by Shane Henson — November 26, 2012—SAGE Electrochromics, a manufacturer of an electronically tintable glass that improves the way people experience daylight in buildings, recently unveiled what it touts as the world’s first dynamic glass window system that enables variable tint zones within a single pane of electrochromic glass.
The new SageGlass Control System allows building occupants to change the tint in three different sections in a single pane of SageGlass, and each section can be set to any available tint level. This variability provides much greater flexibility for managing solar heat gain and glare. With multiple zones in a single window, factors such as the changing angles of the sun throughout the day and seasons can be better managed to optimize daylight and preserve the outdoor view, the company says.
The new SageGlass Control System supports a variety of popular building automation network standards and protocols, such as BACnet and LonTalk, enabling it to be integrated easily into most commercial building control systems. The SageGlass Control System can also be programmed to work automatically with external light sensors, or manually using push-button controls. And the new variable zone capability doesn’t add installation complexity—a multi-zone SageGlass unit has just four wires for simple and low-cost installation, the company says.
The multi-zone tinting will be made possible by the next-generation of SageGlass, commercially available in early 2013, when SAGE’s new high-volume manufacturing plant starts full production. The state-of-the-art facility features advanced manufacturing technologies that will enable SageGlass to be manufactured in much larger architectural-grade sizes, up to 5 x 10 feet, with more colors and other aesthetic options for architects and building owners.
Minneapolis-based SAGE Electrochromics is a wholly owned subsidiary of Saint-Gobain of Paris, France, one of the world’s largest building materials companies. According to SAGE, its proprietary SageGlass can reduce a building’s cooling load by 20 percent and HVAC requirements up to 30 percent.
