How to achieve thermal insulation and energy saving for silk screen glass

Source：www.cnxingfu.net Release date： 2025-06-30

Information summary：The principle of achieving thermal insulation and energy saving through silk screen glass is mainly achieved by printing coatings with special optical or thermal properties on the surface of the glass, changing the glass's reflection, absorption, and transmission characteristics of light and heat. Below is a detailed analysis from the aspects of technical path, coating type, application scenarios,

The principle of achieving thermal insulation and energy saving through silk screen glass is mainly achieved by printing coatings with special optical or thermal properties on the surface of the glass, changing the glass's reflection, absorption, and transmission characteristics of light and heat. Below is a detailed analysis from the aspects of technical path, coating type, application scenarios, etc.:
1、 The core technology path of thermal insulation and energy conservation
1. Printing Low-E coating
Principle: By using screen printing technology to deposit one or more layers of metals (such as silver and copper), metal oxides (such as tin oxide and zinc oxide), or alloy pastes on the surface of glass, a low radiation film layer is formed. This film layer has high reflectivity (reflectivity can reach over 80%) for far-infrared thermal radiation with a wavelength of 4-25 μ m, which can block indoor heat from radiating to the outside through the glass and reduce outdoor heat conduction to the interior.
Effect: When used for building doors and windows, it can reduce the heat transfer coefficient (U value) of glass from 5.8W/(㎡· K) of ordinary glass to 1.8-3.0W/(㎡· K), improve the insulation effect by about 50% in winter and about 30% in summer.
2. Printing heat absorbing or reflective ink
Heat absorbing coating: using black or dark ink containing metal oxides (such as iron oxide, cobalt oxide) to form an heat absorbing layer after printing. This coating can absorb infrared light from solar radiation (accounting for more than 50% of solar heat), reducing heat entering the room. However, it needs to be paired with tempered glass or laminated glass to avoid overheating and self explosion caused by heat absorption.
Reflective coating: adding ceramic particles or metal powder (such as aluminum powder) to ink, reflecting solar radiation heat out through diffuse or specular reflection principles. For example, glass printed with white dot patterns has a reflectivity of over 70% for sunlight, making it suitable for building curtain walls in high-temperature areas during summer.
3. Printing patterns for insulating glass partitions
Principle: Printing opaque or semi transparent patterns (such as ceramic ink dots) on the inside of two layers of glass to create a dual effect of "visual obstruction+air insulation". The air layer (usually 6-12mm) is a poor conductor of heat, which can reduce the heat transfer coefficient, while printed patterns can reduce light transmittance, indirectly reducing the entry of solar radiation heat into the room.
Application: Commonly used for office partitions and residential windows, it can ensure privacy and improve insulation performance (U value can be reduced to below 2.5W/(㎡· K)).
2、 Process implementation and technical key points
1. Printing process selection
Advantages of screen printing: It can accurately control the coating thickness (usually 5-20 μ m), adapt to large-area glass processing, and has strong ink adhesion (through high-temperature sintering or chemical bonding), which is not easy to peel off after long-term use. For example, Low-E ink needs to be sintered at a high temperature of 700-800 ℃ to form chemical bonds between metal oxides and glass surfaces, ensuring the stability of the film layer.
Combining with other processes: Silk screen insulation coating can be combined with tempered and laminated processes to enhance glass safety. For example, printing a Low-E coating first and then tempering it to form a "energy-saving+safe" composite glass.
2. Pattern design and thermal insulation efficiency balance
Optimization of dot density: By adjusting the size, spacing, and coverage of printing dots, a balance is achieved between insulation and transparency. For example, building curtain wall glass can print gray dots with a coverage rate of 30% to 50%, which not only ensures indoor lighting (light transmittance of 60% to 70%), but also blocks 40% to 50% of solar heat.
Gradual change pattern design: gradually changed density dots are printed from top to bottom. The upper part is highly transparent (to ensure vision), and the lower part is highly insulated (to reduce ground radiant heat). It is suitable for french window or curtain walls.
3. Quantitative indicators of energy-saving effect
Sunshade coefficient (SC): measures the ability of glass to block solar radiation heat. The lower the SC value, the better the insulation effect. Ordinary glass SC ≈ 0.9, silk screened Low-E glass SC can be reduced to 0.3~0.5, and summer air conditioning energy consumption can be reduced by 20%~30%.
Heat transfer coefficient (U value): measures the insulation performance of glass, the lower the U value, the less heat loss. Screen printed insulated glass (Low-E coating+air layer) has a U value of 1.5~2.0W/(㎡· K), which is equivalent to 1/3~1/2 of ordinary glass.
3、 Practical application scenarios and cases
1. In the field of building energy conservation
High rise residential doors and windows: Low-E coating is printed on the inside of the glass, combined with a hollow structure of 6mm glass, 12mm air layer, and 6mm glass. It can reduce indoor heating loss in winter and block outdoor heat waves in summer, saving about 15-20 yuan/square meter of energy per year.
Commercial building curtain wall: using screen printed reflective ceramic ink laminated glass (such as printing white geometric patterns), which not only meets the requirements of building appearance design, but also enables the solar transmittance of the curtain wall to be less than 40%, in line with green building standards (such as LEED certification).
2. In the field of automotive glass
Front windshield: A gradient sunshade strip (including heat absorbing ceramic ink) is printed on the upper part of the glass to block direct sunlight at noon without affecting the driver's field of view, reducing the air conditioning load inside the car by about 10% to 15%.
Side and rear windows: Printed with conductive ink containing indium tin oxide (ITO) to form an electric defrosting layer, which can both insulate heat and quickly defog in winter, improving driving safety.
3. Photovoltaic module field
Solar cell packaging glass: Printing anti reflective film (such as silica nano coating) on the surface of the glass to increase visible light transmittance (from 90% to over 93%), while printing circuit patterns (silver paste conductive ink) to reduce the connection lines between battery cells and improve power generation efficiency by about 2% to 3%.

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