Decorative glass panel for vehicle interior

Abstract

The invention relates to a decorative glass panel for a vehicle interior. The invention relates to a decorative panel for a vehicle interior. The decorative panel includes a glass sheet having an inner face and an outer face. The decorative panel further includes a backing. The backing integrally covers the inner surface of the glass plate. The backing is made of a material suitable for injection that exhibits a hardness of at least 50 Shore A, preferably at least 60 Shore A. The light transmittance of the backing is at least 1%, preferably at least 5%, more preferably at least 10%, even more preferably at least 50%. The invention also relates to the use of such a decorative panel in combination with a light source. The invention further relates to a method of manufacturing such a decorative panel.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a decorative glass panel. More specifically, the present invention relates to a decorative glass panel particularly advantageously used in automotive applications as vehicle interior glazing, which allows backlighting or through edge lighting while meeting safety constraints. Background Art

[0002] There is a demand for decorative glass panels in the automotive market, especially in the luxury car segment. Decorative plastic panels are considered to be of low quality, especially from an aesthetic point of view. In addition, plastic is much more sensitive to impacts and scratches than glass. Moreover, plastic generally ages by yellowing, while glass retains its optical quality over many years.

[0003] Furthermore, decorative glass panels must meet two opposing requirements: they must be resistant and lightweight. The resistance requirement tends to be in the direction of thick glass sheets. However, such thick glass sheets are usually quite heavy and increase the total weight of the vehicle. Therefore, people tend to choose thin glass sheets, but then face safety requirements. In fact, if decorative glass panels are installed on the inside of the car, and in the event of a break, the passengers must be ensured to be safe against glass fragments. The use of safety films (usually plastic layers located in the immediate vicinity of the glass panel in order to hold glass fragments in the event of a break) leads to the use of additional elements, making integration into the vehicle more complicated and thus further increasing the cost of the decorative panel. Therefore, another option is to use tempered glass that has been strengthened by thermal tempering or chemical tempering.

[0004] The automotive industry is looking for decorative glass panels that further allow lighting. Decorative glass panels are usually made of a glass sheet adhered to a carrier. WO 2020178383A1 describes a method for making a decorative panel by injecting a soft material between the glass sheet and the carrier. This document shows an example of edge lighting. However, such integration through the edge of the glass sheet often leads to light pollution on the entire decorative glass panel, while car manufacturers require a clear and seamless design in which light is only present in a portion of the decorative glass panel.

[0005] Therefore, there is a need for a decorative glass panel that allows for greater flexibility in lighting integration while ensuring compliance with safety requirements as well as industrial processes. Summary of the invention

[0006] The present invention relates to a decorative panel for vehicle interior. Such decorative panel comprises a glass sheet having an inner face and an outer face. The decorative panel further comprises a backing. Such backing integrally covers the inner face of the glass sheet. The backing is adapted to be used for fixing the decorative panel on the vehicle. The backing is made of a material suitable for injection, the material exhibiting a hardness of at least 50 Shore A, preferably at least 60 Shore A. The light transmittance of the backing is at least 1%, preferably at least 5%, more preferably at least 10%, even more preferably at least 50%.

[0007] The invention also relates to the use of such a decorative panel in combination with a light source.

[0008] The invention further relates to a method for producing such a decorative panel. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0009] The present invention will now be further described by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein similar reference numerals in the various figures represent similar elements. These examples are provided by way of illustration and not limitation. These drawings are schematic and not true to scale. These drawings do not limit the present invention in any way. Further advantages will be illustrated by way of example.

[0010] Figure 1a A decorative panel according to one embodiment of the present invention is shown. Figure 1b The same decorative panel with additional primer is shown.

[0011] Figure 2a A decorative panel according to another embodiment of the present invention is shown. Figure 2b The same decorative panel with additional primer is shown. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0012] The present invention will be described with respect to particular embodiments and with reference to certain drawings; however, the invention is not limited thereto but only by the claims.

[0013] Although some embodiments described herein include some features but do not include other features included in other embodiments, the combination of features of different embodiments is intended to be within the scope of the present invention and form different embodiments, as will be understood by those skilled in the art. For example, in the appended claims, any claimed embodiment can be used in any combination.

[0014] The present invention proposes a decorative panel for the interior of a vehicle. The decorative panel according to the present invention is installed on any part of the interior of the vehicle to provide better aesthetics or to fix or protect some parts of the interior of the vehicle. Such a decorative panel can be installed to cover (completely or partially) a door, a door handle contour, a dashboard or a part of a center console (wherein the center console means a console between the front passenger seats, which can extend toward the dashboard), the back of the seat (including the back of the headrest), the roof, the armrest... Vehicle refers to any kind of vehicle, such as (but not limited to) a car, a van, a truck, a motorcycle, a bus, a tram, a train, a drone, an airplane, a helicopter, etc.

[0015] The decorative panel comprises a glass sheet having an outer face and an inner face. The inner face refers to the face facing the carrier, while the outer face refers to the opposite face. The glass sheet has a composition that is not particularly limited. The glass sheet can be soda-lime silicate glass, aluminosilicate glass, alkali-free glass, borosilicate glass, etc. Preferably, the glass sheet of the present invention is made of soda-lime glass or aluminosilicate glass. The glass sheet according to the present invention can be a glass sheet obtained by a float process, a drawing process, a rolling process or any other process known to manufacture glass sheets starting from a molten glass composition. According to a preferred embodiment according to the present invention, the glass sheet is a float glass sheet. The term "float glass sheet" should be understood to mean a glass sheet formed by a float glass process, which includes pouring molten glass onto a bath of molten tin under reducing conditions. The glass sheet preferably has a thickness of 0.5 to 2.1 mm.

[0016] According to an embodiment of the present invention, the glass sheet has the following composition, which contains the following items in contents expressed as percentages of the total weight of the glass:

[0017] In a preferred embodiment, the glass sheet has the following composition, which contains the following items in contents expressed as percentages of the total weight of the glass:

[0018] In a more preferred embodiment, the glass sheet has the following composition, which contains the following items in contents expressed as percentages of the total weight of the glass:

[0019] In a more preferred embodiment, the glass sheet has the following composition, which contains the following items in contents expressed as percentages of the total weight of the glass: This composition is a good compromise between mechanical properties of the glass after chemical strengthening and cost optimization.

[0020] In a more preferred embodiment, the glass sheet has the following composition, which contains the following items in contents expressed as percentages of the total weight of the glass:

[0021] The decorative panel further comprises a backing. The backing integrally covers the inner face of the glass pane. The backing integrally covers the inner face of the glass pane allowing to improve the safety for the vehicle occupants in the event of breakage of the glass pane. In fact, the backing allows to avoid the projection of glass pane fragments in the event of breakage of the glass pane, since the glass pane fragments adhere to the backing.

[0022] The backing is made of a material suitable for injection. After curing, the material exhibits a hardness of at least 50 Shore A, preferably at least 60 Shore A. The Shore A hardness scale measures the hardness of flexible mold rubber. ISO 868:2003 specifies a method for determining the indentation hardness of plastics by two types of durometers: type A for softer materials and type D for harder materials. The method allows the measurement of the initial indentation or the indentation after a specified time period, or both. This method is an empirical method primarily intended for control purposes. There is no simple relationship between the indentation hardness determined by this method and any basic properties of the tested material.

[0023] The backing can be made of a thermoplastic polymer such as polypropylene, a thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) such as olefin thermoplastic elastomer (TPO), polyurethane, polyamide or soft polyvinyl chloride, silicone or similar material, or any material suitable for injection molding as long as it is transparent or translucent to visible light.

[0024] The backing is required to be transparent or translucent to visible light. Visible light means light corresponding to the visible wavelength range, meaning included within 380nm to 780nm. In this specification, in order to quantify the transmittance, the total light transmittance with light source D65 (LTD) at an observation solid angle of 2° (according to standard ISO9050) is considered. The transmittance represents the percentage of the luminous flux emitted between the wavelengths of 380nm and 780nm that is transmitted through the adhesive layer. For transparency or translucency, the backing should be understood to have a transmittance of at least 1%. The transmittance of the backing can be at least 3%, 5%, 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, 50%, 60%, 70%, 80%, 90%, 95%, 99%.

[0025] In a preferred embodiment, the inner face of the glass sheet is at least partially covered with an opaque layer having a light transmittance of less than 1%. In order to quantify the light transmittance, the total light transmittance with a light source D65 (LTD) at an observation solid angle of 2° (according to standard ISO9050) is considered. The light transmittance represents the percentage of the luminous flux emitted between wavelengths 380nm and 780nm that is transmitted through the opaque layer. Such an opaque layer can be an ink layer, a paint, an enamel, a coating, a layer deposited by plasma vapor deposition. Such an opaque layer can be deposited on the glass sheet by any means known in the art. Non-limiting examples of the deposition process of the decoration are screen printing, inkjet printing, laser printing or screen printing methods. The preferred method is screen printing, mainly due to its ability to produce high-quality colored patterns, its flexibility and its high deposition speed. Inkjet printing is also a preferred method because it allows great flexibility in design. A combination of screen printing and inkjet printing can also be used to benefit from the advantages of both technologies. Other methods for deposition include spraying technology or curtain coater technology. Alternatively, the opaque layer can also be a polymer film, which can then be deposited by classical lamination processes.

[0026] In a preferred embodiment, the inner face of the glass sheet is at least partially covered with a translucent or transparent layer having a light transmittance of at least 1%. The light transmittance of this layer may be at least 3%, 5%, 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, 50%, 60%, 70%, 80%, 90%, 95%, 99%. In order to quantify the light transmittance, the total light transmittance with the illuminant D65 (LTD) at a solid angle of observation of 2° (according to standard ISO9050) is considered. The light transmittance represents the percentage of the luminous flux emitted between the wavelengths of 380nm and 780nm that is transmitted through the translucent or transparent layer. Such a translucent or transparent layer may be a layer of ink, a lacquer, an enamel, a coating, a layer deposited by plasma vapor deposition. Such a translucent or transparent layer may be deposited on the glass sheet by any means known in the art. Non-limiting examples of deposition processes for the decoration are screen printing, inkjet printing, laser printing or screen printing methods. The preferred method is screen printing, mainly due to its ability to produce high-quality colored patterns, its flexibility and its high deposition speed. Inkjet printing is also a preferred method, as it allows great flexibility in design. A combination of screen printing and inkjet printing can also be used to benefit from the advantages of both technologies. Other methods for deposition include spraying techniques or curtain coater techniques. Alternatively, the translucent or transparent layer can also be a polymer film, which can then be deposited by a classical lamination process.

[0027] In a preferred embodiment, the backing obtained by injection molding is further applied to at least one edge of the glass sheet. This means that the backing is not only injected to cover the inner face of the glass sheet, but the backing also covers at least one edge of the glass sheet. This configuration allows light to pass through the area around the glass sheet without contaminating the glass in the case of light leakage (light system separated from the glass). This configuration also allows the entire glass surface to be covered with a unique (opaque) decorative layer. Therefore, there is no need to add a translucent layer to hide the light source behind the glass, resulting in lower costs and 100% uniformity and easier processing without printing positioning restrictions. In addition, this configuration also allows easier integration, with the backing acting as a soft seal for possible contact with surrounding rigid parts. This will advantageously prevent the generation of noise, for example, in the event of vibration.

[0028] In a preferred embodiment, the glass sheet is chemically tempered. Using chemically tempered glass allows the glass to be cold bent and thus the glass sheet to be in the desired form. Chemical tempering also improves the mechanical resistance of the glass sheet.

[0029] In a preferred embodiment, the inner face of the glass sheet further comprises a primer. Thus, the primer is applied to the inner face of the glass sheet previously at least partially covered with the decoration. The use of such a primer allows for better adhesion to the backing. Such a primer may, for example, be a primer containing silane.

[0030] In a preferred embodiment, the outer side of the glass sheet is also decorated with a paint by etching or with a layer deposited by plasma vapour deposition.

[0031] In a preferred embodiment, a rigid element is added to the backing. Such a rigid element can be used to strengthen the backing to facilitate the fixing of the decorative panel to the vehicle interior.

[0032] The invention also proposes the use of a decorative panel as previously described in combination with a light source, the decorative panel being fixed in the interior of a vehicle.

[0033] The present invention also proposes a method for manufacturing a decorative panel for a vehicle interior, the method comprising the following steps: a) providing a glass sheet having an inner face and an outer face; b) an injected backing completely covering the inner face of the glass pane, the backing being adapted to be used for fixing the decorative panel to the vehicle; c) a cured backing which exhibits a hardness of at least 50 Shore A, preferably at least 60 Shore A in its cured form, and the light transmittance of the backing (20) in its cured form is at least 1%, preferably at least 5%, more preferably at least 10%, even more preferably at least 50%.

[0034] The light transmittance of the layer may be at least 3%, 5%, 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, 50%, 60%, 70%, 80%, 90%, 95%, 99%.

[0035] In a preferred embodiment, the method comprises, after step a., a step a'. consisting of at least partially covering the inner face of the glass sheet with a layer having a light transmission of less than 1%.

[0036] In an alternative embodiment, the method comprises, after step a., a step a'. consisting of at least partially covering the inner face of the glass sheet with a layer having a light transmittance of at least 1%. The light transmittance of this layer may be at least 3%, 5%, 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, 50%, 60%, 70%, 80%, 90%, 95%, 99%.

[0037] In a preferred embodiment, the method comprises the step of coating the inner face of the glass sheet with a primer before step b.

[0038] In a preferred embodiment, a backing is further applied to the edge of the glass sheet.

[0039] In a preferred embodiment, a stiffening element is further added to the backing after step c.

[0040] Reference Figure 1a , the decorative panel (1) comprises a glass plate (30). The outer face (32) of the glass plate (30) faces the interior of a vehicle (not shown) in which the decorative panel (1) is fixed. The inner face (31) of the glass plate (30) is at least partially covered with a layer (300) having a light transmittance of less than 1% or at least 1%. The light transmittance of the layer can be at least 3%, 5%, 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, 50%, 60%, 70%, 80%, 90%, 95%, 99%.

[0041] The backing (20) completely covers the inner face (31) of the glass sheet (30). The backing is made of a material suitable for injection, which presents a hardness of at least 50 Shore A, preferably at least 60 Shore A. The backing (2) is shown with two protrusions (100) to secure the decorative panel (1) to the vehicle interior. Other means of securing such a decorative panel are known to those skilled in the art.

[0042] Figure 1b Shows Figure 1a A similar embodiment of , except that an additional primer (350) is deposited on the inner face (31) of the glass sheet (30) to increase the adhesion of the backing (20).

[0043] Reference Figure 2a, the decorative panel (1) comprises a glass plate (30). The outer face (32) of the glass plate (30) faces the interior of a vehicle (not shown) in which the decorative panel (1) is fixed. The inner face (31) of the glass plate (30) is at least partially covered with a layer (300) having a light transmittance of less than 1% or at least 1%. The light transmittance of the layer can be at least 3%, 5%, 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, 50%, 60%, 70%, 80%, 90%, 95%, 99%.

[0044] The backing (20) completely covers the inner face (31) of the glass sheet (30) as well as the edges of the glass sheet (30). The backing is made of a material suitable for injection, which presents a hardness of at least 50 Shore A, preferably at least 60 Shore A. The backing (2) is shown with two protrusions (100) to secure the decorative panel (1) to the vehicle interior. Other means of securing such a decorative panel are known to those skilled in the art.

[0045] Figure 2b Shows Figure 2a A similar embodiment of , except that an additional primer (350) is deposited on the inner face (31) of the glass sheet (30) to increase the adhesion of the backing (20).

[0046] Although the present invention is shown and described in detail in the accompanying drawings and the foregoing description, such showing and description should be regarded as illustrative or exemplary, rather than restrictive. The foregoing description describes certain embodiments of the present invention in detail. However, it should be understood that no matter how detailed the foregoing appears in terms of text, the present invention can be practiced in a variety of ways. The present invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments.

Claims

1. A decorative panel (1) for a vehicle interior, the decorative panel comprising: a. a glass sheet (30), wherein the glass sheet comprises an inner surface (31) and an outer surface (32); b. a backing (20) integrally covering the inner face (31) of the glass sheet (30), the backing (20) being adapted to fix the decorative panel (1) on the vehicle, the backing (20) being made of a material suitable for injection and exhibiting a hardness of at least 50 Shore A, preferably at least 60 Shore A; Characterized in that the light transmittance of the backing (20) is at least 1%, preferably at least 5%, more preferably at least 10%, and even more preferably at least 50%.

2. The decorative panel (1) for vehicle interior according to claim 1, wherein: The inner face (31) of the glass sheet (30) is at least partially covered with a layer (300) having a light transmittance of less than 1%.

3. The decorative panel (1) for vehicle interior according to claim 1, wherein: The inner face (31) of the glass sheet (30) is at least partially covered with a layer (300) having a light transmittance of at least 1%.

4. The decorative panel (1) according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein The backing (20) is further applied to at least one edge of the glass sheet (30).

5. The decorative panel (1) according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein The glass sheet (30) is chemically tempered.

6. The decorative panel (1) according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein A primer (350) is positioned between the backing (20) and the glass sheet (30).

7. A decorative panel (1) according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein The outer side (32) of the glass plate (30) is decorated with a paint by etching or with a layer deposited by plasma vapor deposition.

8. A decorative panel (1) according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein A rigid element is added to the backing (20).

9. Use of a decorative panel (1) according to any of the preceding claims in combination with a light source, the decorative panel being fixed in a vehicle interior.

10. A method of manufacturing a decorative panel (1) for a vehicle interior, the method comprising the steps of: a. Providing a glass sheet (30) having an inner surface (31) and an outer surface (32); b. an injection backing (20) completely covering the inner face (31) of the glass sheet (30), the backing (20) being adapted to fix the decorative panel (1) to the vehicle; c. curing the backing (20), wherein the backing (20) exhibits a hardness of at least 50 Shore A, preferably at least 60 Shore A in its cured form, and the light transmittance of the backing (20) in its cured form is at least 1%, preferably at least 5%, more preferably at least 10%, and even more preferably at least 50%.

11. The method according to claim 12, wherein: The method comprises, after step a., a step a'. consisting of at least partially covering the inner face (31) of the glass sheet (30) with a layer (300) having a light transmittance lower than 1%.

12. The method according to claim 12, wherein: The method comprises, after step a., a step a'. consisting of at least partially covering the inner face (31) of the glass sheet (30) with a layer (300) having a light transmittance of at least 1%.

13. The method according to any one of claims 12 to 14, wherein: The method comprises, before step b., the step of coating the inner face (31) of the glass sheet (30) with a primer (350).

14. The method according to any one of claims 12 to 15, wherein: The backing (20) is further applied to the edge of the glass sheet (30).

15. The method according to any one of claims 12 to 16, wherein: After step c., a stiffening element is further added to the backing (20).

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