New technology concept for low-e tempering in North American glass market

Date: 2 April 2002

Tamglass has launched a new technology concept of convection heating for Low-E tempering in order to provide higher production capacity and better optical quality for the glass processors in North America.

SuperConvection with Profiled Convection System (PCS) has been introduced in NGA 2002. The new furnace has been developed in Tamlass Group and will be manufactured by Tamglass Tempering Systems Inc.

The new flat tempering furnace has been developed for the ongoing trend of growing use of Low-E in the architectural glass business especially in North America. Glass coating innovations with new features are constantly coming to the market. One of the main drivers for this trend are the regulations towards energy efficient constructing. To meet these requirements low-emissivity glass is used for windows and facades. Soon Low-E glass can be described as a standard in architecture.

Fast glass processing - Better profitability

With SuperConvection, certain Low-E products can be processed at similar speed as clear glass in traditional furnace. At the same time, the quality is improved with better flatness and optical quality. The operating envelope is extended with improved capabilities. There is less margin for error. The bottom line is to improve glass tempering with reduced reject and rework rates and with shorter throughput times as well.

Convection heating is the most effective method in case of Low-E and other coated glass types, since the heat transfer rate from the air to the glass is practically the same regardless of the nature of coating. SuperConvection system increases capacity, depending on the glass type, up to 40% compared to the traditional furnaces on the market .

No movable components inside the hot furnace - Maximum reliability

With Profiled Convection System (PCS) heat transfer to glass is optimized and situations like uneven heating can be prevented now first time including the large architectural glass sizes. Especially the soft-coated low-E products, requiring extended cycle times previously, see a dramatic decrease in heating time with the new furnace.

SuperConvection innovation is unique as the convection heating system does not inlcude any movable parts or short lifecycle components like hot fans inside the furnace. The convection compressor system (pat. pend.) locates and operates in the room temperature, which also provides a useful innovation of filtering the air supply to the furnace. Thanks to the CleanAirCon filtering system the air is 99.9% clean, and hence there are no impurities present during the process. This creates the most ideal environment under hot conditions. The convection system is equipped with HeatEx heat recovery system, which recycles the energy back to the furnace without energy loss.