Manufacturing method of vacuum glass without extraction opening and vacuum glass

Abstract

The invention relates to the field of vacuum glass manufacturing, and discloses an extraction-hole-free vacuum glass manufacturing method which comprises the following steps: arranging a sealing material at the peripheral edge of an upper glass plate and / or a lower glass plate; arranging an air suction element on the lower glass plate, wherein the air suction element can be compressed and deformed; placing the upper glass plate on the lower glass plate to form a vacuum glass assembly; the maximum height of the gas suction element in the assembly is greater than the total thickness of the sealing material, so that a gas escape channel is formed between the upper glass plate and the lower glass plate; feeding the assembly into a vacuum chamber, vacuumizing and staying for a preset time; pressure is applied to the surface of the assembly, so that the upper glass plate and the lower glass plate are tightly attached, and then welding and edge sealing are conducted on the assembly. The upper glass plate and the lower glass plate are separated through the air suction element, so that an air escape channel is formed between the upper glass plate and the lower glass plate, and the problem of how to efficiently vacuumize the vacuum cavity between the upper glass plate and the lower glass plate is solved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The invention relates to the field of vacuum glass manufacturing, and in particular to a method for manufacturing vacuum glass without an air extraction port and the vacuum glass. Background Art

[0002] Vacuum glass includes at least two glass plates: an upper glass plate and a lower glass plate, and also includes a number of supports arranged between the upper glass plate and the lower glass plate. The four edges of the upper glass plate and / or the lower glass plate facing each other are provided with sealing materials for welding and edge sealing, and the supports are distributed on the inner side of the sealing materials. In the production process of vacuum glass, after the upper glass plate and the lower glass plate are combined and before the four edges of the two glass plates are welded and sealed, the air in the interlayer between the two glass plates needs to be released first, so as to achieve a higher vacuum degree, and then the welding and edge sealing of the four edges of the glass can be carried out, and finally a vacuum glass with a high vacuum inner cavity can be made.

[0003] In order to prevent the support from mechanically damaging the upper and lower glass plates, the height of the support cannot usually be higher than the thickness of the sealing material. This means that during the joining process, the upper glass plate will be attached to the lower glass plate through the sealing material on the four sides under the action of its own gravity, which will block the gas between the upper and lower glass plates from escaping from the vacuum chamber to the outside, which will cause the time required to wait for the vacuum chamber to reach the required vacuum level in the exhaust process to be greatly extended, seriously affecting production efficiency. Therefore, how to efficiently evacuate the vacuum chamber between the upper and lower glass plates is an urgent problem that technicians in this field need to solve. Summary of the invention

[0004] In view of the problems existing in the prior art, the purpose of the present invention is to provide a method for manufacturing vacuum glass without an exhaust port, by arranging an exhaust element with a maximum height greater than the vacuum cavity and having compression deformation capability in the vacuum cavity of the vacuum glass, so that after the vacuum glass is assembled, the upper glass plate of the vacuum glass is pressed on the exhaust element instead of directly on the sintered layer of the lower glass plate, thereby generating a gas escape channel between the upper glass plate and the lower glass plate, thereby facilitating efficient evacuation of the vacuum cavity between the upper and lower glass plates in subsequent process steps.

[0005] To achieve the above object, the technical solution of the present invention is: A method for manufacturing vacuum glass without an air extraction port comprises the following steps: S101: Sealing materials are arranged on the periphery of the upper glass plate and / or the lower glass plate, and a getter element is arranged on the upper glass plate or the lower glass plate, wherein the getter element is compressible and deformable; S102: placing an upper glass plate on a lower glass plate to form a vacuum glass assembly; the maximum height of the getter element in the vacuum glass assembly is greater than the total thickness of the sealing material, or the maximum height of the getter element in the vacuum glass assembly is greater than the sum of the total thickness of the sealing material and the depth of the getter element accommodating groove, so that gas escape channels are generated around the periphery of the upper glass plate and the lower glass plate; S103: sending the vacuum glass assembly into a vacuum chamber, evacuating the chamber and leaving the chamber for a predetermined time, so that the gas between the upper glass plate and the lower glass plate escapes from the gas escape channel; S104: applying pressure to the surface of the vacuum glass assembly after evacuation, so that the upper glass plate and the lower glass plate are tightly fitted around the edges through the sealing material, the suction element is pressed and fixed between the upper glass plate and the lower glass plate, and then the vacuum glass assembly is welded and sealed around the edges.

[0006] The present invention is further configured as follows: in S103 and S104, the air pressure in the vacuum chamber is less than 30Pa.

[0007] The present invention is further configured as follows: in S103, the predetermined time is not less than 1 minute.

[0008] The present invention is further configured such that: in S104, the pressure applied to the surface of the vacuum glass assembly after evacuation is evenly distributed.

[0009] The present invention is further configured as follows: between S102 and S103, it also includes S1021: sending the vacuum glass assembly into a preheating chamber and preheating the vacuum glass assembly at a temperature of 50° C.-300° C.

[0010] The present invention is further configured as follows: in S101, the getter element is located at an edge of the upper glass plate or the lower glass plate and inside the sealing material, and the number of the getter element is at least one.

[0011] The present invention is further configured as follows: in S102 and S103, the height of the gas escape channel is not less than 0.3 mm.

[0012] The present invention is further configured as follows: the air-getting element is in a strip shape, and the air-getting element has a plurality of protrusions.

[0013] The present invention also provides a vacuum glass, which is manufactured by any one of the above methods.

[0014] In summary, the beneficial effects achieved by the present invention are as follows: (1) The maximum height of the getter element is greater than the thickness of the sealing material. After the upper glass plate is placed on the lower glass plate, the upper glass plate will be pressed on the getter element, that is, the getter element separates the upper and lower glass plates, so that the gas between the upper and lower glass plates can be quickly discharged through the gas escape channel formed by the getter element, which greatly shortens the exhaust waiting time before the welding edge sealing process and significantly improves the production efficiency of vacuum glass; (2) The getter element has the ability to be compressed and deformed. When pressure is applied to the glass assembly after vacuuming and before welding and edge sealing, the getter element is compressed and deformed under the pressure of the upper and lower glass plates, and then clamped and fixed in the vacuum chamber. There is no need to add additional process steps, which simplifies the production process. (3) The getter element belongs to the structure of the vacuum glass itself. The getter element is used to form a gas escape channel. There is no need to set up any other separation device in the vacuum chamber to maintain a certain gap between the two pieces of glass to form a gas escape channel, which reduces the complexity of the vacuum chamber structure. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0015] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention, the drawings required for use in the embodiments or the description of the prior art will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments recorded in the present invention. For ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can also be obtained based on these drawings.

[0016] Figure 1 The side view of the vacuum glass in the first embodiment of the present invention Figure 1 ; Figure 2 The side view of the vacuum glass in the first embodiment of the present invention Figure 2 ; Figure 3 It is a side view of the vacuum glass in the second embodiment of the present invention.

[0017] In the figure: 1. vacuum glass assembly; 11. upper glass plate; 12. lower glass plate; 13. receiving groove; 14. gas escape channel; 15. sealing material; 2. air suction element; 21. air suction element body; 22. protrusion. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0018] The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention are described clearly and completely below in conjunction with the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention. Obviously, the described embodiments are part of the embodiments of the present invention, rather than all of the embodiments. For ease of explanation, the terms "vertical", "horizontal", "left", "right", "up", "down", "inside", "outside", "bottom", etc. used in this specification indicate orientations or positional relationships based on the orientations or positional relationships shown in the drawings, and are only for the convenience of describing the present application and simplifying the description, rather than indicating or implying that the device or element referred to must have a specific orientation, be constructed and operated in a specific orientation, and therefore cannot be understood as a limitation on the present application. In addition, the terms "first", "second", etc. are used for descriptive purposes only and cannot be understood as indicating or implying relative importance.

[0019] It should be noted that the embodiments of the present invention and the features involved in the embodiments can be combined with each other without conflict. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art without creative work are within the scope of protection of the present invention. Embodiment 1

[0020] A method for manufacturing vacuum glass without an air extraction port comprises the following steps: S101: Sealing materials are arranged on the four peripheral parts of the upper glass plate and the lower glass plate, and an air-gettering element is arranged on the lower glass plate, wherein the air-gettering element is compressible and deformable.

[0021] As attached Figure 1 As shown, this embodiment uses metal sealing materials as an example. Sealing materials 15 are provided on opposite sides of the upper glass plate 11 and the lower glass plate 12 constituting the vacuum glass. The sealing material 15 usually has three layers, namely, a first metallized layer, a metal welding strip, and a second metallized layer. The first metallized layer is provided at the four peripheral positions on the side of the upper glass plate 11 facing the lower glass plate 12 by sintering or coating; the second metallized layer is provided at the four peripheral positions on the side of the lower glass plate 12 facing the upper glass plate 11 by sintering or coating; the metal welding strip is provided on the first metallized layer or the second metallized layer by spot welding.

[0022] It is understandable that when the sealing material 15 is glass powder, the sealing material 15 usually has only one layer and can be set only on the four edges of the upper glass plate 11 or only on the four edges of the lower glass plate 12. The setting method and setting position of the sealing material 15 are conventional technical means in the art and will not be described in detail here.

[0023] After the upper glass plate 11 and the lower glass plate 12 are welded and sealed, the upper glass plate 11 and the lower glass plate 12 and the sealing material 15 together form a sealed vacuum chamber.

[0024] The getter element 2 is located in the vacuum chamber between the upper glass plate 11 and the lower glass plate 12. In this embodiment, the getter element 2 is disposed on the lower glass plate 12. In other embodiments, the getter element 2 may also be disposed on the upper glass plate 11.

[0025] The arrangement order of the sealing material 15 and the getter element 2 is not limited, and they can be arranged sequentially or simultaneously.

[0026] The getter element 2 may be in a strip shape, and the strip getter element is formed by pressing getter powder on one or both sides of a strip metal base. Since the strip getter element is made of a metal base, and the metal base can be compressed and deformed, the strip getter element can be compressed and deformed.

[0027] The inhalation element 2 includes an inhalation element body 21 and a protrusion 22. The protrusion 22 can be made by stamping or bending the inhalation element body 21, or can be fixedly connected to other compressible and deformable materials on the inhalation element body 21 by spot welding, laminating or bonding. One or more protrusions 22 are integrally arranged on the inhalation element body 21. The protrusion 22 can be any shape such as cylindrical, semi-cylindrical, cylindrical, semi-cylindrical, prismatic, spherical, semi-spherical, elliptical or drum-shaped. In this embodiment, the protrusion 22 is hemispherical.

[0028] The number of the getter element 2 is at least one. When there is only one getter element 2 in the vacuum chamber, Figure 2 As shown, the getter element 2 is located on one side of the vacuum chamber; when there are two getter elements 2 in the vacuum chamber, as shown in the attached Figure 1 As shown, two getter elements 2 are respectively located at two opposite sides of the vacuum chamber. When there are three getter elements 2, the three getter elements 2 can be respectively arranged at three side positions of the vacuum chamber; when there are four getter elements 2, the four getter elements 2 can be respectively arranged at four peripheral positions of the vacuum chamber.

[0029] In other embodiments, the strip-shaped getter element 2 may be bent into a wave shape or a folded line shape, which can also play the same role as the protrusion 22 .

[0030] In other embodiments, the getter element 2 may be a disc-shaped getter element or a getter element 2 of other shapes, as long as the getter element 2 can be compressed and deformed. The getter element 2 may be disposed at a corner of the vacuum chamber.

[0031] S102: placing the upper glass plate 11 on the lower glass plate 12 to form a vacuum glass assembly 1; the maximum height of the air-absorbing element 2 in the vacuum glass assembly 1 is greater than the total thickness of the sealing material 15, so that gas escape channels 14 are generated around the edges of the upper glass plate 11 and the lower glass plate 12.

[0032] After the sheets are assembled, the upper glass plate 11 is pressed against the raised portion 22 of the getter element 2. Since the upper glass plate 11 has a small self-weight, it is not enough to flatten the getter element 2. At this time, the maximum height of the getter element 2 is greater than the total thickness of the sealing material 15. The getter element 2 props up the upper glass plate 11 to separate the upper glass plate 11 from the lower glass plate 12, so that a gas escape channel 14 is generated between the upper glass plate 11 and the lower glass plate 12.

[0033] Specifically, when there is only one getter element 2 in the vacuum chamber, as shown in the attached Figure 2 As shown, the getter element 2 is located on one side of the lower glass plate 12, and the upper glass plate 11 is in an inclined state, so that a gas escape channel 14 is generated on the side of the upper glass plate 11 close to the getter element 2, and gaps for gas escape are formed at the other two sides of the upper glass plate 11 and the lower glass plate 12 adjacent to the gas escape channel 14.

[0034] When there are two getter elements 2 in the vacuum chamber, as shown in the following figure: Figure 1 As shown, the two air suction elements 2 are respectively located on two opposite sides of the lower glass plate 12, thereby forming a stable and horizontal support for the upper glass plate 11, and gas escape channels 14 are generated at the four edge positions of the upper glass plate 11 and the lower glass plate 12. At this time, the gas escape efficiency of the gas inside the vacuum glass assembly 1 is the highest.

[0035] It was measured in actual tests that in the vacuum glass assembly 1, preferably, the maximum height of the air suction element 2 makes the height of the gas escape channel 14 between the upper glass plate 11 and the lower glass plate 12 not less than 0.3 mm. When the height of the gas escape channel 14 is lower than 0.3 mm, the gas escape efficiency of the gas inside the vacuum glass assembly 1 is not significantly improved compared to the gas escape efficiency without the gas escape channel 14. When the height of the gas escape channel 14 is higher than 20 mm, the maximum height of the air suction element 2 will be too thick, which may easily cause the vacuum glass to break during the compression process. Therefore, preferably, the height of the gas escape channel 14 should be less than 20 mm. In this embodiment, the height of the gas escape channel 14 is 0.5 mm.

[0036] S1021: Send the vacuum glass assembly 1 into a preheating chamber and preheat the vacuum glass assembly 1 at a temperature of 50°C-300°C.

[0037] Preheating the vacuum glass assembly 1 can increase the activity of the gas on the surface of each component material of the vacuum glass assembly 1. During the gas escape process of the preheated glass, the gas adsorbed on the surface of the upper glass plate 11, the surface of the lower glass plate 12, and the surface of the support can be fully released, which is beneficial for the vacuum cavity after welding and edge sealing to reach a higher vacuum degree. In this embodiment, the preheating temperature can be 80°C.

[0038] S103 : sending the vacuum glass assembly 1 into a vacuum chamber to evacuate the chamber and leaving the chamber for a predetermined time, so that the gas between the upper glass plate 11 and the lower glass plate 12 can escape from the gas escape channel 14 .

[0039] The vacuum chamber is connected to a vacuum pumping device, which can reduce the air pressure in the vacuum chamber to below 30Pa, thereby forming a higher vacuum degree. At the same time, the vacuum glass assembly 1 sent into the vacuum chamber needs to stay in the vacuum chamber for a sufficiently long time so that the gas inside and on the surface of the vacuum glass assembly 1 can fully escape, ensuring that the vacuum glass finally manufactured has a higher vacuum degree. However, if the glass stays in the vacuum chamber for too long, it will extend the time required for the process and reduce production efficiency. In actual experiments, it was found that if the predetermined time for the vacuum glass assembly 1 to stay in the vacuum chamber is less than 1min, the air between the two pieces of glass cannot fully escape, resulting in a lower vacuum degree of the sealed vacuum glass; and if the predetermined time of stay is higher than 30min, the production efficiency is reduced. Therefore, preferably, the predetermined time for the vacuum glass assembly 1 to stay in the vacuum chamber is set to 1-30min. In this embodiment, the predetermined time of stay can be 30min.

[0040] S104: Apply pressure to the surface of the vacuum glass assembly 1 after evacuation, so that the upper glass plate 11 and the lower glass plate 12 are tightly fitted around the edges through the sealing material 15, the air-getting element 2 is pressed and fixed between the upper glass plate 11 and the lower glass plate 12, and then the edges of the vacuum glass assembly 1 are welded and sealed.

[0041] Applying pressure to the surface of the vacuum glass assembly 1 after evacuation is used to compress and deform the getter element 2, so that the height of the getter element 2 is compressed to be consistent with the thickness of the sealing material 15, and the upper glass plate 11 and the lower glass plate 12 are tightly attached to each other through the sealing material 15, so that the surrounding edges of the glass can be welded and sealed. On the other hand, applying pressure to the surface of the vacuum glass assembly 1 also has the effect of ensuring that the positions of the upper glass plate 11 and the lower glass plate 12 will not be displaced when welding and sealing the vacuum glass assembly 1, and it is easier to carry out.

[0042] Specifically, the pressure applied to the surface of the vacuum glass assembly 1 after evacuation can ensure that the suction element 2 is flattened to the same thickness as the sealing material 15. The pressure should be evenly distributed on the upper surface of the upper glass plate 11, the lower surface of the lower glass plate 12, or applied to the upper surface of the upper glass plate 11 and the lower surface of the lower glass plate 12 at the same time. The evenly distributed pressure can ensure that the upper glass plate 11 and the lower glass plate 12 will not deviate after being pressed. The pressure can be applied to the surface of the vacuum glass assembly 1 in the form of a whole piece of film covering the upper glass plate 11, or in the form of multiple rubber heads pressing down evenly. Under the action of this pressure, the suction element 2 in the vacuum cavity is pressed and fixed between the upper glass plate 11 and the lower glass plate 12, and the support is also compressed to produce a small deformation, thereby ensuring that the support can form a complete support for the vacuum glass in the use environment of normal atmospheric pressure after welding is completed, so that the force inside and outside the vacuum glass is uniform and stable, which is conducive to improving the service life of the vacuum glass.

[0043] The implementation principle of the above embodiment is: The method for manufacturing vacuum glass without an exhaust port in the present invention utilizes the suction element 2 contained in the structure of the vacuum glass itself to support the upper glass plate 11, so that a gas escape channel 14 is formed between the upper glass plate 11 and the lower glass plate 12 for the vacuum glass assembly 1 to be exhausted in the vacuum chamber. When exhausting in the vacuum chamber, the gas between the upper glass plate 11 and the lower glass plate 12 can be quickly exhausted through the gas escape channel 14, which greatly shortens the exhaust waiting time before the welding and edge sealing process, and significantly improves the production efficiency of vacuum glass; Since the getter element 2 has the ability to be compressed and deformed, and the getter element 2 will not be deformed or the deformation is extremely small under the action of the gravity of the upper glass plate 11; when pressure is applied to the surface of the vacuum glass assembly 1 after evacuation, the protrusion on the getter element 2 is compressed, so that the getter element 2 is compressed to the same thickness as the vacuum chamber, and the upper glass plate 11 and the lower glass plate 12 are tightly attached through the sealing material 15, so that the welding and edge sealing of the four peripheral parts of the vacuum glass assembly 1 can be smoothly performed; The present invention utilizes the structure of the vacuum glass itself to separate the upper glass plate 11 from the lower glass plate 12 during the exhaust process. The gas between the upper glass plate 11 and the lower glass plate 12 can be quickly discharged through the gas escape channel 14 formed by the air suction element 2, which greatly shortens the exhaust waiting time before sealing and significantly improves the production efficiency of the vacuum glass. At the same time, there is no need to set any other separation device in the vacuum chamber to maintain a certain gap between the two pieces of glass to maintain the gas escape channel 14, thereby reducing the complexity of the vacuum chamber structure. Embodiment 2

[0044] As attached Figure 3As shown, a method for manufacturing vacuum glass without an air suction port disclosed in the present invention is provided. The difference from the first embodiment is that a receiving groove 13 for placing the air suction element 2 is provided on the side surface of the lower glass plate 12 facing the upper glass plate 11 .

[0045] The accommodating groove 13 is a concave structure whose shape and size are adapted to the getter element 2. After the pieces are assembled, the maximum height of the getter element 2 is greater than the sum of the total thickness of the sealing material 15 and the depth of the accommodating groove 13 of the getter element 2. In this embodiment, the depth of the accommodating groove 13 is 1 mm, the total thickness of the sealing material 15 is also 0.3 mm, and the maximum height of the getter element 2 is greater than 1.3 mm. Preferably, the maximum height of the getter element 2 is greater than 1.6 mm. In this embodiment, the maximum height of the getter element 2 is 1.8 mm, so that the height of the gas escape channel 14 is 0.5 mm.

[0046] The manufacturing method is the same as that of the first embodiment and will not be described in detail here. Embodiment 3

[0047] A vacuum glass is manufactured by any one of the above manufacturing methods.

[0048] Although preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described, additional changes and modifications may be made to these embodiments by those skilled in the art once the basic inventive concepts are known. Therefore, the appended claims are intended to be interpreted as including the preferred embodiments and all changes and modifications that fall within the scope of the present invention. Obviously, those skilled in the art may make various changes and modifications to the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Thus, if these modifications and variations of the present invention fall within the scope of the claims of the present invention and their equivalents, the present invention is also intended to include these modifications and variations.

Claims

1. A method for manufacturing vacuum glass without an exhaust port, characterized in that: The steps include: S101: Sealing materials are arranged on the periphery of the upper glass plate and / or the lower glass plate, and a getter element is arranged on the upper glass plate or the lower glass plate, wherein the getter element is compressible and deformable; S102: placing an upper glass plate on a lower glass plate to form a vacuum glass assembly; the maximum height of the getter element in the vacuum glass assembly is greater than the total thickness of the sealing material, or the maximum height of the getter element in the vacuum glass assembly is greater than the sum of the total thickness of the sealing material and the depth of the getter element accommodating groove, so that gas escape channels are generated around the periphery of the upper glass plate and the lower glass plate; S103: sending the vacuum glass assembly into a vacuum chamber, evacuating the chamber and leaving the chamber for a predetermined time, so that the gas between the upper glass plate and the lower glass plate escapes from the gas escape channel; S104: applying pressure to the surface of the vacuum glass assembly after evacuation, so that the upper glass plate and the lower glass plate are tightly fitted around the edges through the sealing material, the suction element is pressed and fixed between the upper glass plate and the lower glass plate, and then the vacuum glass assembly is welded and sealed around the edges.

2. The method for manufacturing vacuum glass according to claim 1, characterized in that: In S103 and S104, the air pressure in the vacuum chamber is less than 30Pa.

3. The method for manufacturing vacuum glass according to claim 1, characterized in that: In S103, the predetermined time is not less than 1 minute.

4. The method for manufacturing vacuum glass according to claim 1, characterized in that: In S104, the pressure applied to the surface of the vacuum glass assembly after evacuation is evenly distributed.

5. The method for manufacturing vacuum glass according to claim 1, characterized in that: The process further includes S1021 between S102 and S103: sending the vacuum glass assembly into a preheating chamber and preheating the vacuum glass assembly at a temperature of 50° C. to 300° C.

6. The method for manufacturing vacuum glass according to claim 1, characterized in that: In S101, the getter element is located at an edge of the upper glass plate or the lower glass plate and inside the sealing material, and the number of the getter element is at least one.

7. The method for manufacturing vacuum glass according to claim 1, characterized in that: In S102 and S103, the height of the gas escape channel is not less than 0.3 mm.

8. The method for manufacturing vacuum glass according to claim 1, characterized in that: The air-getter element is in a strip shape and has a plurality of protrusions.

9. A vacuum glass, characterized in that: The method is manufactured by any one of claims 1 to 8.

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