A Comparative Evaluation on the Thermal Insulation Performance of Windows according to the Temporary Improvement Method

The purpose of this study is to compare the thermal insulation performance of windows according to the formation of air layer and to evaluate its energy efficiency on a selected standard house. A thermal insulation test, KS F 2278 was used to measure U-values (Heat transmission coefficients) for the following three cases: the first case (Case 1) is a Low-E pair glass (Argon injected), the second case (Case 2) is a Low-E pair glass with the air cap attached on the glass surface, and the third case (Case 3) is a Low-E pair glass, on the frame of which the air cap is attached. The evaluation of the energy efficiency was conducted according to a building energy calculation method from ISO 13790, calculation of energy use for space heating and cooling, using the U-values obtained from the thermal insulation tests. As results of the tests, the U-values of Case 1, Case 2, and Case 3 were $1.668W/m^2{\cdot}K$, $1.568W/m^2{\cdot}K$, and $1.319W/m^2{\cdot}K$ respectively. The Case 2 had about 5.9% lower value than the Case 1, and the Case 3 had about 20.9% lower value than the Case 1. It seems that the thermal performance of the windows is attributed to an increase of the heat resistance and the thickness of air layer. An evaluation of the energy efficiency of the three cases on the selected standard house showed that the amount of heating energy demand per unit area was $7.776kWh/m^2{\cdot}yr$ for the Case $1,6.856kWh/m^2{\cdot}yr$ for the Case 2, and $4.856kWh/m^2{\cdot}yr$ for the Case 3. This study suggests that the formation of air layer (by using air cap) and its thickness should reduce the heat energy demand and thus improve the energy saving efficiency

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