4 ms·

Heidelberg Inaugurates 3D Printed Data Center

33 points by ulrischa 3y ago

thechao 3y ago
3d-printed data-center; which is cool, but not as cool as 3d-printed-data center: they printed the center, not the data.
qwertox 3y ago
Apart from those light colors being horrible (or I'm color-blind), doesn't this curvy design only cause problems when needing to consider the attachment of cooling solutions and other addons like security and the like? How will it look in 5 years when green stuff starts to grow in those horizontal grooves?
- archi42 3y ago
  The PR does not mention plaster work; I suppose the company is focused on the... errr... "shell construction"? Once plaster is added, I'd wager it's much the same as for any other house.
- ben_w 3y ago
  I've been looking at house construction recently, and here in Berlin, the list price for the shell of a (cheap) normal house is about €100k, the turnkey price for the same (the shell plus all the plastering and plumbing and connecting utilities etc.) was about €300k, and the land was on top of that (another €200k-€250k).
- petre 3y ago
  > How will it look in 5 years when green stuff starts to grow in those horizontal grooves? That's a great idea. Why wait 5 years instead of seeding it with vegetation now, even algae? It will be greener, as not only in colour, but also absorbing more CO2. The concrete itself absorbs CO2 as it hardens. Also if they plant some treens around it and it's virtually part of the landscape. I really like the low visual aspect and the organic, non aggresive shapes. It's also not overly organic.
archi42 3y ago
I found this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyAoAMXAVEk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyAoAMXAVEk They seem to have issues with rain (no real surprise), but the process seems relatively straight forward. I wonder if, for smaller scales, a cable-driven, flying delta could be used? For garage-sized buildings or smaller houses this could work (though I believe pre-fab to be cheaper).
notum 3y ago
Love seeing news like these! AWESOME, and probably structurally more sound than traditional buildings (citation needed). I'll skip the layer-height comments but the thought did make me giggle.
torginus 3y ago
Desktop 3D printers work by moving a tiny nozzle across a tiny and rigid, precisely engineered level plate. Said nozzle extrudes a thermoplastic that can be transported to the nozzle in solid form, quickly melted and then solidified again. Building-grade 3D printers work by moving a giant and heavy nozzle across a wobbly giant frame, set on whatever uneven ground that happens to be at the building site. Said nozzle extrudes a concrete mix that can only be transported to the nozzle in liquid form, and one must wait for the layers to solidify before the next one can be laid down. Also, said concrete must not be liquid enough, that it flows off the print surface (like regular concrete), but must be liquid enough to be pumped around the machine. Clearing clogs must be a nightmare. Also, concrete sucks in tension, which is why steel bars are inserted into it, to pre tension it, which is not possible with this technology. For all the engineering reasons desktop 3D printers make sense, building grade ones don't.
- ben_w 3y ago
  Given the first I heard of a concrete building printer was some random person doing it at home to give their daughter a small fantasy castle to play in, I think you might possibly be overstating the difficulty of the challenge from the point of view of domain experts. https://hackaday.com/2014/09/01/update-3d-printed-concrete-castle-completed/ https://hackaday.com/2014/09/01/update-3d-printed-concrete-c...
  - torginus 3y ago
    Sorry not seeing how this disproves anything in my post. "Some guy did it so it can't be that hard" is not a solid line of reasoning. And as someone who has 3d printed stuff, there is a distinct lack of (hard to print) overhangs in this structure. By the way, imo one of the hallmarks of impractical technology is stagnation, dude did it a decade ago, and 3d printed structures have the same problems today.
    - serf 3y ago
      >By the way, imo one of the hallmarks of impractical technology is stagnation, dude did it a decade ago, and 3d printed structures have the same problems today. no, they don't have the same problems today. Building houses on planar lines with concrete extrusion doesn't represent the cutting edge, it represents the technology that has been vetted and approved enough for public ownership and land endorsement. multi-axis extruders with large DoF and non-planar routing is approaching the state of the art, and overhangs are well dealt with. 3d printing in general is one of the least stagnant industries I can think of right now. It's being adopted en masse by the largest groups and is generally receiving a lot of intellectual attention.
hooverd 3y ago
Oof, there's some serious banding going on though.
Mountain_Skies 3y ago
I'm somewhat skeptical about the use cases for 3D printed inhabited spaces but for things like utility sheds and privacy walls, it seems like it will be a great service.
fnordpiglet 3y ago
Great - it’s built like a bunker. No windows? I get the issue with overhangs in extrusion printing but seriously - who wants to live in a curvy cave?
- freddex 3y ago
  It's not a living space but a data center, that is why there are no windows.
  - fnordpiglet 3y ago
    Actually it has no windows because it’s impossible to print overhangs with extrusion. The fact it’s a data center is because it’s one of the few use cases for 3D printing buildings right now.
    - fanf2 3y ago
      It isn’t impossible, you just install a lintel at the top of the opening. There are plenty of 3D printed houses out there.
      - fnordpiglet 3y ago
        That’s not entirely 3d printed then. You need to manually insert the lintel once the supporting layers are in place. The other way is to print supports and knock them out post construction. But the issue of overhangs is a serious one for 3d printed structures.
- wenebego 3y ago
  Sounds awesome
dusted 3y ago
I'm wondering how those layers will stand up to the environment.. It seems a perfect weak spot for water to collect and try to get in if there are any imperfections and then when the hard frost comes, that water sits in a wedge and becomes ice and starts to push the layers apart, slowly creating hairline fractures for more water to wick into and freeze and expand ..

33 points by ulrischa 3y ago

3d-printed data-center; which is cool, but not as cool as 3d-printed-data center: they printed the center, not the data.

qwertox 3y ago

Apart from those light colors being horrible (or I'm color-blind), doesn't this curvy design only cause problems when needing to consider the attachment of cooling solutions and other addons like security and the like? How will it look in 5 years when green stuff starts to grow in those horizontal grooves?

archi42 3y ago
The PR does not mention plaster work; I suppose the company is focused on the... errr... "shell construction"? Once plaster is added, I'd wager it's much the same as for any other house.
ben_w 3y ago
I've been looking at house construction recently, and here in Berlin, the list price for the shell of a (cheap) normal house is about €100k, the turnkey price for the same (the shell plus all the plastering and plumbing and connecting utilities etc.) was about €300k, and the land was on top of that (another €200k-€250k).
petre 3y ago
> How will it look in 5 years when green stuff starts to grow in those horizontal grooves? That's a great idea. Why wait 5 years instead of seeding it with vegetation now, even algae? It will be greener, as not only in colour, but also absorbing more CO2. The concrete itself absorbs CO2 as it hardens. Also if they plant some treens around it and it's virtually part of the landscape. I really like the low visual aspect and the organic, non aggresive shapes. It's also not overly organic.

archi42 3y ago

I found this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyAoAMXAVEk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyAoAMXAVEk They seem to have issues with rain (no real surprise), but the process seems relatively straight forward. I wonder if, for smaller scales, a cable-driven, flying delta could be used? For garage-sized buildings or smaller houses this could work (though I believe pre-fab to be cheaper).

notum 3y ago

Love seeing news like these! AWESOME, and probably structurally more sound than traditional buildings (citation needed). I'll skip the layer-height comments but the thought did make me giggle.

torginus 3y ago

Desktop 3D printers work by moving a tiny nozzle across a tiny and rigid, precisely engineered level plate. Said nozzle extrudes a thermoplastic that can be transported to the nozzle in solid form, quickly melted and then solidified again. Building-grade 3D printers work by moving a giant and heavy nozzle across a wobbly giant frame, set on whatever uneven ground that happens to be at the building site. Said nozzle extrudes a concrete mix that can only be transported to the nozzle in liquid form, and one must wait for the layers to solidify before the next one can be laid down. Also, said concrete must not be liquid enough, that it flows off the print surface (like regular concrete), but must be liquid enough to be pumped around the machine. Clearing clogs must be a nightmare. Also, concrete sucks in tension, which is why steel bars are inserted into it, to pre tension it, which is not possible with this technology. For all the engineering reasons desktop 3D printers make sense, building grade ones don't.

ben_w 3y ago
Given the first I heard of a concrete building printer was some random person doing it at home to give their daughter a small fantasy castle to play in, I think you might possibly be overstating the difficulty of the challenge from the point of view of domain experts. https://hackaday.com/2014/09/01/update-3d-printed-concrete-castle-completed/ https://hackaday.com/2014/09/01/update-3d-printed-concrete-c...
- torginus 3y ago
  Sorry not seeing how this disproves anything in my post. "Some guy did it so it can't be that hard" is not a solid line of reasoning. And as someone who has 3d printed stuff, there is a distinct lack of (hard to print) overhangs in this structure. By the way, imo one of the hallmarks of impractical technology is stagnation, dude did it a decade ago, and 3d printed structures have the same problems today.
  - serf 3y ago
    >By the way, imo one of the hallmarks of impractical technology is stagnation, dude did it a decade ago, and 3d printed structures have the same problems today. no, they don't have the same problems today. Building houses on planar lines with concrete extrusion doesn't represent the cutting edge, it represents the technology that has been vetted and approved enough for public ownership and land endorsement. multi-axis extruders with large DoF and non-planar routing is approaching the state of the art, and overhangs are well dealt with. 3d printing in general is one of the least stagnant industries I can think of right now. It's being adopted en masse by the largest groups and is generally receiving a lot of intellectual attention.

hooverd 3y ago

Oof, there's some serious banding going on though.

Mountain_Skies 3y ago

I'm somewhat skeptical about the use cases for 3D printed inhabited spaces but for things like utility sheds and privacy walls, it seems like it will be a great service.

fnordpiglet 3y ago

Great - it’s built like a bunker. No windows? I get the issue with overhangs in extrusion printing but seriously - who wants to live in a curvy cave?

freddex 3y ago
It's not a living space but a data center, that is why there are no windows.
- fnordpiglet 3y ago
  Actually it has no windows because it’s impossible to print overhangs with extrusion. The fact it’s a data center is because it’s one of the few use cases for 3D printing buildings right now.
  - fanf2 3y ago
    It isn’t impossible, you just install a lintel at the top of the opening. There are plenty of 3D printed houses out there.
    - fnordpiglet 3y ago
      That’s not entirely 3d printed then. You need to manually insert the lintel once the supporting layers are in place. The other way is to print supports and knock them out post construction. But the issue of overhangs is a serious one for 3d printed structures.
wenebego 3y ago
Sounds awesome

dusted 3y ago

I'm wondering how those layers will stand up to the environment.. It seems a perfect weak spot for water to collect and try to get in if there are any imperfections and then when the hard frost comes, that water sits in a wedge and becomes ice and starts to push the layers apart, slowly creating hairline fractures for more water to wick into and freeze and expand ..