The SolVin Bretzel takes its name from the famous Bretzel salted bread snack from the German-speaking world, universally known as pretzel in English. Its structure is based on inflatable hoops made of anti-UV PVC between which a net is drawn. Its 400 m2 surface enables it to be placed for several days right on the canopy in order to provide easy, safe and prolonged access to it, to the scientists of different disciplines.
The primary objective of the new raft, the SolVin Bretzel, was to overcome the drawbacks of a structure focused towards the middle with sections each coming out from the centre.
The basic design principle of a Canopy Raft is unchanged: to marry inflatable pontoons made of PVC canvas (like the "Dinghy") with taut, supported nets. The fundamental idea consists of making the structure homogeneous, so the load is spread as well as possible and no hinging is possible, by paying great attention to the capacity for natural deformation of the components from which it is made up.
As there is no centre, the wings of the Bretzel add a radiating aspect that is very useful for tensioning the net, reinforced among other things by the regular curves of the inflatable pontoons.
The superposition of the pontoons at the junctions determines a structural height that makes the structure easier to live in.
