Abstract
A modified pump-out technique, incorporating a novel pump-out hole sealing process, has been developed that enables a high level of vacuum to be achieved between the panes of a vacuum glazing. The modified pump-out method provides several potential opportunities for the fabrication of a vacuum glazing with improved thermal performance. In particular, improved flexibility for production of a wide range of glazing sizes may allow a lower cost of manufacture to be achieved by avoiding the expense of a high vacuum oven which would otherwise be required for commercial production of high performance, large-scale vacuum glazings. The thermal performance of the vacuum glazing fabricated using the pump-out technique was characterized using a guarded hotbox calorimeter and theoretically analyzed using a finite volume model. The excellent experimentally determined thermal performance of the fabricated vacuum glazing was in good agreement with that predicted theoretically. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 1072-1077 |
Journal | Solar Energy |
Volume | 81 |
Issue number | 9, |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published (in print/issue) - 2007 |