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08 Oct 2008  -  United States

A retro-inspired round spa

The new Monte Carlo spa from Clearwater Spas © Bayer MaterialScience

Clearwater Spas thought “outside the box” for its new Monte Carlo spa – a retro-inspired round spa design that is grabbing the attention of everyone from architects to casual spa customers. The outer cabinet of the stunning round Monte Carlo spa is formed using Bayer MaterialScience LLC’s Baydur® STR system. The Baydur system, which was specially formulated for this application, not only contributes to the spas’ attractive appearance, but also offers significant production and processing advantages over the previously used synthetic material. Baydur resin systems are marketed under BaySystems™, the umbrella brand for the global polyurethane systems operations of Bayer MaterialScience.

Clearwater Spas began using the Baydur STR rigid-polyurethane system to produce a line of square spa cabinets featuring structural composite panels with long-fiber reinforcements achieved through the Long-Fiber Technology (LFT) process. They had discovered on the earlier spa models that parts formed from the Baydur STR system are strong, lightweight and dimensionally stable, as well as impact, heat and chemical resistant. They felt that such performance properties would also allow them to easily mold strong circular cabinet panels that would otherwise be very difficult to stick-build by hand with traditional extruded tongue-and-groove synthetic material that had to be cut to size and attached piece by piece to a structural frame.

“Clearwater Spas had been pleased with the results of the original LFT spa cabinet product and wanted to incorporate the technology into a round spa, so we developed and designed the tooling and brought the product to market for them,” explained Brian Stubbs, technical sales director for Creative Urethanes, which molds the Monte Carlo spa enclosure. “The strength and structural properties of the LFT product allowed us to develop a panel that uses the same signature door and lighting sconce design as the square spa cabinet, allowing Clearwater to maximize their original investment by using some of the existing tooling.”

In the LFT process, a robot is programmed to move over the open mold cavity while simultaneously dispensing both the long glass fibers and the polyurethane resin in an open-pour method. The fiberglass chopping mechanism and the urethane dispensing head work together to simultaneously dispense the polyurethane and chopped glass to ensure complete wetout of the glass fibers. At the end of the pour, the mold is closed to form the part. In order to mold the panels required for the round Monte Carlo spa design, Creative Urethanes developed 3-D CAD models for the part geometry and programmed the robotics equipment for depositing the material into the curved mold.

The resulting Monte Carlo spa enclosure is comprised of six self-aligning panels that can be assembled by one person in 20-30 minutes without any jigs or fixtures. This allows Clearwater to assemble the spa panels right out of the box in a fraction of the time previously required to stick-build spa cabinets. The technology also allows Clearwater to mold steps, recesses and other components that would require hours of labor to achieve through stick building.

LFT-molded spa panels have also proven to be much more resilient during transit, resulting in another manufacturing advantage. “Shipping damage is a thing of the past with our cabinets because the LFT panels stand up to nicks, scratches or breakage, and will even withstand a drop,” said Clearwater Spas Vice President Larry Richards. “We are ecstatic that our round spa design has been brought to life with LFT technology, and the Monte Carlo spa is exactly what the spa market needed – a durable product that comes together easier at a competitive price.”

In addition to supplying the specially formulated Baydur system, Bayer MaterialScience also performed structural analysis of the round panel design. The cabinets illustrate several benefits of the LFT process, including the ability to mold large, complex parts with thick and thin walls and a Class A surface, according to Craig Snyder, market channel representative, Bayer MaterialScience LLC. “With the advantages of the LFT process, Clearwater has the freedom to produce spas that deliver the desired structural and aesthetic innovations, no matter where their creative process takes them,” said Snyder.

About BaySystems
Effective March 1, 2007, Bayer MaterialScience has combined its entire global polyurethane systems business under the umbrella brand of BaySystems™. This change affects not only existing product brands in this segment – including Baydur® – but also the global network of polyurethane systems houses.

About Bayer MaterialScience 
Bayer MaterialScience LLC is one of the leading producers of polymers and high-performance plastics in North America and is part of the global Bayer MaterialScience business with nearly 15,400 employees at 30 sites around the world and 2007 sales of 10.4 billion euros. Business activities are focused on the manufacture of high-tech polymer materials and the development of innovative solutions for products used in many areas of daily life. The main segments served are the automotive, electrical and electronics, construction, medical, and sports and leisure industries. Our inorganic basic chemicals unit produces chlorine and related essential products for the chemicals industry.

About Bayer Corporation
Bayer Corporation, headquartered in Pittsburgh, is a subsidiary of Bayer AG, an international health care, nutrition and high-tech materials group based in Leverkusen, Germany. In North America, Bayer had 2007 net sales of 8.1 billion euros and employed 16,800 at year end. Bayer’s three subgroups, Bayer HealthCare, Bayer CropScience and Bayer MaterialScience, improve people’s lives through a broad range of essential products that help diagnose, prevent and treat diseases; protect crops and enhance yields; and advance automobile safety and durability.

Source : Bayer MaterialScience