WO2012170566A1 - Vitrage isolant et procédé et appareil pour sceller un vitrage isolant de manière étanche et à basse température - Google Patents

Vitrage isolant et procédé et appareil pour sceller un vitrage isolant de manière étanche et à basse température Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2012170566A1
WO2012170566A1 PCT/US2012/041143 US2012041143W WO2012170566A1 WO 2012170566 A1 WO2012170566 A1 WO 2012170566A1 US 2012041143 W US2012041143 W US 2012041143W WO 2012170566 A1 WO2012170566 A1 WO 2012170566A1
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WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
glass
glass elements
article
metal
seal strip
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Application number
PCT/US2012/041143
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English (en)
Inventor
Peter Petit
Original Assignee
Peter Petit
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Application filed by Peter Petit filed Critical Peter Petit
Publication of WO2012170566A1 publication Critical patent/WO2012170566A1/fr

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Classifications

    • E—FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
    • E06—DOORS, WINDOWS, SHUTTERS, OR ROLLER BLINDS IN GENERAL; LADDERS
    • E06B—FIXED OR MOVABLE CLOSURES FOR OPENINGS IN BUILDINGS, VEHICLES, FENCES OR LIKE ENCLOSURES IN GENERAL, e.g. DOORS, WINDOWS, BLINDS, GATES
    • E06B3/00—Window sashes, door leaves, or like elements for closing wall or like openings; Layout of fixed or moving closures, e.g. windows in wall or like openings; Features of rigidly-mounted outer frames relating to the mounting of wing frames
    • E06B3/66—Units comprising two or more parallel glass or like panes permanently secured together
    • E06B3/663—Elements for spacing panes
    • E06B3/66304—Discrete spacing elements, e.g. for evacuated glazing units
    • E—FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
    • E06—DOORS, WINDOWS, SHUTTERS, OR ROLLER BLINDS IN GENERAL; LADDERS
    • E06B—FIXED OR MOVABLE CLOSURES FOR OPENINGS IN BUILDINGS, VEHICLES, FENCES OR LIKE ENCLOSURES IN GENERAL, e.g. DOORS, WINDOWS, BLINDS, GATES
    • E06B3/00—Window sashes, door leaves, or like elements for closing wall or like openings; Layout of fixed or moving closures, e.g. windows in wall or like openings; Features of rigidly-mounted outer frames relating to the mounting of wing frames
    • E06B3/66—Units comprising two or more parallel glass or like panes permanently secured together
    • E06B3/6612—Evacuated glazing units
    • E—FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
    • E06—DOORS, WINDOWS, SHUTTERS, OR ROLLER BLINDS IN GENERAL; LADDERS
    • E06B—FIXED OR MOVABLE CLOSURES FOR OPENINGS IN BUILDINGS, VEHICLES, FENCES OR LIKE ENCLOSURES IN GENERAL, e.g. DOORS, WINDOWS, BLINDS, GATES
    • E06B3/00—Window sashes, door leaves, or like elements for closing wall or like openings; Layout of fixed or moving closures, e.g. windows in wall or like openings; Features of rigidly-mounted outer frames relating to the mounting of wing frames
    • E06B3/66—Units comprising two or more parallel glass or like panes permanently secured together
    • E06B3/663—Elements for spacing panes
    • E06B3/66309—Section members positioned at the edges of the glazing unit
    • E06B3/66328—Section members positioned at the edges of the glazing unit of rubber, plastics or similar materials
    • E—FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
    • E06—DOORS, WINDOWS, SHUTTERS, OR ROLLER BLINDS IN GENERAL; LADDERS
    • E06B—FIXED OR MOVABLE CLOSURES FOR OPENINGS IN BUILDINGS, VEHICLES, FENCES OR LIKE ENCLOSURES IN GENERAL, e.g. DOORS, WINDOWS, BLINDS, GATES
    • E06B3/00—Window sashes, door leaves, or like elements for closing wall or like openings; Layout of fixed or moving closures, e.g. windows in wall or like openings; Features of rigidly-mounted outer frames relating to the mounting of wing frames
    • E06B3/66—Units comprising two or more parallel glass or like panes permanently secured together
    • E06B3/673—Assembling the units
    • E06B3/67326—Assembling spacer elements with the panes
    • E06B3/67334—Assembling spacer elements with the panes by soldering; Preparing the panes therefor
    • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
    • Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
    • Y02A—TECHNOLOGIES FOR ADAPTATION TO CLIMATE CHANGE
    • Y02A30/00—Adapting or protecting infrastructure or their operation
    • Y02A30/24—Structural elements or technologies for improving thermal insulation
    • Y02A30/249—Glazing, e.g. vacuum glazing
    • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
    • Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
    • Y02B—CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES RELATED TO BUILDINGS, e.g. HOUSING, HOUSE APPLIANCES OR RELATED END-USER APPLICATIONS
    • Y02B80/00—Architectural or constructional elements improving the thermal performance of buildings
    • Y02B80/22—Glazing, e.g. vaccum glazing

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to a method and apparatus for making an improved seal for insulating glazing, such as argon-filled or evacuated glazing.
  • the invention also relates to an insulating glazing made by such a method and apparatus.
  • the enclosed space is typically filled with an inert gas, such as argon, which has a lower conductivity and higher viscosity.
  • the inert gas between the glass panes can help reduce conductive and convective heat losses.
  • the common glazing design has several well-recognized shortcomings.
  • seals made with organic glues and sealants, are prone to outward leakage of argon (resulting in loss of insulating capability), and inward leakage of water vapor (resulting in fogging due to condensation and possibly etching of the internal glass surfaces).
  • This leakage tendency is aggravated by pane movement caused by temperature changes, and by degradation of the sealant with age and exposure to the environment.
  • manufacturers typically incur the extra expense of adding desiccant material, such as silica gel beads, into the pane spacer to keep the fill gas dry. This reduces warranty cost, but does not eliminate it, because the ability of desiccants to capture water vapor eventually becomes exhausted if moisture leakage is present.
  • Vacuum glazing products attempted heretofore have met with comparatively little commercial success due to design and performance shortcomings and high fabrication costs.
  • vacuum glazing by Nippon Sheet Glass (NSG) sold under the trade name Spacia® uses solder glass to seal the edges of the two panes.
  • the resulting seal can be highly hermetic as manufactured; however, in cold weather the seal may become vulnerable to cracking due to the buildup of high stresses in the brittle solder glass seal material, because an outer pane contracts while an inner pane remains close to room temperature and contracts very little. For this reason, NSG warns against using this glazing in applications for which the temperature difference across the glazing exceeds 35 ° C (63 F).
  • Tempered glass comprises about 25% of the market for window glazing, due to building codes requiring safety glass. It is desirable, for commercial viability, to be able to use tempered glass to make vacuum glazing.
  • the high temperatures used for tempered glass can limit the options for low-emissivity coatings.
  • pyrolytic low-emissivity coatings may be used, which typically is not very effective.
  • the vacuum glazing may use no low-emissivity coating at all. Either of these options can be detrimental to the insulating performance of the vacuum glazing.
  • an adhesive layer is first coated along the edges of a planar surface of a glass element by magnetron sputtering.
  • Magnetron sputtering is a coating process based on momentum transfer at the atomic level, analogous to the game of billiards. Gas ions are accelerated across a cathode dark space and strike a cathode, which is called the target. The incoming ions transfer their momentum to the atoms in the target, thereby ejecting atoms of the target material, some of which subsequently strike the substrate glass element, thereby forming a coating.
  • Sputtered coatings can adhere better than those produced by other low- temperature coating processes such as vacuum vapor deposition coating, as can be confirmed by a simple tape test (described in Section 4.11 of Military Specification M13508A).
  • the adhesion of coating to substrate is related to the kinetic energy of atoms striking the substrate.
  • the atoms ejected from the target during magnetron sputtering have a characteristic average kinetic energy on the order of 40 eV, more than an order of magnitude greater than the particle energies involved in vacuum vapor deposition.
  • Magnetron sputtering has numerous disadvantages.
  • the substrate cannot be plasma-cleaned simultaneously with coating of the substrate. That is, the substrate can be cleaned by plasma etching only before coating, not during coating.
  • the surface of the substrate may become contaminated by stray atoms of materials other than that of the desired coating.
  • the coating atoms cannot penetrate into the surface of the substrate any further than their own inherent kinetic energy will take them, creating more of an abrupt interface as opposed to the desired graded interface. This restricts the selection of materials used for forming the adhesive layer, because to achieve the desired adhesion, the relatively weak mechanical bond needs to be supplemented with suitable chemical bonds. Marginal adhesion may be
  • magnetron sputtering typically at least two layers of dissimilar materials, that is, a first adhesive layer that is adhesive to the glass and a second barrier layer that is adhesive to the first layer and is also readily-bondable to a metal foil seal strip, are required on the glass element, which is undesirable.
  • the adhesive layer material may be required to have a coefficient of thermal expansion approximately similar to that of glass, which further restricts the selection of materials suitable for the adhesive layer.
  • Magnetron sputtering can be too slow for some coating applications, as deposition rates typically range from 0.005 microns per minute to 0.05 microns per minute at the low end to approximately one micron per minute at the high end.
  • a metal foil seal strip For manufacturing a compliant hermetic seal in vacuum glazing, it is desirable to bond a metal foil seal strip on a glass element at a low temperature. If a metal coating is used to facilitate said bonding, it is desirable, for cost considerations, that the coating consist of a single layer of a single material which adheres well to glass as well as being readily-bondable to a metal foil seal strip. Furthermore, it is desirable that the coating be capable of fast thickness growth rate without serious compromise of the beneficial qualities of the coating.
  • Ion plating creates a graded interface which is somewhat analogous to the interface of intermixed atoms created by diffusion bonding, but with three important differences: 1) ion plating does not require high temperature, 2) ion plating can create the graded interface in a much shorter time, measured in minutes or even seconds, and 3) ion plating can readily form a nonequilibrium mixture within the graded interface; for example, the concentration of silicon in aluminum can be made to span the full range from 0% to 100% even though only a small amount of silicon is soluble in aluminum at processing temperature equilibrium. The fact that the concentration in the graded interface changes gradually over a finite depth not only improves adhesion, but also reduced stresses arising from a mismatch of thermal expansion coefficients.
  • the disclosure relates to a method for fabricating an insulating glazing assembly.
  • the method generally includes providing at least two glass elements of substantially congruent shapes. Each glass element defines two substantially planar faces. In embodiments, each planar face includes rounded corners. A perimeter surface extends between the substantially planar faces.
  • the glass elements are positioned substantially parallel to and spaced apart from each other, defining an interior space extending therebetween.
  • a seal strip is bonded on the glass elements, thereby sealing the interior space. At least a portion of the seal strip is bonded to the perimeter surface of each glass element.
  • the disclosure relates to a system for forming a metal coating on a glass element for insulating glazing.
  • the system generally includes a chamber and a power supply.
  • the chamber is configured to expose at least a part of the glass element to a depositant metal and an ionizable gas.
  • the power supply is configured to create a plasma of the ionizable gas in the chamber, thereby forming a cathode dark space adjacent the glass element, whereupon the depositant metal forms a coating on the glass element after passing through the cathode dark space.
  • the disclosure relates to an article for insulating glazing.
  • the article generally includes at least two glass elements of substantially congruent shapes. Each glass element defines two substantially planar faces.
  • each planar face includes rounded comers.
  • a perimeter surface extends between the substantially planar faces.
  • the glass elements are positioned substantially parallel to and spaced apart from each other, defining an interior space extending therebetween.
  • a seal strip is bonded on the glass elements. The seal strip seals the interior space. At least a portion of the seal strip is bonded to the perimeter surface of each glass element.
  • the disclosure relates to an article for insulating glazing.
  • the article generally includes at least two glass elements of substantially congruent shapes. Each glass element defines two substantially planar faces. Each planar face includes rounded corners. A perimeter surface extends between the substantially planar faces.
  • the glass elements are positioned substantially parallel to and spaced apart from each other, defining an interior space extending therebetween.
  • a seal strip is bonded on the glass elements. The seal strip seals the interior space.
  • FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a prior art vacuum insulating glazing with a U- shaped seal.
  • FIG. 2 is a planar view of a corner region of the vacuum insulating glazing of FIG.
  • FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of an article for insulating glazing according to an embodiment of the invention.
  • FIGS. 4, 5, and 6 are enlarged plan views of a corner of a pane element of the article of FIG. 3.
  • FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of a stack of two of the articles of FIG. 3.
  • FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view of an insulating glazing according to another embodiment of the invention.
  • FIG. 9 is a schematic view of an apparatus for forming an insulating glazing according to an embodiment of the invention.
  • FIGS. 10a, 10b, and 10c are sequential planar views of an insulating glazing unit having its hermetic seal completed when the seal strip is comprised of a continuous metal foil loop having length in excess of the glazing unit perimeter.
  • insulating glazing denotes a window glazing assembly formed from at least two glass members at least partially transparent to electromagnetic radiation, being substantially parallel along their planar faces and substantially congruent shapes with
  • the interior space being at least partially filled with a gas that is less conductive and possibly more viscous than air, or optionally evacuated.
  • Substrate refers to an object intended to be plasma cleaned or to receive a coating, such as glass intended to receive a metal coating.
  • “Plasma” is an electrically stimulated state of gaseous matter consisting of an essentially neutral mixture of electrons and ions. “Plasma” is used interchangeably with “glow discharge.”
  • Ion is an atom from which at least one electron has been removed, resulting in a positively charged particle having nearly the same mass as the original atom, and which can be accelerated by an electric field created by a voltage difference.
  • Particles refers to various entities having sizes at the atomic scale, including atoms, molecules and ions.
  • Cathode is a member, either conductive or non-conductive, having a negative charge (or negative voltage), relative to a reference, due to an excess of electrons.
  • Anode is a member, having a positive charge (or positive voltage) relative to a reference due to a shortage of electrons.
  • Cathode dark space is the region adjacent to the cathode when a plasma is present, and across which most of the voltage drop between the anode and the cathode occurs, and which displays little or no visible glow discharge.
  • “Etching” means the removal of atoms from the surface of a cathode by a glow discharge with one benefit being the removal of surface material resulting in the creation of an atomically clean surface. “Etching” is used interchangeably with “cleaning.”
  • Applied potential is expressed as the absolute value (always positive) of the voltage difference between a cathode and an anode, or across a cathode dark space.
  • Hermetic is a term used to describe a seal which allows helium leakage rates of no more than about 10 ⁇ 8 to 10 ⁇ 9 standard cubic centimeters/second (sec/sec) per foot of seal length.
  • "Highly-hermetic” is a term which will be used to describe a seal which allows helium leakage rates of no more than about 10 ⁇ 9 sec/sec, and preferably no more than about 10 "11 sec/sec, and most preferably no more than about 10 ⁇ 12 sec/sec per foot of seal length.
  • graded interface refers to a layer of finite thickness having a gradually changing concentration from 100% coating material to 100% substrate material across the thickness.
  • a graded interface can comprise a mixture of metal and glass between one boundary of substantially pure metal and a second boundary of substantially pure glass.
  • a coating may take the form of a layer of which at least a small portion, and possibly all of the layer, consists of a mixture of metal and glass atoms, possibly in the form of a graded interface.
  • Period surface of a glass element refers to a surface that extends between two substantially planar faces of the glass element.
  • FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional evacuated insulating glazing that includes two glass elements 1, 2 sealed with a U-shaped seal strip 6'.
  • Two glass elements 1 and 2 each include an interior planar face 16, an exterior planar face 17, and a perimeter surface 15 extending therebetween in a vertical direction.
  • Pillars or spacers 4 space apart the two glass elements 1 and 2.
  • the pillars 4 include a substantially incompressible material to provide spacing between the interior planar faces 16.
  • the pillars 4 serve to provide a substantially constant gap between the glass elements, which are typically under compression by the atmosphere on the exterior planar faces 17.
  • a metal coating layer 5' is created along lateral edge surfaces of each glass element 1 and 2.
  • the seal strip 6' includes a foil of a metal suitable for bonding to the metal coating layer 5', and encompasses edges of the glass elements 1 and 2.
  • Each leg of the seal strip 6' extends over at least part of its respective metal coating layer 5'; the seal strip 6' is thereby coupled to a portion of the exterior planar faces 17 at the seal bonds 8'.
  • the seal bonds 8' are created in such a way as to form a highly-hermetic seal between each leg of the seal strip 6' and its respective metal coating layer 5', preferably by a cold welding method such as ultrasonic welding, or by an alternative method such as soldering, laser welding, resistance welding or brazing. Although the whole of the metal coating layer 5' is available for bonding with the seal strip 6, not all of the region of overlap between the metal coating layer 5' and the seal strip 6' need be utilized to achieve satisfactory results.
  • the glass elements 1 , 2 optionally include chamfers 18 or other deviations from a simple plane surface which are nevertheless considered part of the perimeter surface 15 joining the interior and exterior planar faces 16, 17.
  • seal strip 6' without trimming the seal strip 6' requires that the seal strip 6' be folded, thereby creating a small flap 3', or three foil layers total.
  • the seal strip 6' may be cut so as to allow creating a two-layer stack of foil. Either way, multiple layers of seal strip 6' at corners may require a change of operating parameters for ultrasonic welding, such as reducing the head speed. Cutting out a triangle of a top and a bottom of the seal strip 6' to create a bevel joint, which avoids multiple layers, creates a risk of eventual leakage unless mitigating steps are taken, adding cost.
  • an insulating glazing includes seal bonds 8 located on the perimeter surfaces 15.
  • An optional metal coating layer 5 is created along the perimeter surface 15 of each glass element 1, 2, preferably using ion plating, as will be explained further below.
  • a seal strip 6 spans the perimeter surfaces 15 of the glass elements 1 and 2, extending over at least a part of each metal coating layer 5.
  • Seal bonds 8 are created in such a way as to form a highly-hermetic seal between the seal strip 6 and its respective metal coating layer 5, preferably by a cold welding method such as ultrasonic welding, or by an alternative method, such as soldering, laser welding, resistance welding or brazing, which does not require substantial heating of the glass element.
  • the width of the seal strip 6 is about the same as the thickness of the two glass elements 1 and 2 plus the relatively small gap defined by the spacers 4.
  • the metal coating 5 may be eliminated by directly bonding the seal strip 6 to glass perimeter surfaces 15, for example, by ultrasonic welding.
  • the planar faces 16, 17 of the illustrated glass elements 1 and 2 each preferably include rounded or radiused corners with a respective corner radius 13. To form the rounded corners, material forming a sharp corner 11 (shown in phantom lines) is removed from each glass element 1, 2.
  • the corner radius 13 is relatively small, e.g., approximately 20 microns to approximately 25.4 mm, so as to require a small amount of material to be removed.
  • a larger corner radius 13 may be used.
  • the rounded corner is a portion of a circle.
  • the rounded corner can be made up of one or more linear or arcuate portions.
  • the rounded corners of the glass elements 1 and 2 can provide various benefits.
  • a bonding machine such as an ultrasonic seam welder with a rolling head can be used, as will be explained further below.
  • a continuous seam of uniform quality can be produced without the need to fold, crease, cut, deform or otherwise manage excess seal strip 6 at a corner.
  • the risk of foil puncture at a sharp corner 11 is reduced.
  • metal foil stress points are reduced, which otherwise can be points of fatigue failure during cyclical pane movement due to temperature change.
  • FIG. 7 illustrates an arrangement that allows more than one pair of glass elements
  • FIG. 8 illustrates an insulating glazing according to another embodiment of the invention as applied, for example, to the common gas-filled design of insulated glazing.
  • This embodiment employs much of the same structure and has many of the same properties as the embodiment of the insulating glazing described above in connection with FIGS. 3-7.
  • an edge spacer 9 spaces apart the glass elements 1 and 2.
  • the edge spacer 9 includes a continuous length within the perimeter of the glass elements 1 and 2. Because the seal bonds 8 provide a highly-hermetic seal of the interior space, there is no need for incorporating desiccants in the region of the edge spacer 9. Edge spacer 9 may be suitably made of a strong material having low conductivity, such as foamed polyurethane, and is secured to the glass elements 1 and 2 by an organic adhesive. The adhesive need not act as a primary seal, because that function is embodied in the seal bonds 8.
  • an article for insulating glazing is made by depositing the metal coating layer 5 along the perimeter surface 15 of each glass element 1, 2 using ion plating.
  • ion plating Both ion plating and magnetron sputtering are considered glow discharge processes.
  • ion plating differs fundamentally from magnetron sputtering in specific ways that impart advantages in creating a highly-hermetic seal, as explained below.
  • a substrate is negatively charged and bombarded by positively charged ions from a glow discharge (plasma) accelerating across the dark space. This results in sputter cleaning (that is, plasma etching) of the substrate surface.
  • plasma glow discharge
  • metal atoms are vaporized into the glow discharge, and are deposited as a coating on the substrate, while bombardment of the substrate by ions continues simultaneously.
  • Simultaneous etching and coating is an advantage of ion plating.
  • the continued bombardment of the substrate surface and the developing coating by ions can be thought of as "ion peening," which has several advantageous effects: 1) it assures an atomically clean surface on the unmasked portion of the substrate by ejecting (or “backsputtering") contaminant atoms and some layers of glass atoms prior to and during the initial formation of the coating; 2) at least until the coating becomes too thick, it drives at least some of the metal atoms from the coating into the surface of the substrate many atomic layers deep, forming an ion-mixed zone or graded interface of embedded metal atoms in the surface of the substrate, resulting in a graded interface having a gradually changing concentration over a finite depth, from 100% metal to 0% metal; and 3) it densities the
  • ion plating is conducted using an applied potential of approximately 200 V to approximately 600 V to coat the perimeter surface 15 of each glass element 1, 2 using a radio frequency (RF) power 12 (see FIG. 9) .
  • RF radio frequency
  • a higher potential may be applied to the glass substrate, thereby improving adhesion still more.
  • the applied potential may be as high as about 5,000 V.
  • a suitable applied potential can limit the gas content in the coating (that is, adsorbed argon), thereby increasing hermeticity.
  • the applied potential also encourages resputtering, as a result of which the coating surface tends to become smoother. If a small amount of oxygen remains in the chamber, the applied potential can reduce the amount of oxidation of metals that have a high affinity for oxygen, such as aluminum, titanium and chrome.
  • an effective pressure e.g., approximately 2x 10 ⁇ 3 Torr
  • ion plating to produce a nearly conformal coating over a severe substrate topography.
  • a significant coating thickness can be produced on the side of the substrate which is opposite from the metal source, because charged particles have a tendency to follow the electric field lines emanating from all exposed surfaces of the substrate. Random scattering caused by collision of metal atoms with gas atoms further assists forming a coating layer on the side of the substrate opposite to the metal source.
  • Conformal coating allows more flexibility in the number and location of metal sources, which is important when coating only the edges of large glazing units.
  • FIG. 9 illustrates an apparatus or machine for creating the ion-plated metal coating layer 5 on the glass elements 1, 2.
  • the apparatus includes an air-tight chamber 10, and a vacuum pump system 42 connected thereto.
  • the vacuum pump system 42 includes a two-stage rotary vane backing pump in series with a turbomolecular pump.
  • the vacuum pump system 42 includes other types of pumps to suitably form a vacuum in the range of about 10 "5 Torr in the chamber 10.
  • An input supply for an ionizing gas 48 such as argon is provided through an interface port 40.
  • the pressure inside the sealed chamber 10 is monitored by a pressure gauge 38.
  • the chamber is evacuated to approximately 5 X 10 "5 Torr by means of the vacuum pump system 42 to reduce contaminant gases such as oxygen and moisture. Then the ionizing gas 48 is introduced by means of a control valve to raise the pressure, for example, to 2x 10 ⁇ 2 Torr, sufficient to easily strike a glow discharge.
  • the illustrated RF power supply 12 has an integral matching box (not shown) for tuning to minimize the reflected power, and can generate several hundred watts of power at a frequency of approximately 13 Megahertz.
  • An insulated feedthrough electrode 41 connects the RF power supply 12 to a bias plate 24 within the chamber 10.
  • the bias plate 24 enables the RF portion of the power feed to stimulate the glass elements 1, 2 to become self-biased, that is, to become spontaneously negatively-charged. Then the glass elements 1 , 2 can function as a cathode, which in turn stimulates the ionizable gas to form a glow discharge.
  • the glow discharge is used to clean and lightly etch the glass elements 1 , 2 for a period of time prior to deposition of the coating material, as well as to maintain a clean surface during formation of the graded interface.
  • the glass elements 1 , 2 are thoroughly cleaned before coating using a suitable cleaning protocol.
  • the glass elements 1, 2 are then placed on top of a conductive bias plate 24.
  • An insulating structure 22, such as a glass shelf, is provided to support and electrically decouple the bias plate 24 from the chamber 10, which is reliably grounded. If a transparent viewable area is desired, a mask may be placed on top of the glass substrate to prevent coating beneath it.
  • the RF power supply 12 is in electrical communication with the electrodes and configured to create a glow discharge in the ionizable gas 48.
  • Ions of the ionizable gas 48 are accelerated across the electric field within the cathode dark space portion of the glow discharge proximate to the glass elements 1, 2, bombarding or hammering on the depositant metal ions.
  • the depositant metal is thus driven to contact the glass elements 1,2, thereby forming a metal coating layer 5 on the glass elements 1, 2.
  • the output of a direct current (DC) power supply 14 may be superimposed on the RF power using a suitable filter network 35.
  • DC direct current
  • a non-glowing "dark space" may form proximate to the cathode.
  • there is a relatively uniform potential throughout the plasma there is a significant voltage drop across the dark space.
  • the DC power supply 14 can help avoiding negative effects of the dark space.
  • wire made of the desired coating material is wound tightly around a resistive filament 30. Evaporation is accomplished by a DC filament power supply 20 which heats the filament 30 sufficiently to vaporize the coating material.
  • the evaporator is a resistor in the shape of a boat, which can be kept filled with boiling depositant metal by a wire feeder (not shown); this will allow many weeks of operation without the need to repressurize the chamber to replenish the coating metal.
  • the evaporator may be heated using a suitable AC power supply (not shown).
  • the evaporator of the depositant metal typically serves as the anode or is in electrical communication with the anode.
  • the chamber 10 may serve as the anode, even if it is grounded.
  • a deposition sensor 32 is placed at a suitable location within the chamber 10 to monitor the thickness of the metal coating layer 5.
  • an article for insulating glazing generally includes the metal coating layer 5 coupled to a respective perimeter surface 15 of the glass elements 1, 2.
  • the metal coating layer 5 has a coating thickness of at least approximately 0.5 micron.
  • the metal coating layer 5 has a coating thickness of at least 1 micron.
  • the metal coating layer 5 has a coating thickness that is sufficient for subsequent bonding of the metal coating layer 5 to the seal strip 6.
  • the exterior planar faces 17 are substantially free of the seal strip 6.
  • a mask 28 may be provided on top of the exterior planar face 17 for confining the metal coating layer 5 to predetermined surfaces of the glass element 1, 2.
  • the mask 28 is made of a conducting material such as metal. This can help reliably coat areas having at least one small dimension, such as a narrow strip along the perimeter surface 15 of the glass elements 1, 2.
  • the mask 28 is made of the same metal as that to be plated.
  • the mask 28 is electrically connected to the bias plate 24, such as through a wire 33.
  • the wire 33 follows a route sufficiently removed from the glass elements 1, 2 to allow adequate coating of the glass elements 1, 2. That is, the wire 33 is positioned away from the glass elements 1, 2 so as not to cast a shadow during coating of the glass elements 1, 2.
  • a seal strip 6 is bonded on the metal coating layers 5, e.g., by ultrasonic welding.
  • the welding takes place inside a vacuum chamber.
  • a strip of metal foil e.g., formed of annealed 1100-series aluminum with a thickness of approximately 25.4 microns, is first prepared to have a width spanning the perimeter surface of two adjacent glass elements and a length longer than the perimeter of one of the glass elements.
  • the strip of metal foil includes two ends, which are bonded (e.g, ultrasonically welded) so as to form a loop loosely surrounding the perimeter surfaces of the glass elements. Referring to FIGS.
  • a disc-shaped sonotrode 50 rotates over the strip of metal foil and applies vibratory friction, thereby bonding portions of the strip of metal foil to the coatings.
  • a hermetic seal is formed for the interior space between the glass elements when the sonotrode bonds the entire loop of metal foil to the coatings.
  • the rounded corners allow uninterrupted welds to be formed without risk of cutting the foil or puncturing it at sharp corner edges, and without the need to fold the foil.
  • the welding operation may be interrupted before the final welding step is completed, so that the nearly- finished pane may be evacuated through the opening not yet welded, or the gas composition in the interior space between the glass elements may be changed.
  • the welding may be then completed to form a unit of fully evacuated glazing. Variations of this concept include bonding the metal foil directly to glass, or bonding the metal foil to an intermediate metal foil which is itself directly bonded to glass or to a metal coating on glass.
  • a 15.2 cm x 15.2 cm x 0.3175 cm pane of annealed soda lime glass was placed on a 20.32 cm x 20.32 cm copper bias plate, and a 12.7 cm x 12.7 cm x 0.3175 cm copper mask was centered on the glass substrate, forming a uniform 1.27 cm wide reveal along the entire edge of the glass planar face.
  • the mask was connected to the bias plate with a copper wire and positioned so as not to interfere with the even coating of the unmasked substrate beneath.
  • the chamber was closed and evacuated to 6 X 10 "4 Torr. After approximately two minutes, argon flow was started and then adjusted to bring the chamber pressure to 2x 10 ⁇ 2 Torr.
  • the forward power on the RF power supply was raised to approximately 10 watts to ignite a glow discharge.
  • the reflected power was then minimized by adjusting the tuning settings of the matching network.
  • the forward RF power was then raised to approximately 125 watts. Plasma etching was allowed to continue for
  • the DC bias power supply was switched on, so the bias plate potential could be read on the bias supply voltmeter.
  • Forward power on the RF power supply was reduced to about 90 watts forward power at 0 watts reflected power until the charge on the bias plate reached approximately -225 V.
  • the setting of the DC bias voltage supply was increased until the bias plate voltage reading reached about -320 V, or until excessive arcing was observed through the viewport.
  • the bias DC supply setting was then reduced until the bias plate reading was approximately -300 V and arcing stopped.
  • the DC filament supply current was set to 35 amps. When the filament began to glow orange after a minute, the current was raised to 55 amps.
  • the deposition rate on the substrate increased to over 10 angstroms per second.
  • the filament then cooled for about 10 minutes.
  • the chamber was then repressurized with air.
  • a 30.48 cm x 30.48 cm x 0.3175 cm pane of tempered soda lime glass is placed on a 30.48 cm x 30.48 cm x 0.3175 cm aluminum bias plate, and a 29.21 cm x 29.21 cm x 0.3175 cm aluminum mask was centered on the glass substrate, forming a uniform 0.6350 cm wide reveal along the entire edge of the glass planar surface.
  • the mask was connected to the bias plate with a copper wire and positioned so as not to create a shadow on the substrate area to be coated.
  • the chamber was closed and evacuated to 5 ⁇ 10 "5 Torr. After approximately two minutes, argon flow was started, and then adjusted to bring the chamber pressure to 2x 10 "3 Torr.
  • the forward power on the RF power supply was raised to approximately 15 watts to ignite a glow discharge.
  • the reflected power was then minimized by adjusting the tuning settings of the matching network.
  • the forward RF power was then raised to approximately 125 watts. Plasma etching was allowed to continue for
  • the DC bias power supply was switched on, so the bias plate potential could be read on the bias supply voltmeter.
  • Forward power on the RF power supply was reduced to about 75 watts forward power at 0 watts reflected power until the charge on the bias plate reached approximately -200 V.
  • the setting of the DC bias voltage supply was increased until the bias plate voltage reading reached about -300 V, or until excessive arcing was observed through the viewport or by erratic readings on the ammeter of the DC bias supply.
  • the DC filament supply was set to 35 amps. When the filament began to glow orange after a minute or two, the current was raised to 55 amps.
  • the deposition rate on the substrate increased to at least 17 angstroms per second. After a minute or so, the deposition rate receded to
  • a 45.7 cm by 45.7 cm glass element was used to close a slit-shaped opening, about 30 cm by 1.5 cm, in the vacuum chamber wall.
  • a rubber o-ring was used to seal the glass element to the chamber wall, which was grounded.
  • a 30.48 cm by 30.48 cm aluminum bias plate, serving as an electrode, was placed inside the chamber, about 56 cm from the glass element.
  • An RF power supply was connected to the chamber wall and to the bias plate.
  • the bias plate and chamber wall served as electrodes to create a plasma of the ionizable gas inside the chamber.
  • the chamber was held at a pressure of about 1 milliTorr.
  • a plasma was induced in the ionizable gas within a vacuum chamber, operating at about 1 milliTorr, using an external antenna coil.
  • the external antenna coil was mounted against a 10 cm diameter by 0.6 cm thick quartz window in the chamber wall.
  • the ends of the coil antenna were electrically connected to an RF power supply, and one end of the coil was also electrically connected to the vacuum chamber wall, which was grounded.
  • the power supply current was alternating at over 13 MHz.
  • This arrangement was able to induce a plasma in the ionizable gas within the chamber. As such, it is not necessary that both electrodes used to create a plasma be in physical contact with the ionizable gas within the vacuum chamber, so long as the pair of electrodes are in electromagnetic communication with the ionizable gas. Accordingly, at least one electrode may be separated from the ionizable gas by a solid wall transparent to radio frequency radiation.
  • EXAMPLE 5 Aluminum Foil Welding on the Coating
  • the foregoing refers to glass substrates, and in particular tempered glass substrates, it is contemplated that the foregoing coating with graded interface can be applied to most any insulating surface requiring a high level of adhesion. Further, chamber details may vary from application to application in terms of dimensions and exact position of structural members, depending on the physical arrangement of the substrate to be covered, as well as the size of the pane.

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  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Civil Engineering (AREA)
  • Structural Engineering (AREA)
  • Joining Of Glass To Other Materials (AREA)

Abstract

L'invention concerne un article pour vitrage isolant comprenant de manière générale au moins deux éléments en verre ayant des formes essentiellement congruentes. Chaque élément en verre définit deux faces essentiellement planes. Dans certains modes de réalisation, chaque face plane comprend des coins arrondis. Une surface de périmètre s'étend entre les faces essentiellement planes. Un revêtement métallique peut être éventuellement appliqué à chaque surface de périmètre par plaquage ionique. Les éléments en verre sont disposés de manière à être essentiellement parallèles et espacés l'un de l'autre. Les éléments en verre définissent un espace interne entre eux. Une bande de joint est collée sur les éléments en verre. La bande de joint rend l'espace interne hermétique. Une partie au moins de la bande de joint est collée à la surface de périmètre de chaque élément en verre.
PCT/US2012/041143 2011-06-07 2012-06-06 Vitrage isolant et procédé et appareil pour sceller un vitrage isolant de manière étanche et à basse température WO2012170566A1 (fr)

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WO2015116898A1 (fr) * 2014-02-03 2015-08-06 Peter Petit Système de joint hermétique flexible pour ensemble de panneaux de verre plat
US9441416B2 (en) 2012-09-27 2016-09-13 Guardian Industries Corp. Low temperature hermetic sealing via laser
US9784027B2 (en) 2013-12-31 2017-10-10 Guardian Glass, LLC Vacuum insulating glass (VIG) unit with metallic peripheral edge seal and/or methods of making the same
US10012019B2 (en) 2013-12-31 2018-07-03 Guardian Glass, LLC Vacuum insulating glass (VIG) unit with metallic peripheral edge seal and/or methods of making the same
US10145005B2 (en) 2015-08-19 2018-12-04 Guardian Glass, LLC Techniques for low temperature direct graphene growth on glass
US10280680B2 (en) 2013-12-31 2019-05-07 Guardian Glass, LLC Vacuum insulating glass (VIG) unit with pump-out port sealed using metal solder seal, and/or method of making the same
WO2021252000A1 (fr) * 2020-06-11 2021-12-16 V-Glass, Inc. Joint d'étanchéité hermétique à deux étages et procédé de fabrication de celui-ci

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Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US9441416B2 (en) 2012-09-27 2016-09-13 Guardian Industries Corp. Low temperature hermetic sealing via laser
US9784027B2 (en) 2013-12-31 2017-10-10 Guardian Glass, LLC Vacuum insulating glass (VIG) unit with metallic peripheral edge seal and/or methods of making the same
US10683695B2 (en) 2013-12-31 2020-06-16 Guardian Glass, Llc. Vacuum insulating glass (VIG) unit with metallic peripheral edge seal and/or methods of making the same
US10280680B2 (en) 2013-12-31 2019-05-07 Guardian Glass, LLC Vacuum insulating glass (VIG) unit with pump-out port sealed using metal solder seal, and/or method of making the same
US10012019B2 (en) 2013-12-31 2018-07-03 Guardian Glass, LLC Vacuum insulating glass (VIG) unit with metallic peripheral edge seal and/or methods of making the same
JP2017512171A (ja) * 2014-02-03 2017-05-18 ペティ，ピーター フラットガラスパネル組立体用のコンプライアント気密シールシステム
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US20170191304A1 (en) * 2014-02-03 2017-07-06 V-Glass Llc Compliant hermetic seal system for flat glass panel assembly
WO2015116898A1 (fr) * 2014-02-03 2015-08-06 Peter Petit Système de joint hermétique flexible pour ensemble de panneaux de verre plat
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US10822864B2 (en) 2014-02-03 2020-11-03 V-Glass, Inc. Compliant hermetic seal system for flat glass panel assembly
US10145005B2 (en) 2015-08-19 2018-12-04 Guardian Glass, LLC Techniques for low temperature direct graphene growth on glass
WO2021252000A1 (fr) * 2020-06-11 2021-12-16 V-Glass, Inc. Joint d'étanchéité hermétique à deux étages et procédé de fabrication de celui-ci

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