INTRODUCTION | THERMALSWITCH BEX™
The video focuses on the exterior application of the Thermalswitch BEX™ panel system. However, the system has been designed and thermally simulated for interior applications for projects that require limited exterior intervention such as historic preservation projects.
For additional information on the different types of applications, both interior and exterior along with a thermal simulation packet, please contact us.
Check out our Case Studies for more examples.
DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY PRIZE | WINNER
We are excited to announce that our Thermalswitch BEX™ has been selected as a winner in the Department of Energy’s Building Envelope Innovation Prize for Secondary Glazing Systems.
The Building Envelope Innovation Prize is encouraging production of high-performance, cost-effective secondary glazing systems to improve efficiency of commercial windows. The prize is awarded to American window innovators who are designing novel solutions for upgrading inefficient windows to enable building decarbonization retrofits and optimize building envelopes for electrification. The prize will help establish, support, and expand innovation in window systems and catalyze teams to rapidly develop and deploy cost-effective solutions in the secondary glazing systems market. Learn more about the Building Envelope Innovation Prize here.
With the backing of the US Department of Energy, Thermalswitch BEX™ is working with @EERE’s Building Technologies Office to accelerate the development and production of our lightweight overclad system for existing building retrofits that create an additional thermal envelope using ETFE foil and air.
A NEW APPROACH TO AN OLD PROBLEM
The Thermalswitch BEX™ is an overclad adapter panel that creates secondary barriers opposite a new or existing window or opaque wall to capture air for use as a thermal insulator and may be coupled with potential ventilation strategies to pre-condition and filter airborne particulates.
Window replacement in the commercial and residential markets and full-on facade retrofit in the mid to high-rise typologies have become a greater necessity due to the aging and dwindling performance of our existing building stock. However, such replacements or renovations can be a costly expense to the building and it’s stakeholders with huge implications for disruption of the building site and its occupants. The Thermalswitch BEX™ is designed to resolve costly replacement, renovation, and disruption to the building occupants while increasing the thermal performance of the existing envelope. The Thermalswitch BEX™ panel can be installed specifically over glazing systems of all kinds, from storefronts and window walls to structurally silicone glazed curtainwalls and more.
At the core of this concept is:
Create an overclad barrier to buffer the exterior air from the interior conditioned air while also leveraging the insulative resistance of cavity air to increase the performance of the wall or window assembly.
Utilize a infill membrane barrier, primarily from ETFE film, which is an architectural polymer which properties can include: weather resistance, flame retardant, and UV/IR cutting capabilities to limit solar radiation and heat loss/gain. It can also be fritted, tinted, and printed with other various aesthetic and performative coatings.
The Thermalswitch BEX™ panel is extremely lightweight compared to other overclad panels and can be mounted directly to existing glazing or wall assembly with minimal imposed loads as opposed to a glass retrofit solution.
ETFE film operational thickness is exponentially smaller than glass, and pound per-square-foot relative to embodied carbon, the Thermalswitch BEX™ system could cover 100 times more area before it equaled the same carbon emissions than that of a standard glass system.
