The first ventilator system is ready

Baumann is helping schools in Amberg build the ventilator systems that will allow them to open their doors again soon. A prototype system has already been installed in the Baumann forest kindergarten.

It may well be that schools can re-open after the Easter break, the plan being to alternate between the graduating and transition year classes, but a regular exchange of air is not always so easy. Many windows in schools are defective. On some days, it's too cold, and the traffic outside can sometimes cause too much noise. This is where a ventilation system would be the ideal solution!

Frank Helleis from the Max Planck Institute in Mainz has developed a simple, cost-effective and evidently effective ventilator for school classrooms. This system can extract 90 percent of aerosols, potentially containing coronavirus, out of the room air in a controlled manner. It is simply constructed using materials from the DIY store. The instructions can be found here - www.ventilation-mainz.de/.

Support for Amberg schools

Dr. Baumann (company founder and owner of Baumann Automation) has offered to help schools in Amberg build ventilation system of this kind and approached the municipal education and building authority: "We at Baumann have a great interest in seeing schools reopen and stay safe. For this reason, we pay the cost of the materials for prototype rooms and our trainees help with the installation." The preliminary investigations are currently underway in collaboration with the city of Amberg.

Prototype system in the Baumann forest kindergarten

Trainers Andreas Bodensteiner and Daniel Kiesl together with trainees Tim Kirchberg, Philip Lautenschlager and Benedikt Wolfinger have now installed a prototype system in the new poor weather and drop-off areas at the Baumann forest kindergarten in the former Grammer administrative building in the northern industrial zone.

The Baumann trainees ordered the materials for the prototype system from one of the company's regular suppliers at a good price. The metal pipes are suspended from a special mounting and a ventilator, which pumps around 1000 cubic meters of air per hour outside, ensures that all the legal requirements are more than fulfilled.

Connecting the system to the outside appeared to be a problem at first. But here too, the Baumann trainees found a clever solution: They simply removed one of the windows and replaced it with a wooden panel that would accommodate the ventilator. Theoretically, this structure can be dismantled within a matter of minutes and the window reinstalled.

First implementation in collaboration with the Gregor Mendel high school

The next step is to construct more of these systems in the Gregor Mendel high school in Amberg after the Easter break. The work will be done as a joint initiative by Baumann trainees and school pupils.