Helioscreen: 'Why good standards matter. Or the story of Helioscreen Sergé 1%'

"Helioscreen's most successful product for years has been the Sergé 3% screen fabric," says sales and marketing manager Leo De Maeyer. "It is extremely efficient against overheating and glare from the bright sun. In combination with high-efficiency type C glazing, most colors achieve class 3 to 4 for heat protection. That means a good to very good effect." 

Until recently, the basis for determining those classes was the 2005 version of the European standard for thermal and visual comfort EN 14501. For their effect against glare or glare, most dark Sergé 3% fabrics achieved class 3 within that standard: a good effect. Still, there were a limited number of Helioscreen customers who were not entirely convinced by the 3% openness. "They told us that in some cases with a cloth from glare class 3, people did suffer from glare," De Maeyer said. In classrooms, with a 3% cloth, they found that there was often still too much sunlight coming in to read the white smartboard properly. The question was whether a less open screen cloth might provide a solution for this. 

"Helioscreen heeded these concerns and our R&D department set out to find the ideal bond," De Maeyer says. "The resulting fabric allows even less than 1% direct light through. Moreover, it is slightly thinner and lighter than the existing Sergé 3% cloth and proves ideal for zipper applications. Thus, our Sergé 1% cloth has seen the light of day and quickly gained popularity. After all, this cloth is extremely effective against glare!" 

"Unfortunately, until recently we could not prove this with the European standard," De Maeyer continues. "According to the 2005 EN 14501, cloths with a direct light transmission of 5%, 3% and 1% in a dark color all had the same class 3: a good effect. Only cloths without transparency could achieve class 4. But this has recently changed. Some renowned scientific institutes have carried out intensive studies into glare in the working environment, in cooperation with various European sun protection specialists. With their input, EN 14501 was updated in 2021, with the standards committee greatly correcting and refining the glare classification compared to the previous version. The new version of the standard does allow us to clearly demonstrate that Sergé 1% effectively provides better glare protection. All dark-colored cloths in this range now achieve a class 4: very good effect." 

Does this now mean that Sergé 1% must be used everywhere? "No," replies De Maeyer. "The trick remains to properly ascertain what the end customer's requirements and expectations are and recommend the right fabric based on that. In many cases, that will still be a Sergé 3%. However, where excessive sunlight causes distracting glare, the Sergé 1% fabric is best applied." 

"That's why Helioscreen continues to choose a wide range of grades for indoor and outdoor use. We offer apertures from 0% to 10% in a variety of colors. This allows our customers to find their ideal balance between heat protection, glare protection, daylighting, transparency and privacy."