Glossary

This corresponds with the part of sun radiation absorbed by the fabric. The lower this value is, the lower is the part of sun radiation absorbed by the fabric. The light energy absorbed is transformed in thermal energy.

Sun protection fabrics with a rear aluminized coating (metallization) ensure a high light and heat reflection. The reflectivity value (Rs) is mostly higher than 65 %.

BREEAM® stands for Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method. It is the oldest and most popular certification system in the building sector. By means of a simple point system in eight assessment catagories (management, energye, water, land consumption and ecology, health and well-being, transport, material, pollution) BREEAM awards a kite marks in four grades.

See ViS

The Cradle-to-Cradle sustainability concept describes the possibility of a sustained production through the application of natural growth and decomposition processes on the manufacturing processes. Like natural subjects, products should be developped in a way that at the end of their life cycle they feed in natural suppling cycles and do not represent a environmental pollution.

The German Sustainable Building Council
Six evaluation catagories (ecology, economy, social and functional aspects, technnology, processes, site) have been introduced by the Federal Ministry of transport, Building and Urban Development and the German Sustainable Building Council. Good grades have to be achieved in all sectors in order to get the evaluation gold/silver/bronze later. Even for the lowest certification grade, the buildings have to fulfil much more than the legal standards.

Fire protection standard for fire behaviour of building materials and building components. Sun protection fabrics used in projects have to correspond to the fire protection standard B1.

Internal blinds - Performance requirements including safety.

Solar protection devices combined with glazing - Calculation of solar and light transmittance (-1 Simplified method, -2 Detailed method).

Significant DIN for the thermal and visual comfort - Performance characteristics and classification.

See reduction factor.

Fabrics with the visual characteristics – direct transmission Tv < 5% and diffuse light permeability Tdif under 2% - achieve a glare rating of 3 or „good“ according to EN 14501.

Voluntary US product certification for the improvement of the indoor air of commercial and public rooms. Greenguard fulfils strict emission limiting values of more than 360 volatile organic compounds as well as an upper limit of all chemical emissions.

Sun protection fabrics can be equipped permanently hardly inflammable. This is the precondition for the use in projects in order to fulfil the fire class B1 according to DIN 4102. Moreover, Trevira CS fabrics, which are made of permanently hardly inflammable polyester fibres, fulfil this norm.

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design is a system for the classification of ecologic building which has been established by the U.S. Green Building Council. Six rating categories (systainable ground and land, water efficiency, energy and resources, interior quality, innovation and design process) are divided in a point system. The total of these points will then sort in one of the assessment levels.

Unit for the measuring of the illuminance (1 Lux = 1 candle). Total black-out fabrics have to guarantee an obfuscation with >100.000 Lux.

The OEKO-TEX® Standard 100 is an independent evaluation and certification system for textile raw, intermediate and final products of all processing stages. The pollutant tests comprise illegal or regulated substances as well as known chemicals raising health concerns.

The part of openings (holes) in the fabric. According to the European Norm this is independent from the fabric colour. However, for fabrics with the same type of binding it has to be measured with the darkest colour.

The overall energy transmittance, g-value in short, describes the energy permeability of a translucent part of a builing, e.g. the glazing. It is composed of the direct insolation and the secondary heat loss that radiates inside from the glass. Conventional glass has got a g-value of ca. 0,85 or 85%. this means that 85% of the arriveing energy comes into the room. In case of double-glazing, a value of 0,75 is indicated, for triple-glaszings 0,55.

This is the part of solar energy which comes through the fabric and the glass, effectively into the room. According to norm and country, the overall energy transmittance degree gtot is also alled solar factor, g-value or solar heat gain SHGC“. A low value sigifies a good thermal effect. The gtot-value is directly indicated.

On the reverse side, sun protection fabrics are coeted with mother-of-pearl-like pigments. The advantages of this coating are high reflextion values and the persistance against alkaline substances. During this refinement, the fabric structure, brilliance and inside colour are preserved.

As a guide for consumers, companies and the public sector, the RAL quality mark serves as an orientation aid for purchasing decisions in order to find high-quality, safe and reliable products for the respective intended use or application. The certified criteria relate to the function, design, manufacture, safety in use and durability of privacy, glare and sun protection systems for windows, door elements and the associated advice and services.

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

The regulation (EG) No. 1907/2006 (REACH-regulation) is a European chemicals regulation, which came into force on 1 June 2007. REACH stands for the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals. REACH is, as a European Regulation, valid for all member nations. The chemicals legislation was harmonized and simplified basically due to the European Regulation “REACH”. Further, different decrees like the European Nickel Regulation were replaced by REACH. The European Chemical Regulation REACH must ensure a high security level for the humanity and the environment. According to REACH, producers, importers and downstream users must registrate their chemicals. Further they are responsible for a safe usage of the chemicals. The erfal GmbH & Co. KG declares, based on supplier declarations, that no products were delivered, which are containing the fabrics of the current candidate list (-> https://echa.europa.eu/de/candidate-list-table) of the REACH-regulation with a concentration of more than 0.1 % by mass (w/w). The erfal GmbH & Co. Kg will inform you unrequested if they get knowledge that fabrics of the candidate list in a concentration of more than 0.1 % by mass (w/w) in the delivered or still to be delivered goods as well as their packaging are used.

It shows the reduction of the sun energy through the glass and the fabric. A low value means a god thermal effect. Der value 0,30 says, that 30% of the sun energy passes inside. The Fc value is calculates by gtot/g.

This corresponds to the part of the sun insolation reflected by the fabric. The higher this value is, the higher is the part of sun energy reflected by the fabric.
Reflection of visible light (Rvnh)
Part of the light reflected by the fabric.

Insufficient sound insulaion can strongly restrict the use of rooms. In offices, administration rooms and public buildings, more and more requests are expressed which can only be fulfilled by the use of sound absorbing products with acoustic characteristics. The identification of the sound absorption coefficient αw is done according to ISO 354 in the frequency range of 125Hz to 4000 Hz. For the comparison of different products for the use in buildings according to DIN EN ISO 11654 the identified sound absorption coefficients are devided into the following classifications:
Sound absorbers classification     α-values 
                 A                             0,90  0,95  1,00
                 B                             0,80  0,85
                 C                             0,60  0,65  0,70  0,75
                 D                             0,30  0,35  0,40  0,45  0,50  0,55
                 E                             0,25  0,20  0,15 
          unclassified                      0,10  0,05  0,00

Sun protection fabrics with a plain weave made of glass fibres or polyester, plastic-coated. This fabric is distinguished by a high stability and a good look through.

The solar radiation partly goes through the fabric, is absorbed or reflected. The total of these three factors is 100.Ts + Rs + As = 100% solar energy.

This is the part of the sun radiation that goes through the fabric. The lower this value is, the higher is the part of sun energy warded off by the fabric.

This factor indicates the part of the UV radiation with a wavelength between 280 and 380 nm (nanometer) passing through the fabric. UV radiation speeds up the natural aging process. All sun protection installations also form a protection from UV radiation.

In Germany, this came into force on 12th august 2004 and is part of the workplace regulations.
The central points are:
•    no dazzling on the monitor
•    avoid most reflexions
•    The regulation of the installations on the windows is also neccessary.