The insulating glass super spacer 101: A heat insulation strip for efficiency and sustainability.
Generally speaking, developed countries are big energy-consuming countries, of which building energy consumption accounts for more than 25%. To reduce energy consumption, developed countries have carried out many energy-saving reforms, and the current energy-saving energy reforms mainly improve the energy-saving performance of building envelopes. , because in the total energy consumption of the building envelope, the energy consumption of building doors and windows accounts for 49% of its energy consumption. Building doors and windows are the weakest parts of a building's thermal insulation performance, which directly affects the energy-saving performance of buildings. Therefore, improving the thermal insulation performance of doors and windows is the main way to ensure energy-saving buildings. Energy-saving doors and windows are more and more concern by people and society.
In the 1980s, American Aijie Insulating Glass Technology Co., Ltd. successfully developed the insulating glass super spacer. The spacer does not contain any metal material and is made of 100% polyester elastic microporous structure material. It can be applied It is used in the intermediate partition system of insulating glass for doors, windows, and curtain walls. The spacer solves the contradiction between energy-saving and durability of insulating glass at the same time, causing a revolution in the insulating glass industry, greatly improving the energy-saving effect and service life of door and window glass. At present, the super spacer has been widely used in developed countries such as Europe and the United States. With the improvement of building energy-saving requirements in my country, super spacers will be widely used.
1. The use of the super spacer
In the production of insulating glass, the super spacer only replaces the aluminum spacer of ordinary insulating glass. The super spacer contains a 40% molecular sieve, and the two sides of the spacer have been coated with acrylic structural adhesive, so in the production process, the steps of installing the molecular sieve and applying butyl rubber are omitted, and the molecular sieve and butyl rubber are also saved. material cost and labor cost. The equipment for installing super spacer bars is divided into manual equipment and automatic equipment. Manual equipment is simple and easy to operate, which can meet the supporting requirements of insulating glass production lines in some developing countries, and the price is low only a few thousand dollars. Automatic equipment is expensive and efficient. high. After the spacer is installed, the second piece of glass can be placed, either by manual processing or by automatic processing, without hot pressing. Then, polysulfide sealants, hot melt butyl sealants, and polyurethane can be applied (for door and window glass), or silicone structural adhesive (for hidden frame curtain wall glass).
2. The performance of the superspacer
1. Energy saving
The super spacer does not contain any metal material, it is a thermosetting, elastic, microporous structure, and has the characteristics of strong breathing. The thermal conductivity value of the super spacer is only 0.168W/m2.K, which is 1/950 of the aluminum spacer and 1/85 of the stainless steel spacer, which is almost non-existent. The ratio of insulating glass made with the super spacer to slot aluminum insulating glass can reduce the K value by 0.6-0.8W/m2.K, which has an excellent energy-saving effect, and the K value of the whole window can be reduced by 0.2-0.4W/m2.K.
Figure 1 The sufficient structural strength required about the super spacer
2. The elastic memory function
The super spacer is a thermosetting, elastic, microporous structure with a 100% elastic memory function, which can reduce the stress of the insulating glass and reduce the explosion of the insulating glass during transportation and installation. At the same time, due to the influence of external factors such as temperature difference, wind load, pressure, etc., it is always in the "pump" movement of expansion and contraction, and stress is formed at the edge seal of the glass. When the glass is deflected inward, stress is formed at the contact between the inner side of the glass and the chamfer at the upper end of the spacer, the sealant at the upper end is squeezed inward, and the sealant at the lower end, especially the structural sealant, stretches outward; when the glass is deflected outward, Stress is formed at the contact between the inner side of the glass and the chamfer at the lower end of the spacer, the sealant at the upper end, especially the sealing butyl sealant, stretches outward to shorten the water and air passage, and the sealant at the lower end, especially the structural sealant, squeezes outward and inward. This "pump" movement of IG is inevitable for any structural IG structure. But in terms of performance and consequences, it is different. For the slot aluminum spacer, when the insulating glass expands and contracts, due to the rigidity of the aluminum metal, it cannot absorb or buffer the stress generated by the glass movement. Therefore, the stress on the contact surface between the inner side of the glass and the aluminum spacer is very large; On the contrary, the super spacer is elastic, when the insulating glass expands and contracts, it will be in the same direction as the glass movement, to minimize the edge cloth stress, thereby minimizing the possibility of the insulating glass bursting, and improving the sealing life of the insulating glass. The rigidity of the aluminum spacer not only shortens the sealing life of the insulating glass of this structure but also increases the possibility of the insulating glass bursting, which is most prominent in areas with large temperature differences, especially in cold winter areas.
Figure 2 The three channal sealing structure of super spacer strips
3. Durability
All products of Super Spacer have passed the strictest accelerated aging test in the insulating glass industry. One week of the P1 testing life of insulating glass is considered by industry experts to be equivalent to one year of actual use. Insulating glass made with a standard super spacer and hot melt butyl adhesive passed at least 60 weeks of P1 testing, and the performance of the super spacer was even better, passing the test for up to 125 weeks. At the same time, the insulating glass made with a super spacer has a wide working temperature range, ranging from -51°C to 127°C. In developed countries, the shelf life of insulating glass made with other spacer sealing structures is only 5-15 years, while the shelf life of insulating glass made with super spacers is 20-30 years.
Figure 3 The Durability function of super spacer strips
4. Anti-condensation and noise reduction
The thermal conductivity value of the super spacer is only 0.168W/m2.K, which is 1/950 of that of the aluminum spacer. Compared with the trough aluminum insulating glass, the edge temperature can be increased by 9.23℃, which greatly improves the condensation resistance; The sound volume can be increased by 18%, and the noise reduction ability can be increased by 7-10 decibels.
5. Convenience
The use of super spacers to make insulating glass is simple to operate, easy to learn, feasible, and greatly improves production efficiency. At the same time, because the super spacer is an elastic material, it is not limited by the shape of the glass in the production, and different special-shaped insulating glass can be produced, and the operation is the same as the production of ordinary insulating glass, and there is no need to increase the production process, which is very convenient. At the same time, there are a variety of colors to choose from, complete specifications, and the width can be freely selected from 2.5mm to 25mm.
3. The standard of super spacer
The super spacer has passed the industry standards of many countries and regions. Including various ASTM standards in North America (the US and Canada), European EN1279 part2 and part3, and EN1279 part3 argon bleed test, China GB11944/2002 standard test, US hurricane test, and national standardized tests for Germany, UK, Norway, and Spain.
Figure 4 The super spacer strips difference industry standards of many countries and regions
4. The honor of the superspacer
Judging from the application of super spacer in developed countries, it is in the ascendant, and it is more and more widely popularized and applied. Due to the excellent performance of the super spacer, it has won many honors in many countries and industries, such as the Solar Energy Company of the Year Award of the Canadian Solar Energy Association in 1994, the highest honor Crystal Achievement Award of the American Door and Window Association in 2002 and 2004, and the British Door and Window Award in 2004. The Association's annual G04 Energy Conservation Innovation Award is known as the industry's Oscars.
According to the statistics of the American Door and Window Association, in 1990, insulating glass made with aluminum spacer technology (ie cold edge) accounted for 85% of the North American market, while insulating glass made with warm edge spacers with low thermal conductivity accounted for only 15%; At the end of 2000, cold edge technology dropped to 20%, while the market share of warm edge spacers with low thermal conductivity rose to 80%. With the successful introduction of energy-saving policies in developing countries, warm edge insulating glass will become the mainstream of insulating glass, and super spacers will be the first choice.
If you have any questions or want to know more about other knowledge about glass processing industry, please leave a message in the comment area.
For more information about insulating glass processing equipment and insulating glass processing accessories, please click here to learn more.
