ClearVue Technologies has given global glass manufacturers a key assurance of being able to incorporate its second-generation photovoltaic integrated glazing units (PV-IGU) into standard production facilities without modifying production lines.
The pledge, which the innovative building materials company says gives its product “commercial viability”, comes after a recent trial manufacturing run of 80 of its units and discussions with potential licence partners are ongoing.
The trial, conducted by ClearVue’s original equipment manufacturer in China, had three main objectives.
The key intent was to confirm that the company’s PV-IGU components could be incorporated into industry-standard glazing units built on standard production lines, without any need for modifications when switching between products.
Management also wanted to establish product scalability and determine any variation to standard unit production times that might be incurred as a result of the inclusion of additional components. It says testing ticked both boxes.
It also showed that incorporating ClearVue’s components into standard glazing units to produce a fully-assembled and sealed PV-IGU added just five minutes to the production cycle time.
This is a very important production milestone for our industry-leading second generation IGUs and façade solutions which integrate solar technology into construction glass and building façades to provide renewable energy. Our ability to mass produce the second generation ClearVue IGUs confirms the commercial viability of our product for both large commercial and small-scale bespoke products. We now have proven ability to scale our innovative smart building solutions. Our Building-Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPVs) can be produced on mass production lines without the need for glass manufacturers to make changes to their standardised lines – providing them with reduced capital costs, and less downtime between different product runs. ClearVue Technology chief executive officer Martin Deil
The Australian company has developed specialised glass technologies that preserve glass transparency to maintain building aesthetics and ambience, while also generating electricity that can be stored and converted to useable voltages to supplement building or business power needs.
It incorporates solar PV cells around the edges of IGUs used in windows and constructs a laminate interlayer between the glass panels in the IGU to incorporate the company’s patented and proprietary particles that internally diffuse, redistribute and reflect elements of the incoming light towards the edges of the glass panel. The light is then collected by PV modules and the spectrally-selective coating on the rear external surface of the IGU.
The technology also prevents excess heat and unwanted solar radiation (UV and infrared) from entering building spaces and redirects them towards the edges of the glass pane to PV solar cells to create immediately useable or storable energy. It allows visible-wavelength light to pass through to provide maximum natural daylight, with almost unaltered colour rendering. The glass can be tinted if required and electronically-controlled shading or blinds can also be incorporated.
ClearVue says its products were initially tested at a smaller factory in Singapore, with the trials showing that fabrication and assembly time could be reduced by more than 90 per cent.
Management says that it is in discussions with several manufacturing licensee partners across multiple territories. It believes the new trial information will provide certainty to potential new clients and existing partners, including AIT in the United States, which specialises in the custom manufacturing of precision industrial optical glass for many aerospace, medical, laboratory, automotive and other applications.
It adds that while governments and regulators are mandating new building standards and carbon reduction initiatives and businesses are looking for solutions to meet their net-zero carbon-related requirements, the sector still needs to be able to manufacture products in a cost-effective way that fits into current production facility manufacturing capabilities and schedules.
ClearVue’s electricity-generating glazing technology appears now to be strategically positioned to complement the increased use of energy-efficient windows being regulated in response to global climate change and green goals.
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