1. Laminated Safety Glass (VSG)
Due to safety-relevant requirements parts of roofs or facades may require an execution with so-called laminated safety glass (VSG).
This is particularly relevant for overhead glazing or fall-through protection. Laminated safety glass (VSG) is being used in schools, nursery schools, indoor swimming pools as well as in residential buildings and for crash proof glazing (balustrades) or overhead glazing (e. g. conservatories). For use cases like these, SUNOVATION replaces the usual single pane safety glass (ESG) with a laminated safety glass (VSG), which enables full compliance with building codes.
2. Insulated Glass
Upon request, glass-glass modules SUNOVATION eFORM can be executed as insulating glass elements with excellent thermal and g-values. The variant with insulated glass is particularly suitable for insulating facades, roofing and shading solutions for residential and commercial applications, where modules are directly integrated into the building shell, while at the same time allow light to pass through.
Depending on specific project requirements, the rear pane of the modules will be manufactured with double or triple heat absorbing glass. As in all glass-glass modules of SUNOVATION, various glass structures and thicknesses are also available for insulated glazing. These are always determined on a project-specific basis depending on the installation situation and following static requirements. For the installation any customary sub structures suitable for the installation of insulated glass can be used. Electrical junction boxes and conductive cables will be affixed and laid out invisibly.
3. Curved Glass
The use of curved solar modules is interesting for modern building designs with organic shapes, where building materials are intended to seamlessly integrate into the building shell. Glass-glass modules SUNOVATION eFORM are manufactured using a special production process. The underlying cold filling process enables a tension-free embedding of photovoltaic cells, which is a basic prerequisite for manufacturing curved glass-glass modules. For these modules annealed glass with radii from 450 mm is being used.
4. Mat Glass
Upon customer request any SUNOVATION glass-glass module can be manufactured with a mat surface. In this case, either satin-finished or special structural glasses are used as cover glass. Unwanted reflections can thus be minimized, which is particularly important for facade systems in close proximity of highly frequented roads. These elegantly appearing mat surfaces are also relevant for modules of the eFORM unichrome and eFORM decor product line. This enables surface effects, which can ideally be integrated into the building shell and optimally complement dull looking materials such as concrete or steel.
5. Coated glass
In order to increase the solar yield it is possible to optionally use special solar glasses with anti-reflective coatings as cover glass. Through these coatings the efficiency of the modules can be increased, which also enables a constantly high plant performance – even in extreme environmental conditions. The special coatings show high resistance against mechanical influences and weather conditions, which is particularly relevant in a maritime climate and desert regions. SUNOVATION only uses coatings that do not show any undesired optical influences and that do not affect the aesthetic of the building integrated photovoltaic plant.
6. Accessibility
For building integrated photovoltaic plants in overhead and on roof areas it often makes sense to be able to enter the modules for maintenance and cleaning works. When entering rigid composites the solar cells might become damaged and will not be functional anymore due to the point load. This is different with SUNOVATION glass-glass modules. The sensitive solar cells are embedded into a permanently elastic module composition with excellent attenuation properties and providing outstanding protection from mechanical influences. In combination with a properly configured glass construction high point loads can be transferred ensuring a safe accessibility of the modules, also in the event of thin cover glasses. This was confirmed by the Fraunhofer Institute and has already been successfully implemented in several large projects.
