System advantages
Due to the assembly of ROPACO sun protection systems inside IG units, the blinds do not provide any habitats to micro-organisms or germs. The glass pane’s surface is smooth and, contrary to uncovered slats or textiles, easy to clean.
Accordingly, ROPACO sun protection systems are ideally suited for use in clean rooms, hospitals, laboratories and every other place with high standards in cleanliness and hygiene.
Protected by two glass panes, the ROPACO blind can neither be tackled by pollen, road dirt nor by bird droppings. The blinds remain free of dirt for their whole lifetime. There is no need for costly and expensive cleaning and the facades retain their desired appearance as they are not affected by dirty blinds.
Besides this, expenses for minor usual repairs are not necessary either. Wind, hail, mechanical obstacles and improper operation can only damage exposed hangings and thereby cause additional maintenance costs.
In contrast to conventional external sun protection systems, the ROPACO blind does not have to be lifted under wind. Weather conditions with sunshine and strong wind particularly occur in early and late summer. Even on those days it is necessary that the sun protection as well as the glare shield systems operate properly.
As there is no possibility for dust to settle on the blinds’ reflecting surface, sun protection and daylight optimization of the hangings are available at any time.
The flexible sun protection and visual cover is supplied to the construction site as integrated component inside the IG unit or inside the window. Apart from the electrical connection of motor components, no additional assembly costs arise.
The ROPACO blind system is a step towards a continuously farther reaching prefabrication of function elements for construction and by that it is a step towards industrial and quality-controlled production. Therefore, the client is spared the installation and associated coordination.
The ROPACO blind inside IG units nearly achieves the same values as external shadowing systems when considering the energetic analysis of heat protection in summer. In combination with triple glazing there are only slight differences.
Due to the consistent clean surface, the blind keeps its reflectance properties and by that reflects the irradiated energy because of its positioning in front of the thermal insulation glass unit. In comparison to interior blinds which are located behind the thermal insulation glass unit, much better values are achievable. The ROPACO blind effectively helps to save cooling energy in summer.
The ROPACO blind fulfils the functions of sun protection, visual cover and glare shield in one system. In a conventional way, it is usually not that easy to obtain this result:
External venetian blinds are mostly completed with interior glare shield, as the hangings need to be retracted under high wind speeds. Interior slats can also be installed in the same delicate form of 16mm; however, these do not always comply with the requirements for summer heat protection. Mere solar control glazing is a static solution without any visual cover or glare shield as well as with significantly reduced sunlight input in winter.
The appeal of the 0.2mm thick and 15mm thin slats lies not only in their technical characteristics, but also in their visual appearance. Fine visual splitting and precisely horizontal lines combined with the desired slat appearance impart a delicate technical character. The combination with the upstream glass surface intensifies the technical aspect. However, it reduces the hard visual effect of the slat structure so that its look can be integrated into nearly every room design. The protection via the insulating glass pane ensures a consistent look over time.
Extremely thin slats enable a high level of transparency even when lowered and in horizontal slat position. The delicate line structure disappears with increasing distance to the glass pane and provides an almost undisturbed view of nature. In contrast to thicker slat systems, the ROPACO system does not have the look of a ventilation grille. This characteristic also makes hangings attractive which can not be lifted and lowered due to their size.
In publicly accessible buildings, especially in schools, universities, hotels and administration buildings, protection of sun protection systems as well as of visual cover devices against destruction via vandalism and against intentional and negligent improper operation plays a major role. The ROPACO blind is protected within two glass panes. This fact makes wanton destruction extremely difficult. The risk of improper operation can also be reduced as the blind can not collide with obstacles which have reached somewhere in the blind’s action area by chance.
Due to integrating the blind into the IG unit of the window, there is no need for a roller blind box, which would still pose a thermal bridge in the insulated building envelope. As triple glazing, even smallest rim losses at the insulated glass pane can be minimized by means of Warm-Edge spacer bars. Consequently, the ROPACO blind is perfectly suited for the integration into passive house concepts.
The ROPACO blind system allows a precise dosing of the incoming daylight. In mid summer days, the incoming sunlight can be reduced to a minimum in order to keep the room bright but cool. In winter, sunlight inputs can be used as far as possible. As a consequence, heating and electricity costs for artificial light are saved. Consistent reflectance properties of the slats further enable to direct the light into the depth of the room up to the ceiling. From there it is scattered and diffused in the room. To optimize this effect, ROPACO systems offer convexly shaped slats as well as special geometries and surfaces.