Last month I received a call from a Bangalore based design firm asking for our smart glass technical data sheet and our smart glass prices. We have earlier worked with this firm in many large projects and the data required by them was duly sent to them. Similarly, they had also collected TDS from other Smart Glass / Smart Film vendors for comparison.
Now this got me wondering whether the document they receive is good enough to compare the products.
Curiosity got the better of our team and we started collecting technical data sheets and samples of some prominent companies dealing in Smart Glass and Smart Retrofit films. These samples were tested against the values provided in the respective TDS documents provided by those companies.
Needless to say, the results were shocking!
Some of our observations:
- The optical clarity usually measured by Visual Light transmission percentages differed by 3-5% from the TDS document. In the case of a prominent Bangalore based company, it differed by 9% !!!
- Optical Clarity values mentioned in TDS documents were only of the Smart Film and not the combined visual light transmission of film and glass. To put this in perspective, our highest transparency of smart film is 91% but when installed in a 12mm tempered glass which has a transparency of 82%, guess what the optical transparency was? 80% !!
- One Ahmedabad based company claimed their product VLT as 95%. The sample even before use showed signs of aging with some yellowing on the border. On testing the Visual light transmission of this product, the result was just 78% !
The funny part is that this company which started its operations in the year 2021 with a track record of 2 years, offered warranties up to 10 years!
How do you ensure that you get the optimum quality Smart Glass for your project?
- Get a mock up done!: Privetek offers free mockup up to 8 square feet (1.2m x 0.6m). This size is great for physical verification of Optical clarity and comparison.
- Test the combined optical clarity of smart film with glass: This ensures you know exactly what you are specifying. Ask the vendor to show the combined optical clarity on a portable OPTICAL METER. This ensures accountability.
- Check Vendors track record with large projects: Privetek Glass has more than 300 mid and large smart glass projects pan India. References can be provided if required.
- Discuss with your vendor: on optimum lighting in the areas where smart glass will be installed. Lights play a big part in optical clarity of smart glass.
- Ask for product certifications: This ensures that you get the best quality laminated smart glass.
TDS as a document can only give you unverifiable numbers and is a completely unreliable document to be used for project specifications.