| Technology |
Insulating glass spacers
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Insulating glass unit or double glazed unit is one of the most common types of glass used today for building applications. Due to its excellent thermal and acoustic properties it has almost completely replaced basic monolithic windows. One of the important elements of a double glazed unit is the spacer.
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 The most common insulating glass units are composed of two pieces of glass and a hollow aluminum spacer around the edge of the piece of insulating glass. The hollow spacer has silica poured into it to act as a moisture-removing agent from the spacer between the pieces of glass. The problem with aluminum spacers is that aluminum is an excellent thermal transfer agent, which means that it permits the outside cold temperatures to reach the inside of the insulating glass unit. To prevent thermal loss caused by conventional aluminum spacers in insulating glass units, more and more consumers are demanding low-conductivity materials to separate panes of glass. The answer to this problem was a so-called ?warm edge? spacer. Warm-edge refers to the type of spacer material used to separate the panes of glass (or glazing) in an insulated window unit. If the material conducts less heat or cold than a conventional aluminum spacer at the edge of the glass, it is said to be ?warm-edge.? Most of these newer spacers are less conductive and outperform pure aluminum. Warm edge spacers improve thermal performance of windows, reduce condensation and, with the appropriate machinery, permit faster and easier assembling of insulating glass units. The biggest problem of this type of spacer is still the price as it is more expensive that conventional aluminum spacer. Find more information about this topic on the selected links.
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Photos: Glastech
Last review: November, 2002 |
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