• Energy Research

The thermal performance of vacuum glazing was predicted using two dimensional (2-D) finite element and three dimensional (3-D) finite volume models. In the 2-D model, the vacuum space, including the pillar arrays, was represented by a material whose effective thermal conductivity was determined from the specified vacuum space width, the heat conduction through the pillar array and the calculated radiation heat transfer between the two interior glass surfaces within the vacuum gap. In the 3-D model, the support pillar array was incorporated and modeled within the glazing unit directly. The difference in predicted overall heat transfer coefficients between the two models for the vacuum window simulated was less than 3%. A guarded hot box calorimeter was used to determine the experimental thermal performance of vacuum glazing. The experimentally determined overall heat transfer coefficient and temperature profiles along the central line of the vacuum glazing are in very good agreement with the predictions made using the 2-D and 3-D models.

The thermal performances of vacuum glazings employing coatings with emittance between 0.02 and 0.16 were simulated using a three-dimensional finite volume model. Physical samples of vacuum glazings with hard and soft coatings with emittance of 0.04, 0.12 and 0.16 were fabricated and their thermal performance characterised experimentally using a guarded hot box calorimeter. Good agreement was found between experimental and theoretical thermal performances for both a vacuum glazing with a soft coating (emittance 0.04) and those with hard coatings (emittance 0.12 and 0.16). Simulations showed that for a low value of emittance (e.g. 0.02), the use of two low-emittance coatings gives limited improvement in thermal performance of the glazing system. The use of a single high performance low-emittance coating in a vacuum glazing has been shown to provide excellent performance.

Vacuum glazing Finite element model Finite volume model Low-emittance coating Triple vacuum glazing Hybrid vacuum glazing Electrochromic vacuum glazing abstract Vacuum glazing consists of two parallel glass sheets with a narrow vacuum gap in between. The sheets are separated by an array of support pillars under the influence of atmospheric pressure imposed on the external surfaces of the two glass sheets. The vacuum gap sealed by a sealant (either solder glass or indium alloy) minimizes the air heat conduction and convection across the glazing. One or two high performance low emittance (low-e) coatings deposited on the internal surface(s) within the vacuum gap reduces the radiative heat transfer to a very low level. The heat transmittance of 0.80 W m � 2 K � 1 and 0.86 W m � 2 K � 1 at the central area of vacuum glazing with two low-e coatings and support pillars of 0.25 mm and 0.4 mm in diameter were achieved and experimentally characterized using the guarded hot box calorimeters by the University of Sydney and the University of Ulster, respectively. If combined with solar control glazing such as electrochromic (EC) glazing, it has a great potential to significantly reduce the load of heating in winter and cooling in summer and to provide thermal comfort for the occupants. If combined with the third glass sheet forming a gas filled or second vacuum gap, the heat transmittance will be further reduced. In this work, the basic characteristics and fabrication process of vacuum glazing are reviewed. The potential performance of vacuum glazing, EC vacuum glazing and other hybrid vacuum glazing with second either gas filled gap or vacuum gap are presented.

Abstract The thermal performance of an electrochromic vacuum glazing and a vacuum glazing with a range of low-emittance coatings and frame rebate depths were simulated for insolations between 0 and 1000 W m −2 using a three-dimensional finite volume model. The vacuum glazing simulated comprised two 0.4 m×0.4 m glass panes separated by a 0.12 mm wide evacuated space supported by a 0.32 mm diameter pillar array spaced at 25 mm. The two glass sheets were sealed contiguously by a 6 mm wide metal edge seal and had either one or two low-emittance coatings. For the electrochromic vacuum glazing, a third glass pane on which an electrochromic layer was deposited was assumed to be sealed to an evacuated glass unit, to enable control of visible light transmittance and solar gain and thus improve occupant thermal comfort. It is shown that for both vacuum glazing and electrochromic vacuum glazings, when the coating emittance value is very low (close to 0.02), the use of two low-emittance coatings only gives limited improvement in glazing performance. The use of a single currently expensive low-emittance coating in both systems provided acceptable performance. Deeper frame rebate depths gave significant improvements in thermal performance for both glazing systems.

The thermal performance of a complex multimaterial frame consisting of an exoskeleton framework and cavities filled with insulant materials enclosing an evacuated glazing was simulated using a two-dimensional finite element model and the results were validated experimentally using a guarded hot box calorimeter. The analysed 0.5 m by 0.5 m evacuated glazing consisted of two low-emittance film coated glass panes supported by an array of 0.32 mm diameter pillars spaced 25 mm apart, contiguously sealed by a 10 mm wide metal edge seal. Thermal performance of windows employing evacuated glazing set in various complex multimaterial frames were analysed in detail. Very good agreement was found between simulations and experimental measurements of surface temperatures of the evacuated glazing window system. The heat loss from a window with an evacuated glazing and a complex multimaterial frame is about 80% of that for a window comprised of an evacuated glazing set in a single material solid frame. (c) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Details of theoretical and experimental studies of the change in vacuum pressure within a vacuum glazing after extreme thermal cycling are presented. The vacuum glazing was fabricated at low temperature using an indium edge seal. It comprised two 4 mm thick 0.4 m by 0.4 m low-emittance glass panes separated by an array of stainless steel pillars with a diameter of 0.32 mm and a height of 0.2 mm. After thermal cycling in the temperature range-30°C to +50°C on one side of the sample, while maintaining 22°C on the other side, it was found that the glass to glass heat conductance of the sample had increased by 8.2%. The vacuum pressure within the evacuated gap was determined to have increased from 0.01 Pa to 0.15 Pa using the model of Corrucini. This is at the upper limit of the range where the effect of gas pressure on the thermal performance of vacuum glazing can be ignored. The degradation of vacuum level determined was corroborated by the change in glass surface temperatures.

Hermeticity of vacuum edge-sealing materials are one of the paramount requirements, specifically, to the evolution of energy-efficient smart windows and solar thermal evacuated flat plate collectors. This study reports the design, construction and performance of high-vacuum glazing fabrication system and vacuum insulated glazing (VIG). Experimental and theoretical investigations for the development of vacuum edgeseal made of Sn-Pb-Zn-Sb-AlTiSiCu composite in the proportion ratio of 56:39:3:1:1 by % (CS-186) are presented. Experimental investigations of the seven constructed VIG samples, each of size 300mm·300mm·4 mm, showed that increasing the hot-plate surface temperatures improved the cavity vacuum pressure whilst expediting the pump-out hole sealing process but also increases temperature induced stresses. Successful pump-out hole sealing process of VIG attained at the hot-plate set point temperature of 50˚C and the approximate cavity pressure of 0.042 Pa was achieved. An experimentally and theoretically validated finite volume model (FVM) was utilised. The centre-of-pane and total thermal transmittance values are calculated to be 0.91 Wm-2K-1 and 1.05 Wm-2K-1, respectively for the VIG. FVM results predicted that by reducing the width of vacuum edge seal and emissivity of coatings the thermal performance of the VIG is improved.