The requirement for maintaining reasonable natural light levels whilst still reducing glare and providing visual access to the outside world has resulted in a wide variety of window screen fabrics becoming more widely specified.

This is all well and good, but many specifiers now request screens with less openness factors than were originally envisaged and this has lead to fabrics of higher density (3 per cent and 1 per cent openness factors) which in turn increases the weight per  m2. Whilst the domestic market typically features windows of relatively small dimensions, the commercial market offers no such restrictions and windows are spanning ever larger areas to provide that ‘cutting edge design’ or ‘high impact view.’

Larger glazed areas require larger blinds and if the blinds use a screen fabric with a smaller percentage of openness then this typically has a significant impact on the weight of the blind.

Louvolite has already redesigned a version of its System 45 blind headrail to reduce deflection and allow wider blinds to operate within their tube deflection parameters, thereby improving performance. But now the company has gone one better. The spring assisted version of the System 45 and System 45+ roller blind system allows even the heaviest of blinds to be lifted easily without putting strain on the operator, or the system.

Louvolite says its programme is very different in so far as it utilises a single spring component and a unique connecting joint. Louvolite’s ‘Slide and Lock Technology’ allows a multiple number of springs to be used in combination so that the level of assistance created is optimised for individual blind size and weight characteristics. Typical systems use a single spring size and apply the same level of assistance across a wide variety of blind width/drop/weight combinations.

The Louvolite programme is supported by technical information which allows accredited Louvolite manufacturers to provide the appropriate combination of hardware choice and spring combination resulting in manufactured products that satisfy the specifiers’ technical specifications and also allow ease of operator use and longevity.

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