I am a developer in India and making a huge commercial project of 1 million sqft. We want to use hard coated low e glass in single glazing. Ours is a dry and hot climate, where temperature varies from 35 to 45 degrees most time of the year. Can we use low e glass in single glazing and will it give the required performance in single glazing ?
I know in U.S., there are various types of low-E glass products, depending if you are in a heat- or cooling-dominated climate, or mixed (equal heating and cooling days).
So, talk with a manufacturer. If it is a single piece of glass, make sure the manufacturer knows that. From my understanding, only pyrolytic (or "hard coat") low-E glass can be used by itself (monolithically) without being in a sealed unit. Sputter (or "soft coat") low-E, I believe, will degrade and is more susceptible to damage.
Mike
Although the thermal performance may not be optimal, you can certainly eliminate a significant amount of solar heat gain (cooling load) by using a glass with high heat absorptance with a low-emissivity coating on the #2 (interior) surface. The glass will be quite hot to touch when it is exposed to direct sunlight, but the coating will prevent a lot of radiative heat transfer between the glass and the conditioned space.
You want to be sure that most of the energy absorption occurs to the exterior the low-emissivity coating.
As the gentleman said, a durable coating should be used.
Note that fingerprints, dirt, and abrasion can modify both the performance and the appearance of low-e coatings, so exposing the coated surface is not ideal.
Hi,
We are a glass processor based in India, I would suggest that you go for double glazing instead on single glazing.
First of all, it would be really a much better option for energy saving compared to a single glazing.
Secondly,the coating would also slowly loose its energy saving properties due to dust.
THEREFORE IT IS HIGHLY UNADVISABLE TO USE IT IN SINGLE GLAZING.
CAN YOU CONFIRM THAT THIS LOW E GLASS IS GOOD FOR HOT COUNTRIES LIKE INDIA, IF YESS, THEN WHY?