Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 54 (2016) 13451357

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Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/rser

Vacuum glazing for highly insulating windows: Recent developments

and future prospects
Erdem Cuce a,b,n, Pinar Mert Cuce a,c
a
Department of Architecture and Built Environment, Faculty of Engineering, University of Nottingham, University Park, NG7 2 RD Nottingham, UK
b
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Bayburt, 69000 Bayburt, Turkey
c
Republic of Turkey Ministry of National Education, Ankara, Turkey

art ic l e i nf o a b s t r a c t

Article history: A comprehensive review of vacuum glazing technology from state-of-the-art developments to future
Received 13 September 2015 prospects has been presented. The review has been conducted in a thematic way in order to allow an
Received in revised form easier comparison, discussion and evaluation of the ndings. First, a thorough overview of historical
21 October 2015
development of vacuum glazing has been given. Then, numerous experimental, theoretical, numerical
Accepted 26 October 2015
and simulation works on the scope have been evaluated and the characteristic results from the said
Available online 11 November 2015
works have been analyzed. Commercial vacuum glazing products in market have been assessed in terms
Keywords: of several performance parameters such as overall heat transfer coefcient, visible light transmittance,
Vacuum glazing solar heat gain coefcient and cost. Techno-economic and environmental aspects of vacuum glazing
U-value
technology have also been discussed. It can be concluded from the results that overall heat transfer
Buildings
coefcient of a vacuum glazing can be reduced up to 0.20 W/m2K through optimized integrations with
Energy consumption
Carbon abatement low-e coatings. The incomparable U-value range of vacuum glazing enables signicant mitigation in
Retrot energy consumption levels and greenhouse gas emissions. Retrotting 25.6 million homes in the UK with
vacuum glazing can provide a carbon abatement of about 40 million tonnes a year, which is very pro-
mising.
& 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Contents

1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1346
1.1. Windows and heat loss . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1346
1.2. Global necessity to novel window technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1346
2. Vacuum glazing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1346
2.1. Description of vacuum glazing concept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1346
2.2. History of vacuum glazing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1347
3. Performance investigation of vacuum glazing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1348
3.1. Experimental works. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1348
3.2. Theoretical works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1348
3.3. Numerical works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1350
3.4. Simulation works. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1351
4. Commercial products of vacuum glazing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1352
4.1. Pilkington SPACIA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1353
4.2. Pilkington SPACIA-21 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1353
4.3. Laminated SPACIA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1353
5. Comparative in-situ testing performance of vacuum glazing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1354
6. Environmental impact of vacuum glazing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1355
7. Further works on vacuum glazing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1356

n
Corresponding author at: Department of Architecture and Built Environment,
Faculty of Engineering, University of Nottingham, University Park, NG7 2RD
Nottingham, UK. Tel.: 44 115 951 4882.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2015.10.134
1364-0321/& 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1346 E. Cuce, P.M. Cuce / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 54 (2016) 13451357
8. Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1356
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1356
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1356
1. Introduction
1.1. Windows and heat loss
Recent reports released by International Energy Agency (IEA)
clearly indicates that buildings are responsible for about 40% of
total world energy consumption in 2014 [1], and current predic-
tions demonstrate that the trend will continue if decisive mea-
sures are not taken. Besides the remarkable role of buildings in
global energy consumption, growing signicance of environmental
issues related to buildings is also unequivocal [2,3]. Greenhouse
gas emissions emitted by buildings in many developed countries
account for more than 30% of total emission as reported by Bae-
tens et al. [4]. In this respect, numerous attempts are made
worldwide to mitigate energy consumed in buildings, and thus to
halt greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere. The most pro-
minent measure of the world in recent years can be considered as
putting extra attention to renewables [5,6]. However, renewable
energy resources currently supply only about 14% of total world
energy demand as previously revealed by Hasan and Sumathy [7]
and Panwar et al. [8]. Therefore, additional measures such as
developing high-efcient, cost-effective and environmentally
friendly building elements are notably required.
It is well-documented in literature that the greatest percentage
of the energy consumed in buildings belongs to the energy losses
through building envelope as a consequence of poor thermal
insulation characteristics of existing building elements notably
windows [9]. Windows are indispensable components of building
envelope which provide air ventilation, vision, day-lighting, pas-
sive solar gain and the opportunity to leave the building in
extreme situations. However, they are responsible for a signicant
amount of energy used in buildings due to their remarkably higher
U-values compared to other components of building envelope. As
reported by Cuce [9] for a typical building, the U-values of roof,
oor, external walls and windows are around 0.16, 0.25, 0.30 and
2.00 W/m2K, respectively. Windows play a signicant role in
heating and cooling demand of buildings, particularly when their
overall area is large. According to the results of comprehensive
review on fenestration systems by Jelle et al. [10], about 60% of
total energy consumption in buildings is attributed to the win-
dows. Due to the signicance of windows in reducing heating and
cooling demand of buildings, considerable attention at global scale
is given to improving their performance.
1.2. Global necessity to novel window technologies
As global energy prices have a remarkably increasing trend,
there is a growing awareness of the energy efciency requirement
in all areas, and as emphasized previously buildings are of sig-
nicant relevance. In this respect, new building standards are
invoked by many developed countries to be able to improve the
fabric efciency of new buildings and in some cases to also enhance
the thermal performance of existing buildings through a process of
energy-efcient retrotting [1]. The UK is one such country, where
the energy efciency is considered as being crucial for both new
and existing buildings [11]. A recent program of tightening building
standards is agreed for the majority of the UK regions, where all
new buildings will have to achieve an energy rating label scale in
terms of energy consumption and emissions [12]. In light of this
program, The UK aims at reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by
80% by 2050, where the residential sector accounts for 27% of total
emissions [13]. The program also adopts a fabric energy efciency
standard, where the new buildings have to achieve an annual
energy demand below a certain maximum level. For instance, a
detached dwelling in the UK would have to achieve annual energy
requirement for heating below 46 kWh/m2year resulting to the U-
values of windows in the region of or lower than 1.21.4 W/m2K to
be able to meet the fabric energy efciency standard as recently
reported by Cuce et al. [14]. Similarly in Germany, the Passivhaus
Standard set out by the Passivhaus Institute of Darmstadt indicates
that the buildings are expected to require an energy amount less
than 15 kWh/m2year for space heating/cooling per year corre-
sponding to a U-value range for windows below 0.85 W/m2K [15].
Unfortunately, conventional window technologies are not capable
of meeting such high thermal standards and this situation results in
high energy consumption and consequently increases the CO2
emissions to the atmosphere. Current fenestration market is
dominated by air or Argon lled double glazed windows due to
their remarkably better thermal insulation performance compared
to conventional single glazing, and well-documented fabrication
process. However, their U-values are still very high as illustrated in
Table 1, and insufcient to fulll the requirements of low-carbon
building concepts adopted by many developed countries [16,17].
Therefore, there is a consensus among scientists on the global
necessity of low-cost, efcient and environmentally friendly win-
dow technologies. The objective of this research is to provide the
state-of-the-art developments on vacuum glazing, which is one of
the most promising glazing technology developed for low/zero
carbon building concept.
2. Vacuum glazing
2.1. Description of vacuum glazing concept
Vacuum glazing is a unique and high performance fenestration
technology which enables minimum heat loss and high visible
transmittance in a slim window product [18]. The idea was rst
introduced by Zoller in 1913 [19,20] but was not successfully
fabricated until 1989 [21]. The rst successful manufacturing of
vacuum glazing was achieved by Robinson and Collins [22] at the
University of Sydney. The glazing conguration utilized a con-
tiguous solder glass edge seal which can be produced only at a
process temperature above 450 C. At a further stage, they eluci-
dated this prerequisite by producing an edge seal vacuum glazing
at below 200 C [2325].
Vacuum glazing technology does not have complex fabrication
details. A conventional vacuum glazing consists of two sheets of
glass separated by a vacuum medium with an array of support
Table 1
U-values of commercial glazing products.
U-value (W/m2K) Pilkington [16] Ref. [17]
Air lled double glazed window 2.70 2.53
Air lled double glazed window with low-e 2.00 2.10
Argon lled double glazed window with low-e 1.80 1.90
 E. Cuce, P.M. Cuce / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 54 (2016) 13451357 1347

pillars keeping the two sheets of glass apart as shown in Fig. 1 [9].
The support pillars are mostly imperceptible from a distance of
about 23 m, hence their inuence on vision is negligible [2628].
The key role of the vacuum gap between the glass sheets is to
eliminate the conduction and convection which play a signicant
role in the U-value of fenestration products.
2.2. History of vacuum glazing
The concept of vacuum glazing, which is essentially based on
minimizing conductive and convective heat transfer in a glazing
via a vacuum gap, is not new and its origination goes back to the
1910s. The idea was rst proposed by Zoller in 1913 and granted
with a patent in 1914 [19]. However, the rst successful vacuum
glazing products could only be developed by the end of 20th
century due to the considerable difculties in fabricating a work-
ing vacuum glazing sample. The working principle of vacuum
glazing is similar to that of double glazing in which the gas-lled
space is evacuated to a particular pressure to be able to eliminate
convection and gaseous conduction [29]. However, fabrication
process of vacuum glazing is considerably complicated compared
to other glazing technologies. Especially challenges in developing
vacuum-tight and thermally insulating materials to be utilized in
edge seal notably delayed the commercialization of vacuum glaz-
ing [30]. However, theoretical works and continuing stream of
patents in the eld of vacuum glazing over the last decades indi-
cated the high level of interest in this unique fenestration tech-
nology as a consequence of the global awareness of the role of
windows in total energy consumption [31]. The rst samples of
vacuum glazing were fabricated in the early 1980s, however the
thermal performance achieved was poor as the level of vacuum,
which needs to be below 0.1 Pa to eliminate gaseous conduction,
was not sufcient [32]. Following the development of a new
sealing technique, the rst successful vacuum glazing sample was
fabricated at the University of Sydney in 1989 [33]. The rst
commercialization attempts of vacuum glazing started in 2000 s
by Nippon Sheet Glass (NSG) Group. Three different vacuum
glazing products called SPACIA, SPACIA-21 and Laminated SPACIA
were fabricated in Japan and intensive efforts were made in the
following years to enhance the thermal insulation characteristics
and cost-effectiveness of the aforesaid vacuum glazing products.
The SPACIA was constructed from two 3, 4 or 5 mm sheets of glass,
with pillars 0.2 mm high and 0.5 mm diameter. A single low-e
coating was utilized as shown in Fig. 2a yielding to a U-value of

Fig. 1. The 3D schematic of a conventional vacuum glazing.

Fig. 2. Structural details of (a) SPACIA and (b) SPACIA-21.

1348 E. Cuce, P.M. Cuce / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 54 (2016) 13451357
1.5 W/m2K for the entire glazing. In the SPACIA-21, an Argon gap
was used in collaboration with single or double silver low-e
coating as illustrated in Fig. 2b resulting in a U-value around
0.7 W/m2K. For the applications where the strength is requisite,
the vacuum glazing was laminated with an additional glass sheet,
thus the Laminated SPACIA was produced having a U-value similar
to the standard SPACIA [34].
3. Performance investigation of vacuum glazing
The rst samples of vacuum glazing successfully fabricated at
the University of Sydney remarkably stimulated the research on
this novel technology, and as a consequence this, a group at the
University of Ulster investigated the potential of developing a
lower temperature sealing method to notably overcome the pro-
blems of the high-temperature method such as coating degrada-
tion, loss of temper and high embodied energy. The technique
developed enabled vacuum glazing to be fabricated at tempera-
tures lower than 160 C. The glazing sample developed through
this method at the University of Ulster utilized an indium or an
indium alloy seal with a secondary seal used to prevent moisture
ingress from occurring. The best U-value achieved was reported to
be 0.86 W/m2K. From the 2000s to present, research was mostly
focused on improving the U-value of the existing vacuum glazing
products. In this respect, numerous experimental, theoretical,
numerical and simulations works were conducted especially in
recent years. In this section, a comprehensive assessment of the
aforementioned works is presented.
3.1. Experimental works
Fang et al. [35] conducted an experimental research to evaluate
the thermal performance of a novel hybrid vacuum glazing inte-
grated with an air gap and low-e coating. They investigated the
impact of vacuum gap conguration on the overall thermal insu-
lation performance as shown in Fig. 3. The lowest U-value was
reported to be 0.24 W/m2K for the sample integrated with three
low-e coatings. A similar work was conducted by Manz et al. [36] in
Switzerland on a triple vacuum glazing sample. The impacts of
emittances of glass sheet surfaces inside the cavity, support pillar
radius, support pillar separation and thermal conductivity of sup-
port pillar material on the average U-value of vacuum glazing were
investigated experimentally as illustrated in Fig. 4. The U-value was
found to be 0.20 W/m2K by using stainless steel support pillars and
Fig. 3. Different congurations of hybrid vacuum glazing developed by Fang et al. [35].
four low-e coatings. Cuce and Riffat [37] developed a unique
vacuum glazing concept called vacuum tube window at the Uni-
versity of Nottingham, and conducted several experiments on dif-
ferent samples fabricated for an accurate thermal insulation per-
formance assessment. Vacuum tube window concept was basically
the combination of a particular amount of evacuated glass tubes at
optimized dimensions, and integration of them into a double glazed
frame as illustrated in Fig. 5. The evacuated tubes at a particular
vacuum pressure were xed between two glass window panes and
for the external connection between vacuum tubes, an insulating
adhesive was utilized. The results indicated that the U-value of
vacuum tube window is highly dependent on the tube diameter (D)
as shown in Fig. 6. The U-value was found to be around 0.30 and
2.00 W/m2K for D80 and 20 mm, respectively. There was not a
remarkable difference between the U-values for D60, 70 and
80 mm. Thus, 60 mm was considered as the optimum tube dia-
meter with a U-value of 0.40 W/m2K.
3.2. Theoretical works
It is well-documented in literature that the radiative heat
transfer between the two interior surfaces of the glass needs to be
kept as low as possible to be able to obtain good thermal perfor-
mance from a vacuum glazing. In this respect, Eames [21] provided
an indication of the radiative heat transfer rate that will occur for
various combinations of different low-e coatings for a temperature
difference between the inner and outer glass surfaces of 20 C
(20 C inside and 0 C outside). The values of emittance presented
in decreasing magnitude in Table 2 are for untreated glass, a hard
low-e coating, a soft silver coating and a double silver coating. It
was achieved from the theoretical work that a notable reduction
occurs in the radiative heat transfer rate due to the inclusion of a
single-hard low-e coating. Subsequent improvements achieved by
using better performing low-e coatings were found to be less
signicant [21]. Cuce and Riffat [29] theoretically investigated the
thermal insulation performance of the world's rst commercially
available vacuum glazing product. Their results were compared
with the manufacturers thermal performance report, and an
excellent agreement was achieved as given in Table 3. Within the
scope of their research, translucent aerogel support pillars were
recommended for commercial vacuum glazing, and impact of this
replacement on the thermal performance of the glazing was
numerically analyzed. The U-value of vacuum glazing was deter-
mined as a function of thermophysical properties of the window
components as shown in Fig. 7. The results revealed that the
 E. Cuce, P.M. Cuce / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 54 (2016) 13451357 1349

Fig. 4. Impact of pillar separation (s), pillar radius (r), thermal conductivity of pillar material () and emittance () on the U-value of vacuum triple glazing [36].

Fig. 5. Schematic of the vacuum tube window (on the left) and the sample developed (on the right) by Cuce and Riffat [37].

U-value of vacuum glazing exponentially increases with the ther-
mal conductivity of glass material. In addition, it was also found
that the U-value of vacuum glazing remarkably changes with the
thermal conductivity of support pillar for any type of glass mate-
rial. Signicant enhancements were achieved at the thermal
performance of vacuum glazing after aerogel retrot as illustrated
in Table 4. Memon et al. [38] developed a novel low-temperature
hermetic composite edge seal for the fabrication of triple vacuum
glazing depicted in Fig. 8. The fabrication process was found to be
successful in achieving a vacuum pressure of 0.048 Pa in the two
1350 E. Cuce, P.M. Cuce / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 54 (2016) 13451357

Table 4
Enhancement at the thermal performance of vacuum glazing after aerogel retrot
[29].

U-value (W/m2K) kglass (W/mK)

0.05 0.10 0.15 0.20 0.25 0.30 0.35 0.40

Conventional sup- 0.87 1.24 1.47 1.63 1.75 1.84 1.91 1.97
port pillars
Aerogel support 0.54 0.67 0.74 0.79 0.83 0.86 0.89 0.91
pillars
Enhancement (%) 37.7 46.4 49.9 51.6 52.6 53.2 53.5 53.7

by reducing the total width of the edge seal from 14 to 8 mm and

Fig. 6. Numerical and experimental U-values of vacuum tube window for the tube
diameters of 50 and 80 mm [37]. by utilizing better low-e coatings on the glass surfaces.

Table 2
The effect of low-emittance coatings on radiative heat transfer rate in a vacuum 3.3. Numerical works
glazing [21].
Han et al. [39] investigated the thermal performance of vacuum
The emittance of 1st glass The emittance of 2nd Heat transfer rate
glazing by using three-dimensional nite element method. Heat
surface glass surface (W/m2K)
conduction through the support pillars and edge seal and the
0.9 0.9 4.21 radiation between two glass sheets were evaluated. The heat
0.9 0.16 0.81
conduction of residual gas in vacuum gap was ignored for a low
0.16 0.16 0.45
0.9 0.05 0.26 pressure of less than 0.1 Pa. Two samples of vacuum glazing with
0.05 0.05 0.13 sizes of 300 mm  300 mm and 1000 mm  1000 m were
0.9 0.02 0.10
numerically modeled. The heat transfer coefcients of this unit
0.02 0.02 0.05
obtained from simulation and numerical prediction were found to
be 2.19 and 2.26 W/m2K, respectively, with a deviation of 2.79%.
Table 3
Fang et al. [40] numerically investigated the thermal performance
U-values of vacuum glazing through manufacturer data report and CFD analysis. of a triple vacuum glazing consists of three 4 mm thick glass panes
with two vacuum gaps, with each internal glass surface coated
kglass (W/mK) kpillar (W/mK) Uwindow (W/m2K)
with a low-emittance coating with an emittance of 0.03. The
Pilkington 0.10 0.04 1.20 constructional details of the triple vacuum glazing and the heat
Cuce and Riffat [29] 0.10 0.04 1.24 ow through the novel design are shown in Fig. 9. They modeled
the temperature distribution inside the vacuum glazing for the
boundary conditions and model parameters given in Tables 5
and 6, respectively. The three-dimensional isotherms of the triple
vacuum glazing illustrated in Fig. 10 clearly shows the temperature
gradient across the three glass panes due to the high thermal
resistance of the two vacuum gaps. The isotherms of the three
glass surfaces AC described in Fig. 9 are shown in Fig. 11. It is
observed from the results that the increased heat conduction
through the edge seal results in greater temperature gradients at
the edge areas of the three glass surfaces. The thermal transmis-
sion of the entire triple vacuum glazing system was found to be
0.65 W/m2K whereas it was 0.26 W/m2K at the center-of-glazing
area. Due to the signicant impact of heat conduction through the
edge seal, the thermal transmission of the entire glazing is
approximately two times larger than that at the central glazing
area. Fang et al. [41] numerically and experimentally investigated
the potential enhancement in thermal performance of triple
Fig. 7. U-value of vacuum glazing as a function of thermophysical properties of the vacuum glazing with low-emittance coatings. The triple vacuum
window components [29]. glazing considered consisted of three, 4 mm thick glass panes with
two vacuum gaps, sealed with indium metal and separated by an
array of stainless steel pillars, 0.2 mm high, 0.3 mm diameter and
gaps between the three glass sheets. D They utilized a theoretical
spaced at 25 mm. Their results indicated that decreasing the
approach based on a three-dimensional nite element model in
order to determine thermal insulation performance of the triple emittance of the four low-e coatings from 0.18 to 0.03 reduces the
vacuum glazing with dimensions of 300 mm  300 mm and with U-value at the center-of-glazing area from 0.41 to 0.22 W/m2K for
vacuum pressure of 0.048 Pa. Central and total thermal transmit- a 400 mm m by 400 mm triple vacuum glazing rebated by 10 mm
tance of the triple vacuum glazing were predicted to be 0.33 and within a solid wood frame. Comparison of the U-values for
1.05 W/m2K, respectively. They also concluded that potential different number of coatings and emittance values is shown
enhancements in thermal insulation performance can be achieved in Fig. 12.
 E. Cuce, P.M. Cuce / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 54 (2016) 13451357 1351

Fig. 8. Schematic diagram and three-stage composite-edge-sealing design process for the fabrication of triple vacuum glazing [38].

Table 5
Boundary conditions of the triple vacuum glazing [40].

Ambient temperature (C)

Indoor 20
Outdoor 0
Glazing surface heat transfer coefcient (W/m2K)

External surface 25
Internal surface 7.7

Table 6
Model parameters of the triple vacuum glazing [40].

Vacuum glazing dimensions

Thickness 12.24 mm
Width 500 mm
Length 500 mm
Glass pane thickness 4 mm
Emittance 0.03
Edge seal width 6 mm
Pillar diameter 0.3 mm
Pillar height 0.12 mm
Pillar separation 25 mm
Frame rebate depth 10 mm
Thermal conductivity (W/mK)

Indium 83.7
Glass and solder glass 1
Fig. 9. Constructional details of triple vacuum glazing (a) developed by Fang et al. Pillar 20
and heat conduction through the glazing elements [40]. Wood frame 0.17

3.4. Simulation works

Vacuum tube window, which is a novel design of tubular
vacuum glazing, was comprehensively investigated by Cuce and
Riffat [37]. Several CFD simulations were conducted to determine
the impact of design parameters such as pane thickness, tube
thickness, tube diameter and Argon gap on the overall thermal
insulation performance of the vacuum glazing. The 2D schematic
of the vacuum tube window utilized in CFD research is given in
Fig. 13. Parametric study was carried out for several values of tube
diameter as shown in Fig. 14. For Argon thickness of 1 and 2 mm,
1352 E. Cuce, P.M. Cuce / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 54 (2016) 13451357

Fig. 10. Isotherms of triple vacuum glazing with boundary conditions and model
parameters shown in Tables 5 and 6 [40].

the U-value was found to be around 0.40 W/m2K. On the other

hand, the U-value exceeded 1.00 W/m2K while increased
23 mm. The U-value was found to be around 0.30 and 2.00 W/
m2K for D 80 and 20 mm, respectively. There was not a
remarkable difference between the U-values for D 60, 70 and
80 mm. From this point of view, it was concluded that 60 mm is
the optimum value for tube diameter which results in a U-value
around 0.40 W/m2K. In another work, Cuce and Riffat [29] simu-
lated the thermal insulation performance of a commercial vacuum
glazing product after replacing existing support pillars with
translucent aerogel. Firstly, they provided a CFD model to deter-
mine the U-value of vacuum glazing as a function of thermal
conductivity of the glass pane as illustrated in Fig. 15. Then, the
number of aerogel support pillars was optimized to be able to
achieve the lowest U-value from the vacuum glazing. It is con-
cluded from their results that if three aerogel support pillars are
utilized at per section of short edge (5 cm gap between each pil-
lar), the enhancement in the U-value of vacuum glazing is found to
be 31%, as clearly shown in Fig. 16. Fang et al. [34] emphasized that
the edge seal in vacuum glazing is a thermal bridge transferring
relatively large amounts of heat compared to the high insulation
vacuum gap. In this respect, they developed highly efcient
complex multimaterial frames to reduce the total heat ow
through vacuum glazing by 20%. The minimum U-value achieved
from the vacuum glazing samples fabricated through the said
method was reported to be 0.20 W/m2K [36,42,43]. Berardi [44]
indicated the practicality of a vacuum glazing integrated with
13.5 mm thick aerogel panel. The overall heat transfer coefcient
and the transmissivity of the vacuum glazing were reported to be
0.66 W/m2K and 0.85, respectively.
Fig. 11. Isotherms of three glass surfaces A (a), B (b) and C (c) of the triple vacuum
glazing [40].
4. Commercial products of vacuum glazing
is evaluated in terms of commercial aspects. It needs to be noted that
In this section, commercially available vacuum glazing products commercialization of vacuum glazing is still challenging, however
are introduced. Constructional details of each commercial product there are many attempts in progress such as TopTherm 90 as a
are provided as well as thermal insulation and optical performance consequence of several research projects. In the near future, it is
parameters. Practicality and reliability of vacuum glazing technology expected to have a wide range of products in market. Currently, it is
 E. Cuce, P.M. Cuce / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 54 (2016) 13451357
Fig. 12. Comparison of U-values of the triple vacuum glazing (TVG) with one, two, three and four emittance coatings for the emittance value of (a) 0.18 and (b) 0.03 [41].
Fig. 13. Cross-sectional view of the vacuum tube window for CFD simulation [37].
unequivocal that the vacuum glazing market is dominated by three
products, which are Pilkington SPACIA, Pilkington SPACIA-21 and
Laminated SPACIA as reported by several researchers [9,10,52].
4.1. Pilkington SPACIA
Pilkington SPACIA vacuum glazing consists of an outer pane of
low-emissivity glass and an inner pane of clear oat glass, sepa-
rated by a microspacer grid of small pillars each measuring
0.5 mm diameter, set 20 mm apart, which are robotically posi-
tioned, with intelligent camera checking. This grid ensures that the
two glass panes are kept a xed distance apart. The edges are
welded to achieve a hermetic seal. Air is extracted to create a
vacuum via the extraction point, rather than being air or gas lled.
High insulation performance is achieved through a slim entire
glazing thickness, which is only slightly thicker than single glass.
Pilkington SPACIA provides similar energy efciency performance
with a standard double glazed unit containing low-emissivity
glass, but in a much thinner prole. It is therefore perfectly sui-
ted for use in original, refurbishment or new thin prole frames,
allowing the property to maintain its characteristic appearance
[45]. Actual thickness of 6 mm Pilkington SPACIA is reported to be
6.5 70.1 mm. Center pane U-value of the product is 1.10 W/m2K
whereas light transmittance and solar heat gain coefcient are
0.78 and 0.67, respectively according to the latest manufacturer
data report. Pilkington SPACIA provides ve times better thermal
insulation than single glazing. In this respect, it has a strong
potential to mitigate energy consumed in buildings, thus to halt
carbon emissions. The company ensures 10 year warranty with an
1353
even longer life expectancy for this high performance vacuum
glazing technology.
4.2. Pilkington SPACIA-21
Pilkington SPACIA-21 is a triple glazed vacuum glazing con-
sisting of two low-e coatings in the unit along with Argon lling.
Its characteristic design provides a highly energy efcient unit
with a similar thickness to a conventional double insulating glass
unit. Basically Pilkington SPACIA-21 is a hybrid vacuum glazing
composed of Pilkington SPACIA and low-e glass. The cavity is
injected with Argon gas that is lower in thermal conductivity by
about 30% compared to air, thus achieving remarkable thermal
insulation performance. The product is available with a solar
control low-e coating for enhanced solar control. For improved
thermal insulation performance, utilization of different types of
inert gases like Krypton in the airspace is also available. Pilkington
SPACIA-21 is fabricated in standard clear or green glass with an
entire thickness varying from 18.2 mm to 21.2 mm. For 18.2 mm
thick Pilkington SPACIA-21, center pane U-value of the product is
reported to be 0.90 W/m2K while light transmittance and solar
heat gain coefcient are 0.64 and 0.58, respectively. On the other
hand, center pane U-value is 0.70 W/m2K, light transmittance is
0.58 and solar heat gain coefcient is 0.34 for the 21.2 mm thick
Pilkington SPACIA-21 [45]. Enhanced thermal insulation char-
acteristics of Pilkington SPACIA-21 can be explained through the
sketch shown in Fig. 17
4.3. Laminated SPACIA
Laminated SPACIA is a newly developed commercial product
for sound reduction and anti-burglar. There are two specic
examples of Laminated SPACIA called Shizuka and Mamoru. Shi-
zuka includes a laminated structure with a single pane enabling
multi-benets like sound reduction, thermal insulation and safety,
regardless of its thin structure. In Mamoru, the laminated struc-
ture is provided by a poly-carbonate sheet. Both Shizuka and
Mamoru are ideal vacuum glazing products to provide comfortable
dwelling and ofce spaces even in the noisy areas. They can be
fabricated in standard clear or light green glass with a total glass
thickness of 9.7 and 10.7 mm, for Shizuka and Mamoru, respec-
tively. U-value, visible light transmittance and solar heat gain
coefcient of Shizuka are noted to be 1.50 W/m2K, 0.72 and 0.62,
respectively whereas they are 1.20 W/m2K, 0.63 and 0.53 for
Mamoru according to the data report of NSG Group [46].
1354 E. Cuce, P.M. Cuce / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 54 (2016) 13451357
Fig. 14. Contours of static temperature for the tube diameter (D) of 80, 70, 60 and 50 mm [37].
Fig. 15. U-value of vacuum glazing after replacing existing support pillars with
aerogel [29].
5. Comparative in-situ testing performance of vacuum glazing
Vacuum glazing technologies are techno-economically eval-
uated by several researchers within the scope of different retro-
tting projects like HERB (Holistic energy-efcient retrotting of
residential buildings), which is an EU funded research project
coordinated by the University of Nottingham [47]. The novel
vacuum tube window technology developed as one of the target
outputs of the HERB project was integrated into a test house,
which is one of the creative energy homes in the University Park
Campus at the University of Nottingham, and the thermal insu-
lation, energy saving and thermal comfort performance of the
vacuum glazing was analyzed through another research project
funded by E.ON [48]. In a recent research, Cuce et al. [49]
extended the aforesaid previous research to a comparative
techno-economic analysis of vacuum glazing technology. In this
respect for a typical three bedroom semi-detached house in the
Fig. 16. Optimization of number of aerogel support pillars for the U-value of
vacuum glazing [29].
UK, energy saving performance and payback period of vacuum
tube window were compared with two different high perfor-
mance glazing technology called heat insulation solar glass
[50,51] and solar pond window [52]. As a consequence of its
highly insulating feature [53], vacuum tube window technology
provided the shortest payback period with maximum energy
saving as illustrated in Fig. 18 and Table 7. Current fabrication
cost of vacuum tube window is 130/m2, which is somewhat
competitive with that of conventional double glazed windows in
the UK as comprehensively reported by Cuce [52]. Compared to
the special and energy-efcient design of vacuum tube window
developed by Cuce and Riffat [37], Pilkington SPACIA and other
commercial vacuum glazing products seem much more expen-
sive. Current cost of the said technologies range from 272/m2 to
476/m2 depending upon volume, sizes and quantities as stated
by Pilkington [54].
 E. Cuce, P.M. Cuce / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 54 (2016) 13451357 1355

Fig. 17. Schematic to explain the enhanced thermal insulation feature of Pilkington SPACIA-21 [45].

Table 7
Payback periods for novel glazing technologies for a typical UK house [49].

Glazing type Capital cost [] Annual savings Payback [year]

[]

Vacuum tube window 2600 181.33 14.34

Heat insulation solar glass 3000 89.02 33.70
Solar pond window 2400 107.60 22.30

energy-efcient retrotting of conventional windows with novel

Fig. 18. The U-values of novel glazing technologies for the same entire glazing
thickness [49].
6. Environmental impact of vacuum glazing
The role of windows in global energy consumption, thus in
greenhouse gas emissions is unequivocal. Among the elements of a
typical building envelope, windows are responsible for the great-
est energy loss due to their notably high overall heat transfer
coefcients. About 60% of heat loss through the fabric of residen-
tial buildings can be attributed to the glazed areas [1]. Therefore,
glazing technologies is of vital importance for carbon abatement.
Vacuum glazing technology is very promising in this respect for
decisive mitigation of energy consumed in building sector, thus for
substantial reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in the atmo-
sphere (notably CO2). The U-values of windows in the UK buildings
would have to be in the region of or lower than 1.201.40 W/m2K
in order to meet the latest fabric energy efciency standard [55].
According to the report of Energy Saving Trust [56], if all of the
25.6 million homes in the UK are retrotted with energy-efcient
windows, a notable carbon abatement of 12.8 million tonnes a
year can be achieved. In other words, 12.8 million tonnes of CO2
being saved is equivalent to 840,000 cars being taken off the road.
As the vacuum glazing technologies can provide at least 3 times
better insulating feature, the annual carbon abatement can reach
1356 E. Cuce, P.M. Cuce / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 54 (2016) 13451357
almost 40 million tonnes if the retrot case is considered for a
glazing technology like vacuum tube window.
7. Further works on vacuum glazing
The electrochromic vacuum glazing is a promising concept,
which is of prime interest especially in recent years [57,58].
Linking an electrochromic glazing with a vacuum glazing in a
single window can provide a notably low heat loss glazing which
can be switched from transparent to opaque thus allowing day-
lighting and solar gain to be adjusted. The preliminary research on
triple vacuum glazing clearly shows that the thermal insulation
performances of the samples are very high especially when the
glass panes are integrated with low-e coatings. In further works,
composite aerogel and vacuum glazing congurations can be
studied for better thermal and sound insulation characteristics.
Several numerical and simulation works are already in progress
regarding this novel idea [29,52]. The material of support pillars
plays a signicant role in overall thermal insulation performance
of vacuum glazing due to the thermal bridging effects. In this
respect, aerogel-assisted support pillars can be utilized in existing
commercial products to enhance the insulation feature of the
vacuum glazing as reported by Cuce and Riffat [29].
8. Conclusions
In this research, a comprehensive review of vacuum glazing
technology has been presented covering state-of-the-art devel-
opments and future prospects. Following the evaluation of thor-
ough historical process of vacuum glazing, experimental, theore-
tical, numerical and simulation attempts on the scope have been
summarized and the key results from the said works have been
discussed. Current commercial vacuum glazing products have
been investigated in terms of various performance parameters
such as overall heat transfer coefcient, visible light transmittance,
solar heat gain coefcient and cost. Techno-economic and envir-
onmental impacts of vacuum glazing technology have also been
addressed within the scope of this research. Some bullet results
which can be concluded from the review are as follows:
1. Vacuum glazing is a unique and high performance fenestration
technology which enables minimum heat loss and high visible
transmittance in a slim window product. Additionally, it does
not have complex fabrication details.
2. Overall thermal insulation performance of vacuum glazing is a
strong function of constructional parameters such as number
and material of support pillar, thermal conductivity of glass
panes, edge seal technology utilized and existence of low-e
coatings on glass panes. For instance in a research, the U-value
of vacuum glazing is reported to be 1.50 W/m2K with a single
low-e coating, whereas it is enhanced to 0.70 W/m2K with
double low-e coating supported by an Argon gap.
3. The lowest experimental U-value of vacuum glazing is noted to
be 0.20 W/m2K by using stainless steel support pillars and four
low-e coatings.
4. More than 30% enhancement in the U-value of vacuum glazing
can be achieved if highly insulating aerogel support pillars are
utilized instead of conventional support pillars.
5. Novel designs of vacuum glazing such as vacuum tube window
provides an energy-efcient, low-cost and environmentally
friendly solution for both existing buildings and new-build
applications. The experimental U-value of vacuum tube window
is reported to be 0.54 W/m2K, whereas its fabrication cost is
about 130/m2.
6. The U-value of vacuum tube window is highly dependent on the
tube diameter (D) as it is found to be around 0.30 and 2.00 W/
m2K for D80 and 20 mm, respectively.
7. Vacuum pressure needs to be lower than 0.1 Pa in any vacuum
glazing to be able to eliminate conductive and convective heat
transfer.
8. Retrotting 25.6 million homes in the UK with vacuum glazing
can provide a carbon abatement of about 40 million tonnes a
year, which is very remarkable.
Acknowledgments
Corresponding author gratefully acknowledges the nancial
support of TBITAK (Scientic and Technological Research Council
of Turkey) through Grant BIDEB 2219 2015/1.
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