Page 27 - Glass-Technology International no. 2/2018

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GLASSTEC 2018
SMART GLASS WILL BE A KEY TOPIC

Smart Glass is used in everyday odes) is also being developed. Unlike
products such as smartphones and conventional LEDs and all other light
premium or luxury vehicles. It is cur- sources, OLEDs emit their light across
rently still neglected in architecture the entire surface.
and buildings, even though so many Prof Dr Knaack explains: “You could
functions would be feasible today. This imagine that not only partition walls
new glass technology is to be discussed are controlled but the façade itself,
on the 23-26 October at this year’s thereby turning into a display and,
edition of the glasstec trade fair in hence, part of an office.”
Düsseldorf, Germany. “Like the desktop that people are
Currently, engineers are developing working on and not only as a screen
Smart Glass to be used in the build- for communication and information
ing sector. For example, wall-mounted but as a workstation – comparable to
switches and remote controls could be PC screens today.”
used so that users can select between Buildings, unlike consumer goods,
transparent and non-transparent parti- come with high expenses and cor-
tion walls. respondingly complex development
Prof Dr Ulrich Knaack of TU Darm- and production. They must ‘work’ for
stadt said: “There are many interesting a long period and meet high safety
things under development including demands due to their size and pos-
display glass and OLEDs.” sible consequential damage.
“As soon as we introduce these into Prof Dr Knaack said: “Looking at
the building skin, façades will be- glass in isolation you can say that it
come more active and will be able to has made enormous leaps in terms of
contribute more to the function of the material development, integration in
building.” energy generation and control as well
New lighting technology such as as in design terms.
OLEDs (Organic Light Emitting Di- “Hardly any other material has
achieved this.”
“But this is only the begin-
ning and new themes are
already on the horizon
with an impact we can
only guess.”
When incorporated into
façades, Smart Glass
is capable of reducing
energy costs, providing an
alternative to mechanical
shutters and saving space.
Engineers are also work-
ing on special coatings
that make glass glare-free
and self-cleaning. These
coatings can increase the
performance of solar cells
and thereby substantially
increase the generation of
solar energy.