——Interview with Mr. Dennis Resker, General Manager of International Sales of Omate Aluminum Gutter Co., Ltd.
In May 2021, the "China International Glass Industry Technology Exhibition" held in Shanghai attracted a large number of visitors with its grand scale and rich content. The exhibition not only brought together well-known domestic glass manufacturers but also attracted many overseas glass industry counterparts to participate in the exhibition. Especially among the many foreign friends who made a special trip to visit the exhibition, many of them are experts who bring related technologies and production techniques. Jinan LIJIANG Glass met Mr. Dennis Lesk, the general manager of international sales of American Omate Aluminum Gutter Co., Ltd. at the exhibition site. In the interview, Mr. Dennis introduced to us the technical information he brought about the use of stainless steel heat insulation strips for insulating glass and talked about some recent developments in building energy efficiency in the United States, as well as the globalization, scientific and technical aspects of building energy efficiency. The development trend of globalization.
The impressions and feelings of this exhibition
Jinan LIJIANG Glass: Hello, Mr. Dennis, and welcome to the China International Glass Industry Technology Exhibition. What are your impressions and feelings about this exhibition?
Dennis: This is a very good exhibition. People are surrounded by various exquisite glass products. Glass is used more and more in buildings and people's lives. The exhibition truly reflects the current status and level of the development of China's glass industry. At the same time, it also gathers many new technologies and new achievements from world-renowned glass manufacturing companies. Such an exhibition will forcefully promote the continuous development of China's glass manufacturing industry. Although Omate did not participate in this exhibition, our insulating glass stainless steel heat insulation strip technology and products are highly competitive and have a broad market.
The 31th China International Glass Industry Technology Exhibition 1
The 31th China International Glass Industry Technology Exhibition 2
The company and product introduction
Jinan LIJIANG Glass: Could you please introduce Omate and stainless steel spacer products?
Dennis: Omate Company has been providing services for door and window companies since its inception in 1915. At that time, it was mainly engaged in the production of door and window sealing strips; in 1965, the company began to produce spacers for insulating glass, mainly using aluminum and cold drawn ordinary steel processing spacers; In 1980, the company successfully used its self-developed laser welding technology for spacers in production; in 1989, Omate applied laser welding technology to the production of stainless steel spacers. At present, Omate has built and put into production 72 laser spacer welding production lines and more than 20 stainless steel spacer laser welding production lines around the world. The annual production volume accounts for more than 70% of the world's spacer market share. With the continuous increase in the use of insulating glass in various countries around the world, the production volume of our various metal spacers is also increasing year by year, which is a big trend.
China is carrying out energy conservation and building energy conservation work. I think that while increasing the number of insulating glass used, we must also pay attention to improving the thermal performance of insulating glass products, improving the sealing performance and service life of the insulating glass, and using stainless steel spacers The production of insulating glass can not only improve the thermal performance, airtightness and life of the product but also bring many additional values.
The insulated glass stainless steel spacer products 1
More advantages and reasons for using insulated glass stainless steel spacers
Jinan LIJIANG Glass: What are the advantages and reasons for using stainless steel spacers in the manufacture of insulating glass?
Dennis: The insulating glass made of stainless steel spacers can adapt to different climatic conditions around the world. The stainless steel spacers have good thermal performance and long durability. Not only their thermal conductivity (14.3w/8226K) is higher than that of aluminum metal spacers (160w/8226K). ) Is much lower, and its wall thickness can be made thinner (minimum up to 0.09mm) under the premise of ensuring strength, which is much lower than the wall thickness of aluminum spacers of 0.4mm, therefore, the K value of the whole window can be reduced by 0.2- 0.3w/8226K. At the same time, stainless steel spacers have excellent formability and can be processed into any shape of traditional aluminum spacers, and the linear expansion coefficient of stainless steel spacers is low (less than plastic spacers and lower than aluminum metal), and it is compatible with almost all sealants All have good compatibility. These are all conducive to improving the sealing life of the insulating glass.Nowadays, to produce high-quality insulating glass, people generally use offline soft coating Low-E glass, but this kind of glass soft coating is sensitive to the outside world and is very prone to chemical changes, which affects the performance and use of the insulating glass. The use of stainless steel spacers can effectively avoid chemical reactions with the glass soft coating, thus keeping the insulating glass high performance and long life.As a warm-edge spacer, stainless steel spacers not only have all the advantages of aluminum metal spacers, but also have higher structural strength, stronger product applicability, and better overall cost performance. They are ideal spacers that manufacturers can use with confidence. The stainless steel spacer produced by Omate has been used for more than 40 years in practical applications, and the effect is very good.
When consumers pay great attention to product quality, people will easily find that the advantages of insulating glass produced with stainless steel spacers are very obvious. At present, in global hollow glass manufacturing, the number of stainless steel spacers used is about 100 million meters per year, and it is increasing at a rate of 3-5% per year. Therefore, it is not only a wise choice for manufacturers to use stainless steel spacers to make insulating glass, but also a development trend. At present, some famous large companies in the world use Omate's stainless steel spacers, such as Cardino, Anderson, Viracon, Glastroch, etc.; in China, companies such as Shanghai Yaopi, Shenzhen CSG, and Tianjin CSG.
The insulated glass stainless steel spacer products 2
The development of building energy conservation in the United States
Jinan LIJIANG Glass: Please tell us about the development of building energy conservation in the United States?
Dennis: The US government attaches great importance to building energy conservation and stipulates that to improve the energy efficiency of buildings, not only the construction of ordinary houses requires the use of energy-saving materials and products, but also public buildings must use energy-saving building materials and products. There have been some new changes in the United States' current requirements and regulations on the thermal performance and energy conservation of buildings. The U.S. Department of Energy entrusted the U.S. National Door and Window Rating Board to formulate a set of energy-saving plans, and designated professional organizations to formulate technical standards related to door and window production, especially in terms of thermal performance and sealing life of the insulating glass.
The new energy-saving plan not only clarifies the energy-saving standards for the design, materials, and construction of buildings, but also requires every family to pay attention to building energy-saving, and save energy through the use of energy-saving products and energy-saving technologies. The cost should be no less than $15. The plan mentioned that although more than $10 US dollars is not a lot, there are about 100 million families in the United States. If this goal is achieved, 10 billion dollars can be saved every year, and the saving effect is considerable.
The energy-saving plan formulated by the National Door and Window Rating Committee of the United States will be formally implemented in the spring of next year and is mandatory. By then, the use of window frames, glass, and spacers will be subject to new regulations. For example, whether it is a city building or a public building, if the window frame is made of aluminum, it must be used for thermal insulation; for the production of insulating glass Low-E glass with offline soft coating must be used, and the glass hollow layer must be filled with inert gas; for insulating glass spacers, warm-edge spacers must be used. In addition to ensuring the thermal performance of insulating glass, it is also necessary to make the sealing and service life of insulating glass meet the specified requirements under the condition of adapting to the climates of various parts of the United States.
In addition, regardless of the scale of the insulating glass manufacturer, its products must meet the energy-saving technical standards specified in the energy-saving plan, otherwise, the products will not be allowed to enter the market.
The application of insulating glass in energy-saving buildings in the United States 1
Omate has been pursuing the goal of providing comprehensive services for the door and window industry and providing manufacturers with insulating glass spacers with excellent energy-saving effects. The responsibility of many door and window curtain wall companies is to pay attention to, understand and adopt this kind of energy-saving and high-performance spacers.
Related introduction: Mr. Dennis Lesk is a member of the National Door and Window Evaluation Committee of the United States, a director of the US Insulating Glass Certification Committee, and a director of the North American Insulating Glass Association (Insulating Glass Manufacturers Alliance). He has been engaged in glass professional technology for nearly 40 years and participated in the US National Door and Window Standards Is an expert in glass manufacturing technology. Mr. Dennis Resk invented the laser welding technology of insulating glass spacers in 1980 and was responsible for the production of spacers of Omate Company, the technical work of the enterprise, the sales of spacers in the region and the country, and the sales in the international market.
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