Fuldskalaforsøg med aerogelvinduer under naturlige forhold

The aim of the project “Full scale experiments with aerogel windows exposed to natural conditions” is to test the durability of aerogel windows exposed to real climatic conditions and to investigate the influence of aerogel windows compared to common low-energy windows with respect to heat balance and indoor thermal comfort.

The influence of temperature and wind load on the durability of sealed glazing units including aerogel windows has been investigated theoretically. The analyses show that evacuated aerogel glazings are significantly more robust to temperature changes and wind load than common sealed glazing units, due to the rough vacuum.

A non-evacuated aerogel glazing has been mounted in a experimental house for 3 years without any sign of degeneration of the aerogel material. An energy saving of 30% has been found if aerogel windows are used instead of low-energy windows with argon-filling and hard low-emissivity coatings. The energy saving is reached without significant change in the indoor thermal comfort level.

Highly insulating glazing types as aerogel glazings and triple-layered low-energy glazings lead to outside surface temperatures on the glazing that often are below the dew point of the ambient air, and condensation on the outside surface will occur. This problem has been analysed theoretically by calculation of the number of hours per year where condensation will occur.