Saint-Gobain Glass proposes several coated glass products for summer comfort application for windows, in residential and non-residential buildings. Assembled in insulating glazing units (IGU), they help reducing overheating within buildings or limiting energy consumption for cooling, while keeping outside connection and daylight access.
In addition to the solar control function, all these products also provide reinforced thermal insulation (Ug 1.0 W/m²K) that limits heat loss to the outside during cold periods.

The technology behind solar control and low emissivity is a thin transparent coating of metallic oxides, deposited on one glass pane of a double-glazing unit or on two glass panes in a triple glazing unit. Invisible thermal shield, this coating acts as an optical filter, reflecting a part of the heat sun, letting the daylight coming in and retaining appropriate heat inside the building.
 

Summer comfort coatings reduce overheating within buildings while letting the daylight in. 
 

Summer comfort coatings are mainly characterized by:

• Light transmission (LT): Percentage of visible light directly transmitted through the glass. In windows application, we target as high light transmission as possible.
• Solar Factor (g-value): Percentage of solar energy transmitted through the glass. It measures the ability of a glazing to reduce the heating of the room. The lower the solar factor is, the better it helps to improve the comfort inside of the building by limiting indoor overheating. 
   
• Outside Reflection (LRe): Percentage of visible light directly reflected from the exterior glass surface.
• Inside Reflection (LRi): Percentage of visible light directly reflected from the interior glass  surface.
• Ug-value: Measure of the heat loss through the glass due to the difference of temperature between inside and outside,expressed in W/m². K. The lower the Ug value is, the better the insulating properties are.

Saint-Gobain summer comfort glass is suited for windows applications in new build or renovation, in residential and non-residentials buildings (hospitals, schools, small offices).

Thanks to its expertise, Saint-Gobain proposes products with appropriate solar factor, adapted to each application, window size and project location.
For standard size windows (glazed surface of 1,5 m² or lower) in hot climate, a solar factor lower than 45% is well adapted, while in intermediate and cold climates, a solar factor around 50% is convenient. Whatever the region, a solar factor below 40% is necessary for large windows, window bays and sliding doors, exposed to direct sun radiation (South and West), as well as for skylights and conservatories.

There are 3 main families of summer comfort coated glass, offering different levels of protection from the heat during the hot periods:

• ECLAZ^® ZEN – first level of summer comfort for windows for intermediate and cold climate
• PLANITHERM^® 4S – first level of summer comfort for windows in hot climate
• PLANISTAR^® SUN and ECLAZ^® SUN – high performance summer comfort glass for windows