American Architectural Manufacturers Association

IGMA Discusses Emerging Technology and Innovation at Summer Technical Meeting

Sponsored by


Marg Webb, IGMA

During its Summer Technical Meeting held August 29 – September 1 in Victoria, BC, the Insulating Glass Manufacturers Alliance (IGMA) streamlined the organizational process forming a new committee, Emerging Technology and Innovation. This committee, chaired by Helen Sanders (SAGE Electrochromics), will be the steering committee for IGMA’s research projects.

Task groups and work that will fall under the mandate of this committee will be the current:

• Gas Permeability (Chair: John Greenzweig, HB Fuller)
• MOCON (provider and innovator of solutions for permeation testing instruments)
• Optech research projects, development of the parameters for a field correlation study on gas filled units
• Liaison with National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)
• Life Cycle Assessment (Chair: Helen Sanders, SAGE)
• Vacuum Insulating Glazing (VIG) (Chair: David Cooper, Guardian Industries)

Technical Services Committee
The task groups reporting to the Technical Services Committee (TSC) chaired by Ray Wakefield (Trulite Industries) are:

• Glazing Guidelines (Chair: Tracy Rogers, Edgetech IG) including the joint IGMA-GANA task group developing the manufacturing considerations for the use of capillary tubes
• Thermal Stress (Chair: Jeff Haberer, Cardinal Glass Industries)
• Design Considerations for Multiple Cavity IGU’s (Chair: Bill Briese, GED Integrated Solutions)

The latter task group is currently reviewing the first ballot of the draft document and a second ballot is expected before the end of the year. The Glazing Guidelines Working Group has forwarded the revised Section 5.0, Setting Blocks, to the TSC, and a ballot will be issued on the draft capillary tubes document. The Thermal Stress Task Group is developing the first ballot of the Guidelines to Reduce Incidences of Thermal Stress, and it is expected that this first ballot will be issued prior to the close of the calendar year.

The task groups reporting to the IGMA Certification & Education Committee chaired by Robert Gilles (All Weather Windows), Sealant, Desiccant (Chair: John Greenzweig, HB Fuller) and Spacer & Integrated Spacer Systems (Chair: Tracy Rogers, Edgetech IG), are or have developed guidelines for component equivalency and qualification. The Quality Manufacturing Procedures Task Group is developing a ballot for the Quality Management System PowerPoint presentation and the revision to the current TM-4000-02(07), Quality Manufacturing Procedures for IGU’s is currently underway.

The Glass Awareness Safety Council chaired by Mike Burk (Edgetech IG) met for the first time in Victoria, and its scope is primarily to raise awareness of current standard development activities at ASTM and OSHA, to disseminate information on new developments in safety equipment and to develop educational programs for the industry. The webinar “Preventing Injuries during Flat Glass Handling,” looks at injuries and fatalities caused by mishandling of glass, presented by Mike Burk of Edgetech IG.

IGMA is offering an educational seminar “Performance of Insulating Glass Units” which includes some of the topics from the Preventing IG Failures seminar but expands to cover latest codes, innovative technologies, glass efficiency for energy efficient fenestration and forensic investigations of fenestration products. The seminar is scheduled December 7 and 8, 2011 in Vancouver, BC. Registration will be offered online.

IGMA launched its new website in mid-August, which is more streamlined and easier to navigate, and includes free downloads of technical bulletins and PowerPoint presentations on insulating glass. The Members Only section is under development and will be launched in December.

IGMA’s 2012 Annual Conference will be held at the Tempe Mission Palms in Tempe, AZ, January 31 – February 4, 2012.

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