Dynamic Automatic Insulation Technology
The DAIT insulation system.
copyright 2003 The Spa Specialist Inc.
The DAIT insulation system is the ultimate in the Thermally Closed style
of insulation. It is the most technologically advanced design for spas.
The original concept of the Thermally Closed design was developed over
10 years ago by a large corporation with real engineers, making it the only
engineered type of spa insulation in common use. As the spa equipment
developed, the size of the motors started to cause problems with the design.
There was too much heat trapped inside these early cabinets, and it
developed into a problem.
When we started to do our research and development on this concept of adjustable
insulation, more in winter and less in summer we had a few spas that we tested.
The problem at that time was if we set up a spa for the coldest part of winter,
it would not work in summer, but it had phenomenal energy efficiency in the
dead of winter, when spas are mostly used (at least in Colorado). In
our test spas the insulation had to be removed in order to stop the water
in the spa vessel from getting too hot. So, as we went along we discovered
that at certain temperatures outside, you start changing the insulation by
removing it from the cabinet walls. This was not practical for a spas
that is sold to the general public. I can't imagine an older lady with
a screw gun opening up the spa to adjust her insulation four of five times
a year. So, we took a happy medium on insulation on the outer walls
of the standard thermally sealed design. The standard thermally closed
spas are more energy efficient than the standard full foam, have full access
to all the equipment, and run extremely quiet and don't overheat in summer
unless the filter cycles are set too long or at the wrong time of day.
This has been our standard for the last 7 years, but we are now finally able
to offer the DAIT insulation system.
With the DAIT system, Dynamic Automatic Insulation Technology, we automatically
adjust the effective insulation by moving air in and through the cabinet.
The range of effective insulation varies from R-87 in the Paramount and SC
models in full winter to R-11 or less in summer. It involves using thermal
sensors and a control system (proprietary) to make all the adjustments. It
comes in two versions the "Level 1" is much simpler and only uses internal
sensors and standard logic. The "Level 2" has multiple internal sensors and
external sensing of the thermal conditions inside and outside of the cabinet.
The advantages for this are numerous in the effective use of the pump heat,
without causing "hot spots" inside the cabinet. If you look at a standard
full foam spa, the pumps are placed in a little box in the front of the spa.
When the pumps run that box becomes a hot box particularly in summer,
giving the full foam spas more overheat problems than in our standard thermally
closed designs. Pump overheat in these little boxes in these out of
date designs is what causes premature failures on the motors. In our
standard thermally closed design the heat is spread out in a much larger enclosure
and that heat is rapidly dissipated into the spa water. This is a symbiotic
relationship between the spa vessel and the pumps. The only time the
pumps product heat is when the cover is off and the spa is losing heat "like
crazy" out the top of the spa. That is the time when the thermally
closed is very energy efficient and the heater use is greatly limited by
the pump heat going into the water. If you extract the normally wasted
motor heat and make that enter the water while the cover is off, the electric
6,000 watt heater will not operate for a long time, even with very cold weather.
With the DAIT we have that and we have controls over the possible build
up of heat in the area around the pumps, so our pumps never run in ambient
air above the 122 degrees specified by the motor companies, thus greatly
extending the life of the motors.
. In a typical full foam spa the ambient air is almost always
too hot in a short time after the motors start, because the box is too small
to begin with. In summer it leads to thermal overheat and the thermal
safety switches in motors shut off the motors until they cool back down. By
then the motor has already been harmed.
With the DAIT the air entering the cabinet is made to pass into the motor
frame first, then after the air is heated by the motor frame, it is sent out
into the cabinet for heat absorption into the spa water, through the vessel
wall and plumbing pipes. If it is summer, the heat is not allowed to
build up and it is expelled outside the cabinet, so the water temperature
will not rise but a degree or so above the set point. This is also a
lot safer than other designs.
The improvements in this DAIT system are many
in function, but the synopsis is as follows:
- DAIT equipped spas have the highest effective insulation
of any spa ever made to date in winter. There are six layers of effective
air barrier foil and foam insulation in these spas.
- DAIT allows an automatic reduction in the effective insulation as
the thermal conditions warrant. (DAIT Level 2 has multiple levels based
upon interior and exterior thermal conditions)
- DAIT allows for control over the ambient air around the motors affecting
an increase in the motor longevity by keeping the frame of the motor cooler
than any portable spa in current production. It moves the heat away
from the motors.
- DAIT allows a decrease in the winter electric consumption that rivals
summer use energy consumption, while the spa is not in use.
- DAIT gives the spas an increase in the heat transfer into the spa
water in winter and less or very little in summer.
- DAIT soundproofs the cabinet even more because of the additional layers
and air chambers added to the walls of the cabinet.
- DAIT allows even better use of the warm air into the blower than was
ever achieved before and the use of higher horsepower air injection for more
air features than have ever been available with low energy consumption.
- DAIT allows the warm air in front to be brought to the rear
of the spa.