ENGINEERINGNET.EU – The Belgian company Ducatt has succeeded in producing its first 2 mm solar glass. Float glass of this thickness has been on the market for years, but for ultra-clear patterned glass, this is definitely a first in Europe, claims the company on its website.
Key to this breakthrough is a brand new tailor made production line for patterned solar glass. Only last year (2011), the company invested in a state-of-the-art glass furnace and integrated production facility, including a unique tempering furnace.
This allows Ducatt to produce thermally toughened glass as thin as 2 mm, free of any residual waviness. And as it is only 2 mm thick, it has all the extra benefits of being lighter.
The patterned low-iron glass can easily reach transparency values of over 91,5 %. This figure is further improved with the application of an anti-reflective coating to the glass surface, which Ducatt is developing in parallel.
Thus, Ducatt stays well on track to accomplish its mission to produce two millimeters thick solar glass with a transparency of up to 95 %.
Roel Bollen, founder and CEO of Ducatt: “We are now able to produce ultra-clear toughened solar glass thinner than a 1 euro coin. And we are convinced that this technological breakthrough will stimulate the development of innovative products aimed at harvesting solar energy.”
Ducatt welcomes solar panel manufacturers and other solar energy product developers to create innovative products based on ultra-clear, ultra-thin, toughened solar glass together.
(picture: Ducatt, Roel Bollen)
