Sparklike CEO Miikkael Niemi talks to IGMA committee members about the new Gasglass measuring tool for insulating glass units.

Prior to the opening of the Insulating Glass Manufacturers Alliance (IGMA) 2015 Winter Conference in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., the Insulating Glass Certification Committee (IGCC) met for two days to discuss a number of topics.

The first and maybe hottest item addressed, which carried over from Tuesday, was the IGCC’s work to establish a provisional certification that manufacturers could use for their products during the roughly seven-month certification process for ASTM E 2190.

The provisional certification subcommittee discussed  a recently conducted Provisional Certification Correlation Study that tested 19 units of six different designs. The process took about four weeks and used the same test units as fabricated for the normal IGCC/IGMA certification.

After delineating some details about the process, there was further discussion on whether to go forward with a pilot program or move on to a further study. A motion passed that gave the provisional certification committee the go-ahead to define specific guidelines of a pilot program. That information will be presented to the board of directors in the near future.

The topic of Gas Content Initial and After Weathering (GCIA) was also discussed in some detail Wednesday. During both the IGCC meeting and IGMA’s Emerging Technology and Innovation meeting, Miikkael Niemi from Finland-based Sparklike gave a presentation regarding his company’s new tool to measure glass concentration in an IG unit. The tool, Gasglass Laser, shoots a laser into one side of the IGU, and it measures the oxygen present by the reflection of the laser back from the opposite surface. The new product is expected to be available for commercial use in March and was developed in part as a response to the limitations of Gasglass’ last product, Gasglass Handheld, in reading glass with a low-E coating.

The IGCC agenda concluded by picking the next IGCC committee meeting, which is tentatively set for October 28-29 in Tampa. IGMA’s meetings will run through Friday this week. Stay tuned to www.dwmmag.com for more news and updates.