Heat Conduction Difference between Clear Glass and Tinted Glass

Romen Renz M. Sintos1 and Iluminado D. Quinto Jr.2

1 Student, BS in Architecture Program, University of Mindanao,

romenrenz16@gmail.com
2 Professor, College of Architecture and Fine Arts Education, University of
Mindanao, iluminadoquinto@umindanao.edu.ph

ABSTRACT

Thermal comfort is a major considerations in designing buildings. In order to attain this, the overall
building envelope must be designed properly. Selection of materials is one of the factors that affects the
thermal performance of the building envelope. Being able to understand thermal properties of materials
is essential in designing structures. Glass as one of the most common materials used in buildings affects
the quality of building envelope in terms of providing thermal comfort for its users.
The main objective of this research is to differentiate two well-known glass types: clear glass and tinted
glass, in terms of their heat conductivity and determine which type is better than the other. An
experiment was conducted using two boxes made up of clear and tinted glass. By gathering temperature
data within the boxes, conclusions were drawn through analysis and calculations. It is observed that
clear glass increases the interior temperature of the box while tinted glass reduces it. Calculations also
shows that clear glass has higher rate of heat conductivity than tinted glass. This research is beneficial
for the designers, enabling them to choose the appropriate materials for their buildings in order to
achieve thermal comfort for its users.

Keywords: Building envelope, Clear glass, Heat conductivity, Thermal comfort, Tinted glass

INTRODUCTION

Designing buildings, in general, is a very complex process which involves a lot of considerations. One
of the most important factor to be considered in designing a structure is the thermal comfort of its users.
Thermal comfort, as defined by the ISO 7730 standard, is the state of mind wherein an individual feels
comfortable and satisfied with his thermal environment.
A well-designed building envelope is crucial in attaining thermal comfort of the users. Building
envelope is the structure that separates the interior of the building from the outside environment. It
serves as a thermal barrier and plays a major role in maintaining the temperature within the building.
(Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, 2011) The quality of the building envelope depends on
several factors. Properties of a material is one of them, and it has a great impact to the thermal
performance of the building. There are numerous situations where heat transfer processes occur between
the building and its external environment. Heat can enter the building through exterior elements (roof,
walls, ceiling, floor, etc.) by means of conduction. (Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, n.d.) Heat
conduction is defined as the process of heat transfer from one body to another and is constantly involved
in heat-transfer processes. (Serth, R., & Lestina, T., 2007)Thermal conductivity, k, of materials is the
measure of its ability to conduct heat. The higher the value means the better heat conductor a material
is while the lower the value the better insulator it is.(Cengel, 2008)
Glass is one of the most common material that is being used in almost every type of building. It is
commonly used in facades and fenestrations to provide visual connections for the users and to add
aesthetic factor for the building. But for tropical countries like the Philippines, using glass allows
massive amounts of solar radiation to enter converting it into a heat gain which causes thermal issues
and discomfort for the users. (Chaiyapinunta, S., & Khampornb, N., 2009)
Generally, glass, as a material, has a thermal conductivity value of 0.78 W/m · °C (Cengel, 2008, Table
9.1) but there are different types of glass which has their own unique property and their thermal
performance may vary depending on it. The most common type of glass used commercially is the float
glass. Float glass can be further classified into different types and the most common among these types
were the clear float glass and tinted glass. (Oldcastle Building Envelope, 2011)
This study was made in order to answer the question: How does clear glass differ from tinted glass in
terms of heat conduction?
Hypotheses: Null Hypothesis: Ho: outside = clear glass = tinted glass
Alternate hypothesis: Ha: outside ≠ clear glass > tinted glass

METHODOLOGY

This study is an experimental type of a quantitative research design that employs a comparative method.
There are two boxes used in this experiment, each of them is made up of a different type of glass
material: clear glass and tinted glass (black). The boxes are identical in both size (300mm x 300mm x
300mm) and thickness (6mm). The boxes were covered entirely by the glass materials except for one
side. It is placed in an open area and oriented along the regular sun path. A set of temperature data is
being collected every one (1) hour for ten (10) hours using thermometers. There are three thermometers
placed separately, one was placed inside the clear glass box, the other was in the tinted glass box and
the last one was placed outside the boxes. These thermometers were assigned to each of its respective
location in order to monitor the change in temperature. The gathered data will be plotted into a line
graph and will be analyzed through statistics. The variables will also be used in computing the rate of
heat transfer through an equation.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

50
48
46
44
Temperature in °C

42
40
38
36
34
32
Time (1 hour interval)
30
8:00 9:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 17:00 AVG
Outside 33.2 37.4 40.3 37.8 44.6 39.1 37.7 36.4 34.5 31.8 37.28
Tinted Glass 32.4 36.6 39.2 36.1 41.8 35.3 34.7 33.7 33.4 30.6 35.38
CLear Glass 36.8 39.2 42.8 39.3 47.3 41.2 39.4 38.9 36.6 32.9 39.44
Figure1. Temperature data of outside environment and interior temperature of clear & tinted glass
Based on the line graph, as shown in Fig.1, clear glass increases the temperature within the box. In fact,
it has been constantly the highest among the three temperature areas with an average temperature of
39.44°C. It is 2.16°C higher than the average temperature outside (37.38°C). The 2.7°C increase from
external to interior temperature (44.6°C-47.3°C) at 12:00 noon was the highest. On the other hand, a
completely opposite result is recognized, as the tinted glass decreases the interior temperature of the
box and constantly at the bottom of the chart with an average of only 35.38°C. It was 1.9°C lower than
the average temperature outside (37.38°C). It has the highest temperature drop of 3.8°C (from 39.1°C-
external down to 35.3°C) during 1:00 in the afternoon. Comparing directly the averages of the two,
regardless the temperature outside, will result to a 4.06°C difference between clear glass and tinted
glass. Statistically, temperature within the clear glass box is 10.29% hotter than of the tinted glass box.
After gathering the data needed, the rate of the heat transfer of both materials can now be solve using
Fourier’s law of heat conduction. The said law states that, the rate of the heat transfer of a material is
proportional to the temperature difference through it and the area of heat transfer, but inversely
proportional to its thickness. (Cengel, 2008)
Δ𝑇
It is expressed in the formula: 𝑄𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑 = 𝑘𝐴 Δ𝑥
, where Q is the rate of heat transfer through conduction,
𝑘 is the thermal conductivity of the material, 𝐴 is the area of the surface, Δ𝑇 is the difference in
temperature and Δ𝑥 is the thickness of the material.
Using the gathered data and given values, the rate of heat transfer through conduction of clear and tinted
glass is solved. The solution using Fourier’s Law is shown in Table 1, below.

Given: k= 0.78 W/m · °C (for glass), A= 0.45m2 (surface area of 5 sided box), Δ𝑇1= 2.16°C (clear
glass), Δ𝑇2= 1.9°C (tinted glass), Δ𝑥= 0.006m (Thickness for both), Q=?

Solution (Clear Glass): Solution (Tinted Glass):

Formula: Formula:
Δ𝑇 Δ𝑇
𝑄𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑 = 𝑘𝐴 𝑄𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑 = 𝑘𝐴
Δ𝑥 Δ𝑥
2.16°C 1.9°C
𝑄𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑 = (0.78 W/m · °C)(0.45m2 ) 𝑄𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑 = (0.78 W/m · °C)(0.45m2 )
0.006m 0.006m
𝑄𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑 = 126.36 𝑊 𝑄𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑 = 111.15 𝑊

Table 1. Solutions through Fourier’s law determining the rate of heat conduction.

After solving for the value of Q in the equation above (Table 1), the rate of heat conduction of clear
glass and tinted glass is determined in this experiment. The results shows that the clear glass has a
higher heat conduction rate compared to the tinted glass, with a value of 126.36 Watts as to 111.15
Watts. This means that clear glass has the ability to conduct higher amount of heat energy per second
than tinted glass, since the unit Watt is equal to Joule (energy) per second. The difference between the
two (15.21W) seems low given the fact that the value is taken from the experiment as a form of
simulation, but their difference will gradually increase when the area becomes larger since it varies
directly proportional to it.
 CONCLUSION

Based on the results of the experiment conducted, it can be recognized that the clear glass has a higher
rate of heat conduction compared to tinted glass. This finding also explains the temperature difference
inside the boxes. It is also observed that clear glass actually warms up the interior temperature of the
box while on the other hand, tinted glass reduces the amount of heat inside the box. These results
approves the alternate hypothesis that the temperature outside is not equal to the temperature inside the
boxes and also confirms the assumption that the clear glass has a higher heat conductivity than the tinted
glass. Thus, the null hypothesis that there are no difference among the three is rejected.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Proper selection of materials is one of the factors that affects the thermal performance of the building
envelope. Glass materials, in general, has higher thermal conductivity than other common building
materials but it is almost inevitable to use glass as part of the exterior finish of the building, especially
in facades and fenestrations. This study was conducted in order to evaluate the thermal performance of
clear and tinted glass and determine which one is the ideal one to use.
Based on the results of the study, it is recommended to use tinted glass since it reduces the amount of
heat that enters the building while the use of clear glass is discouraged because it increases the interior
temperature. Since thermal properties of glass cannot be change, some alternatives are suggested
including proper placing of glass materials depending on building orientation and incorporating
appropriate sun shading devices may help in improving overall quality of the building envelope.

REFERENCES

Cengel, Y. A. (2008). Introduction to Thermodynamics and Heat Transfer (2nd ed.). New York:
McGraww-Hill.

Center for Climate and Energy Solutions. (2011). Building Envelope. Retrieved September 29, 2017, from
https://www.c2es.org/docUploads/BuildingEnvelope.pdf

Chaiyapinunta, S., & Khampornb, N. (2009). Selecting Glass Window with Film for Buildings in a Hot
Climate. ENGINEERING JOURNAL, 13(1), 29-41. Retrieved September 28, 2017.

Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. (n.d.). Thermal Performance of Buildings. Retrieved September
30, 2017, from http://mnre.gov.in/solar-energy/ch4.pdf

Oldcastle Building Envelope. (2011). Architectural Glass. Retrieved September 26, 2017, from
https://obe.com/sites/default/files/resources/11_Architectural_Glass_2014-5-20.pdf

Serth, R., & Lestina, T. (2007). Process Heat Transfer (1st ed.). Academic Press.