COMMERCIAL GLASS RESOURCES

ARCHITECTURAL NEWS

Low-e benefits
Coatings in the glass industry
Double-skin façades
Glass loads
Keeping Mother Nature happy
Thermal Safety

CareyGlass maintains a regularly updated Architectural News Section.

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Low-e benefits

USEFUL LINKS

It's been two decades now since low-e was first introduced to the market. Nobody questions its excellent thermal performance, yet insulating glass wit low-e coating is rarely used in construction. Glass On Web would like to remind you about the benefits and the cost savings achieved by using low-e glass.

During the energy crisis of the 1970's the whole world was determined to reduce the natural resource consumption. The major problem in case of glass was the significant heat loss through the glazing surface. The consequence was a lot of wasted energy and money. In 1980 the commercial development of thin, transparent, low emissive coatings literally revolutionised the concept of energy savings in windows. The low-e coating, placed on the inside of the insulating glass unit, enables the sun's short-wave energy to enter the room and at the same time prevents internal warm air from leaving the room. To know more about the benefits, energy and money savings take a look at the related links on the web which we have prepared for you.

Don’t forget the wind!
To prevent brakeages from wind pressure, sufficient thickens and appropriate type of glass must be selected. The selection of thickness and type of glass depends on specific calculations.

Amongst other impact conditions (heat, snow, water, human…) that affect glazing surfaces, resistance to wind pressure must be taken into consideration, so as to avoid glass breakages.

To prevent brakeages from wind pressures, sufficient thicknesses and appropriate types of glass must be selected. The selection of thickness and type of glass, depends on specific calculations that determine the appropriate combination. It is necessary to include the following factors when calculating wind pressure: area where building is positioned, shape of building, support system (frames), height of building.

Contact our Technical Support Team to gather additional facts about the importance and calculation of wind pressure.

Useful links to industry associations, semi-state organisations, government departments, exhibitions and conferences.

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Coatings in the glass industry

The invention of the float glass process and the introduction of curtain wall glazing systems inspired architects and designers to use larger areas of glass and eventually replace traditional heavy walls.

The results of such developments were futuristic buildings with bad thermal performance, as basic float glass allows heat to escape through the glazing surface in winter, while in summer it permits sunlight to enter, thus causing overheating. This lead glass manufacturers to develop new technologies aimed at overcoming these limitations. The solution was a simple layer of coating which reduces energy wasted on heating and cooling while conserving energy. Today's coatings can be practically custom-made to fit into any environmental conditions and offer a specific look and performance. The applications of coating technology are endless, so it comes as no surprise that coated glass production and research increase each year. In the United States coated glass accounts for some 40% of all windows sold annually. In Europe, the number is even more significant, given that some 90% of all windows sold are coated. In the future we can expect coating that will react to external stimuli, the so-called “smart glass”, offering maximum comfort and excellent energy efficiency inside buildings.

Contact our Technical Support Team to gather additional facts about the possibilities.

Double-skin façades

In recent years, the use of double-skin façades, sometimes referred to as a “building in a building”, has gained a lot of popularity throughout the world, due to characteristics such as durability, ecology, easy circulation of fresh-air, use of natural resources.

As indicated by the term “double-skin” such a façade is intended to mean a system in which two "skins" - two layers of glass - are separated by a significant amount of air space, that is to say, a second glass façade is placed in front of the first. These two sheets of glass act as an insulation between the outside and inside enabling the air to circulate between the cavity of the two facades skin providing good air circulation, thermal and acoustic performance, etc. The type of double-skin façade then determines the type of air circulation. Of course, the most interesting systems are those designed in such a way that in addition to permitting natural air circulation, they also use solar energy, converting it into electrical energy.

Contact our Sales Team for information

Glass loads

Glass is subjected to different types of environmental and human loads, which can cause the malfunction or breakage of glazed surfaces. Contact our technical support team about impact conditions, how to determine and calculate their potential effects on glazed surfaces.

Since each load has a specific impact on glass, and different calculation formulas, it is important to understand each of these phenomena in order to determine the appropriate glass.

Wind Load Design Guidelines
Breaking Stress Level
The structural behaviour of glass is such that breakage risk must be determined using statistical theory. Failure always results when a tensile component of stress exceeds the tensile strength of the plate at a particular location. Stress is influenced by plate geometry, fabrication, support conditions, surface quality, type/rate of loading, etc.

Breakage Probability vs. Maximum Tension Stress
Maximum stress in a plate is one factor which determines breakage risk. Computer analysis is a sophisticated means for estimating tension stress as a function of design load selected by architects to meet job requirements. Fracture risk, while never entirely eliminated, usually can be reduced to a practical level acceptable to professional and regulatory authorities.

Glass Thickness Recommendations
Computer analysis, verified by full size load testing, confirms that plate geometry affects maximum tension stress level and location significantly. Glass thickness recommendations will take aspect ratio (long side /short side) and other specification variables into account.

CareyGlass Computer Service
For large products, CareyGlass offers technical service to design professionals. Based on finite element analysis, confirmed by full scale tests, our technical support team will estimates glass thickness recommendations to meet the design professional's wind load requirements.

Human Load Guidelines
Live loads are non-permanent, or movable, loads within buildings caused by the weight of people, furnishings, storage of objects, etc. They are relatively unpredictable, vary over time and are often dynamic, rather than static, in their application. Since it is not possible to measure these loads absolutely, a probabilistic approach is used: values are assigned to various types of occupancies based on "worse case" expectations, taking into consideration actual observed loading conditions and the historical record of structural failures.

Since these determinations are generic to various occupancy classifications, and are not unique to each structure, the problem of determining live loads is taken out of the hands of building designers altogether, and appears as a mandate of government in the form of building codes. Within these codes, the actual complex behaviour of live loads is reduced to an array of uniformly distributed values, one for each type of occupancy. Examples of these live load values, which vary slightly from code to code.

As floor areas become larger, it becomes increasingly improbable that the full live load will ever be present; therefore, a reduction in live load is generally permitted for structural elements "influenced" by relatively large floor areas. These so-called influence areas are different from the tributary areas used to compute "unreduced" loads -- they are, in fact, 4 times larger for columns and 2 times larger for beams

Keeping Mother Nature happy

The need to reduce fossil fuel consumption by introducing new technologies was born from the increasing awareness of the environmental impact of pollution. If you want to know more, check out this article.

CareyGlass has made significant progress in this direction. It is possible to apply special kinds of glasses and systems which minimise fossil fuel consumption and reduce carbon dioxide emissions in the atmosphere. Some glass applications also uses alternative natural resources to preserve the environment we live in.

Low E Glass
One of the newest innovations in energy efficient windows is Low Emissivity, or Low E glass. CareyGlass Low-E is a clear glass which has a microscopically-thin coating of metal oxide. This allows the sun's heat and light to pass trough the glass into the building. At the same time it blocks heat from leaving the room, reducing heat loss considerably.
Low-E glass improves thermal performance and reduces solar heat gain in residential and commercial glazing applications compared to standard clear glass units.

How it works
1	Our Low-E allows most natural light to enter freely but absorbs a significant portion of short-wave heat energy.
2	In the summer, long-wave heat energy radiating from objects is reflected back outside, lowering cooling cost.
3	In winter, internal long-wave heat energy is reflected back inside, lowering heating cost.

Talk to our Sales Team about glazing systems for environmentally-friendly buildings.

Thermal Safety

Because of its chemical and mechanical properties glass is very vulnerable to rapid increases or decreases of temperature across its area. These changes may lead to thermal shock. Discover with us some interesting facts about these phenomena.
When glass is exposed to high temperatures, it absorbs heat and expands. At the same time, its edges remain cooler, causing thermal stress. Similar effects can occur when there is a rapid decrease of external temperatures and contemporaneous internal heating.

Talk to our Sales Team about thermal safety in glazing.