Dome V-Dome - a year later (about operation)

A year has passed since the beginning of the operation of the V-Dome frame-vacuum domes (the design is similar to the mobile planetarium system). During this time, our future customers have accumulated questions, and we have accumulated answers on how to work with these designs.

So, the attention of potential owners of the system mobile planetarium.

1. Building skeletons does not cause problems. All customers (and these are dozens of customers in the most diverse regions of Russia) have successfully coped with the installation of frameworks based on the recommendations described in the manual. In the comments there are specific figures (one person collects a design with a diameter of up to 7.2 m in less than 2 hours, for the same time two people install a frame with a diameter of up to 12 m).
2. In order to tighten the shell you need two people (for the assembly does not need a stepladder). Stretching is carried out using a cord, thrown over the frame. The same circuit is suitable for hanging the inner shell (in this case, pulling the cord, thrown through the central connector of the frame).
3. There are data on the rigidity of structures that were in extreme conditions. Skeletons up to 6 m can cope with serious wind loads. Domes with a diameter of 5 m weather the stormy weather.
4. Domes of a diameter of 7.2 m: among all the shipped domes, only two problems arose (both are associated with a strong wind).
   
   • According to the customer, in the first case, with a strong gust of wind pressed into the connector with six tubes. However, this situation quickly eliminated the customer, pushing the frame from the inside, so that the design immediately restored the original shape.
   • In the second case, the skeleton was installed on a flat roof of multi-storey parking. The inner podium was not made by fastening the frame with anchors along the perimeter. During a thunderstorm with strong gusts of wind, the connector with the tubes also pushed in, but the employees did nothing, but simply turned off the vacuum and left the workplace. The system remained in a weakened state under a strong wind load. The next morning the structure was completely destroyed (we sent new connectors instead of the damaged ones).

This situation forced us to reconsider the restrictions on the frame skeletons and start developing an enhanced model with a diameter of 7.0 m.

Domes of 10.0 and 12.0 m in diameter: such structures are used mainly abroad (both in closed premises and on the street), so it is difficult to generalize yet - not enough information. However, with full confidence, we can say that if the installation was carried out according to the rules, then there were no problems with operation. This applies to the case of non-standard installation, when the dome was installed at an angle of 450 to the surface of the earth (this is a common scheme for installing spherical cinemas).

However, our own studies of large domes (over 10 m) show that the rigidity of the structure should be increased, because with strong wind loads it is not enough. In the near future, the frameworks of such models will be strengthened.

The experience of operating domes with a diameter of 10.0 m and 12.0 m is not very indicative, Almost all of them work abroad - part of the room, part of the street. There is little information, but there, where our instruction was read and everything was done correctly - there are no comments. And even in cases of an unusual installation scheme: at an angle of 45 ° to the ground level - this is a popular scheme abroad for the device of spherical cinemas.