New Viracon VNE63 Coating blends ‘best of the best’
With attention to sustainability growing as fast as the popularity of glass facades, Viracon introduces a revolutionary new coating designed to help architects achieve both design goals. The company’s new VNE coating combines extreme low reflectivity with solar control, offering an innovative alternative in architectural glass.
VNE63 represents a new way of thinking about Low-E coatings. “For the past few years, there were traditional low-E coatings and there were hybrid low-E coatings, says Brad Austin, senior vice president at Viracon. “Our new VNE line blends the best attributes of both into an entirely new ‘neutral low-E’ category of coating. It’s a single product that blends the low solar heat gain, low reflectance and neutral reflected color that architects have been asking us for.”
The flagship product for the VNE line is VNE63. With performance that is 30 percent better than Viracon’s top selling 2M product, architects have already begun specifying VNE63. “Because of the dramatic performance improvement over other coatings, we expect that VNE coatings could come to represent around 25 percent of our business within the next two years,” says Austin. The products also meet most local maximum reflectivity guidelines.
“The superior attribute of the VNE platform is that even on clear glass its performance surpasses that of many other coating types when combined with tinted glass substrates,” says Austin. The Viracon production process also allows for complete customization. Designers can combine the VNE coating with different glass colors and silk-screen patterns for a higher level of energy performance.
Viracon is the only domestic fabricator with the capability to incorporate both silk-screening and coatings on the same surface. This allows both the silk-screening and the substrate to be applied to the number two surface of an insulating unit for optimum solar performance. The sealed air space protects the ceramic frit and coating for easy maintenance while maintaining a position as close to the sun as possible for maximum effectiveness.
VNE63 is joined by VNE37, and new additions to the platform are currently undergoing research and development. VNE63 is available to maximum producible dimensions of 72″ x 144″ and VNE37 is available to the maximum producible dimensions of 84″ x 144″ with a maximum unit size of 65 square feet.