Warming up your home with a thermal camera
Some simple repairs changed my house from chilly to cosy, and - a bonus - during summer it stayed 4C cooler than the previous year!
Here at Pangloss Labs one of the tools we have available is a thermal camera. This one measures from -40C to +550C with a 240x320 thermal resolution. We use it for tuning machining profiles, checking 3D printers, electrical wiring, electronic fault-finding and more. But when the weather is cold, it's extremely useful around your home, to find those little cold patches that turn your home from cosy to chilly, no matter what temperature you have the heating set to.
Last winter, I took the thermal camera home to see what was going on in my home in the Pays de Gex, a terraced house built in the mid 1980s.
Looking from outside, we can see that heat leaks around the garage door. Not unexpected. We can see that my neighbours newer garage door is better insulated than mine. We can see that the roof insulation is OK. You can also see where the floor and/or ceilings meets the walls. Some heat is lost there due to thermal bridge effects.
Not a lot to do here. The garage isn't heated so I don't worry.
Looking at the front door - again from outside - we can clearly see heat leaking all around the door. I had thought that the door just let the cold through it, but this was additional. I clearly needed to replace the seals around the door and pay special attention to the bottom of the door.
Fix
- Purchase new sealing strips
- Remove old seal
- Fix new seal into place
Result
- Feeling of cold near the front door gone. The entrance feels warm when we come home in winter.
Moving inside the house, I found that all of the lighting points upstairs looked like this. The blue shows the cold coming into the house in a continuous stream.
Fix
- Bought sealed light fittings
- installed them into ceiling, using new pluggable lamp sockets
Result
- Cold gone under each light fitting,
This is a full length window that opens like a door. Looking from inside I found that the window seals - so warm when we moved in 20 years ago, were now leaking. Further investigation found that they had harded over time, making a worse and worse seal when the windows were closed. Not much, but enough to see with the camera.
Worse - and this was something I found around every door and window frame - You can see that there is cold leaking in around the window frame. This was the worst example in the house, but every door and window had this to some extent.
Fix
- Purchase new insulating strips for the windows
- Fit them to every single window and door
- Use paintable silicone sealant to seal around every window and door frame
- I was afraid that this would be a thermal bridge problem and that nothing could be done without replacing my windows, so I tried a simple solution first. This thermal image is what happened when I simply put blue painters tape around the window frame. You can see it significantly limited the cold coming in. This game me the confidence to seal around them all.
Result
- No feelings of cold any more around any window or door.
Conclusion
I spent around 2 hours with the thermal camera and some blue painters tape. I even found some electrical sockets which leaked cold air into the house.
With a combination of sealing strip, silicone paintable sealant, and some sealed light fittings, all purchased from a local DIY shop for around 200 euros, I made my house a lot more comfortable this winter. And as an unexpected bonus, it stayed a lot cooler in summer too!
Pangloss members can take the thermal camera home for a weekend plus an evening (to check up after you fixed things) for only 10 euros. Best to do so in the winter months.
Warning: when sealing up drafts in your home, be sure to maintain your home's intended ventilation and not block up the needed air inlets. Sealing your home completely will lead to mould if you don't have a bidirectional VMC.
Tiers-Lieux and local authorities: how can we work together?
France Tiers-Lieux has written a guide, full of exchanges and discussions with hundreds of local elected officials and engaged public servants, sharing their experiences, must not do's and advice...
See their results at a national levelon their web site (in French)
You can download the guide here, very useful pour local authorities who want a better understanding of tiers-lieux - like us - on their territories.
Pangloss Labs receives the “Manufacture de Proximité” label from the Agence Nationale de la Cohésion des Territoires
As part of its Nouveaux lieux, Nouveaux liens programme, the French National Agency for Territorial Cohesion (ANCT) unveiled 61 new Manufactures de proximité on 18 July.
The Pangloss Labs association is proud to have been selected in the 3rd and final wave to become the only Manufacture de Proximité in the entire French Genevan metropolitan area and the 3rd in the department of Ain.
This is the second label received by Pangloss Labs, which has been a Fabrique de territoire since October 2020! Pangloss Labs is also the only manufacture de proximité with a renewable energy sector.
There are currently 100 third-places with the Manufacture de Proximité label, deployed throughout France.
The "Manufactures de proximité" scheme was launched in July 2021 by the National Agency for Territorial Cohesion (ANCT) and the General Directorate for Business, in conjunction with France Tiers-Lieux, to provide long-term support for entrepreneurs and craftsmen throughout our territories, and to provide impetus, within the framework of France Relance, for a programme of economic and engineering support for third-space production sites.
As a reminder, third-spaces are physical spaces for doing things together (coworking, connected campus, shared workshop, fablab... Third spaces are the new places for social links, emancipation and collective initiatives.
What is a Manufacture de proximité ?
Manufactures de proximité are productive third-spaces, which animate and provide services to a professional community. The aim of these local manufactures is to support local economic activity by enabling craftsmen, entrepreneurs and very small businesses to come together in small local production units and to benefit from services and training. The Local Manufactures will become a resource for local industry in order to relaunch the manufacture of products in France.
The Manufactures de proximité will receive grants of an average amount of 250,000 euros over two years to help them invest in local production machinery and equipment to improve their manufacturing capacity, consolidate their business model and purchase equipment for their professional community. The selected Local Manufactures all benefit from an engineering programme that has two components: A four-month incubation phase for project leaders to consolidate the project presented; a two-year tailor-made support phase for each factory, once the funding has been granted, to accompany the implementation of each project. This support aims to create a local economic dynamic and to encourage the promotion of trades, skills and know-how.
Manufactures de proximité are at the heart of the revival of business through territories and the revitalisation of territories through business. I have long defended these third-spaces that bring together VSEs, SMEs and craftsmen around sectors, objectives and values of the future, anchored in people's daily lives. These first 100 labelled structures contribute to our economic sovereignty: they must therefore inspire new ones
Manufactures de proximité are unique places where production tools and techniques can be shared, and they help to create a new economic and social dynamic in our territories. They are a lever for promoting our unique heritage and know-how. Our territories are a wonderful breeding ground for initiatives: I am delighted that these first 100 manufactures de proximité are helping to revitalise them!
"Facilitating access to a world of possibilities".
This is the raison d'être of Pangloss Labs, a non-profit association created in 2014. The mission of the association, based in Ferney-Voltaire in the Pays de Gex (Ain), is to create laboratories for experimentation and prototyping to support local entrepreneurial activities.
Pangloss Labs is a third-space that offers easy access to multiple physical spaces to share and pool tools, machines and workspaces, and provide opportunities for collaboration on different projects. Currently, we offer a Fablab, a Coworking space, and a shared wood workshop (the Woodlab), and are developing a metal workshop (the Metal lab) in beta test. The Pangloss Labs association has about 100 members with various skills. They include professionals (engineers and scientists, designers, creators, artists and entrepreneurs), but also students, retirees and passionate amateurs. By offering production tools, machines and professional skills that are simply not available elsewhere in the Pays de Gex, Pangloss Labs has a lighthouse role and thus responds to a need of companies, social actors and citizens of the territory.
Our action plan as a "Manufacture de Proximité" foresees the increase of the manufacturing capacities of our Fablab, the development of a professional services pole to support local companies and the development of professional training activities.
We are developing cross-border cooperation with various universities and schools: USMB, UNIGE and HEPIA. We are providing prototyping and experimentation support for the new renewable energy eco-system that is being developed in and around Hotspot, the first building of the Ferney Genève Innovation project.
Guillaume Cabrié, co-founder of Pangloss Labs and co-director of the Fablab, said: "We have already helped hundreds of local entrepreneurs with their businesses and increased the number of digital fabrication machines in the region. This award is recognition of this and will help us to move quickly to the next stage, making more and better products right here in France. "
For more information, see our Manufacture de Proximité Project or contact us.
Various spare parts for future projects
- Various stepper motors, DC motors (24V), fans (24V)
- Various electromagnetic clutches and electromagnets
- Metal bars of various diameters and accessories (circlips, guides etc...)
- Multiple metal parts and screws, both PC and metal, as well as springs of different strengths and shapes.
- Gear wheels and various toothed belts.
- Cable assemblies with connectors and IR sensors and stop switches etc. ....
Hydrogen buses for cross-border public transport – a reflection.
Paul Bristow, Klaus Röhrich, Harald Wirth, 25 November 2021
The technology around the use of hydrogen is advancing rapidly. Today, the hydrogen bus has autonomy of around 300 km, enough for one day of operation. Multiple projects of transformation of the public transport are already realized. Why not use these quiet and efficient vehicles to turn the Line F between Cointrin and Gex into green transport? (more…)
Pangloss Labs receives the “Fabrique de territoire” label from the Agence Nationale de la Cohésion des Territoires (National Agency for Territorial Cohesion)
Pangloss Labs and COVID19
So what is feasible to do in a Fablab?
We have 3D printers, laser cutters and mechatronics capabilties. We are not, for the most part, medically trained. We have collected together some of the open source designs that would be feasible to fabricate in our fablab :
3D printed door handle extendersThese are designed to make it so doors can be opened with arms instead of hands - reducing the spread of COVID19. Materialise have created an open source collection of designs for different types of doors. These take 2-4 hours to 3D print. |
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3D printed door openersthis time so a person can carry it from door to door and not have to touch them with their hands to open it. Thingiverse has a collection of designs. These take roughly 30 minutes to 3D print. |
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FacemasksMaking filters for facemasks is a simple process of cutting the correct shape from the appropriate filter material. In the event that facemasks and the proper materials are really not available, studies have been done to find "last resort" replacements For cloth facemasks, you don't really need a fablab. Scissors and a sewing machine will work fine. |
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3D Printed FacemasksMany enthusiastic 3D printing communities have designed and printed facemasks on the grounds that they are better than nothing. . There are a number of different designs from HEPA filter based, to simple frames for a cloth mask. It's impossible to choose which ones would be useful locally, but if there are clear local needs, there are plenty of open source designs available for us to use or modify. |
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Face shieldsIf masks are not available, then face shields can protect medical staff against direct droplet infection - like from a cough. Face shields can be laser cut from clear plastic which is much faster than 3D printing. There are even designs which use A4 plastification sheets. |
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VentilatorsIn a more serious pandemic situation, we could certainly provide small scale production of open source ventilator designs to help patients breathe. |
Oxygen concentratorReprap has started work on an open-source Oxygen Concentrator. |
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Valves and other complex partsThere has been at least one case where a hospital in Italy has had valves for reanimation devices 3D printed when they weren't available from the supplier. We have machines in our fablab that can do this. |
We are willing to do our part
Our production capacity in the fablab is limited but we have links with other fablabs/makerspaces/hackerspaces around us. To local doctors, the Pays de Gex medical centres, local hospitals, and the Mairies around us we make this simple statement."If you need us, we will help".If any of this will help you, contact us at fablab[at]panglosslabs.org and we will be in touch to discuss your precise needs. And if it turns out that we have all the medical equipment we need, so much the better, we will stay home like everyone else.
Kit de conversion Vélo H2
Soutenez le développement d'un kit de conversion de vélo H2.
Faire un don : https://www.helloasso.com/associations/pangloss/collectes/velo-a-hydrogene/don
Développement d'un kit de conversion «open source» pour transformer un vélo «classique» en vélo électrique à hydrogène
Il s’agit de quoi ?
- Nous proposons de développer un kit de conversion «open source» pour transformer un vélo «classique» en vélo électrique à hydrogène.
- Dans le projet proposé nous créerons une infrastructure pour l’hydrogène au sein du FabLab de Pangloss Labs et nous construirons un prototype de vélo électrique à hydrogène avec des composants « off the shelf».
- Nous prévoirons la présentation du vélo H2 au Fête de la Science à Ferney-Voltaire en octobre 2019.
Pourquoi ?
Nous voulons inciter l’utilisation d’hydrogène vert par les particuliers et ainsi promouvoir les énergies renouvelables.
Nous voulons créer, dans le Pays de Gex et le Bassin Lémanique, une première cellule de compétence autour de l’hydrogène complémentaire de l’électricité verte.
Nous voulons contribuer à développer la mobilité douce dans le grand Genève, notamment dans un territoire très impacté par les déplacements pendulaires frontaliers relativement courts.
Quels avantages ?
- Notre kit ouvrira l’utilisation de l’hydrogène à tous et visera une flexibilité permettant de couvrir un maximum de situations de conversion.
- L’autonomie du vélo sera plus importante que sur les vélo électriques car l’hydrogène permet plus de stockage d’énergie sur le vélo. Elle ne sera d’ailleurs plus réduite par la température extérieure.
- La recharge est limitée à quelques minutes. La distribution d’hydrogène (cartouches ou gaz à la pompe) reste à préciser.
- Dans le cycle de vie du produit, les déchets ultimes dangereux provenant des piles sont fortement réduits.
Porteurs de projet et partenaires ?
Pangloss Labs est très engagé dans des projets pour initier l’économie de l’hydrogène, notamment dans le Grand Genève, à travers ses activités dans le cadre d’Open Geneva, sa participation à la Fête de la Science et au Mobility Hub du Grand Genève
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| Harald Wirth | Klaus Röhrich | Olivier Eugene |
| Physicien qui rêve de la transition énergétique vers l’hydrogène vert |
Physicien avec idées et idéals |
Ingénieur passionné des vélos |
Marché et opportunités commerciales
- Actuellement, il n'y a que très peu de fabricants de vélos à hydrogène, et un vélo H2 coûte près de 7.000 €.
- Le kit à un prix cible (les composants produits en petite série) bien inférieur à 2.000 € est destiné aux particuliers, mais aussi aux petits ateliers (tiers lieux, ateliers d'insertion, etc.). En plus des vélos de ville, le kit sera utilisable également sur d’autres types de vélos (tricycles, vélos cargos, long tails, etc…)
- L’opportunité d’affaires importante réside dans la distribution et l’échange des containeurs H2. Avec une infrastructure d’approvisionnement en hydrogène le marché est énorme, regardant p. ex seulement les déplacements pendulaires.
- L’introduction du kit sous licence « open hardware » aidera à arriver plus rapidement à une taille de marché d’importance pour la production des composants ainsi que pour des services liées.
Nous cherchons 15.000 €
Nous avons accompli des recherches préliminaires, regardé ce qui est sur le marché et visité des entreprises et participé à des salons. Nous avons réalisé la conversion d’un vélo « normal » en vélo électrique, en « hackant » des pièces disponibles dans le commerce (p. ex pour outils de jardin).
Les fonds nous permettrons d’aboutir, dans une année, à un prototype d’un vélo à hydrogène suivant les étapes suivantes :
- Création d’une espace chez Pangloss Labs pour travailler avec de l’hydrogène, équipement de maniement des gaz et électronique de contrôle
- Ajout d’un conteneur d'hydrogène et une pile à combustible au vélo. En ce qui concerne le conteneur H2 et la PAC, nous envisageons une collaboration avec des entreprises spécialisées.
- Simulations (p. ex modélisation sur OpenModelica) pour dimensionner le système optimal.
- Construction du vélo, optimisation des composants (impression 3d, assemblage dédié de la batterie tampon et de la pile à combustible, etc.)
- Démonstration du prototype. A ce stade, un premier produit utilisable devrait être disponible sous licence ouverte, en utilisant des composants disponibles dans le commerce, des pièces imprimées 3d et des logiciels spécifiques.
Les récompenses
Tous donateurs seront mentionnés dans les publications du projet et invités lors d’une démonstration publique. Vous êtes tenus au courant des développements, événements et plus encore !
Vous recevrez également une message sur nos médias sociaux pour montrer au monde entier à quel point vous êtes un être humain conscient et généreux !
- Pour 10 € ou plus : Une minute sur le vélo à hydrogène lors d’une démonstration publique et votre nom mentionné dans nos publications.
- Pour 100 € ou plus : Votre photo sur nos publications, particulièrement dans nos pages WWW et Facebook.
- Pour 500 € ou plus : Vous serez invité.e d’honneur lors de la première démonstration publique.
- Les entreprises ou sponsors donnant 1.000 € ou plus verront leur logo affiché dans nos publications ainsi que lors des présentations.
Faire un don : https://www.helloasso.com/associations/pangloss/collectes/velo-a-hydrogene/don
The H2 Bicycle – A Step Towards A Cleaner Future
During the Open Geneva Innovation Festival 2018 a group of Pangloss members and others assembled to think about how to introduce hydrogen as a clean energy vector in our society. Various ideas were aired. A condensation took place for the Fête de la Science in Ferney-Voltaire half a year later. One of the concepts put forward was that of bringing hydrogen bicycles to the people. Two workshops (hackathons) on the subject followed in January and March 2019.
The hydrogen powered electric bicycle (HPEB) is not a new idea. Already 20 years ago such vehicles were constructed, but they were never made available to the common person, not to talk about production in series. The latest version, the Alpha bike of French company Pragma Industries is produced in batches of a hundred units and distributed to users, usually organizations, who can afford the rather hefty price of the bicycle of the order of 7'000 euros and the massive cost of a refilling station upwards of 50'000 euros.
At Pangloss Labs we have the idea to make all this cheaper with the goal to enable everybody profitting from green energy and clean hydrogen thus making a measurable contribution to a more sustainable world.
Our concept turns around the creation of a kit for converting normal bicycles into hydrogen powered electric bicycles (HPEB). Such kits should be cheap. The HPEB should not cost more than the equivalent electric bike but - and this will be the major advantage for the cyclist - with much larger autonomy. We think that eventually we can store 50 grams of hydrogen on the bike, which is equivalent to 750 Wh using a decent fuelcell, 50% more energy than typically stored on an electric bicycle. Bigger hydrogen containers and more efficient fuel cells will soon bring the advantage to 100% doubling the autonomy.
All the best for 2018 !
Closing the loop: Innovation for a Circular Economy
Fête de la Science 2017
Pangloss Labs and the City of Ferney-Voltaire organize in partnership the Science Fair in the Pays de Gex on Saturday 14 October 2017
La Fête de la Science
Created in 1991 at the initiative of Hubert Curien, then Minister of Research, the "Fete de la Science", which became a national event, aims to bring citizens closer to science. Each year throughout France, hundreds of actors offer free workshops, conferences, screenings, exhibitions, open their laboratory, discover the cultural and scientific heritage of the territory. From biodiversity to mathematics to the sciences of the universe, but also from human and social sciences, this event aims to represent all scientific domains and to make the world of science free to the public. Throughout France, the Science Fair takes place from 7 to 15 October 2017. For this 26th edition, the 2,500 participating municipalities propose stands and animations around the theme "Ideas received and critical spirit"The Fête de la Science in the Pays de Gex, Saturday 14 October
In partnership with the Ferney-Voltaire Mairie, Pangloss Labs is organising the Fête de la Science (Science Fair) in the Pays de Gex on Saturday 14th October.
This event will be an opportunity for young and old to meet innovation entrepreneurs from the Pays de Gex and to discover the innovation laboratories of Pangloss:
- Mobility and Town Planning
- Health/Wellness
- Connected objects
- Sustainable development
- Culture and education
- electric mobility with the Vega association
- astronomy with Orion
- creative laboratories with Addictlab design
- the connected objects
- the innovations of citizen democracy
- and so many other discoveries ...
Pangloss @ #UNHCRNGOs
Générer du beau
Vous vous êtes certainement posé les questions suivantes sur la beauté
«Qu’est-ce qui est beau ? »
«Comment être beau? Existe-t-il une méthode, une recette pour faire du beau ?»
«Pourquoi moi je trouve ça beau mais pas les autres ? »
Un proverbe arabe dit : « la beauté est dans l’œil qui regarde ». En fait la réponse de notre être à l’esthétique, est purement personnelle, et dépend de nombreux facteurs culturels et émotionnels.
La beauté d’un visage par exemple peut être appréciée comme une absence de défaut. C’est la beauté qui rassure quant à son vécu personnel. Mais au contraire cela peut être une aspérité qui étonne au lieu de susciter notre rejet.
Dans la réponse esthétique, on trouve le plus souvent une émotion qu’il est difficile de comprendre pour soi et encore plus d’expliquer aux autres.
Un jour j’ai découvert l’univers de l’espace mathématiques de Mandelbrot. D’abord subjugué par la richesse des images produites à partir d’un simple zoom sur un point particulier de cet espace, où les formes se répétaient avec des variations étonnantes, je me suis fait expliquer ce qui générait ces formes.
La réponse était étonnante. La fonction génératrice était l’étude de suite, dans le simple plan des complexes, dont on étudiait la vitesse de convergence.
On donnait une couleur au point à partir duquel la suite était calculée, en fonction de sa vitesse de convergence.
Un élève de terminale peut comprendre le problème posé, cependant la question est bizarre, originale. La réponse à cette question est, elle, époustouflante.
Si Benoit Mandelbrot avait gardé pour lui le secret de cette génération en ne divulguant que le résultat artistique de ses recherches, jamais on aurait compris le principe générateur de ces formes d’une richesse infinie.
Cela choque beaucoup de personnes, mais de nombreux mathématiciens pensent que tout est nombre. Le réel physique d’existerait pas et l’univers ne serait que le résultat de perceptions diverses.
En décomposant, la complexité on arrive à de simples fonctions primitives, finalement assez pauvres.
Jeune étudiant j’avais été choqué par l’énoncé du théorème de Fourier.
Ce théorème dit que tout signal cyclique, aussi complexe soit-il, peut se décomposer en une somme de vibrations à différentes fréquences.
Une vibration est une simple vague qui fait monter et descendre de façon continue, répétitive et monotone.
La vibration en tant que cycle rassure, car on sait qu’après être redescendu, on va remonter, puis redescendre. Ça ne finit jamais et c’est sans surprise.
La fonction mathématique qui porte cette vibration est la fonction Sinus.
N’ayant comme talent artistique que celui du contemplatif, j’ai imaginé des formes qui ne seraient que des sommes de vibrations, dans tous les sens, dans plusieurs dimensions. En les combinant, on génère des formes douces, organiques, qui rappelle des muscles, des viscères, un squelette. On repère quelques répétitions signant la simple vibration, la simple vague, la simple fonction sinus, mais ces répétitions ne se répètent pas complètement à l’identique et surprennent un peu dans leur rendu parce qu’elles sont simplement combinées avec d’autres. On entre progressivement dans le domaine du vivant, ou dans l’illusion du vivant.
Mon œil est surpris par le résultat. J’espère que le votre aussi.Pangloss Labs in Geneva
On the 12th of January a small, determined group met at Pangloss Labs in Ferney-Voltaire to discuss why there isn't yet a Pangloss Labs Geneva site and what to do about it.
In a nutshell, although we have found some spaces in Geneva that meet our original half office / half workshop criteria, they are very few and far between. With the rent costs being much higher in Geneva than neighbouring France, to replicate directly what we did in France would need 45 people willing to pay a proportion of the rent, before we have the space. In addition, leases in Geneva tend to start at 5 years. With some of the offers we have, on projects under development, we'd need 45 people willing to commit to contribute to a collaborative association for 5 years, starting in 1-2 years time. That's almost impossible to do.
So, with the facts on the table, and with the aid of some decent French wine, we brainstormed on the possible ways forward. 
With lots of whiteboards, and different experiences and backgrounds we came up with the following plan:
- Make a list of all the spaces and similar initiatives around innovation in Grand Geneva. Create working partnerships where possible.
- Simultaneously, use co-creation to decide amongst our Pangloss Labs community in Geneva, which set of Innovation Labs make sense for them. This may well be a very different set from the 10 chosen in the Pays de Gex.
- Build up the space requirements for each Innovation Lab. See if each Lab can start using time and space in existing physical spaces around Geneva. If so, partner with the appropriate physical space, and do that, resulting in a win-win for Pangloss members and existing physical spaces, along with cross fertilisation between communities.
Geneva, but it does solve the problem of how to get the other Innovation Labs really working for those members unable to easily get to Ferney-Voltaire and it provides something concrete as a partnership with our other innovation space friends around Geneva.
Once things are up and running, we can decide if we need another physical space in Geneva, or if working collaboratively with existing spaces is sufficient.
What do you think?