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New glass coating can keep greenhouses cooler

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New glass coating can keep greenhouses cooler

New glass coating can keep greenhouses cooler

A research team from the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore has developed a specialized glass coating designed for use in greenhouses. The coating allows light to penetrate the structure, but diminishes the amount of infrared light that can enter. The result is greenhouses that are cooler and better for the plants inside them.

The coating can block about 90% of the heat-generating infrared light waves from the Sun. Reducing heat is important in greenhouses because too much heat can kill plants or stunt their growth. The coating was made by combining heat-absorbing nanoparticles and inorganic oxides.

The coating was developed at the request of university officials, who were looking for ways to cool the atrium of a campus building. The resulting coating, which was applied to the roof of the building, has reduced the interior temperature by more than 15°F.

The next step is to test the coating in the field, which means applying it to a local greenhouse. Overly warm conditions inside the greenhouse can cause plants to wilt. The research team intends to measure the effect of the coating on plant growth.

In addition to helping reduce temperatures in greenhouses, the researchers see applications for it in other food-producing industries, such as fish farms. The coating could reduce the temperature in fish hatcheries. Reducing the temperature there could allow more food to be made available for larval fish.

One of the benefits of this coating is that it is less expensive to produce and apply than current heat-reflective coatings on the market. The coating can also be applied to acrylic to achieve similar results.

Glassprimer™ glass paint is a specialized glass coating that bonds permanently to glass surfaces. GlassPrimer also makes a glass surface molecular activator that is designed to work with UV-inkjet glass printing processes. Glassprimer™ glass paint can be used in both interior and exterior applications and can help reduce solar heat gain in some applications. For more information about Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store .

Photo Credit: Oregon Department of Agriculture, via Flickr.com

Could regulations spell the end of glass buildings?

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New glass coating can keep greenhouses cooler

New glass coating can keep greenhouses cooler

Regulations directed toward reducing energy consumption could spell an end to the glass buildings that have dominated the landscape architecture since the end of World War II. Glass façades are almost standard elements in building design today, but they don’t provide much cover when it comes to energy efficiency.

In addition to not being a great thermal insulator, glass façades often increase the amount of energy a building consumes in the summer, primarily by increasing the temperature inside the building. Increased internal temperatures mean increased use of air conditioning, and an increased load on power plants.

Proposed changes to Canada’s National Energy Code for Buildings that could take effect in 2017 could change the landscape for modern architecture. A new formula for calculating thermal bridging and a requirement for heat and energy recovery could mean that glass façades will no longer measure up for Canadian construction.

If adopted, the regulations wouldn’t actually prohibit the use of glass, but it would require more expensive glass in order to conform to the new rules. Commercial construction costs are always significant, so seeking less expensive or more readily conforming materials may lead to a change in building design.

Thermal bridging is at the center of one of the proposed changes. The term “thermal bridge” refers to areas of a building that have a much higher rate of heat transfer than materials around it. Without specialized coatings or formulations, glass has a limited ability to prevent the transfer of heat into or out of a building. Glass façades and windows are often the primary route for heat transfer. Under current rules, this heat transfer is calculated using a particular formula that many experts believe understates the amount of heat transfer due to glass.

The new regulations would require an extensive thermal analysis to identify and reduce heat transfer between the building envelope and the outside environment. Making a building compliant with new regulations could mean reducing the amount of glass and other low-quality insulators, and diminishing heat transfer as much as possible.
Other proposed changes to the code include regulations that would require minimum energy performance improvements for a building’s roof, windows and doors. The public comment period on the code changes closed on December 9, and the updated code is expected to be published sometime in 2017.

Glassprimer™ glass paint is a specialized glass coating that bonds permanently to glass surfaces. GlassPrimer also makes a glass surface molecular activator that is designed to work with UV-inkjet glass printing processes. Glassprimer™ glass paint can be used in both interior and exterior applications and can help reduce solar heat gain in some applications. For more information about Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store .

Photo Credit: Government of Prince Edward Island, via Flickr.com

Corning will display Tiffany glass mosaics

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Corning will display Tiffany glass mosaics

Corning will display Tiffany glass mosaics

The name Louis Comfort Tiffany is virtually synonymous with stained glass. Tiffany was an artist whose career spanned the 19th and 20th centuries. He was most closely associated with the Art Nouveau movement, and worked with glass, jewelry, ceramics and metals. Although he is closely associated (by name) with Tiffany & Co., Louis Comfort Tiffany was actually the son of the company’s founder, Charles Lewis Tiffany.

Tiffany studied under George Innes and Samuel Colman as a painter. His early paintings were heavily influenced by French landscape painter Leon Belly. Despite his training as a painter, he became deeply interested in glass as an artistic medium, and formed a working relationship with several different artists in his late 20’s and early 30’s. Although that collective didn’t survive, while it was active, the artists developed practical artistic items like wallpaper and furniture.

Tiffany received important commissions to redesign or redecorate some high visibility residences, including the Mark Twain House and the White House under Chester A. Arthur. Tiffany used his own glass designs extensively in these commissions. Theodore Roosevelt, who advocated for interior designs that complemented the White House’s original architecture, removed much of Tiffany’s work on the White House during a later renovation.

Tiffany began to work exclusively with glass in the mid-1880’s. He often made his own glass to ensure that the glass contained the artistic properties he was looking for. He experimented extensively with colors, textures and techniques to achieve the iconic Tiffany look. In addition, Tiffany used copper foil in place of lead to connect colored glasses together into a unified piece.

While Tiffany was known for his lampshades, he also created artistic windows and room dividers that combined painted glass and stained glass. Tiffany built his own glass furnace and exhibited his works at high profile events, including the 1893 World’s Fair and the 1900 Exposition Universelle in Paris.

While most closely associated with his windows and lampshades, Tiffany also created glass mosaics, and had a dedicated mosaic workshop at his design and fabrication facilities. If you’ve never seen a Tiffany mosaic, you’re in luck. In May, the Corning Museum of Glass will open an exhibit displaying more than 50 of Tiffany’s mosaics. The mosaics employ some of Tiffany’s pioneering techniques, including the use of opalescent and iridescent glasses.

The mosaics are exceptionally colorful, vibrant and detailed. In addition to the mosaics themselves, the museum exhibit will also present design notes, samples and photographs, which will help the visitor to understand the exhaustive design and fabrication process used by Tiffany and his studio of more than 300 artists.

Tiffany’s mosaics, which are made up from multiple glass panels, aren’t limited to museums. Many of his original mosaics still survive, and are installed in private homes and commercial buildings around the country.

The museum exhibit will be available to the public from May 20, 2017-January 7, 2018.

Photo Credit: Gloria Bell, via Flickr.com

Is glass a solid after all?

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Is glass a solid after all?

Is glass a solid after all?

For years, scientists have argued about the nature of glass, since it has characteristics of both a liquid and a solid. The molecular structure of glass is unlike any other solid. The molecular structure of every other solid is organized in a specific, orderly way; the molecular structure of glass is completely random. In fact, if liquid glass molecules were able to organize in the same orderly way as every other solid, the resultant substance wouldn’t be glass.

Now some scientists are looking at hardened glass in a different way, and that allows them to reach the conclusion that hardened glass is, in fact, a solid. Molecules in liquids flow easily over each other. They have no specific order. One of the traditionally accepted reasons that glass “can’t be” a solid is that without that ordered molecular structure, cooled glass molecules continue to “flow” just as liquid molecules would do.

Cooled glass molecules don’t flow easily, like they do when they’re heated. They move almost imperceptibly, but they do move. Researchers at the University of Bristol and Kyoto University worked together to model the movement of glass molecules at very low temperatures.

They discovered that at extremely low temperatures, the molecules in glass organize themselves in geometric shapes – not quite the crystalline structure that characterizes all other solids – but they did organize into a predictable pattern. They also determined that given enough time in the right conditions, the geometric patterns would grow to encompass all regions of the glass. At that point, the material would be considered a true solid.

The solid nature of glass was actually predicted by a researcher at the University of Bristol in 1952, but at the time, the theory was impossible to prove. Advances in microscopy and computer modeling allowed the research team to confirm the 64-year-old theory.

Glassprimer™ glass paint is a specialized glass coating that bonds permanently to glass surfaces. GlassPrimer also makes a glass surface molecular activator that is designed to work with UV-inkjet glass printing processes. Glassprimer™ glass paint can be used in both interior and exterior applications and can help reduce solar heat gain in some applications. For more information about Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store .

Photo Credit: frankeleon, via Flickr.com

Glass can tell a forensic examiner a lot

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Glass can tell a forensic examiner a lot

Glass can tell a forensic examiner a lot

Modern forensics can tell investigators a lot about a crime scene. DNA testing, blood spatter analysis, footwear impressions and ballistics can all help an investigator determine what happened and who might be responsible for a crime. Add glass examination to the list of tools available to a forensic examiner.

Forensic glass examination? As it turns out, broken glass can reveal a lot. While glass might not identify whodunit (unless the guilty party left fingerprints behind), the way a glass breaks can reveal a lot about how the break occurred, and what might have (or must have) happened at the time the glass broke.

For example, the way broken glass lands can reveal the direction from which the breaking force came. Stress fractures that eventually break a piece of glass can help investigators determine the height at which a bullet or other projectile was fired, the force needed to break the glass, and the direction from which the projectile came. This information can support other findings at a crime scene.

Further, glass can be examined and compared microscopically. That’s helpful because small fragments of glass can be transferred from a scene to a victim, or to the perpetrator. Being able to prove that a small sliver of glass connects a person to a crime scene can be exceptionally valuable. Typically, glass is produced regionally, so glass from different regions has different characteristics. Forensic examination can reveal the region from which the glass originated. That can also be helpful in placing a perpetrator or victim in the presence of glass that may have a unique composition.

Like other forensic techniques, forensic glass examination has become more sophisticated, and is increasingly being used to confirm other findings at crime scenes.

Glassprimer™ glass paint is a specialized glass coating that bonds permanently to glass surfaces. GlassPrimer also makes a glass surface molecular activator that is designed to work with UV-inkjet glass printing processes. Glassprimer™ glass paint can be used in both interior and exterior applications and can help reduce solar heat gain in some applications. For more information about Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store .

Photo Credit: Jasper Nance, via Flickr.com

Iconic Glass Structures – General Motors Technical Center

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Iconic Glass Structures – General Motors Technical Center

Iconic Glass Structures – General Motors Technical Center

This week in our ongoing series on glass construction, we look at the General Motors Technical Center in Warren, MI. The GM Technical Center was one of the very first buildings to make heavy use of architectural glass, when it was initially designed in 1949.

The Technical Center was designed by neofuturistic architect Eero Saarinen. Saarinen studied architecture in Paris, beginning in 1929. He completed his studies at Yale University in 1934. Saarinen’s design style was influenced by Bauhaus designers and architects, including Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Although he did not study at the Bauhaus, Saarinen often designed furniture, some of which –like his Tulip Chair – is considered iconic for its time period.

Saarinen also designed buildings and other structure. One of his most recognizable designs is the iconic St. Louis Gateway Arch. In addition to the General Motors Technical Center, Saarinen designed a number of corporate buildings, including headquarters for IBM, Bell Laboratories, CBS and John Deere. He also designed the TWA Terminal at JFK Airport in New York, and the main terminal at Dulles International Airport.

The GM Technical Center is situated on a 700-acre campus and contains dozens of buildings. Its main building was added to the National Register of Historic Places, and has also been designated as a National Historical Landmark.

One of the features of Saarinen’s original site design is the “Design Dome,” a 185-foot diameter dome that is capped with interlocking aluminum panels and glass walls. Every GM product produced since 1956 has been introduced on the dome’s shadowless design floor. GM recently refurbished the Design Dome. One of the upgrades includes computer controlled white and colored LED lighting to accentuate the products on the Design Dome floor.

Glassprimer™ glass paint is a specialized glass coating that bonds permanently to glass surfaces. GlassPrimer also makes a glass surface molecular activator that is designed to work with UV-inkjet glass printing processes. Glassprimer™ glass paint can be used in both interior and exterior applications and can help reduce solar heat gain in some applications. For more information about Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store .

Photo Credit: Gabriel Jorby, via Flickr.com

Electricity generating coating applied to flexible glass

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Electricity generating coating applied to flexible glass

Electricity generating coating applied to flexible glass

SolarWindow Technologies announced last month that it will begin applying its electricity generating coating to ultra-thin flexible glass. According to the company, the market for its coated glass could exceed $25 billion annually.

Flexible glass has applications in a variety of industries, including automotive, military and aerospace. Flexible glass is preferred in certain applications because it combines flexibility that’s characteristic of plastics with durability and scratch resistance that’s associated with glass.

Electricity generation is critical in certain applications, like aerospace and military. Devices in those industries may have specific power requirements and may need to operate in areas where additional power sources aren’t available.

In addition to having application in challenging environments, flexible glass that also generates electricity could prove useful in electrochromic windows, transportation applications and “smart” buildings.

According to the company, the return on investment could be achieved in as little as one year for buildings of at least 50 stories. SolarWindow also says that its electricity-generating coatings can generate more electricity than a conventional rooftop solar array.

The company isn’t limiting its coatings to ultra-thin flexible glass. The company also envisions markets for coated flat and large-format glasses. The electricity-generating coating is not yet on the market, but testing for the coating has progressed well. To date, the coating appears to be able to survive high-pressure, high-temperature production methods. That’s good news because those methods are the most common mass-production methods for applying surface coatings.

Glassprimer™ glass paint doesn’t generate electricity, but it does provide a stable, durable coating that’s designed especially for glass and other impervious surfaces that typically don’t accept paint. Glassprimer™ glass paint works at the nanoscale level to make a permanent bond with the glass surface. Once cured, the paint will not chip, fade or peel, even in humid conditions or in direct sunlight.

Glassprimer™ glass paint is a specialized glass coating that bonds permanently to glass surfaces. GlassPrimer also makes a glass surface molecular activator that is designed to work with UV-inkjet glass printing processes. Glassprimer™ glass paint can be used in both interior and exterior applications and can help reduce solar heat gain in some applications. For more information about Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store .

Photo Credit: Ted Lappin, via Flickr.com

New paint-on coating improves glass efficiency

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New paint-on coating improves glass efficiency

New paint-on coating improves glass efficiency

Researchers at Berkeley National Labs are working to develop a paint-on coating that reflects heat. If successful, the coating could be added to existing windows for about one-tenth the cost of conventional heat-reflective glazes. The researchers even speculate that the coating could be applied by homeowners as a do-it-yourself project.

The coating will be designed to selectively reflect infrared light waves without significantly reducing visible light. Like many energy-efficient coatings, the Berkeley coating will also be designed primarily for use in southern and western climates. These buildings tend to use a significant amount of electricity for air conditioning.

The goal of the development is to create an inexpensive, easy-to-use coating. If they succeed, the coating could reduce energy consumption by as much as 35 billion KWh and 24 billion pounds of CO2 emissions annually. The team’s goal is to create a coating that could be applied for about $1.50 per square foot.

To create the coating, the team will work with a type of polymer known as a “bottlebrush” polymer. The unique shape of the polymer – a rigid spine with bristles that extend from the sides – could help reflect infrared light, while allowing visible light to pass unimpeded.

The work is being funded by the US Department of Energy, and will allow the team to develop, refine and test the coating. Another element of the project is to determine how best to scale production, maximize the coating’s efficiency and distribute the finished product.

Glassprimer™ glass paint is a specialized glass coating that bonds permanently to glass surfaces. GlassPrimer also makes a glass surface molecular activator that is designed to work with UV-inkjet glass printing processes. Glassprimer™ glass paint can be used in both interior and exterior applications and can help reduce solar heat gain in some applications. For more information about Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store .

Photo Credit: Myxi, via Flickr.com

NYU’s Billion-Dollar Glass Building

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NYU's Billion-Dollar Glass Building

NYU’s Billion-Dollar Glass Building

Construction is expensive anywhere, but construction costs in New York City are astronomical. It should come as little surprise, therefore, that NYU’s newest academic building will cash out at a cool $1B. The building, known as 181 Mercer Street, will have nearly 750,000 square feet of space and will feature a swimming pool, a gym, multiple theaters, student and faculty housing, classroom space and practice space, all tucked behind an all-glass façade.

The all-glass façade is both practical and symbolic. When the university sought to expand its footprint beyond its current campus, its plans were met with stiff opposition from its nearby neighbors. The issue was litigated and the University prevailed. The all-glass façade is meant to help heal the rift that was opened between the University and the surrounding community, some members of which wanted the land to be used as a park. As a nod to the community, the building will also feature about 8,000 square feet of space designated for community or public use.

The University acquired the space on which the new building will sit in the 1960’s. To create enough space for the new “super building”, the University needed to demolish an existing recreation building, which was completed in August 2016.

Even though the new building’s size seems immense, it’s actually only about 80% of what the city would allow on a parcel of that size. The building’s glass façade will provide a significant amount of natural light. It will also have a “green roof” and low-flow plumbing, as well as a rainwater runoff retention system.

According to NYU, the building is much needed and long overdue. While the facility does replace an athletic and recreation building, it also expands the available instructional space and relieve currently overcrowded classrooms. According to NYU, the building will be ready for use in 2021.

Glassprimer™ glass paint is a specialized glass coating that bonds permanently to glass surfaces. GlassPrimer also makes a glass surface molecular activator that is designed to work with UV-inkjet glass printing processes. Glassprimer™ glass paint can be used in both interior and exterior applications and can help reduce solar heat gain in some applications. For more information about Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store .

Photo Credit: Joe Mannion, via Flickr.com

Glass tile offers endlessly customizable displays

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Glass tile offers endlessly customizable displays

Glass tile offers endlessly customizable displays

Decorating – or redecorating – can be both expensive and time-consuming. That’s one reason people don’t often undertake major redecorating projects. Some Italian scientists may have found a way to remove both the inconvenience and expense associated with redecorating. They’ve created Lumentile, a ceramic glass tile that can be used to redecorate a room virtually, and as frequently as the user likes.

The ceramic tile uses embedded electronics and innovative display technology to display photos, patterns and colors on the surface of the tile. Each tile can be used as an independent segment of a display screen. When the electronics are off, the tile appears to be a standard ceramic tile.

Users can display virtually any image or color on the tile using a computer, smartphone or tablet. A Lumentile wall can be yellow one day and blue the next. In addition, the tiles can display pictures, videos and patterns as the user desires. Each tile is the size of a standard A3 paper – about 11.7″x 16.5″ and contains its own independent power supply.

When the tile is unpowered, it can appear in one of three standard colors – black, white or silver. The tile is specially engineered to emit a uniform level of light across the surface of the tile. The designers don’t just envision Lumentile as a decorative surface for interiors. They believe that the tile system can be used for exterior and mobile applications, saying that the system could provide vehicles or other moving objects with a camouflage surface or a mobile billboard.

Lumentile applications aren’t limited to vertical surfaces, either. The designers say that the tiles can be installed on floors to support security and safety applications, or to provide directional assistance. Currently, tiles are in an advanced development phase, and could be on the market by 2020.

Glassprimer™ glass paint is a specialized glass coating that bonds permanently to glass surfaces. GlassPrimer also makes a glass surface molecular activator that is designed to work with UV-inkjet glass printing processes. Glassprimer™ glass paint can be used in both interior and exterior applications and can help reduce solar heat gain in some applications. For more information about Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store .