Running head: HEAT INSULATION SOLAR GLASS AND ITS APPLICATION 1

Heat Insulation Solar Glass and Application on Efficiency

Buildings in Building Science

Student’s Name

Institutional Affiliation
HEAT INSULATION SOLAR GLASS AND ITS APPLICATION 2

Heat Insulation Solar Glass and Application on Efficiency Buildings in Building Science

Introduction

In the past few decades, a swift transition in construction methods and techniques has led

to the revolution in construction practices. Such practices has led to the improved lifestyle since

they help people save additional expenses from the ancient techniques and construction methods

used in the buildings. Most of the buildings in the world consume a lot of energy. This calls for

ways of improving the efficiency of the construction materials in terms of energy consumption.

Buildings waste a lot of energy since most of the materials used in construction like the glasses

provide insufficient thermal insulation. On the other hand, some energy is wasted in buildings

through materials and conventional energy systems employed in the buildings. These materials

have poor electrical and thermal efficiency range. Because of this, there is need to study some

alternative thermally resistive building materials like the heat insulation solar glass technology

(HISG), which offer efficiency in terms of heat insulation, power generation, improved energy

saving performance and additional services like the ability to self-cleaning.

When a typical enveloped building is analyzed, windows are found to have poorest

thermal insulation. Almost 60 percent of the total heat loss from the building occurs through the

windows. Glazing technologies have been studied to help curb this heat loss and save energy.

Among these technologies, PV glazing like HISG draws attention to remarkable researchers

because of its aesthetic aspects. HISG can be used to glaze entire building since it has numerous

advantages apart from heat insulation. HISG has improved the building science since it helps in

the generation of electricity and improved has high efficiency compared to conventional ordinary

glass technology. Windows in the buildings provide passive solar gain, air ventilation and the
HEAT INSULATION SOLAR GLASS AND ITS APPLICATION 3

ability to view outside. The only disadvantage that they have is the poor thermal performance. In

this research, the researcher studies HISG in order to assess its thermal insulation ability, its

power generation and energy saving performance using the chosen methodology. Equally, the

researcher aims at proving that building integrated photovoltaics are among the best methods for

generating power.

Literature Review

This study is to be conducted through the simulation experiments in order to assess the

heat insulation efficiency of the HISG and compare its effectiveness with the ordinary glass used

in building science. The subject of the study is categorized into the categories of thermal

insulation, energy saving performance, power generation ability and other abilities of heat

insulation solar glass like the ability to clean itself and sound insulation. Heat insulation solar

glass is a multi-functional glass with several advantages over the ordinary glass used in building

science. HISG is one of the glasses of the Photovoltaic technology. These glasses are composed

of different materials, which results, to different types of HISG. Some of the types under

investigation include the air filled heat insulation solar glass and the argon filled heat insulation

solar glass. Ordinary glasses provide excellent view but have poor thermal insulation. This

salient features make people use air conditioners in their homes and in the offices to provide

them with the amble internal environment. These features calls for the need to study and improve

the efficiency of the Photovoltaic glazing technology like the HISG.

The manufacturing costs of heat insulation solar glass is around 250 dollars per square

meter. This high costs makes the glass have a disadvantage since it is costly to for people to use

it in the building science. Other conventional double glazed windows compete with HISG in

terms of costs and efficiency in their application to the buildings. Heat insulation solar glass is
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made up of many different layers, which have different structures and thermal insulation

properties. The main element of HISG is the silicon PV module that is integrated with a Nano

coating for low reflection and high transmittance. The property of HISG that enables it to

produce electricity is the presence of Nano titanium oxide Photocatalyst coating. It generates

electricity by minimizing the light reflection from the PV surface. Good thermal insulation

properties is offered by the layer of high reflectivity insulation film, which is found between the

two layers of the spacers of the PV module. The sheet of rear glass is placed behind the second

spacer layer to form an air gap on both sides of the insulation film. Other components employed

during the manufacturing of the HISG is the dryers, which provide the drying conditions

between the layers of the glass spacers. These essential materials used to make the glass are

sealed by silicone and compacted together by the hot melt adhesive. The final stage include the

heating of the materials in the oven for around four hours and at 120 degrees Celsius. When the

materials have solidified, a layer of the Photocatalyst is coated on the module surface. The

different types of HISG arise when the air is replaced by other inert gases to make different types

of glasses depending on the specifications needed and the climate conditions of the place where

the glass is to be used.

When sunlight falls on the Nano coating of the glass, the PV module absorbs it and

generates electricity thus improving the power saving costs. The rest of the light passes through

it and goes to the high reflectivity insulation layer, which reflects it back. Insulation film of the

glass blocks the thermal radiation hence leading to the lowered shading coefficients. Air gaps in

the glass help in the prevention of heat energy that penetrates into the indoor environment. The

thickness of the air gap space depends on the climate where the glass is to be used in the building

science. The thickness of the air space is determined using the CFD based methodology.
HEAT INSULATION SOLAR GLASS AND ITS APPLICATION 5

Thermal insulation of the heat insulation solar glass is improved by using inert ` gases in the air

gaps since they have lower thermal conductivity range. Using inert gases makes the glass to cost

expensively. These features of HISG make the glass to be efficient in terms of heat insulation,

power generation and energy saving performance both in the periods of the winter or summer.

Self cleaning ability of the glass is provided by the Photocatalyst coating that makes the external

surface of the glass hydrophilic hence it does not attract water to its surface. Most of the

pollutants of the glass decompose due to the coating and they are removed by the rain water.

This ability to clean itself offer energy saving since energy that could be used to clean the glass

is saved to be used elsewhere.

Despite all the said advantages of the PV glazing technology, more so the HISG, there

are some disadvantages encompass them. One of the disadvantage is that overall performance of

the glass depends on the materials used for the glazing product. To make this research effective,

the researcher will use different methodologies that aim at arriving at the goals and aims of the

research. The researcher will measure the U value of the glass and compare it with the

performance of the ordinary glass. Eidem et al. ( ) conducted a research using solar

simulators to investigate the performance of argon filled HISG and the air filled HISG. They

found that Argon filled HISG provides a better electrical power output and better heat insulation

than the air filled HSG. Zhang and Lu (2019) conducted a simulation research to assess the

overall thermal insulation performance of HISG under several climatic conditions. Their results

showed that HISG shows better U value of 1.62 W/m2K than the ordinary conventional glass

which has a value of 2.64 W/m2K. through the literature review, it is clear that improving the

efficiency of the HISG entails lowering the U value so that thermal resistance of the glass
HEAT INSULATION SOLAR GLASS AND ITS APPLICATION 6

structure can increase. Such is achieved by using inert gas in the air gap. Using the CFD analysis

will enable the researcher to assess the thermal insulation of the haet insulation solar glass.

Problem Statement

In recent years, energy consumption in countries have risen with the building of new

houses that use conventional ordinary glass technologies in their windows. This glasses offer

poor insulation services in diverse weather and climatic conditions. Ordinary glasses need to be

used with air conditioning system in the house for the indoor environment to be favorable to the

users in the house. Moreover, ordinary glass consume a lot of energy and time since they need to

be cleaned and washed often for them to have an aesthetic value on the building. These factors

make them hardly used in tall buildings in the building science where the engineers want to use

glass as the walls of the building.

Researchers have conducted studies on how to improve the efficiency of the building

materials to save energy and minimize costs used in the building. With the abundance of the

renewable energy sources like the sun, researchers found the need to replace the traditional

energy sources that are costly and inefficient to generate electricity. This has brought the urge to

study the efficiency of the heat insulation solar glass on building science. In this research, the

author will address the efficiency of HISG in terms of heat insulation, power generation energy

saving performance and other abilities of the glass, which include the ability to clean itself hence

aiding in the saving of energy.

The researcher will employ different methods to help in achieving the aims of this study. Some

of the methods to be used involved the construction of two experimental houses

HEAT INSULATION SOLAR GLASS AND ITS APPLICATION 7

References

Cuce, E., & Riffat, S. B. (2017). The smart building material for low/zero carbon applications:

heat insulation solar glass—characteristic results from laboratory and in situ tests.

International Journal of Low-Carbon Technologies, 12(2), 126-135.

Cuce, E., Cuce, P. M., & Young, C. H. (2016). Energy-saving potential of heat insulation solar

glass: Key results from laboratory and in-situ testing. Energy, 97, 369-380.

Irshad, K., Habib, K., Saidur, R., Kareem, M. W., & Saha, B. B. (2019). Study of thermoelectric

and photovoltaic facade system for energy-efficient building development: A review.

Journal of cleaner production, 209, 1376-1395.

Sun, C., Xia, R., Shi, H., Yao, H., Liu, X., Hou, J., ... & Cao, Y. (2018). Heat-insulating

multifunctional semitransparent polymer solar cells. Joule, 2(9), 1816-1826.

Wang, M., Peng, J., Li, N., Yang, H., Wang, C., Li, X., & Lu, T. (2017). Comparison of energy

performance between PV double skin facades and PV insulating glass units. Applied

energy, 194, 148-160.