Hardware
Play it Safe
Being able to safely and securely operate a window that has safe guards to help control its opening, while at the same time being easily opened for egress purposes, is critical in today’s building projects. Truth Hardware has developed a solution for the hinged window market with its new SafeGard window opening control device. 

According to company information, SafeGard is a reliable, easy-to-install and easy-to-operate solution that meets stringent safety requirements such as ASTM F2090-10. 
http://www.truth.com/main/news/wocd

Door Glass
Simple Decorative Designs
RSL Inc. has introduced six new decorative glass series for use with steel and fiberglass exterior doors. The Galaxy, Conquistador, Paragon, Skyline, New Hope and Brilliance series are available in a wide range of standard sizes for the residential exterior door market.

According to company information, these new designs were developed in order to appeal to the changing demands of U.S. and Canadian homeowners, as greater privacy and simple designs have become popular.

The Conquistador series offers wrought iron with hammered background glass that provides more privacy than traditional clear glass, while the Paragon and Skyline series offer simple geometric designs with black caming. In addition, the Skyline series features smooth, non-welded caming joints.

The Galaxy series is made of resin rather than patterned or beveled glass, and the company now offers white caming, available in the Brilliance series.
http://www.RSLinc.com

Accent Trim
Lawrence Brands it On
New logo branding plates called Brand-On are now available from Lawrence Industries Inc., designed to allow window dealers and manufactures to brand their products. The plates are available in more than 20 decorative finishes, stainless, copper, and a variety of tinted colors.

The branding plates allow users to customize a window for specific dealers or with their own brand name. The plate fastens to the door, window or sash at the user’s desired location.
http://www.lawrenceindustries.com

Solar
Windows as Solar Panels
Polyera Corp. of Chicago announced it has achieved a certified 9.1 percent efficient polymer/ fullerene organic solar cell in an inverted bulk heterojunction architecture using its newest proprietary ActivInk PV2000 semiconductor material. The high efficiency of this material in an inverted architecture, in combination with its other properties, represents a breakthrough in the development of organic solar cell technology for large-scale manufacturing of low-cost, lightweight, flexible, and optically semitransparent solar modules, according to the announcement. The device performance was certified by Newport Corp.’s PV cell lab.

Polyera’s active layer materials can be deposited using a broad range of film thicknesses without lowering cell efficiency; this process window, according to the announcement, improves yields and simplifies manufacturing. Polyera’s materials can be processed at low enough temperatures to be compatible with a wide range of simple printing processes and common plastic substrates such as PET or PEN.

The announcement reports that Polyera will launch a series of organic solar cell active-layer inks, to be commercialized under the trade name ActivInk PV.
http://www.polyera.com

Calculate Carbon Benefits of Wood Easily
If you are a wood products company with energy efficiency in mind, you may be interested to know that WoodWorks, a cooperative venture of major North American wood associations, recently launched an online tool that estimates the carbon benefits of wood buildings. Released as a complement to the online cost calculator launched recently, the carbon calculator estimates the amount of carbon stored in a building’s wood products (which was absorbed by the trees while growing) and the greenhouse gas emissions avoided by not using steel or concrete.

The tool allows users to calculate the carbon benefits of wood buildings in one of two ways:

• If wood product information is known (such as the volume of lumber, panels, engineered wood products, etc.), the carbon calculator will provide a detailed estimate related to that specific building. The more detailed the information, the better the results.

• If product information is unknown, users can select from a list of common building types and receive an estimate based on typical wood use.

Companies who sell wood windows are taking notice.

Lance Premeau, LEED® green associate with Kolbe Windows and Doors, says any tool that can provide more information to the architect, builder and homeowner is a benefit.

“As sustainability continues to become the priority in the building environment, the AEC community and consumers need to have the proper tools to be able to calculate their impact on the environment,” he says. “Online calculators and comparison tools like this can be helpful in making more informed choices about lowering their carbon footprint and the benefits of choosing materials that are sustainably sourced, rapidly renewing, recycled and recyclable.”

“Although a building’s operational energy use is the first thing a lot of people think of in the context of its carbon footprint, it’s really just one element,” adds Dwight Yochim, national director of WoodWorks. “The choice of building materials has a significant impact. Life cycle assessment studies show time and time again that wood has less embodied energy than other materials, which makes it a good choice related to greenhouse gas emissions. The fact that wood also stores carbon makes the benefits that much more pronounced. Our hope is that, with the carbon calculator, we’re giving design and building professionals another tool that supports the objective of low or net-zero energy buildings.”
http://www.woodworks.org

Equipment
“How We Did It”: Uncovering Defects
Northeast Building Products Corp. wanted to discover defects and blemishes on glass lites on the front end to decrease on waste and cut down on customer complaints. And the Philadelphia-based company took steps to make that happen.

The company installed a sashline in 2010, and invested in a FeneVision LineScanner to enhance its capability to inspect glass for its premium Crusader line.

The high speed FeneVision unit, which can be any length up to three meters, detects blemishes, scratches and imperfections as small as 0.1 mm on both surfaces of lites in one pass. It can also measure the size of each lite and the location of any fabrications.

“We sell on quality” says Ron Clements, information services network administrator for Northeast. “Across our company, we like to stay on the cutting edge.”

Installed after the washer and before assembly, the LineScanner did not take long to integrate with Northeast’s Bystronic line and ERP system. As he speaks, Clements is in his office viewing the scans on his iPad in real time. “We see what the operator sees on the floor.”

Previously the assembly and inspection of glass was done manually, he says. While operators were wary at first, they soon realized it helps them find defects.

“Before, when we would see defects, it would usually be at the end of the line. At that point, we’d already assembled the window. Now, instead of scrapping an entire sash, we can replace or clean a piece of glass before assembly. We’ve reduced in-process replacements.”

Developed by FeneTech partner SoftSolution of Austria, the LineScanner can detect defects in completed dual- and triple-glazed insulating glass. “Currently it can tell you there is an issue and where it is,” says Huffman. “This enables you to find a defect fast and efficiently.”

F or Northeast, which makes more than 200,000 doors and windows a year, the LineScanner has become a featured attraction on customer tours. With the monitor displaying results for operators right at the station, Clements says, “It’s a good sales tool for us.”

A possible new LineScanner for Northeast may include archiving software to store scan records. “We’re always on the lookout for ways to identify issues and determine when they started,” Clements says. “It would be useful to look back in time at trends so we can fix them.”

“Our quality is definitely improved and more consistent with the scanner,” he adds. “We’re all for consistency.”
http://www.fenetech.com

DWM
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