Abstract

Flat evacuated glazing consists of two plane glass panes separated by a narrow internal evacuated space. Separation of the space is maintained by an array of support pillars typically 0.32mm in diameter and 0.12mm high arranged on a regular square grid with an inter-pillar separation of up to 40mm. A detailed three-dimensional finite volume model has been employed to determine the variation of thermal performance of an evacuated glazing as a function of glass pane thickness. It was predicted that for evacuated glazing of dimensions of 0.3m by 0.3m and 0.5m by 0.5m, reducing glass pane thickness gave improved thermal performance. For evacuated glazings with dimensions of 1m by 1m, the opposite was predicted.