New glass dramatically reduces glare, reefing applications abound

By on Nov 01, 2011

Glare on glass is never fun and if Nippon Electric Glass has anything to do with things, light glare off of glass will be just about non-existent with the company’s new “invisible glass.” According to reports across the web that started with a post at Tech-On, the company has created film that adheres to each side of the substrate that allows for more light to pass through the glass eliminating much of the glare. Normal glass has the tendency to reflect about eight percent of light but the type Nippon Electric has developed reflects just about 0.5 percent, dramatically reducing the luminous reflectance to around 0.1 percent or lower and increasing transmitted light to 99%.

If the film could withstand the daily environment of an aquarium, this could really make super clear glass a reality with no glare. But other applications could be incredible as well with nearly see-through splash guards or lenses allowing much more light to pass through, squeezing every bit of efficiency from the light itself. This could also make some pretty cool “viewing boxes” that let you get a good top-down look without glare back from the lights. We are thinking this could take on some great applications in the hobby, what are some you think would be a great fit for invisible glass?

[via Engadget]

Posted in Reef News |
Search More:  
   
  • http://www.prairiereefproject.com Prairie Reef

    Photography would be great with this! Right now, even with an off camera hotshoe – the reflections are difficult to predict in and out of the aquarium! 

  • Anonymous

    Anti-glare coatings for glass are nothing new. Go into a good art shop and they’ll have a display showing the difference between regular and “museum” glass. The coatings aren’t used for aquarium glass because they aren’t very durable and would scratch and erode quickly. This is also why we don’t see them on smartphones.

    The coating in the Engadget article is a small evolutionary improvement to a relatively mature technology in an established field. The kids who write for Engadget aren’t aware of that when they run into the press release and write up an article that says “OMG new glass will change our gadgets 4evah!” But they’re still better than Gizmodo, which I’m pretty sure is written by howler monkeys.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=720080167 Tim Morrissey

    This sounded cool up until the mention of a film… imagine scrapping coraline off a film, ain’t gonna happen. Also wouldn’t that mean more light in your face, if it is reflecting less light more will leak out of the tank either making the room brighter or might be harder to view. 

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Chris-White/521871070 Chris White

    coral growth benefits from glare on the inside of our aquarium. this would be nice on the outside though.