With this new test platform dedicated to glazing, the CSTB provides French and European players with an unprecedented technological tool, aimed at supporting the development and emergence of innovative solutions, in connection with the challenges of energy and environmental performance in particular. .
To do this, the Fresnel laboratory brings together, on a single site, all the equipment used to assess and test the durability of the performance of glazing, as well as their suitability for use. Among this state-of-the-art equipment, three new artificial aging chambers for glazing, co-financed by the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).
Glazing: a strong dynamic of innovation
Faced with the challenge of climate change and saving resources, manufacturers of glazing, key elements in the energy and environmental sobriety of buildings, are mobilizing, adapting the design of their products to new requirements and emerging trends.
For thirty years, a dynamic of sustained innovation has been put in place, inducing a dazzling technological evolution. A new generation of insulating glazing has thus emerged: glazing with gas, with low emissivity layer, warm edge (products incorporating thermally reinforced spacers on the periphery of the glazing to avoid thermal bridges), etc.
Other developments are underway, helping to further improve current performance, but also to include other performance specific to the functions provided by the building envelope: electrochromic and thermochromic insulating glazing, whose light and energy transmission properties can be modified via electrical power for the 1st and by heat for the 2nd; vacuum glazing, a particularly promising technology, as it allows high thermal performance, with thinner glazing, etc.
CSTB Windows and Glazing Department teams, mobilizing more than 50 engineers and technicians, located in the Marne-la-Vallée and Grenoble laboratories, support manufacturers in this dynamic of innovation.
Among the levers offered to them for this, trials are fundamental. They make it possible to understand and characterize new products and technologies to come.
In this regard, the CSTB already had several pieces of equipment dedicated to glazing. All have been grouped together within a single site, the Fresnel laboratory, at CSTB Grenoble. They have also been supplemented with new scientific and technical tools.
Supporting innovation, at the heart of CSTB's missions:
Through its Research & Expertise, testing, evaluation and certification activities, the CSTB supports those involved in construction, promoting the emergence of reliable and safe innovations.
The Fresnel laboratory: the new test platform dedicated to glazing
The Fresnel laboratory allows manufacturers to assess and test the durability of the performance and suitability for use of their products, with the aim of evaluation and certification in particular:
2 main families of products tested:
- Simple glazing:
- Monolithic glazing, in particular tempered
- Laminated glazing
- Insulating glazing:
- Double and triple glazing
- Glazing with incorporated blind
- Active glazing (electrochromic and thermochromic)
- Attached Exterior Glazing
- Clamshell glazing
- Vacuum glazing
4 main types of characteristics studied:
- The durability of the glazing
- Its thermal performance
- Its mechanical performance
- Its optical performance
A very wide variety of tests carried out:
- Climatic cycling tests, exposure to sunlight
- High Temperature Exposure Tests
- Humidity exposure tests
- Fragmentation tests
- Humidity measurements, dew point measurements
- Gas filling rate measurements
- Etc
The Fresnel laboratory has several state-of-the-art equipment, including 3 new artificial aging chambers for products:
- Qualification enclosures:
- 1 variable climate cabinet;
- 1 safe enclosure with UV, allowing glazing to be exposed to UV and humidity.
- 1 large format monitoring speaker (8m3).
These enclosures allow glazing to be exposed to temperatures between -15°C and 56,5°C, as well as to humidity with or without UV.
The Fresnel laboratory thus has 5 chambers for testing the aging of glazing.
The Fresnel laboratory: a test platform at the heart of an ecosystem dedicated to bay products
The Fresnel laboratory is located in the immediate vicinity of the other CSTB infrastructures dedicated to windows and glazing: the PRE3CIE laboratory, a test platform dedicated to innovative envelope products, and the gesture training platform dedicated to the implementation of rack products.
Furthermore, the tests carried out can be combined and/or supplemented, depending on the properties or performances studied, by work carried out by other CSTB departments: the Building Envelope Department; the Safety, Structures, Fire Department; the Health and Comfort Department, with the Building Acoustics Laboratory (LABE).
The Fresnel laboratory, in brief:
- Laboratory located at CSTB Grenoble;
- Allowing manufacturers to carry out, on a single site, all the tests and evaluations necessary for the development, fine-tuning and verification of the quality and performance of their products;
- International influence with tests carried out according to European standards, accessible to all European manufacturers;
- An investment of more than 1 million euros, made by the CSTB, for the overall installation;
- Including 340.000 euros for the 3 new enclosures, co-financed to the tune of 169.789 euros by the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF)