At the recent Big 5 show, Bayer MaterialScience introduced its new roofing system called Bomatherm that comprises a solar air collector and insulation layer.

The new system can be laid as an alternative to roofing tiles while serving five different roles – as a vapour barrier, thermal insulation, rainproof roof substructure, cladding and solar collector.
Now available in the Middle East market, the roofing system – invented by Bayer – is produced and marketed by Germany-based Puren. Bayer produces the polycarbonate for the panels used in the system.
“The new system lends itself equally to private and industrial applications, and the energy savings with low follow-up and operating costs means the investment paying off in a few years, while doing away with the costs incurred with ‘standard’ roof cladding,” says a spokesman for Bayer.
The solar air collectors are multiwall sheets that use the polycarbonate Makrolon from Bayer MaterialScience.
“Makrolon is the ideal material for the collectors because of its transparency and, unlike other popular transparent thermoplastics, it withstands the thermal stress of warm air due to its heat resistance. Moreover, it is highly impact and break resistant,” says Axel Wetzchewald, head of the extrusion sheet segment for Europe in the Polycarbonates Business Unit of Bayer MaterialScience.
Elaborating on the installation process for the Bomathermsolar air collector roof insulation system, the spokesman says: “A vapour barrier is placed onto the roof structure, following which the Puren Profitherm thermal insulation system is laid and fastened down using special fixing brackets in the roof substructure, creating an impermeable layer. A special sheeting that can withstand temperatures up to 160 deg C is then fitted carefully to form a rainproof roof substructure. Finally, the solar air collectors are secured in the anchoring strips of the heat insulating elements using fixing brackets.”
“Thanks to its extremely low thermal conductivity, the full-surface heat insulation system based on polyurethane rigid foam insulates much more effectively than conventional insulating materials like mineral wool,” says the spokesman. “The light weight of the insulating panels is one reason why the solar air collector roof insulation system only weighs half as much as a conventional tiled roof. This enables a much slimmer roof structures as regards static and the dimensions of the rafters, thereby cutting costs.”
“Panels produced from the polyurethane system not only exhibit outstanding insulation properties even at minimal wall thickness, but are also extremely lightweight, exhibit long-term stability and are easy to process due to their excellent pressure resistance and dimensional stability, “ says Thomas Seeger, an expert in insulating materials at the Polyurethanes Business Unit of Mayer MaterialsScience.