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
  • E06B3/66309—Section members positioned at the edges of the glazing unit
  • E06B3/66314—Section members positioned at the edges of the glazing unit of tubular shape

Definitions

• the present invention relates to a spacer profile for mounting between glass panes for forming a spacing between said glass panes.
• spacers made of various materials and of various shapes are known in the art. Spacers made by roll forming of a metal foil are widely used in the art and considered to be one of the preferred alternatives because of their stability and their low gas diffusion properties.
• Insulating Glass Units having a plurality of glass panes are made by automatic manufacturing machines. Spacers are automatically bent to the desired size and shape and are arranged between two neighboring glass panes. Spacers made of metal foils can be easily bent and will remain in the bent position.
• spacers made of metal foils have a high resistance against diffusion of gases and moisture penetration.
• a gas is arranged, for instance argon having good isolating properties.
• the spacers delimiting the cavity need to be resistant against diffusion of such gaseous elements.
• spacers which are exclusively made of metal, such as aluminum and galvanized steel, also have some disadvantages. Due to a relatively high heat conductivity of metal, spacers made of a metal foil still have a heat conductivity which may be too high under certain circumstances.
• plastic material for forming such spacers.
• Plastic material has, however, relatively high gas diffusion as compared to metal.
• metal foil over a plastic body.
• Such a spacer is shown in e.g. EP 852280.
• a further problem of spacers made of plastic material is their instability during the manufacturing process.
• a spacer bent to the desired frame shape may be slightly deformed during assembly because of the resiliency of plastic material.
• misalignments of the spacer during manufacturing are possible.
• plastics spacers including stabilising material in a plastic body have been proposed e.g. in WO 99/15753 or in WO 99/41481 .
• these solutions also have some disadvantages.
• manufacturing is relatively complicated.
• U.S. Pat. No. 5,630,306 discloses an insulating spacer which comprises a main body formed of a plastic material. Metallic leg members are attached to the plastic main body. While the problem of heat conduction and diffusion can be addressed with such spacer, some problems remain in connection with bending the spacer into the desired frame shape and later during assembly of an IG Unit. In particular, the lateral legs may be deformed during bending out of their plane so that an irregular shape may result therefrom. Such an irregular shape is particularly disadvantageous if a sealing contact between the spacer and a glass pane shall be achieved.
• spacers with a low heat conductivity could be by making the spacers from thin materials Thereby the amount of material is reduced, but this also results in a soft and flexible spacer being difficult to handle while mounting between panes.
• Spacer profiles are initially made as elongated elements, which are then bent into a shape corresponding to the shape and dimensions of the window panes between which the spacers are to be used.
• the process of creating a spacer with good insulating properties when mounting between panes and where handling of the elongated profiles from production via bending and finally mounting them between the glass panes introduces a dilemma.
• This dilemma is that on one hand, it is of interest to use thin material and thereby reducing heat transmission and making it easier to bend the profile according to the shape of the window panes using the existing bending tools and on the other hand, it is of interest to obtain a stiff profile which can easily be handled.
• An object of the present invention is to solve some of the aforementioned problems. More specifically, it is an object of the present invention to provide a spacer profile for mounting between glass panes for forming a spacing between said glass panes, wherein said spacer comprises an inner surface directed towards the inner space when mounted between said panes, an outer surface opposite said inner surface, opposite side faces connecting said inner surface and said outer surface comprising a first side layer material substantially extending in a direction between said inner surface and outer surface.
• the spacer profile comprises two parts, i.e. an upper part including the inner surface of said spacer profile connected to the upper section of the opposite side faces and a lower part including the outer surface of said spacer profile connected to the lower section of the opposite side faces.
• the lower section is the part that comprises the smooth side surface part adapted for adding a connecting material, such as a butyl layer, when connecting said glass panes to said spacer profile.
• a connecting material such as a butyl layer
• At least four bendings are present at each of said opposite side faces of said upper section of said side surfaces, wherein a bending is a change in direction in which said side layer extends followed by a segment of said side layer material extending in a new direction and wherein each of said opposite side faces comprises two substantially parallel overlapping layers.
• the upper sections are positioned after the section on the side layer for adding butyl being for connecting each side of a spacer to a pane.
• the four bendings as defined in the current invention describe at least four bendings positioned at the upper section of the side layers above the butyl layer and near the inner surface of the spacer profile.
• a spacer according to the present invention can be made using very thin material, where the thickness is less than 0.1 mm.
• Such spacer has very good thermal properties and can become stiff and easy to handle due to the four bendings and the overlapping surfaces. Further, even after bending the frame to be mounted between the panes, the frame becomes stable and maintains its shape which is also referred to as a high corner stability of the frame. Further, the risk of bending down the elongated profile parts in the frame is significantly reduced.
• a solution is described, where the butyl to be added before connecting to the glass panes can easily be added.
• the long elongated spacers are quite stiff and any subsequent handling of the spacers is significantly easier.
• the subsequent handling could be the transport from the production facility to the window manufacturer, but also at the window production facility, the steps of handling the elongated spacers as well as spacers bent to fit between panes of a specific window are easier.
• the spacer profile comprising side faces according to the present invention could be a profile comprising two parts being respectively a first synthetic part and a second metal foil.
• the synthetic part is profile-shaped, where the metal foil extends along the side faces of the synthetic profile.
• the synthetic part only extends along the inner surface and is connected to a U-shaped metal part comprising lower surfaces and side surfaces of the spacer profile.
• the profile is solely made from a single material, where the opposite side surfaces comprise bendings according to the present invention.
• At least one of said substantially parallel layers at a side face is obtained by attaching a second layer to said side layer material.
• At least one of said substantially parallel layers at a side face is obtained by performing multiple bendings of said side face layer directions resulting in at least two substantially parallel layers.
• said side layer material extends between said opposite side faces via said lower part, and wherein the lower part defines the outer surface of said spacer profile, and wherein multiple bendings are added to said lower part.
• the spacer is stiffened further.
• at least two of said bendings result in the upper part of said sidelayer material along the side faces is displaced relative to the remaining part of sidelayer material along said side faces. A displacement at the sidelayer along the side faces combined with additionally at least two more bendings has proven to result in a stiff spacer profile which can still be handled as necessary.
• the side layer material along the side faces comprises an end part extending away from the side face.
• said end part forms at least one layer of said two substantially parallel overlapping layers. Thereby, material is away from the center line and adds stiffness to the profile.
• said end part comprises a 180 degrees bending which forms layers for said at least two substantially parallel overlapping layers. This has proven an efficient way of obtaining parallel overlapping layers of the same material.
• said spacer is made from two interconnected elements being an upper element comprising the inner surface of said spacer and an outer element comprising the outer surface of said spacer, respectively.
• material for each element can be different and considered separately to obtain a spacer profile with optimised properties, i.e. both mechanical and thermal.
• at least said upper element is made of a synthetic material.
• At least said lower element is made of a metal material.
• said lower part comprises a layer with multiple bendings, and these bendings combined with the features described above for the upper part have proven to result in a profile with good properties relating to production of the spacer profile,
• said bendings are present at the outer surface of said spacer profile.
• the invention also relates to a windows system comprising glass panes spaced apart by a spacer as described above and wherein the panes are connected to said spacer by a connecting material e.g. a glue such as butyl.
• the connecting material is positioned on the smooth side surfaces of the lower section in the lower part of the spacer.
• Fig. 1 is a schematic illustration of a spacer profile positioned between two glass panes.
• Fig. 2 is a schematic illustration of the spacer profile,
• Fig. 3 is a schematic illustration of a subpart of a side face of a spacer profile comprising bendings according to the present invention.
• Fig. 4 illustrates an embodiment of the entire spacer profile, where the bendings are according to Fig. 3.
• Figs. 5 and 6 show alternative embodiments of subpart of a side face of a spacer profile comprising bendings according to the present invention.
• Fig. 7 shows an embodiment of the lower surface of a spacer according to the present invention.
• Fig. 8 shows an embodiment of the entire spacer profile being a two part spacer, where the bendings are according to Fig. 5A.
• Fig. 9 shows an embodiment of the entire spacer profile being a two part spacer, where the bendings are according to Fig. 6E.
• Fig. 1 1 shows an embodiment of the lower surface of a spacer according to the present invention.
• Fig. 12 shows an embodiment of the lower surface of a spacer according to the present invention.
• Fig. 13 shows an embodiment of the profile with transverse grooves according to the present invention. DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
• a spacer profile 101 is illustrated as mounted between two glass panes 103, 105.
• the spacer profile is connected to the glass panes at the opposite side surfaces 107, 109.
• the spacer profile further has an inner surface 1 1 1 and an opposite outer surface 1 13.
• the spacer profile can be made of various types of material, e.g. by combining several types of material or by using a single material, and materials used for spacer profiles are metal, plastic, fibreglass.
• An important aspect of designing spacer profiles is to consider the heat transfer properties and insure that the insulating windows formed by the spaced apart panes maintain good insulation properties e.g. by avoiding that the profile part becomes a weak point due to the generation of a heat bridge.
• the spacer comprises a first inner part comprising the inner surface, and this inner part is made of Polypropylene. Further, the material would typically be colored in order to obtain a specific design but in addition, the color also influences the thermal properties of the spacer.
• the inner part is connected to an outer part comprising the outer surface, and this part could be made of stainless steel.
• the spacers are connected to the panes using a glue, such as butyl or similar, and since a gas, such as Argon, is typically positioned in the space between the panes, it is important that the spacer profile is connected to the panes in a gastight manner, whereby it can be assured that the Argon does not leave the pane space and it is avoided that atmospheric air enters the pane space.
• the spacer bar itself is filled with a desiccant to absorb any residual moisture within the cavity and thus prevent condensation within the double-glazing window.
• small perforated lines or openings are also made along the inner surface. These are breather holes allowing the passage of gas into the spacer bar, where the previously described desiccant is held.
• Fig. 2 is a schematic illustration of a spacer profile, where the spacer profile comprises the inner surface 1 1 1 , the opposite side surfaces 109, 1 13. Further, in the figure, a dotted line 1 19 is illustrated to divide the spacer profile into an upper part 1 15 comprising the inner surface 1 1 1 and the upper part of the opposite side surfaces 121 , 123 connected to the inner surface. Besides comprising the upper part 1 15, the profile spacer also comprises the lower part 1 17 comprising the outer surface 1 13 and the lower part 125, 127 of the opposite side surfaces 121 , 123 connected to the outer surface 1 13. As mentioned, each of the side surfaces are to be connected to the panes using a glue, such as butyl.
• a glue such as butyl.
• the upper part illustrated above the dotted line comprises an upper section of the side surfaces, said upper section being above the lower section of the side surfaces, and said lover section comprising the smooth side surface part where butyl should be added.
• the dotted line illustrated in all figures is a line illustrating the separation between the upper and the lower sections of the side surfaces and thereby also illustrating the part of the side surfaces above the butyl layer.
• the upper section of the side surface considered to be in the upper part of the profile spacer is above the part of the profile side surface where butyl is added.
• the butyl layer is to be added to the side surface being part of the lower section of the side surfaces.
• Fig. 3 is a schematic illustration of a subpart of side layer material along a side face of a spacer profile comprising bendings according to the present invention.
• an embodiment of the left upper part of the spacer profile according to Fig. 2 is illustrated.
• the figure illustrates the upper part of the side layer material generally extending in a direction 303 towards the inner surface 304 illustrated by a dotted line.
• the side layer comprises four bendings 305, 307, 309 and 31 1 , and each bending is followed by an elongated segment 306, 308, 310, 312 of said side layer extending in a direction different from the direction before the bending.
• the initial bendings 305 and 307 result in a displacement of the top part of side layer material extending along the side face of the profile.
• the segment 308 is displaced relative to the first part of side layer material covering the side face of the spacer profile.
• the upper part the end part 313 pointing away from the side face, and this is obtained by having the bendings 309, 31 1 as well as the segments 310 and 312. Then, the end part 313 comprises bendings forming segments which form a layer 312 being substantially parallel and overlapping the layer 308.
• Fig. 4A illustrates an embodiment of a complete spacer comprising the subpart of the side face illustrated in Fig. 3.
• the spacer profile comprises similar opposite side faces 401 , 403 and in the embodiment, the spacer profile comprises two parts being an open metal profile comprising two similar opposite side faces 401 , 403 connected via a lower part 405 and further, a top part 407 is connected to the open metal profile e.g. where the top part is made of a synthetic material, such as polypropylene, fibreglass or similar.
• the parts could be connected by gluing them together and as an alternative, the top part could be from plastic or fibreglass and moulded onto the lower metal part.
• a closed profile 409 could be made of synthetic material and the side layer be added as a metal foil layer on the outer surface extending to the side faces. Such embodiment is illustrated in Fib. 4B.
• this smooth and plane surface part is indicated as 404.
• This smooth surface is needed when adding glue such as butyl before connecting each side face to the glass panes, and the smooth surface is required in order to ensure a good connection between the glass pane and the side face.
• the surface should also be at least 3 mm, i.e. a requirement that further limits the area along the side layer in which bendings can be provided.
• FIG. 5 alternative embodiments of the spacer profile and the left upper part of the spacer profile according to the present invention are illustrated as A, B, C and D. Instead of illustrating the entire profile, schematic illustrations of a subpart of a side face of a spacer profile is illustrated in a similar manner as the illustrations of Fig. 3.
• a - illustrates an embodiment, where four bendings are present and each bending being followed by a segment of side layer material extending in a different direction and further, the embodiment comprises two layers of substantially parallel overlapping side layer material.
• the overlapping layers are formed by segments being perpendicular to the direction in which the side layer extends.
• B - illustrates an embodiment, where five bendings are present and each being followed by a segment of side layer material extending in a different direction and further, the embodiment comprises four layers of substantially parallel overlapping side layer material, where two of these layers are perpendicular to the direction in which the side layer extends, and two are substantially parallel to the direction in which the side layer extends.
• C - illustrates an embodiment, where eight bendings are present and each being followed by a segment of side layer material extending in a different direction and further, the embodiment comprises segments of substantially parallel overlapping side layer material.
• D - illustrates an embodiment, where four bendings are present and each being followed by a segment of side layer material extending in a different direction and further, the embodiment comprises four segments of substantially parallel overlapping side layer material, where two of the layers are perpendicular to the direction in which the side layer extends, and two are substantially parallel to the direction in which the side layer extends.
• an elongated substantially parallel layer 501 is connected to the inner surface of the side layer of the elongated spacer. This layer forms one of the side layer bendings and parts of the substantially parallel overlapping layers.
• FIG. 6 further alternative embodiments of the spacer profile according to the present invention are illustrated as E, F, G.
• E - illustrates an embodiment, where four bendings are present and each being followed by a segment of side layer material extending in a different direction and further, the embodiment comprises two segments of substantially parallel overlapping side layer material, where two of these layers are parallel and two are perpendicular to the direction in which the side layer extends.
• This embodiment is quite similar to B, but the displaced segment at the top part of the side layer is shorter in E than B.
• F - illustrates an embodiment, where five bendings are present and each being followed by a segment of side layer material extending in a different direction and further, the embodiment comprises four segments of substantially parallel overlapping side layer material, where two of these layers are perpendicular to the direction in which the side layer extends and two are parallel.
• G - illustrates an embodiment, where seven bendings are present and each being followed by a segment of side layer material extending in a different direction and further, the embodiment comprises two segments of substantially parallel overlapping side layer material, where these layers are perpendicular to the direction in which the side layer extends.
• an elongated substantially parallel layer 601 is connected to the inner surface of the side layer of the elongated spacer.
• the side layer material comprises a top part along the side face and an end part extending away from the side face. In all embodiments, the top part is displaced relative to the part of the side face part to be connected to the glass panes.
• the bendings illustrated in the figure create grooves extending along the length of the spacer profile and have an illustrated shape, they could have different shapes such as waives e.g. sinus- shaped or other shapes, and the bendings on one surface do not all have to have the same shape.
• the bendings do not have to be evenly distributed along the outer surface. There could e.g be bendings only near the side faces and/or only at the center of the outer surface.
• the bendings could also extend in a different direction e.g. along the width of the spacer profile and also in any other direction such as in a 45 degree angle to the spacer profile length.
• Fig. 8 shows an embodiment of the entire spacer profile being a two part spacer, where the bendings are according to Fig. 5A.
• Fig. 9 shows an embodiment of the entire spacer profile being a two part spacer, where the bendings are according to Fig. 6E.
• Fig. 10 shows an embodiment of the entire spacer profile being a one part spacer, where the bendings are according to Fig. 6G.
• the entire profile is made of a single material, such as steel, being bend as illustrated with at least four bendings and one overlapping layer in the top part of each side.
• Fig. 1 1 is an embodiment of the lower part, where bendings are provided on the outer surface but only as two-wave shapes 1 101 at each side of the profile and then a transition radius 1 103 from the bottom to the sides. These bendings 1 101 and 1 103 at each side can be sufficient to increase the stiffness of the profile
• Fig. 12 is an embodiment of the lower part, where bendings are provided on the outer surface but only as one-wave shapes 1201 at each side of the profile and then a transition radius 1203 from the bottom to the sides. These bendings 1201 and 1203 at each side can be sufficient to increase the stiffness of the profile.
• Figs. 1 1 and 12 In the bottom part of Figs. 1 1 and 12, e.g. at the part indicated by reference numerals 1 105, 1205, grooves could be positioned along the width of the profile. Again, this will increase the stiffness of the profile.
• Fig. 13 part of the length of an elongated profile and the grooves 1301 are illustrated. In the illustration, only the grooves are shown being bendings extending perpendicular to the bendings as explained in Figs. 1 1 and 12. The bendings explained in Figs. 1 1 and 12 are not shown, but could also be there.
• the figures are solely for illustrating the grooves extending along the width of the profile and not the length.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Civil Engineering (AREA)
• Structural Engineering (AREA)
• Securing Of Glass Panes Or The Like (AREA)

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• 2018
  • 2018-04-06 EP EP18714540.4A patent/EP3607163A1/de active Pending
  • 2018-04-06 WO PCT/EP2018/058854 patent/WO2018185281A1/en active Application Filing

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