Composite booth: ATM delivers "green" in more ways than one

Recently, Edra Equipamentos (Ipeuna, Brazil) joined the National Recycling Program of the Brazilian Composite Materials Assn. (ABMACO, Sao Paulo, Brazil). As one result, it tapped its 15-year history of designing and producing banking industry hardware and displays to develop an automated teller machine (ATM) enclosure that is not only attractive and functional, but also environmentally sustainable.

Dubbed the Contemporary Bank Project, the effort took approximately one year and required more than $300,000 (USD), says company president Jorge Braescher. “After surveys with several banks and approximately 500 users, we defined the concept of the ATM booth and promoted a contest among several architects,” he recalls. The company opted for a composite design. “Then, we entered into agreements with the suppliers of raw materials.”

Owens Corning Composite Solutions Business (Toledo, Ohio) supplied reinforcements for the enclosure’s curved walls and flat ceiling in the form of Advantex glass-fiber mats. They were wet out with a polymer derived partly from renewable sources, such as oilseed plants, produced by Sao Paulo-based Elekeiroz SA. “To make this resin,” Braescher notes, “Elekeiroz also includes recycled postconsumer polymers — for instance, PET [polyethylene terephthalate] bottles.”

The booth is molded in five parts, using light resin transfer molding (light RTM), and the five elements are bonded with a structural adhesive manufactured by LORD Corporation (Cary, N.C. and Sao Paulo). Also sustainable, the floor is made from a wood/plastic composite that contains more than 90 percent discarded packaging waste.

To reduce energy consumption at night, photovoltaic panels on the booth’s roof power interior LED lamps. Daylight is provided by a Solatube skylight (Solatube International Inc., Vista, Calif.). Window films from 3M Advanced Materials Division (St. Paul, Minn.) block more than 80 percent of infrared energy, which greatly reduces cooling requirements. Topping the structure is a layer of grass (see photo) that “improves thermal and acoustic comfort for users,” adds Braescher.

Full-scale production began in June. Although it is priced 20 to 30 percent higher than ATM booths currently operating in Brazil, the new concept stands out for its environmental aesthetic, Braescher says, and is compliant with Brazil’s NBR 9050, which requires an automatic door and wheelchair access ramp — items typically not included in ATM structures.