|
Thermally enhanced high-security ballistic door and window frame systems
Other News
Subscribe to FREE newsletter
| May 12, 2016 |
A security-conscious end-user might be interested in earning a LEED Platinum certificate, or might be passionate about daylighting, or might just want to keep the energy bills down—in any case, having a solid aluminum frame conducting heat directly through the building envelope doesn’t serve any of those goals. The TSS Thermal Frame System does.
“We developed this ballistic frame system specifically because architects were asking for it,” Jim Richards, CEO of Total Security Solutions (TSS), explains. “I don’t know if you know, but buildings use more than half the energy on earth.”
As one architect recently put it “for all practical purposes, all other issues are subservient to sustainability now.” That’s been beyond challenging with old-style exterior bullet resistant windows, since the windows themselves are solid—no gas fills—and the frames are rarely built with any sort of thermal break. For example, here’s a cross-section of a traditional window frame:
The old-style frames are solid steel or aluminum members all the way around the window or door, penetrating the exterior wall. As Jim Richards is quick t point out, “Think about what that means in certain regions of the United States: In the summer it could be in the 90s, and in the winter it could be 30 below, but the inside of that building is always 72 degrees with 40 percent humidity. Your HVAC is fighting heat leaking in all summer, heat leaking out all winter. You’re not just going to have cold spots and drafts. You’re going to get condensation, even frost.”
TSS’s thermally improved, Kevlar-reinforced bullet resistant exterior aluminum door and window frame system is calculated to optimize R value, given the needs of a bullet resistant materials. It offers bullet resistance up through UL Level 8, and can accommodate a wide variety of acrylic, polycarbonate, and laminated bullet resistant glazings. “It’s an enormous performance boost, in terms of energy, and ballistic—a true ‘best of both worlds’ scenario.”
For other relevant searches, you might want to try: