Lead Performer: PPG Industries Inc., Flat Glass Science and Technology - Cheswick, PA
DOE Funding: $2,000,000
Cost Share: $857,723
Project Term: October 1, 2014 - September 30, 2017
Funding Opportunity Announcement: Building Energy Efficiency Frontiers and Incubator Technologies (BENEFIT) - 2014 (DE-FOA-0001027)

Project Objective

PPG is working to design a fabricate-on-demand process to overcome the cost and supply chain issues preventing widespread adoption of vacuum insulating glazings (VIGs). To do so, we are focused on improving the areas of VIG manufacturing that drive high costs and limit the ability for independent fabricators to support the market. Each technical solution we are investigating serves at least one of three purposes: increases glass unit mechanical robustness to improve product yield and increase service life, lowers capital investment, and/or increases production throughput. By tightly focusing on these issues, VIGs will become more affordable and durable, which will increase their adoption rate, and more manufacturers will be capable of entering the market.

Project Impact

At the successful end of the project, we plan to fabricate a prototype, lab-made VIG with center of glass (COG) performance of at least R10, using process steps that can be adopted by the many regional window manufacturers currently serving the energy-efficient window market. Once integrated into a high-efficiency frame, a VIG with COG of R10 or higher can realistically yield R7 or greater thermal performance windows. As stated in the FOA, R10 windows could save ~2 Quads in the residential and commercial sectors combined if the current stock of windows were immediately retrofitted. Robust VIGs designed to fit the existing window supply chain will enable the widespread VIG adoption that puts us on that path.

Contacts

DOE Technology Manager: Karma Sawyer, Jim Payne
Performer: Dr. Mehran Arbab, Director, Glass Science & Technology, PPG Industries Inc.

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