Mullion It Over

Aluprof has recently worked with fire glass processors to test and achieve glass-to-glass joints within fire screens - this innovation allows specifiers to achieve longer runs of glazing which are not interrupted by mullions.

An Aluprof spokesperson says: "Innovation comes from the ability to continually review products and services whilst possessing the agility to quickly introduce new systems into the market. We are now taking this to the next level by continually pushing the boundary in the fenestration market and raising the bar through innovative design."

 

Aerogel

By way of example, the spokesperson told TheInstaller and The Fabricator: "Aluprof was the first company to introduce the insulator ‘Aerogel' into our aluminium profiles to increase thermal efficiency with very little weight gain. Aerogel is a synthetic, porous and ultralight material which is derived from a gel, where the liquid component of the gel has been replaced with a gas.

"The resultant material is still a solid, yet with an extremely low density and low thermal conductivity. The ‘MB-86 AERO’ system by Aluprof was the world's first aluminium window and door system to use aerogel offering a Uf value from 0.57 W/(m2K) and UW up to 0.8 W/(m2K).

"At just 86 mm wide, the system is capable of carrying quadruple glazing to achieve Passivhaus Standards."

 

Fire protection

Aluprof have for some time incorporated both ceramic and gypsum cores within their profiles with various mechanical fixtures to offer screens which give EI120 fire protection for robust installations.

System design focuses on narrow sightlines and where required, can always be matched in sightline with standard systems for non-protected areas of the building - giving specifiers free reign on design.

 

Curtain walling

Aluprof claim to be the first company to design and test a ‘cap-less’ stick curtain wall system which achieves a fire rating of EI60. The ‘MB-SR50N EI efekt’ system has been used on various schemes across the UK where fire needs to be contained with the added benefit that the system can be seamlessly linked in with non-fire rated areas of curtain wall, again giving specifiers the freedom of design whilst meeting strict safety issues.

 

Mullions

One of the most recent innovations is the development of new transom to mullion fixing arrangements on the company’s popular ‘MB-SR50N' curtain wall system.

Aluminium joints between mullions and transoms are often the limiting factor when using large glazed units in curtain wall. With the dead load being transferred from the transom to the mullion there is also a large turning moment as the glazed units sit to the front of the structural transom.

The new development from Aluprof caters for a safe transom to mullion carrying capacity of 550 Kg at each of the transom, potentially allowing for a glazed unit of over 1 tonne in weight being accommodated into the MB-SR50N curtain wall system. This carrying capacity far exceeds many of the curtain wall systems currently available on the market.

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Further information is available on the companies website at aluprof.co.uk or direct from their UK office in Altrincham on 0161 941 4005.

Article written by Cathryn Ellis
14th February 2020

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