Insulating glass production typically employs gas between its panes to limit thermal conductivity, but this may create issues in extreme climates. The best guide to finding Energy Star windows.
Vacuum-insulated glass solves this issue by creating a vacuum between two sheets of glass, which provides wall-like insulation without replacing framing materials.
1. High Insulation Performance
Vacuum Insulating Glass (VIG) achieves superior thermal performance by eliminating gaseous conduction and convection as well as radiation heat transfer through its surface. As such, VIG makes for an excellent high-performance glazing option, providing significant energy savings and comfort benefits in homes.
Glazing without spacers or glue reduces air gaps between glass panes to improve insulation performance compared to double or triple glazing.
Due to the lack of air between glass panes, they will not expand or contract when being moved between altitudes, reducing stress on them and making them less likely to crack or fragment when broken.
Panasonic is making history by producing the world’s first tempered vacuum-insulated glass with transparent pillars and successfully commercializing it through low-temperature metal edge sealing technology. This unique glass type allows it to withstand significantly greater deformation than its conventional insulating glass counterparts.
Fineo VAG window replacement system is an ideal solution for restoration projects and listed buildings where aesthetic considerations are critical. Resembling single glazing and compatible with existing frames, Fineo VAG can help homeowners take advantage of energy and cost-saving benefits without altering their home’s look or feel. Furthermore, its use in urban environments such as new builds and refurbishments helps reduce noise pollution from traffic noise, construction sites, and domestic sources – thus helping reduce noise pollution caused by traffic construction sites or domestic sources.
2. Low-E Coating
The sun is an ever-present source of radiation, radiating all sorts of energy onto our windows and surfaces. Visible light constitutes only part of this electromagnetic spectrum; other forms include shortwave radiation, such as UV rays and infrared heat energy (heat). Solar control glass employs coatings designed to reflect off these unwanted longwave infrared and UV waves while still permitting visible sunlight through.
Although the coatings on these glasses may not be as transparent, they’re still durable. Plus, as an added benefit, they prevent harmful UV rays from passing through and damaging furniture and carpeting.
Guardian’s production plants use magnetron sputter vacuum deposition – commonly referred to as hard coat low-e – for soft coat low-e coating applications, while pyrolytic deposition, known as hard coat low-e, is used for hard coat low-e applications. Guardian uses both processes to apply these coatings – the former involves depositing layers of silver sandwiched between metal oxides in a vacuum chamber onto hot ribbons of glass before fusing the coatings permanently with its surroundings before being fused onto its respective substrates – hard coat low-e or soft coat low-e.
Low-E glass helps lower winter U-values by reflecting heat into rooms from wood stoves and radiators; conversely, in summer, it redirects solar heat away from windows to keep homes cooler. Further insulating features like multiple panes of glass, Argon gas fills, or frame and sash construction all help boost energy performance and enhance performance.
3. Low-Noise
Vacuum insulation glass does not contain air, which significantly decreases thermal transfer and energy losses. As opposed to traditional insulating glass filled with gases like argon or nitrogen, vacuum glass has no permeability and does not alter its U-value depending on installation direction, resulting in more stable indoor temperatures and improved thermal comfort. In addition, the absence of gas eliminates conduction/convection pathways, significantly reducing sound transmission between sides.
Vacuum-insulated glass offers architects and designers greater architectural flexibility while increasing natural light penetration into buildings. This enables them to maximize energy efficiency while upholding aesthetic appeal in buildings.
Vacuum-insulated glass’s ultrathin profile also makes it suitable for retrofitting periods or listed buildings without needing special permission or altering their appearance. More robust than traditional annealed glass and with more excellent resistance to pressure and temperature changes than its traditional insulated glass counterpart, polycarbonate laminate is safer for use at higher altitudes due to fragmenting into blurry chunks rather than sharp shards when broken. Furthermore, polycarbonate can withstand pressure changes with no degradation in performance over time. Production of this glass is automated to the greatest extent, minimizing human intervention and maintaining a clean production environment. This ensures high-quality glass with the lowest carbon footprint; additionally, continuous manufacturing ensures consistency and quality over time.
4. Lead-Free Material
Vacuum insulation reduces thermal transfer between glass panes by eliminating conduction between them, but because it reduces the distance a molecule must travel before hitting another (mean free path), vacuum insulation does not significantly lower the thermal conductivity of glasses.
An essential factor in achieving high insulating performance lies in having a thin spacer that decreases the distance between glass panes and blocks out radiant heat. A stainless steel or nickel-alloy spacer may be melted onto glass surfaces to form this barrier and maintain an optimal gap between the two panes.
To create the spacers required for these installations, materials must be utilized that can withstand the high temperature required of melting processes. Historically, this has meant using toxic lead-based materials; however, Glavenir, an alternative lead-free tempered glass material with no melt point requirement of over 650 degrees C, is now widely used and should no longer be considered toxic or hazardous.
Vacuum-insulated glass keeps its vacuum at a higher temperature than indoor air, eliminating condensation. This feature makes it an excellent solution for areas with cold climates. In addition, vacuum-insulated glass reduces noise between interior and exterior spaces by effectively blocking transmission, thus reducing domestic, traffic, and occupational noise as well as any interference from nearby buildings.
5. Flat Appearance
Vacuum-insulating glass windows offer energy efficiency by offering four times greater insulation performance than double-paned ones and several times that of single-layer ones. They help homeowners reduce heat loss during winter and cold air ingress during summer, significantly cutting their energy costs and saving them money on energy bills.
Traditional IGUs are constructed by sealing two sheets of glass together with epoxy resin, but their structure is susceptible to cracking and aging due to having to fill the space between them with gas that can be difficult to regulate in terms of temperature control (such as argon). Panasonic utilized its extensive PDP development and manufacturing technology to develop an ultra-slim vacuum-insulated glass product suitable for retrofitting into existing wooden windows.
Vacuum insulating glass features high vacuum levels and low-E coatings that produce an elegant, flat appearance to complement the design of any building. Furthermore, its structure is durable and reliable in the long term compared to conventional IGUs that feature sealants composed of butyl rubber or polysulfide that have short lifespans.
LandVac tempered vacuum glass uses an innovative low-temperature sealing material designed specifically to maintain its strength in the event of impact. This keeps contact surface stress concentrated at the pillar-glass interface rather than spreading and creating cone cracks, thus eliminating catastrophic failure and guaranteeing its use within buildings.
6. Transparent Pillars
ViG remains relatively novel to the fenestration industry despite its impressive insulation properties, so NGA, Window + Door’s parent organization, recently hosted a technical webinar about VIG to educate industry members on this innovative glazing technology. Peter Petit from V-Glass, which manages research and development, answered industry member queries while discussing its current status.
VIG’s basic structure consists of two glass panes separated by an array of high-strength spacers, which are hermetically sealed to prevent atmospheric forces from bringing the panes together.
However, this results in undesirable stresses on both glass and spacers due to indentation caused by spacers, the bending stress created by spacers above a spacer, unsupported regions between spacers, and stress at the edges of an edge seal.
One of the critical challenges associated with VIG manufacturing is finding ways to reduce stress. Companies have taken various approaches: thermally insulating materials* are being developed as pillars that can carry hermetic loads without producing significant tension, while designs featuring low friction bearing surfaces and different geometries can reduce mechanical loads by only permitting small relative lateral movements between panes; some manufacturers are researching alternative bonding processes that use lower process temperatures than the high-temperature tempering and hermetic sealing currently required in VIG production; these methods could also reduce mechanical loads while some manufacturers are researching alternative bonding processes that use lower process temperatures;
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