Page 43 - Glass-Technology International no. 3/2017

cally shaped glass façade, bending angles and the nec- insulating glass units are façade of the T-Mobile
spanning some 800 square essary installation tolerances held in the frame also have a Arena. An additional ad-
metres, is covered with a were precisely calculated permanent effect on the edge vantage was to be found
translucent LED fabric for and tested in advance. This seal. In addition to the use of in the excellent insula-
video shows, and comple- represented a monumental the correct sealing material, tion properties of the Su-
®
mented by a sleek exterior task in view of the approxi- the spacer is assigned the per Spacer Warm Edge
of undulating bands of met- mately 2,500 trapezoidal greatest importance when it System, which contrib-
al that evoke the colour and insulating glass units, which comes to hermetically seal- utes towards the thermal
sedimentary layering of the were ultimately cold bent di- ing the space between the behaviour of the entire
desert. rectly on site. The coating, panes of glass over a period building that was con-
As is so often the case, it was structure, size and, above all, of decades. “By contrast structed in accordance
also a long process from the the thickness of the glass, as with rigid spacers, flexible with the LEED Gold
design of T-Mobile Arena’s well as the elasticity of the spacers cannot form kinks standard.
glass façade to its cost-effi- edge seals, were the essential or ridges that might impair
cient, technical implemen- product parameters which their leak tightness after
tation. Teamwork over a pe- had to be optimised. The they have been bent,” ex- Edgetech Europe GmbH
riod of several months with decision in favour of cold- plains Rubel. In addition to
all the technical specialists bent glass was based almost the economic aspects, this
involved from the architect exclusively on economic functional feature proved to
to the façade builder Crown considerations. Hot bending be the main reason to use
®
Corr, the glass supplier processes require an indi- Super Spacer for the glass Gladbacher Strasse 23
52525 Heinsberg - Germany
Guardian, the glass proces- vidual, custom-made shape Tel.: +49 (0)2452.96491.0
sor, J.E. Berkowitz, extend- for each pane of glass, cold Fax: +49 (0)2452.96491.11
ing to the sealing specialist, glass is exclusively bent me- E-mail: info@edgetech-europe.com
Dow Corning, and the sup- chanically and, in the case of www.superspacer.com
plier of the spacer system, the T-Mobile Arena, pressed
Edgetech/Quanex, and was into a plain, anodised alu-
of crucial importance in minium frame.
ensuring the success of the “Cold glass is surprisingly
project. flexible and extremely elas-
tic until the breaking point
INSULATING is reached,” explains Chris-
GLASS IS COLD BENT toph Rubel, a technology
DIRECTLY ON-SITE
expert at Edgetech. “Glass
The bowl shape of the cannot be plastically de-
façade results in count- formed in a cold state, but
less glass bending radii it does not have any shape
and edge dimensions, and memory, by contrast with
by contrast with flat panes thermally bent glass, that
of glass, the compressive solidifies in one shape after
strength, tensile strength cooling.” A simple rule of
and bending strength values thumb describes the rela-
are unknown for the curved tionship between glass thick-
panes. Due to the fact the ness and the radius: if the
glass curvature also has an glass is 6 millimetres thick,
influence on the bending it can be approximately bent
strength and thus also the up to 1,500 times the radius
climatic stresses upon the of 9 metres before it breaks.
insulating glass, minimal Naturally, the mechanical
bending radii, maximum forces with which the curved

Glass-Technology International 3/2017 41