Water-flow Incorporated Insulating Glazing Unit

While glazing will be more and more extensively used in modern architectures, the increase in space thermal load gives much pressure on carbon emission and climate change. Although there have been extensive studies on the sustainable glazing technology such as the advanced variable-tint, solar-screen, airflow and electricity-conversion window systems, so far very little efforts have been spent on studying solar heat removal with the use of multi-pane window cavity as water flow channel. This project is to study the energy performance of an innovative water-flow channel incorporated insulating glass unit (IGU) system as compared to conventional IGU. The computer model of such a triple-glazing system with low-emissivity coating will be validated by experimental findings and typical annual performance will be examined with the use of typical year round weather data of Hong Kong. Furthermore, the environmental impact will be evaluated via life-cycle analysis.