What is Argon Gas? How to Measure the Argon Gas?

1. What is Argon Gas?

Argon is an inert gas found in the atmosphere, meaning we breathe some amount of it every day. It is non-toxic and is regularly used as a filler agent in pressurized containers and welding gas mixtures. It can be used in place of air within an insulating unit to improve thermal performance (U-value).

2. Why Builders Use Argon Gas-Filled Insulated Glass Unit?

Adding Argon gas to the air mixture within an insulating glass unit’s spacer cavity achieves a lower “U-Value” and thus a higher insulating value. Lower “U-Values” indicate better thermal performance – less heat transfer through the unit. Argon makes the insulating glass unit more effective from an energy performance standpoint. Depending on the type and configuration of the insulating glass units being used on a new home, Argon gas may be required to help comply with building and energy codes in certain parts of the country.

P.S: The Argon gas alone is not enough to meet energy requirements. It should be specified in conjunction with a low-e coating in order to provide optimal thermal performance.

3. How to measure the Argon Gas?

I. Destructive Testing

Destructive testing involves breaching the seal to extract a gas sample with a syringe that can be injected into a gas chromatograph (GC) or oxygen gas analyzer. The GC has historically been the “gold standard” for cavity gas measurement because it is very accurate and can measure multiple gases at once (oxygen, nitrogen, and argon or krypton). There are different types of detectors that can be installed on the GC but the most common is the thermal conductivity detector (TCD) for measuring these gases. Besides being the gold standard, it is also probably one of the most finicky pieces of equipment to operate listed in this article and requires a well-trained operator.

II. NON-Destructive Testing

Non-destructive testing is accomplished with the use of a spark emission spectroscopy (SES) or tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy (TDLAS).

The SES method utilizes a spectrometer to monitor a high-voltage spark that is created through the glass to the inside of the cavity. The spark creates a release of photons that the spectrometer analyzes for certain frequencies of light in the UV and visible spectrum; the resulting argon or krypton content is reported. Because oxygen is one of the gases measured by an SES, when measuring IGUs that have been aged, there is some concern of error if the ratio of oxygen and nitrogen is different than that of the air we breathe. Thus, it is partially affected by the extrapolation section (see section titled Extrapolation When Measuring Oxygen Only).

4. Currently SYP Glass? is using Bystronic? Automatic IGU Production Line to supply High Quality Insulated Glass to each client in worldwide. All Argon Gas also will be filled automatically to achieve the accurate content.