Journal of Korean Institute of Architectural Sustainable Environment and Building Systems ISSN:1976-6483(Print) 2586-0666(Online) 한국건축친환경설비학회논문집

As of June 2013, 15,174 window sets obtained high-efficiency energy equipment certifications, among which 5,519 window sets obtained first-class certification. Among the window sets that obtained the first grade, about 63% of the window sets have a thermal transmittance of 0.8~0.9 W/m² K, and most of them are multi-layered insulating glass filled with argon gas. However, leakage defects of the gas filled in the windows occur frequently, and it is difficult to say that the windows with gas leakage have the above insulation performance. Therefore, this study attempted to present basic data on the degradation of insulation performance through investigating the current thermal performances of high-performance windows filled with argon gas, carrying out KS experiments, and simulations. As a result, it was analyzed that the insulation performance of high-performance windows can be reduced by up to about 30% depending on the filling rate of argon gas in this tests and simulations, which shows that grade fluctuations of the windows can occur depending on the filling rates of argon gas. Therefore, in order to maintain the insulation performances of the insulating glass windows for a long period of time, it is necessary to prevent leakage of the filled gas by increasing the adhesive strength between the gap bar and the sealing material. In addition, it is necessary to develop gas filling technologies in various ways to minimize changes in the filling rates of argon gas due to secular changes.