“Hypotheses of Integration of DSC into the Glassblock for teh Construction of Translucent Building Envelope”

New configurations of the glassblock have been designed at the Department of Architecture of the University of Palermo in order to reduce its U value responding to the latest national and international regulation limits for the thermal insulation of the buildings with glass façades. One of these new configurations consists in the insertion of a special plastic "belt" between the two glass shells composing the glassblock, which have to be glued to it (cold assembly); the plastic belt effectively interrupts the thermal bridge between the two glass shells. Thanks to the particular design of its shape, the "thermal belt" can be also used for the insertion of one or more additional sheets of different materials (glass, PC, PC + Aerogel, etc.) separating the glassblock cavity in two or more chambers. Then, in this particular configuration, it is also possible to insert a DSSC module in substitution of the aforesaid sheets. This solution actually represents one among seven different Hypotheses of integration of the DSSC into the glassblock that have been foreseen during a research that is carryng out in order to design an innovative photovoltaic glassblock.