vertriebsmarketing GbR, based in the idyllic town of Balingen in Baden-Württemberg, had been searching for a long time for a simple yet effective solution for its offices in an old two-storey building – and ultimately decided to install external, self-supporting blinds with great success. Since they were installed, these blinds have kept the temperature inside this building that is steeped in tradition at a comfortably cool level without the need for an expensive and energy-intensive air conditioning system – while also sustainably upgrading the façade of this former glove making factory. 

Wireless flexibility

A total of 9 external Venetian blinds were installed and they can be conveniently controlled wirelessly. “The clear advantage of this solution is that it is also easy to retrofit onto older buildings and the installation work can be completed quickly even during ongoing operations”, emphasises Frank Mayer, whose company E. Eppler Rolladenbau GmbH, which is also based in Balingen, planned and implemented the project. Guide rails were first fitted to the façade to hold the self-supporting blinds. This design guarantees that the sun protection system is securely held in place with only minimal interference to the structural integrity of the building. The drives on the external Venetian blinds were then equipped with radio receivers so that they could be controlled wirelessly. Rolladen Eppler chose to use a practical intermediate plug-in solution from Becker-Antriebe for this purpose – the VarioControl VC470 PLUS. “This small plug-in receiver transforms every tubular drive into a wireless drive in no time at all. You simply install it into the power cable upstream of the drive using the standardised Hirschmann plug connection and that’s it”, explains Frank Mayer, Managing Director of Rolladen Eppler. “The drives can then be controlled really easily using a hand-held transmitter.”

Comfortable workplaces

Every workplace at M.A.T.C.H. is also equipped with a 1-channel hand-held transmitter. “Of course, this makes things much more convenient for my employees. They are now able to immediately and flexibly control the sun protection system in their office directly from their desks”, says a delighted Sandra Löffler, who manages the company M.A.T.C.H. together with her daughter Pia Löffler. “In particular, the attic floor always used to get very hot extremely quickly despite us installing new windows and internal Venetian blinds. This problem has been resolved thanks to the external sun protection – and we now no longer need to install an air conditioning system as was originally planned. Everything works perfectly and we have never had a problem with the system – I am extremely happy and can even use my 5-channel hand-held transmitter to operate all of the Venetian blinds at the same time if, for example, this is necessary sometimes at the end of the working day.”

Smartly networked for the future

Following its good experience with this solution, M.A.T.C.H. recently took another step towards “smart networking” their offices. Managing Director Sandra Löffler explains: “We like to stay up to date with the latest advances in technology and especially appreciate the advantages that central control of a sun protection system via home automation can bring. This is why we decided to network our system using the CentralControl CC41 unit. It ensures that we always have full control over the sun protection system even at the weekend or on a business trip and can operate it remotely via a smartphone or tablet.” This advanced solution from Becker stands for durable quality “Made in Germany” that will reliably last for “forever and a day”. Rolladen Eppler has also placed its trust in the solutions from Becker for more than 20 years, as emphasised by Managing Director Frank Mayer: “Quality and satisfied customers are our top priorities and we know that Becker is precisely the right partner to help us deliver on both of these things.” M.A.T.C.H. is also convinced that they have made the right decision and is delighted that its clever, automated sun protection system remains in absolute top form every day during the summer.