EN ERGY E F F ICI ENCY
Small but mighty – how spacer bars
created the modern window
Edgetech’s managing director, Chris Alderson, reflects on the crucial
importance of warm-edge technology to the development of the modern
window, and the company's ever-growing range of advanced spacers.
Spacer bars are tiny, and most people in
the world don’t know they exist. But as
everyone in the glazing sector knows,
they’re a vital part of how modern
windows can deliver exceptional thermal and
acoustic performance.
At Edgetech, we’ve been passionate about
the power of warm-edge technology for over
years. It might’ve existed long before us – it was
invented in Victorian times, when wood or rope
was used to separate the panes in the earliest
double glazed windows – but we’re proud to
have played a major role in bringing it firmly into
the mainstream.
When Edgetech was first founded, metal
spacers were still the norm – but they came with
significant drawbacks.
Metal conducts heat, and that means that
windows made with metal spacers very quickly
let the warm out, and the cold in. Draughty
homes and higher heating bills were the result.
Our modern iteration of warm-edge
technology rectified that. By using highlyadvanced
plastics and foam rubbers rather than
metal, warm-edge spacers – like Edgetech’s
pioneering Super Spacer which has been in
continual use for over three decades – were able
to offer vastly better performance.
It’s no surprise that, today, warm-edge spacers
have become the norm.
FLEXIBLE AND RIGID
Flexible spacers like Super Spacer are extremely
versatile and their design means they can be used
to easily create unconventionally shaped units,
freeing up architects to be as bold and ambitious
as they like.
It’s Super Spacer TriSeal, for example, that’s in
over ‰, irregularly shaped IGUs that make up
Dubai’s The Opus tower, one of the world’s most
striking and complex buildings, and the Qatar
National Library.
Its matt material finish means that it blends
in with all window colours too, offering
homeowners and architects alike seamless
aesthetics.
Another key strength of a quality flexible
spacer is its memory. In parts of the world where
strong winds or fluctuating temperatures are the
norm, IGUs are put under a lot of pressure.
Super Spacer’s “% memory means that no
matter how much an IGU expands or contracts
under pressure, it will always return to its original
position, but is flexible enough to move with the
glass which reduces the stress on the glass edge.
This is one of the reasons it’s commonly found
in ambitious buildings in the Middle East, where
day and night temperatures can drastically vary.
Super Spacer isn’t just suited for grand feats of
architecture, however – its exceptional strength,
reliability and performance have seen it used in
millions of households all over the world.
FAST MANUFACTURING
What’s more, Super Spacer units can be
manufactured in under • seconds.
Even using our most basic, entry-level manual
application tools, we’ve seen some people
assemble a unit with it ready for secondary
sealing in under “– seconds.
Upgrade to a fully-automated Super Spacer
line, and the efficiency gains drastically increase.
A nine-person line applying traditional rigid
spacers can produce around “,• units every
shift. A high-speed automated Super Spacer line,
by contrast, can produce •.–% more units and
requires just three to four employees to operate.
In total, that equals savings of approximately
£“8, every year.
WIDEST RANGE
Our flexible spacer range also includes Duralite
– a durable, single-seal, high-performance
product that can be applied in a single step
for outstanding thermal performance and cost
effective volume manufacturing.
Rigid spacers, like Edgetech’s TruPlas offer
improved thermal performance over metal
spacer bars, and companies can switch to them
from their metal counterparts easily, using their
existing machinery.
TruPlas is made of high-performing glassreinforced
thermoplastic, and has delivered
stability and thermal efficiency for homes all
around the world.
MORE ADVANCES AROUND THE CORNER
Befitting Edgetech’s long-standing commitment
to constant innovation, we’re currently hard at
work developing several innovative new spacer
bar products.
We’ve just released the latest evolution of our
heavy-duty T-Spacer product line – T-Spacer SG,
offering enhanced shape memory, and thermal
conductivity of just .“›W/m²K.
Super Spacer T-Spacer SG is a metal-free,
silicone-based warm edge spacer made of
structural foam, with an integrated desiccant
that’s been specifically designed for the toughest
commercial applications.
On demanding commercial projects its
extremely durable edge seal guarantees
exceptional performance and stability.
What’s more, we’re working on a number
of other revolutionary new designs, including
additions to our Super Spacer platform and a
new rigid spacer too – so watch this space!
•• has been a challenging year – but at
Edgetech, we’re committed to continuing to push
spacer technology forward, and helping glazing
products offer the outstanding performance
we’ll need to hit net zero carbon by •–.
September www.ggpmag.com
Super Spacer TriSeal features in over
, IGUs in Dubai's The Opus tower
/www.ggpmag.com
