Super-efficient window and door systems Alumil

SuPER-EffiCiENT wiNdow ANd dooR SySTEmS

Alumil is a market leading producer of branded aluminium windows, doors and photovoltaic systems. Philip Yorke reports on the company’s latest innovative products and its strategy for future growth.

Alumil S.A. was founded in Greece in 1988 and today remains an independent family business. Through its modern production facilities and strict quality controls that operate throughout its entire production processes, it ensures the creation of superior products of high added-value. A programme of continuous research and development has led to it offering unique thermal and design solutions with many innovative features.

Today with more than 30 years of experience and over 2,200 employees in the design and production of architectural aluminium systems, Alumil is one of the world’s most successful and technologically advanced companies with twelve state-of-the-art production lines located throughout Europe. Overall control of the company is directed from its headquarters in Greece, where human resources, marketing and global management is coordinated. The Group’s sales network is extensive and covers over 50 markets worldwide. Today its strategy for growth includes expanding its presence in emerging markets such as India and Africa by promoting its energy-efficient architectural window and door systems.

Research-driven success

Research and development is part of the Alumil Group’s DNA and is responsible for its remarkable ongoing success. The company’s experienced and committed engineers are continuously inventing new, innovative technical solutions that take thermal insulation and energy efficiency to new levels. Thanks to its comprehensive ‘Advanced Testing Centre’ in Greece it remains at the forefront of technological development, keeping it one step ahead of its competitors. In addition, it maintains close collaboration with several leading European universities and independent research centres. All Alumil’s products are fully certified by leading institutions worldwide.

The latest high-tech business unit of Alumil is its subsidiary, ‘Carbon Fibre Technologies’ (CFT), which focuses on the development of carbon fibre products and their applications in architectural window and door systems. Composite materials are becoming more and more important in the building industry and carbon fibre, with its impressive mechanical properties has the potential to offer major advantages to customers when used in combination with Alumil’s unique aluminium solutions for robust yet lightweight constructions for windows and doors.

Heavy-duty precision

Recently Alumil announced a breakthrough with its system for heavyduty folding doors. The company’s Supreme SF85 has been designed for exceptional, oversized folding doors that ensure ultra-smooth and long-lasting trouble-free operation. The minimalist design and extremely narrow sight-lines (105mm sash to sash), as well as its outstanding performance in terms of water tightness, air permeability and wind load resistance, make it a sure winner.

This new system is ideal for high-end residential use, offering solutions that offer fewer and wider vents, as well as for heavy-duty commercial projects, which may require many vents and structures up to four metres high. Furthermore, the system is perfectly suited to a wide variety of applications, including semi-structural and corner versions with odd and even numbers of vents.

This latest Alumil system has been engineered to offer enhanced safety characteristics and is certified to RC2 class burglar resistance thanks to its special quadruple locking latches and anti-lift roller

hinges. Finally, the system also stands out for its extremely high thermal insulation properties for maximum energy savings with Uw=1.0 W/m2K, for three panel folding doors with dimensions of 3.0 X2.6m and Ug=0.6W/m2K.

unique e-motion system

In keeping with its drive for energy efficiency and reliability, Alumil has also launched a new, fully automatic minimal sliding system: the Supreme S650 e-motion. This advanced product is electrically driven and is a remote-controlled version of the company’s minimal sliding system, the Supreme S650 Phos. It is the ideal choice for minimal constructions, especially when the project requires coverage of large openings, ease of use and maximised use of the end-user’s field of vision.

More specifically, the new series is available for single-sash configurations with fixed lights and for double, horizontal sliding sashes. The Supreme S650 e-Motion offers excellent performance levels for its category and is fully certified by the Rosenheim Institute in collaboration with the CFT testing centre. This is a unique product that combines very high functionality and ease of use with sophisticated minimal design in accordance with the latest architectural trends.

Innovative PV structures

Alumil also has had more than 15 years of experience in the design and manufacture of PV mounting structures for field and rooftop installations. Alumil Solar is a dedicated business unit of the Alumil Group and provides advanced and fully certified Photo-Voltaic (PV) mounting structures from the high strength aluminium alloy: A1 6005T6. The full range of PV mounting structures, which are marketed under the trade name ‘HELIOS’, are fully certified according to Eurocode 1 and 9 specifications. These innovative designs make it possible to mount all sizes of PV frames and the full variety of PV technology patterns.

During the last few years Alumil has gained substantial experience in the production and installation of large-scale PV projects in various countries worldwide including Italy, Greece, Germany, Romania, Turkey, England, Cyprus, Egypt and Japan. Alumil Solar also provides complete technical support for the professional installation of its aluminium mounting structures in very large field-based installations. n

For further details of the Alumil Group’s latest innovative products and services visit: www.alumil.com