#15276 - Distributed Design Platform

Detailed Description

TreeWise is a material system that combines timber and graphene to replace traditional sensors by utilizing graphene's sensing capabilities. This innovative composite allows for real-time tracking of deformations within the wood, the creation of a digital twin to improve maintenance efficiency during the operational phase, and the provision of a detailed service life passport for each timber structural element.
This technology supports reuse, reduces classification time and processes after disassembly, and enables the extension of the lifecycle of timber structures.

Project Details

In your project's current stage of development, how does it align with the OPENNESS value of the Distributed Design Platform?: In the physical aspect, TreeWise is a technology that can be easily implemented in the timber industry. This is achieved by introducing a layer of graphene between the timber layers before the gluing process and incorporating data loggers for data transmission. Depending on advancements in the graphene industry, either a sheet of graphene or graphene ink made from nanoplatelets can be used. In our prototypes, graphene ink was utilized, as everything was created in the IaaC fabrication workshops and labs.

Regarding the digital aspect of the project, voltage readings from the graphene within the wooden elements are transmitted by the data loggers to a cloud-based platform. Here, a trained machine learning model written in Python predicts deformations in the wooden elements. These predictions are pushed to a dashboard through the use of a cloud-based server. The dashboard, created using Unity software, graphically presents all the necessary information to the end-user, including the digital twin, the service life passport, and real-time alerts. This dashboard can be accessed from any computer via a link.

In your project's current stage of development, how does it align with the COLLABORATIVE value of the Distributed Design Platform?: The Tree Wise technology can provide extensive knowledge to a variety of stakeholders, including maintenance engineers, smart city administrators, digital material companies, designers, real estate data analysts, and more. The analyzed data can offer insights into building occupancy and detect deformations in the wood caused by extreme, unexpected loads such as snow loads and earthquakes.

In your project's current stage of development, how does it align with the REGENERATIVE value of the Distributed Design Platform?: With the data obtained from our material system, each wooden element has a service life passport that allows it to be categorized based on its potential for reuse. By using our dashboard during the disassembly of a building, each element can be immediately redirected to its appropriate reuse option without the need for further testing.

In your project's current stage of development, how does it align with the ECOSYSTEMIC value of the Distributed Design Platform?: Nowadays, despite the fact that 95% of timber components can be recycled, 80% of the waste ends up in landfills, while only 20% is directed towards the cascading process for reuse. TreeWise technology allows each wooden element to be redirected to its appropriate category for reuse without further testing, contributing significantly to the growing timber construction industry. Since graphene is a biodegradable material, our technology does not have any negative impact at the end of its lifecycle.