A vacuum glass sealing process

Abstract

The present application relates to the field of vacuum glass production, and discloses a vacuum glass sealing process, which utilizes a conductive probe to contact a solder strip from an edge apex, uses the solder strip as a conductor to form a closed circuit, and generates heat in the solder strip itself during electrification to melt the solder strip, and a pressing assembly is used to press the solder strip to tightly combine with a glass silver paste layer. The present application can not only realize the convenience and low cost of vacuum glass metal sealing edges, but also easily realize large-scale production. Therefore, the present application has important significance for reducing the production cost of vacuum glass, reducing environmental pollution, and widening the application range of vacuum glass. The present application overcomes the defects of high sealing temperature, complex process, harsh sealing conditions and the like in the traditional sealing method, improves the sealing quality and production efficiency of vacuum glass, and is suitable for popularization and application.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of vacuum glass production, and more specifically to a vacuum glass sealing process. Background Technology

[0002] Vacuum glass is a new type of green and energy-saving glass. Based on the principle of a thermos flask, vacuum glass is made by joining two pieces of glass together and sealing them with a sealing material, creating a thin vacuum layer between the two pieces. Because there is no gas for heat transfer in this thin vacuum layer, and the inner surface of one glass piece is coated with a Low-E film (transparent low-emissivity film), heat conduction and convection are significantly reduced. Therefore, the thermal insulation performance of vacuum glass is far superior to that of insulated glass. In addition to its thermal insulation capabilities, vacuum glass also offers sound insulation and noise reduction, energy saving, anti-fogging and anti-condensation properties, environmental friendliness, and improved comfort. Therefore, vacuum glass is widely used in construction, automobiles, and green energy-saving fields. With the increasing contradiction between energy and environmental issues, economic development, and rising demands for environmental comfort, low-carbon and environmentally friendly practices are the core and trend of future urban development. New green and energy-saving materials have received widespread attention, and vacuum glass has ushered in significant development opportunities. However, it also has some problems. For example, if the unprocessed glass sheet is damaged, it may detach or break, posing a certain threat to personal safety. The glass sheet after tempering can reach a strength of 90MPa, which greatly improves the strength of the glass. At the same time, when tempered glass is broken, it will form spider web-like glass fragments, which greatly reduces the threat to personal safety.

[0003] Traditional vacuum glass sealing materials are low-melting-point glass frits or paste-alloy sealing materials. However, sealing with glass frits requires high temperatures (e.g., above 450°C). The physical properties of tempered glass mean that prolonged high-temperature sealing will cause a significant decrease in strength and impact resistance, eventually resulting in annealing into ordinary glass. Therefore, paste-alloy sealing materials are generally chosen for sealing. Among various metal pastes, silver powder is a plastic material with good affinity to glass frits. It can be used to alleviate stress and reduce brittle fracture caused by mismatched coefficients of thermal expansion. Therefore, silver paste can be used as a vacuum glass sealing material. Traditional sealing methods include electromagnetic welding or soldering. Since both the upper and lower panes of vacuum glass are tempered glass, they have slight warping. Therefore, pressure is applied during sealing to eliminate the gap between the upper and lower panes. When using electromagnetic welding, the pressure applied by the welding head works well on straight sections, but at the perimeter and corners, there is a lack of pressure within the radius of the welding head, resulting in the inability to hold the glass in place. This causes breakage and cracking at the perimeter and corners of the vacuum glass, affecting its usability. Furthermore, traditional sealing methods have limitations such as complex processes, long sealing times, and stringent sealing conditions, which reduce sealing quality and hinder the large-scale production of vacuum glass.

[0004] In order to make the finished vacuum glass still have the characteristics of high strength and strong safety, and to achieve the convenience, low cost and easy large-scale production of the metal paste edge sealing of vacuum glass, it is necessary to optimize the existing sealing process.

[0005] Therefore, it is of great significance to research and develop a new sealing technology that reduces the production cost of vacuum glass, reduces environmental pollution and broadens the application range of vacuum glass. It also conforms to the current major trend of environmental development and market demand, and has good application prospects. Summary of the Invention

[0006] The purpose of the present invention is to provide a vacuum glass sealing process to solve the technical problems that the existing vacuum glass will have breakage and cracking at the four peripheral corners after sealing, and the traditional sealing method has limitations such as complex process, long time and harsh sealing conditions, resulting in the abnormal use of vacuum glass and being unfavorable to the large-scale development of vacuum glass. Thus, the sealing quality is improved and it is beneficial to the large-scale production of vacuum glass.

[0007] To achieve the above object, the present invention adopts the following technical solutions: A vacuum glass sealing process includes the following steps:

[0008] A. Use screen printing to print silver paste on the surface of the glass substrate to form a "mouth" - shaped metal silver paste layer, and dry and temper the glass.

[0009] B. After grinding and applying flux on the surface of the tempered glass metal silver paste layer, select a piece of glass and fix a metal solder strip on its surface.

[0010] C. Stack it with another glass substrate without a fixed metal solder strip, and preheat the whole stack after stacking.

[0011] D. Send the stacked and preheated glass as a whole into the sealing device, pass current through the solder strips at the two corners of the glass with the sealing device, make the solder strips melt under the thermal effect of the current, and vertically press the whole glass to make it closely combine with the glass silver paste layer.

[0012] E. Output the glass from the sealing device, cool the glass substrate, and complete the sealing process.

[0013] Preferably, as an improvement, the width of the metal silver paste layer in step A is 6 mm.

[0014] Preferably, as an improvement, the width of the metal solder strip in step B is 4 mm.

[0015] Preferably, as an improvement, place it in an environment of 180 °C for preheating in step C.

[0016] Preferably, as an improvement, the sealing device in step D uses several synchronously rotating rollers to support and move the glass.

[0017] Preferably, as an improvement, in step D, the sealing device uses a liftable positioning plate to position the glass in the conveying direction and a liftable and translatable limiting block to limit the glass laterally.

[0018] Preferably, as an improvement, in step D, the sealing device uses two conductive probes that can be moved laterally and raised and lowered to pass current through the solder strips at the two corners of the front side of the glass.

[0019] Preferably, as an improvement, the conductive probe of the sealing device in step D adopts a telescopic structure.

[0020] Preferably, as an improvement, the sealing device in step D uses a liftable pressure assembly, which uses a pressure head larger than the glass, and the pressure head applies pressure to the entire glass.

[0021] Preferably, as an improvement, the rollers, positioning plates, and limit blocks are all made of silicone, the pressure head is made of rubber, and step D is completed in a vacuum environment.

[0022] The principle and advantages of this solution are as follows: First, a silver paste layer and metal solder strips are printed on the glass substrate. After lamination, the entire substrate is preheated to improve overall processability and pre-position. Then, a dedicated sealing device is used to energize two corner points, using the metal solder strips as conductors. The current heating effect melts the solder strips for welding, and overall pressure is applied to ensure a firm weld. In this invention, the gap between the two glass pieces is mainly filled by the solder strips that melt after energization; pressure is secondary, thus reducing the need for additional pressure. Furthermore, the corner-point heating method allows for overall pressure application to the glass, better ensuring the sealing quality.

[0023] The vacuum glass sealing process disclosed in this invention has the following advantages: (1) By using current welding and heating with current, the welding strip acts as a conductor. The heat generated during the current process melts and welds the welding strip, simplifying the process and shortening the sealing time. At the same time, a strong and reliable sealing edge can be obtained, ensuring the airtight sealing effect of the vacuum glass; (2) It can reduce welding costs and is suitable for promotion and application in the industry; (3) By pressing down with an overall pressure device, the glass is subjected to uniform force in all parts, and the welding strip deforms uniformly after welding, so that the stress release after welding is uniform and consistent, ensuring the integrity of the vacuum glass welding.

[0024] The present invention can not only realize the convenience and low cost of the metal edge sealing of vacuum glass, but also be easily scaled up in production. Therefore, the present invention is of great significance for reducing the production cost of vacuum glass, reducing environmental pollution, and broadening the application scope of vacuum glass. The present invention overcomes the defects of the traditional sealing method, such as high sealing temperature, complex process, and harsh sealing conditions, improves the sealing quality and production efficiency of vacuum glass, and is suitable for popularization and application. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0025] Figure 1 It is a top view of the workbench in the embodiment of the present invention.

[0026] Figure 2 It is a longitudinal sectional view of the sealing device in the embodiment of the present invention.

[0027] Figure 3 It is a partial sectional view of the conductive probe assembly in the embodiment of the present invention.

[0028] Figure 4 It is a side view of the limiting component in the embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

[0029] The following is a further detailed description through specific embodiments:

[0030] The reference numerals in the accompanying drawings of the specification include: motor 1, roller 2, workbench 3, rotating shaft 4, gear set 5, limiting groove 6, welding groove 7, positioning groove 8, positioning plate 9, rotating cylinder 10, conductive probe assembly 11, glass 12, welding tape 13, limiting component 14, housing 15, pressurizing cylinder 16, pressurizing head 17, feed inlet 18, feed door 19, discharge outlet 20, discharge door 21, cylinder 22, limiting block 23, pushing cylinder 24, lifting cylinder 25, outer cylinder 26, inner cylinder 27, conductive tip 28, unloading spring 29, electrode 30.

[0031] Embodiment, a vacuum glass sealing process, includes the following steps:

[0032] A. The silver paste is printed on the surface of the glass 12 substrate by screen printing to form a "square" - shaped metal silver paste layer. The width of the metal silver paste layer is 6 mm, and the glass 12 is dried and tempered.

[0033] B. After grinding and applying a soldering flux on the surface of the metal silver paste layer of the tempered glass 12, a piece of glass 12 is selected and a layer of metal welding tape 13 is fixed on its surface. The width of the metal welding tape 13 is 4 mm.

[0034] C. It is superposed with another glass 12 substrate without a fixed metal welding tape 13, and the whole is placed in an environment of 180 °C for preheating.

[0035] D. The preheated glass 12 is fed into the sealing device. Current is passed through the welding strips 13 at the two corners of the glass 12 by the sealing device, so that the welding strips 13 melt under the thermal effect of the current. The glass 12 is then pressed vertically to make it tightly bonded to the silver paste layer of the glass 12.

[0036] E. Output the glass 12 from the sealing device, cool the glass 12 substrate, and complete the sealing process.

[0037] The sealing device in step D is basically as shown in the attached figure. Figure 1 , Figure 2 As shown, the workbench 3 is made of rectangular marble and is covered by a housing 15. The housing 15 has an inlet 18 and an outlet 20. The inlet 18 has a lifting and closing inlet gate 19, and the outlet 20 has a lifting and closing outlet gate 21. Cylinders 22 are bolted to the housing 15 above the inlet gate 19 and outlet gate 21 to drive the inlet gate 19 and outlet gate 21 to rise and fall. The workbench 3 has six rows of synchronously rotating rollers 2 driven by a power source. The rollers 2 are silicone wheels used to support the glass 12. Each row of rollers 2 is coaxially arranged, and the shafts 4 of adjacent rows of rollers 2 are connected by a gear set 5. The shaft 4 of the first row of rollers 2 on the inlet side of the workbench 3 is connected to a motor 1.

[0038] The workbench 3 is also provided with a positioning groove 8 and a limiting groove 6 located between rows of rollers 2. The positioning groove 8 is located between the first and second rows of rollers 2 on the discharge side of the workbench 3. The positioning groove 8 is provided with a liftable positioning component. The positioning component is used to position the glass 12 in the longitudinal direction. The positioning component is a strip-shaped positioning plate 9 made of silicone. The end of the positioning plate 9 is connected to a rotary cylinder 10 located in the positioning groove 8. The rotary cylinder 10 drives the positioning plate 9 to swing and achieve lifting. After being lifted, the positioning plate 9 protrudes above the workbench 3.

[0039] Six limiting grooves 6 are provided in the middle of the worktable 3. These six limiting grooves 6 are symmetrically distributed in groups of three on the worktable 3 in front of the welding groove 7. The limiting grooves 6 are located between the second, third, fourth, and fifth rows of rollers 2 in the feeding direction of the worktable 3. Each limiting groove 6 is equipped with a liftable limiting component 14, such as... Figure 4 As shown, the limiting component 14 is used to limit the glass 12 in the horizontal direction. The limiting component 14 includes a limiting block 23, which is a cylindrical silicone part. The limiting block 23 is threadedly connected to a vertical lifting cylinder 25. The bottom of the ejection cylinder 24 is threadedly connected to a horizontal ejection cylinder 24. The ejection cylinder 24 is bolted and fixed in the limiting groove 6.

[0040] On the worktable 3 in front of the positioning groove 8, welding grooves 7 are arranged side by side. Two adjustable conductive probe assemblies 11 slide within the welding grooves 7. Figure 3As shown, the conductive probe assembly 11 includes a lifting cylinder 25, an ejection cylinder 24, and a conductive probe. The ejection cylinder 24 is bolted into the welding groove 7, and the lifting cylinder 25 is bolted to the telescopic end of the ejection cylinder 24. The conductive probe is threaded onto the top of the lifting cylinder 25. The conductive probe includes an outer cylinder 26, an inner cylinder 27, and a conductive tip 28. The outer cylinder 26 is threaded onto the top of the lifting cylinder 25. The inner cylinder 27 passes through the outer cylinder 26. A stress-relieving spring 29 is connected between the middle of the outer wall of the inner cylinder 27 and the bottom of the outer cylinder 26. An electrode 30 is provided at the tail end of the inner cylinder 27, and the electrode 30 is connected to a power source. The conductive tip 28 has a cylindrical tail end and a pointed head end. The conductive tip 28 is made of tin and its alloys, and its surface is coated with a polyimide film. The conductive tip 28 is inserted into the front end of the inner cylinder 27 and abuts against the electrode 30. Driven by the lifting cylinder 25 and the ejection cylinder 24, the conductive probe can be moved to the corner of the glass 12 to contact the metal welding strip 13.

[0041] A pressurizing assembly is provided above the workbench 3. The pressurizing assembly includes a pressurizing cylinder 16 bolted to the top of the housing 15. A rectangular pressurizing head 17 is threaded to the bottom of the pressurizing cylinder 16. The pressurizing head 17 is made of rubber.

[0042] Step D is implemented as follows: The cylinder 22 of the sealing device's inlet 18 is activated to raise the inlet gate 19, allowing the preheated glass 12 to be fed into the inlet 18. The motor 1 starts the rollers 2 to rotate, transporting the glass 12 into the worktable 3. The rotary cylinder 10 drives the positioning plate 9 to rise, blocking the glass 12. The motor 1 stops driving the rollers 2, stopping the glass 12's movement. The lifting cylinder 25 and the ejection cylinder 24 are activated to limit the glass 12 at multiple points from the left and right sides using the limiting blocks 23. The limiting blocks 23 abut against the sides of the glass 12... Glass 12 is limited to prevent movement; then the conductive probe is moved by the lifting cylinder 25 and the pushing cylinder 24 of the conductive probe assembly 11, so that the conductive tip 28 contacts the metal solder strip 13 at the two corners of the glass 12. Current is input to the conductive tip 28 at the vertex of the edge of the glass 12, and the solder strip 13 is melted by heating by the current. The pressurizing cylinder 16 of the pressurizing assembly drives the pressurizing head 17 to pressurize the glass 12 from top to bottom, so that the melted solder strip 13 is tightly bonded to the silver paste layer of the glass 12, and the two glass 12 substrates are welded together.

[0043] Therefore, the vacuum glass 12 sealing process and apparatus provided by this invention, through the reasonable combination design of the worktable 3, positioning component, limiting component 14, conductive probe component 11, and pressurizing component, utilizes the conductive probe to contact the solder ribbon 13 from the edge vertex, using the solder ribbon 13 as a conductor to form a closed circuit. During the energization process, the solder ribbon 13 generates heat, melting it, and the pressurizing component presses it down to tightly bond it with the silver paste layer of the glass 12. This can shorten the sealing process time of the glass 12, eliminate the need for manual welding by operators, avoid uneven welding stress release caused by uneven pressure due to electromagnetic welding, and prevent defects such as breakage and cracking at the four corners of the glass 12. It can also reduce the labor intensity of operators, improve production efficiency, and facilitate the large-scale development of vacuum glass 12.

[0044] The above descriptions are merely embodiments of the present invention, and common knowledge such as specific technical solutions and / or characteristics are not described in detail here. It should be noted that those skilled in the art can make various modifications and improvements without departing from the technical solutions of the present invention, and these should also be considered within the scope of protection of the present invention. These modifications and improvements will not affect the effectiveness of the implementation of the present invention or the practicality of the patent. The scope of protection claimed in this application should be determined by the content of its claims, and the specific embodiments described in the specification can be used to interpret the content of the claims.

Claims

1. A vacuum glass sealing process, characterized in that: The steps include the following: A. Screen-print the silver paste on the surface of the glass substrate to form a "mouth"-shaped metal silver paste layer, and then dry and temper the glass; B. After grinding and applying a soldering flux treatment to the surface of the tempered glass metal silver paste layer, select a piece of glass and fix a layer of metal solder tape on its surface; C. Stack it with another glass substrate without a fixed metal solder tape, and preheat the whole stack after stacking; D. Feed the stacked and preheated glass as a whole into the sealing device. Pass an electric current through the solder tapes at the two corners of the glass by the sealing device. The solder tapes are melted under the thermal effect of the electric current, and vertically apply pressure to the whole glass to make it closely combine with the glass silver paste layer; in this step, the sealing device uses two conductive probes that can be horizontally translated and lifted to pass an electric current through the solder tapes at the two front corners of the glass. The solder tapes are used as conductors by contacting the solder tapes from the edge vertices by the conductive probes to form a closed circuit. During the power-on process, the solder tapes generate heat by themselves to melt the solder tapes. The conductive probe includes an outer cylinder, an inner cylinder and a conductive tip. The inner cylinder is inserted into the outer cylinder. A unloading spring is connected between the middle of the outer wall of the inner cylinder and the bottom of the outer cylinder. An electrode is provided at the tail end of the inner cylinder, and the electrode is connected to a power supply; the tail end of the conductive tip is cylindrical and the head end is pointed. The conductive tip is inserted into the front end of the inner cylinder and abuts against the electrode; E. Output the glass from the sealing device, and cool the glass substrate to complete the sealing process.

2. The vacuum glass sealing process according to claim 1, characterized in that: In step A, the width of the metal silver paste layer is 6 mm.

3. The vacuum glass sealing process according to claim 1, characterized in that: In step B, the width of the metal solder tape is 4 mm.

4. The vacuum glass sealing process according to claim 1, characterized in that: In step C, place it in an environment of 180 °C for preheating.

5. The vacuum glass sealing process according to claim 1, characterized in that: In step D, the sealing device uses a number of synchronously rotating rollers to support and move the glass.

6. The vacuum glass sealing process according to claim 5, characterized in that: In step D, the sealing device uses a liftable positioning plate to position the glass in the conveying direction, and uses a liftable and translatable limiting block to laterally limit the glass.

7. The vacuum glass sealing process according to claim 6, characterized in that: In step D, the sealing device uses a liftable pressurizing component. The pressurizing component uses a pressing head with a size larger than the glass, and the pressing head pressurizes the whole glass.

8. The vacuum glass sealing process according to claim 7, characterized in that: The rollers, the positioning plate and the limiting block are all made of silica gel, the pressing head is made of rubber, and step D is completed in a vacuum environment.

Images