Feb 14 2007
In the context of CE Marking, most flat glass products sold in the European Union must now conform to European technical standards known as harmonised European Norms (hEN), as dictated by the Comité Européen de Normalisation (CEN).
As a member of the Association of European Flat Glass Manufacturers (GEPVP) Saint-Gobain Glass remains committed to the various initiatives and directives required to ensure that all products are marked accordingly. All mandatory products are now being CE marked at all European SGG plants and much technical and practical support has been provided to customers as they too prepare for compliance.
The 1st of March signifies the next big step as EN 1279 becomes mandatory for producers of Insulating Glass Units (IGUs), the culmination of many months of preparation, testing and quality checks for most of the glass industry. Of particular importance to low-E coating manufacturers is part 3 of this standard, which refers to the measurement of gas concentration and gas leakage within an IGU, thus requiring performance data for some products to be presented at new levels.
Most glass processors now use inert gas (Argon) as standard in order to improve the overall U-value performance of low-E IGUs. Until now glass manufacturers have made technical calculations based on 100% gas-filling within an IGU. However, as EN 1279 comes into force, it has been agreed that a gas-filling level of 90% must be used. This will have an effect on the declared U-value of most high performance low-emissivity products on the market today, despite the fact that the products themselves have not changed.
Derek Dragten, Marketing Manager for Saint-Gobain Glass explains, “The new regulations will affect the U-value calculation at 90% gas-filling of an IGU incorporating our market-leading SGG PLANITHERM TOTAL 1.1. It will subsequently round down to 1.2 W/m2K and as such will now simply be re-branded as SGG PLANITHERM TOTAL. In contrast it so happens that the declared U-value of SGG PLANITHERM TOTAL 1.3 remains unchanged. For those who require even higher performance products, we are currently preparing for the launch of some of our most advanced coatings yet”.
He adds, “As a leader in glass coating technology, Saint-Gobain Glass welcomes these important changes, which promote transparent, comparable and independently audited standards for our industry”