Thin film coated energy-efficient glass windows for warm climates

The main objective of this work was to develop laboratory-scale versions of (a) multilayer thin film coated energy-efficient glass windows for applications in warm climates. For this purpose a three-layer system of dielectric/metal/dielectric (D/M/D) on glass was used to achieve the above mentioned spectrally selective coatings. The design parameters for optimum performance of D/M/D on glass systems for various dielectrics, such as TiO2, WO3, and ZnS, were obtained theoretically. Based on these parameters, D/M/D systems on glass were fabricated. Upon testing these systems, it was concluded that the system with any of the three dielectrics performed well and the efficiencies of the systems with different dielectrics were nearly the same.

Energy-efficient glass windows for warm climates were designed and fabricated using a three-layer system of D/M/D on glass. Silver was used as a metal layer. Optimization of the optical performances of the three layers on glass through computer simulations was carried out. Based on some of the parameters obtained through the simulations, successful fabrication of the energyefficient windows was achieved. Overall optical performances of the D/M/D systems with different dielectrics were in close agreement with those predicted by the simulations. On testing it was found that the D/M/D systems were highly energy efficient. Temperature difference inside the two cubes, one using coated and the other uncoated glass windows, of about 8°C was observed.