INCOMPAR · MALLORCA · SINCE 1999
ATELIER IN CAMPOS · INSTALLATIONS ACROSS THE MEDITERRANEAN
PATENTED 1993 · UP TO 80 M² · AUTO-RETRACT · FROM €28,000
Engineered to architect specifications. Technical drawings and load calculations on request.
In 1993, SunSquare registered a worldwide patent for a fundamentally new type of retractable shade structure: one that monitors ambient wind conditions continuously and initiates its own retraction automatically when pre-set thresholds are reached. More than thirty years later, that patent remains at the core of every SunSquare installation.
This is not incremental product development — it is an original invention. The challenge SunSquare solved in 1993 was a genuine engineering problem: how to create a shade structure large enough to be useful on a villa or Hotel terrace, light enough to deploy and retract with a small motor, and intelligent enough to protect itself without requiring a human operator to be watching the sky. The solution — the soft-tension patented drive combined with an integrated anemometer — remains technically superior to any alternative approach developed since.
incompar.com is the exclusive Spain partner of SunSquare. Every installation in Mallorca, Ibiza, Barcelona, and Costa Brava is built on this patented technology, installed by specialist teams with 25 years of Balearic-specific experience.
The SunSquare anemometer is a cup-type wind speed sensor typically mounted at the apex of the sail’s structural mast — the highest, most exposed point of the installation, where wind speed readings are most representative of actual load conditions on the sail surface. The sensor provides a continuous analogue wind speed signal to the motor controller at a 2-second sampling interval.
| Anemometer Component | Specification |
|---|---|
| Sensor type | Cup anemometer — industry standard for meteorological accuracy in exposed locations |
| Mounting position | Mast apex — highest structural point, unobstructed airflow reading |
| Sampling interval | 2-second continuous monitoring — detects gust onset before it develops to peak |
| Signal output | Analogue 0–10V to motor controller — proportional to wind speed |
| Operating range | 0–120 km/h measurement range. Rated for sustained wind exposure beyond Beaufort 11. |
| Maintenance | Sealed bearing assembly — no lubrication, no calibration required during normal service life |
The motor controller receives the anemometer’s continuous wind speed signal and applies a threshold algorithm before triggering retraction. This is an important engineering detail: SunSquare does not simply retract at the instant any gust exceeds threshold. The controller applies a sustained-gust detection algorithm — it requires the wind speed to exceed threshold for a minimum continuous period before triggering retraction, preventing nuisance retraction from brief, harmless gusts that fall immediately back below threshold.
The threshold itself is client-adjustable between Beaufort 4 and Beaufort 6. The factory default of Beaufort 5 (approximately 40 km/h sustained) reflects incompar.com’s experience-based recommendation for standard Mallorcan and Ibizan residential conditions. For more exposed sites — cliff tops, harbour and sea front positions — a lower threshold setting is often appropriate and is specified during the site survey.
The motor is connected to the sail’s rolling tube via the patented soft-tension drive assembly — a mechanism that is fundamentally different from the direct-drive or spring-loaded systems used in standard awnings and most competing retractable sails. The key engineering difference: in direct-drive systems, the motor must overcome the full structural load imposed by wind on the sail in order to retract it. At Beaufort 7 on an 80 m² sail, this represents a peak mechanical load that standard awning motors cannot sustain without mechanical failure.
The soft-tension drive resolves this by distributing the wind-load energy across a calibrated cable tension network before it reaches the motor. The motor’s effective working load remains within its design envelope regardless of sail area or wind speed at retraction. This is why SunSquare can retract under actual wind load — not just in calm conditions after the storm has passed.
Patents protect inventors from imitation, but they do not prevent imitation-by-omission — competitors simply building shade structures that lack the patented feature. In the Balearic shade market, many retractable sails are offered without an integrated wind sensor, or with add-on wind sensors that activate a standard direct-drive motor not designed for retraction under load. These systems either fail to retract in the conditions they most need to (the direct-drive motor trips out under wind load), or they retract only by chance before wind reaches damaging levels.
SunSquare’s patent covers the integration of the sensor, controller threshold logic, and soft-tension drive as a unified system — not just the sensor alone. This is the complete, proven, patented solution. After 15,000+ installations globally across 30+ years, it is the only shade system with the field data to prove it works in conditions like the Tramuntana and the Ibiza Poniente.
| Provider | Capability | Honest Assessment |
|---|---|---|
| SunSquare (incompar.com) | Automatic wind retraction, up to 85 m², worldwide patent 1993, marine-grade spec throughout, Soltis 92 fabric | The only fully automatic large-span sail with 25 years of proven Balearic performance |
| Innout Mallorca | Bioclimatic pergola louvres — no automatic wind retraction when open, max span ~8 m | Pergola structure, not tensile sail — different product category |
| Tanit Pergotech Ibiza | Similar bioclimatic pergola format — quality installation, no published automatic wind-sensor system | Limited to pergola-type structures |
| Generic retractable awnings | Standard motors, no wind sensor as standard, fabric 3–5 year lifespan in Balearic UV | Budget segment — not engineered for Mallorca's wind or UV intensity |
| SunPro / Soliday | Good fabric technology, limited structural customisation, no Balearic-specific engineering | French mass distribution network — not Balearic-specialist |
SunSquare at a Glance
Coverage per sail
Up to 80 m²
Wind resistance
Beaufort 5-6
Retraction speed
< 50 seconds
Materials
V4A Marine Steel
Fabric
Soltis 92
Smart-home
Alexa · KNX
From
€28,000
Installations
2,000+ Spain
In 1993, SunSquare registered a worldwide patent for the first automatic wind-sensing retractable sun sail — a unified system integrating anemometer, motor controller, and soft-tension drive into a single engineered mechanism. After 30 years and over 15,000 global installations, it remains the only large-span shade system with field-proven performance under real Mediterranean wind conditions. Coverage up to 80 m². Retraction in under 30 seconds.
At the apex of every SunSquare mast sits a cup-type anemometer rated for sustained Beaufort 11+ exposure, feeding continuous wind-speed readings to the controller at 2-second intervals. When threshold is crossed — default Beaufort 5, adjustable per site — the patented soft-tension drive retracts the sail under live wind load, without waiting for calm. Marine-grade V4A steel throughout. The cassette and cable network engineered to last decades without adjustment.
ATELIER · CAMI VELL DE CIUTAT 25A · 07630 CAMPOS · MALLORCA
