The jumping off point of modern Architectural glass as we know it, was the oil crisis of the 1970’s. The uncoated glass of this era (pre 1970’s) wasted enormous amounts of energy due to the inherent poor thermal properties of uncoated glass.
The Oil Crisis was indeed the catalyst to significantly decrease the amounts of energy which were being used and wasted, heating and cooling buildings full of uncoated glass. The solution, increase the thermal performance of glass by using Thin Film Technology. By depositing thin metal oxides onto the glass, the thermal properties of the glass were enhanced dramatically. The results were massive energy savings around the world.
Architectural glass coating machines are huge, inline, type machines designed for production purposes. Key High Vacuum Products was approached by the OEM manufactures of these unique machines to help solve some of their issues. Due to the substantial size of these machines, there are huge volumes of gas which need to be removed. One of issues the OEM manufacturers were experiencing were high failure rates of the traditional isolation valves. Key High Vacuum Products, Inc. identified the issue of these failures, as the massive air rushes the isolation valves were being subjected to. These air inrushes created a harmonic condition on the Isolation valves bellows assemblies. This harmonic condition dramatically reduced the life of the Isolation valves.
Key High specifically developed the “RAV” Isolation valve series in response. The “RAV” series valves are a “bellow-less” design which feature a rugged, “industrial” design. These valves are tough and are intended to handle harsh environments, such as high differential pressures and high particle environments.
The Architectural Glass industry continues to advance. Today reflective coatings are used in hot climates while absorbing coatings are used in cold climates, thereby improving the energy efficiency as well as the aesthetics of a building. New coatings for example, now can discriminate between WIFI and Radio signals and limit the transmission of these signals into / out of buildings for security purposes. Newer technologies continue to be developed such as reactive coatings, which automatically darken the glass based on the amount of sun light they are exposed to, further reducing energy use while keeping everyone comfortable.
