The Challenge

It is known, from Meteorological Office Records, that in the United Kingdom, we can expect to "enjoy" 1,500 hours of bright sunshine every single year. Enjoyable, that is, if you are simply planning to have a break from the office and do your own thing - not so, if you are tied to your desk trying to do a job of work.

Taking London (at 51.7° North) as an easily located example, the potential heat gain through vertical glazing is comparable to that experienced in the Middle East. During Spring and Autumn, they are much on a par and during peak summer months, London is exposed to a full 35% additional solar energy than say Jeddah or Riyadh.

The challenge is simple but equally daunting when you accept the fact that every 1.4m² of glazing can effectively transmit heat at the same rate as a 1 kW single bar electric fire. The cost of removing that heat in terms of air conditioning can be staggering and the dual problems of direct radiation and glare still persist.

Help Create a Better Environment
The Robertson Thermovent range of standard louvres and bespoke solar shades can provide striking architectural features to any building. They are also a practical solution that allows the air to flow and remove heat yet shade the inside of the building at the same time. Robertson Thermovent has many years unrivalled experience in natural ventilation products and are major consultants to main contractors throughout the world. Development, design, manufacture and installation know-how mean that our quality solar shades satisfy all environmental considerations that modern hi-tech buildings and personnel demand.

Architectural Design Choice
Solar Shading gives strong architectural features and welcome shade. They can be either vertical or horizontal, available in painted or anodised extruded aluminium or colour protected steel. This allows the architect flexibility in design and a wide choice of finishes

Economical
Louvred roof shades are a highly practical solution to a real problem - Heat Gain. This also applies to window screens that give a strong architectural feature whilst shading the glass areas yet leaving vision lines intact. This in turn saves energy on air conditioning.

Technical Advice and Design Service
Robertson Thermovent offers a very comprehensive service to designers and contractors. Complete systems can be engineered using our extensive CAD/CAM design and production based techniques. Installations can be calculated, drawn and costed to suit your design criteria. Our complete technical advice service comes with each project.

Installation
All installations are closely monitored from the initial work on site through to commissioning the project.

The Solution
As with so many challenges, the solution is simple and lies firmly within the concept that prevention is always better than the cure. That preventative action comes in the form of External Solar Shading. By placing a barrier between the heat source and the glazing, the full scope of environmental degradation is to a large extent stopped before it occurs.

With suitable controls and correct equipment selection, direct radiation can be cut to 10% or less. The short wave radiation from the sun which is absorbed by the glazing and re-radiated in long wave form remains steady and actually represents the smallest heat gain element. Finally, glare is substantially reduced whilst allowing an acceptable level of natural daylight to enter the building.

Standard/Smoothflow |   Aero-X | Aero-P