A double-glazed window is a translucent construction structure made of two or more glasses that are bonded (glued) together in the following order: glass — air chamber (gas) - glass - and so on. The purpose of a double-glazed window as a replacement for glass is to increase such characteristics of the window as resistance to heat transfer, since air and some other gases do not pass heat well.
The method of glass bonding is a metal or plastic remote frame. The plastic frame slightly increases the resistance to heat transfer. The structure of the double-glazed window is fixed with thiocol and butyl.
Air is most often located between the Windows, but to improve the characteristics of heat transfer resistance, other gases with lower thermal conductivity can be pumped into the glass unit — carbon dioxide, argon, xenon, their mixtures, etc. Monatomic gases with a large molecular weight dramatically reduce the thermal conductivity of a double-glazed window, but increase its price.
Double-glazed windows differ in the method of manufacture:
Production according to standard technology, where there is a metal or plastic spacer, which is filled with a molecular sieve, after which the glued glass is coated with butyl along the edge, which is a secondary sealing.
Production according to the "warm edge" technology. The technology is new and promising. It differs from the standard in that instead of multi-step production of double-glazed Windows, it uses only 2 steps (applying a flexible spacer, pressing), which significantly saves time and money. The double-glazed window turns out to be warmer than in the standard manufacturing method.
By the number of cameras. A space called a camera is formed between each two glasses. In this regard, double-glazed Windows are divided into single-chamber (two glasses), two-chamber (three glasses) , and so on.
By width. The width of a double-glazed window is the full width of the block together with the glass and air part. There are double-glazed Windows with a width of 14,16,18,20,22,24,28,32, 36, 42, 44 mm, etc.
By type of glass used[1]:
- normal
- energy-saving-low-emission coated glass (hard or soft coated (also known as K or I type))
- noise-proof-triplex
- sunscreen-tinted glass in the mass or tinted with film
- impact-resistant-triplex glass with high protection class[2][3].
Double-glazed window formula-glass / brand-distance/filling-glass/brand. The SP formula always starts with the outside glass facing the street.
Example: 8M1-16-4M1-12Ar-4K: 8 mm glass grade M1-16 mm vozd. distance-4 mm glass M1-12 mm distance, filling argon-4 mm K-glass.
With the growth of the inter-glass space to ~16 mm (in each chamber), the thermal insulation characteristics of the double-glazed window grow, but over 24 mm begin to deteriorate, due to the growth of convective heat transfer in the inter-glass space. And if a single-chamber glass is usually calculated using the formula 4-16-4 (where 4 mm is glass, 16 mm is the Interglass space), then for a double-chamber glass unit the formula is already different, not 4-16-4-16-4. This is where the issue of noise comes into play: in order for noise to be extinguished most effectively, the distances between the Windows in one block must be different. That is, the distance frames for double or triple glazing should be of different widths.
Single-chamber narrow double-glazed Windows are often used for glazing the balcony block, when the balcony itself is already glazed on the outside.
The width of the distance has a great influence on noise protection; the wider, the higher the sound insulation properties of the double-glazed window. The use of triplex and thicker glasses gives a noticeable result.
Manufacturers of double-glazed windows today are most often companies engaged in the production of metal-plastic windows. However, there are also companies that produce only double-glazed windows.