Cooperation with VŠTE
The unique "invisible" access panels, concealing water meters or valves in residential and office buildings, can now also withstand a temperature of 850° Celsius for at least thirty minutes. They thereby meet European standards, as a test in the fire-testing laboratory of the authorised company Pavus confirmed.
The road to European markets began in the laboratories of VŠTE. There we tested new materials
"Obtaining the temperature-resistance certificate allows us to enter the European Union market and aspire to new contracts," says Pavel Dobiáš, managing director of the České Budějovice firm ZAVRZ. It prepared for the demanding testing in the laboratories of the local Institute of Technology and Business, where it experimentally verified new materials together with academics.
"Cooperation with industrial partners who deliberately innovate their production and products moves us forward too. In the laboratories we look for solutions essential for success, such as new alloys and materials, but also, for instance, sensors, optimisation or control," said Vojtěch Stehel, rector of VŠTE.
According to Pavel Dobiáš, the help of the academics was absolutely crucial for the successful result, because tests at accreditation or certification institutions are not only demanding but also financially costly.
"We met with great helpfulness and professionalism. That stems already from the approach of the rectorate and its orientation towards linking theory with the production sphere," the managing director added.
The firm does business mainly in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, where it sells over five thousand of its access panels a year. But it wants to expand its production into Poland, Austria and Germany too. That is why it is now preparing, with the help of academics, for a second round of fire-resistance testing. This is essential for the further expansion of its range and the ability to offer the full scale of types on the market.
In its foreign expansion it is betting on the special construction of a double hinge, which last year obtained patent protection from the European Patent Office. The solution allows easy operation of the panel with just a slight touch. Perfect blending with the tiling and wall is then made possible by a plastic strip in the shade of the grout.
The ZAVRZ firm produces access panels in several variants, including waterproof ones for shower enclosures, or modifications for mounting into an internal or external corner. The solution into a wall or plasterboard, finished with tiling, then makes them invisible.
Among its customers are mainly the bathroom studios Ptáček and Sapho, developers and end customers. It sees marketing potential mainly with designers and architects seeking the safest and most aesthetic solution.