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It’s that time of the year again for the Insulating Glass Manufacturers Alliance (IGMA). The association is convening this week at the Brown Palace Hotel & Spa in Denver for its Fall Conference. The first meeting took place today.
The Insulating Glass Manufacturers Alliance’s Emerging Technology and Innovation task group got things started Tuesday at the association’s Fall meeting in Denver.
As part of the sessions, the Emerging Technology and Innovation Committee discussed activity within its five task groups. The groups within the committee, chaired by Helen Sanders of Sage Electrochromics, include Advanced Fenestration Testing, Vacuum Insulating Glass (VIG), Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), ASTM E 2190 Field Correlation Study and Gas Measurement Validation.
The Advanced Fenestration Testing Task Group, chaired by Tracy Rogers of Quanex, is developing three new test protocols to correlate to the ASTM standards and provide a faster means of testing.
Conference delegates later had an opportunity to view the Differential Thermal Cycling Unit developed by National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL), which hosted IGMA attendees for a tour of its facility (see USGNN.com™ tomorrow for coverage of the tour.)
Arreline Dameron of NREL said one challenge has been a discrepancy in measurements with gas concentrations, “so our measurements don’t agree with each other.”
Randi Ernst of FDR Design touched on that as well during the Gas Measurement Validation Task Group, which he chairs.
“We feel it’s the desiccant that’s causing the imbalance,” he said, adding “what may come out of this is some sort of test method where we’re going to look at desiccants.”
Ernst said overall the task group has become the “United Nations” task group “because we’re working across so many borders.” Involved parties include ASTM, certification labs, IGCC and other certification bodies.
The gas measurement group was established to evaluate a new gas measurement technique using fluorescence technology, but has spun off in a few directions. Other areas of focus with the group include gas chromatography and conductivity.
Sanders gave IGMA attendees a rundown of recent Product Category Rule (PCR) activity during the Life Cycle Assessment Task Group’s segment of the meeting. “We’re going on a five-year process on the PCRs,” she said.
Last month, the PCR for fenestration products was completed and published to the Institute for Environmental Research and Education (IERE).
The PCR for processed glass, facilitated by UL Environment, has been completed and is currently open for public review. The joint IGMA-Glass Association of North America (GANA) task group will address comments received during that period and will then forward the PCR for “expert panel review.” The group expects the PCR to be published on the UL Environment website this December.
Guardian’s David Cooper discussed the activities of the Vacuum Insulating Glazing Task Group, which he chairs.
Since its establishment, the group has gathered VIG information and recently published a technical bulletin. Cooper said it is “making progress” on the test specification and standard, and the final steps will be developing certification program guidelines and developing VIG glazing guidelines.
The ASTM E 2190 Field Study Task Group, chaired by Jim Blamble of Sika, has expanded its scope to provide comparability to the original 25-year field correlation study (1980-2005). According to Blamble, the scope has been modified to study and evaluate the performance of insulating glass units certified to the ASTM E 2190 standard for durability and gas content in residential and commercial applications. The evaluation will span from the initial manufacture through fabrication and installation, as well as through additional monitoring during “defined periods of time.”
Stay tuned to USGNN.com™ for continued coverage of the IGMA Fall Conference.
