A laminated glazing comprising an insert assembly

Abstract

The present invention relates to a laminated glazing comprising at least two substrate sheets, each sheet having two oppositely disposed major surfaces (P1, P2, P3, P4), at least one insert assembly having at least one edge, provided in between at least two interlayer and surface area of the insert assembly smaller than the surface area of the major surfaces (P1, P2, P3, P4).

Description

A LAMINATED GLAZING COMPRISING AN INSERT ASSEMBLYFIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The present invention relates to a laminated glazing, in particular a laminated glazing for vehicles. More particularly, a laminated glazing comprising an insert assembly laminated inside the glazing and more particularly laminated inbetween interlayers. Vehicle glazing plays a crucial role in enhancing energy efficiency and sustainability while maintaining safety and functionality.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] The invention is primarily intended to be used in the production of automotive glazing but not limited to. The present invention relates to a glazing comprising an insert assembly laminated inside the glazing.

[0003] The insert assemblies in the present invention relates to a solar cell assembly laminated inside the glazing. In the automotive field, such glazings are for example used mainly for the roofs, and possibly for side windows including the quarter-lites and back-lites of vehicles. In particular, glazed roofs are increasingly being substituted for conventional roofs, which form part of the body of vehicles. As in the architectural field, the choice of these roofs is the result of constructors offering to their customers this option, which makes a vehicle seem to open onto the exterior, like a convertible, without the disadvantages of convertibles, as these roofs maintain the comfort levels of a conventional sedan. Also, it is more and more requested from designer and car manufacturers to have roofs with laminated glazing provided with an electrical device such as a solar cell assembly to harvest the energy of sunlight entering inside the vehicle. It is known and common to laminate the glazing with an interlayer plastic sheet. However, it is difficult to laminate a solar cell assembly to be used in interlayer lamination as it is for the heating wires, because of the soldering of the connectors, alignment issues and also the curved nature of the glazing. For the integration of solar cells into a laminated glazing, more reliable and efficient method is needed.

[0004] The insert assemblies in the present invention also relates to an functional element needing an electrical connection such as a functional film for controlling the transparency of the glazing, or a display, or alike. For example, in the architectural field such glazings with functional films are dynamic glazings that may be darkened at will, in particular electronically, in order to protect against the heat of the sun and glare. In the construction field, smartwindows can be darkened at will when the weather is sunny in order to prevent the passage of light into a room, or lightened when the weather is cloudy in order to once more maximize the passage of light or light from display in case the dynamic glazing comprises an integrated display. In addition, in the architectural field, the glazings are generally flat or have a low curvature. Also, it is more and more requested from designer and car manufacturers to have a roof or side or rear windows provided with a functional film such as a switchable film to control the light level entering inside the vehicle for thermal comfort and / or for privacy and acoustic comfort. In the automotive field, such glazings are for example used as the roofs, windshields, rear windows and side windows including the quarter-lites of vehicles.

[0005] Automotive glazings such as roof, windshield, back-lite, quarter-lite and side lite are generally bent to fit with the design of the car. The bent shape is more and more complex with high value of curvature. The bent shape is commonly obtained by applying a pressure and / or a heating on the glazing prior to interlayer lamination. The bending processes are those commonly and well known by skilled man in the art to bent automotive and / or architectural laminated glazing.

[0006] The lamination process in the art requires high pressures, such as up to 13 bar, during the autoclaving. Such high pressure leads to the insert assemblies pushing / squeezing the interlayers. For aesthetic purposes and even technical purposes, such insert assemblies may be laminated with colored interlayers. When the colored interlayers are laminated with such insert assemblies, because of the squeezing of the interlayers, the color density of the colored interlayers is disturbed. Therefore, when the preferably opaque insert laminated inbetween colored interlayers, a bright light ring appears around the edge of the insert assembly, such phenomena is also called halo effect.

[0007] In the state of the art, such insert assemblies are laminated with almost opaque interlayer to mask the halo ring around the edges of the insert assembly. However even laminated inbetween two opaque interlayers, as the color density of the interlayers changing due to squeezing of the interlayer by the insert assembly, halo effect can be seen around the edges of the insert assembly. Moreover, not all insert assemblies are compatible lamination with opaque interlayers, such as solar cells need to be open to outer environment.

[0008] In the automotive field, such glazings are for example used mainly for the roofs, and possibly for side windows including the quarter-lites and back-lites of vehicles. In particular, glazed roofs are increasingly being substituted for conventional metallic roofs, which formpart of the body of vehicles. Also, it is more and more requested from designers and car manufacturers to have roofs with laminated glazing provided with a insert assembly such as solar cells, functional element comprising liquid crystals, lighting units and so on. However, the conventional methods mentioned above are not compatible with insert assemblies are required for different glazings in addition to the issues listed above. Therefore, a different solution is required to fulfill the requirements of the automotive industry.

[0009] Therefore with the known techniques in the art, such laminated vehicle glazings with insert assemblies encounter risks of halo effect that disturbing the appearance of the glazing.

[0010] US20240219006 describes a lighting glazing where the halo effect is masked by introduction of a plastic part.

[0011] W02023242300 describes a glazing where the halo effect may be eliminated by direct contact or masked by introduction of an opaque material.

[0012] It is also known from WO2023174166 that removal of high reflective surface may eliminate the halo effect.

[0013] W02024017225 describes the use of a light isolation layer in order to eliminate the halo effect.

[0014] Unfortunately, the solutions provided in the prior art for the halo effect are requiring extra steps in the production or usage of expensive items which means extra time and cost for the production.SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0015] The goal of the present invention is to provide a glazing having a insert assembly laminated inside and with an affordable and defect-free method of production to eliminate the aforementioned problems. The present invention aims to address specific challenges related to glazing materials, manufacturing processes, and integration into vehicle design.

[0016] The present invention provides a glazing with a insert assembly that may be integrated into a bent shape glazing utilizing almost all available area without defects. More specifically, the present invention provides an affordable and yet simple solution to the halo ring around the insert assembly.

[0017] It is therefore an objective of the present invention to eliminate the halo effect in vehicle glazings by addressing these critical aspects, revolutionizing the field with improved efficiency and reliability.

[0018] The laminated glazing of the present invention comprises at least one clear interlayer at least around the edge of the insert assembly. The use of clear interlayer of the present invention enables the insert assembly to squeeze the clear interlayer instead of the colored interlayer so that the contrast of the halo ring becomes invisible.

[0019] In one of the preferred embodiments of the present invention, the interlayer has multiple layers so that the topmost layer of the interlayer facing the insert assembly is a clear layer. Therefore such an interlayer allows colored layers that the coloring function of the interlayer is not compromised in order to solve the halo issue around the insert assembly. One way to achieve such multilayered interlayer is co-extrusion of the different layers together to make one sheet of interlayer comprising both clear and colored layers. This embodiment allows a simpler operation for packaging, logistics and production.

[0020] In another embodiment of the present invention, multiple interlayers may be used in the lamination process ensuring the interlayer facing the insert assembly being clear interlayer with the compromise of the thickness due to multiple interlayers.

[0021] In one another preferred embodiments of the present invention, the clear interlayer facing the insert assembly is harder than the colored interlayer or the interlayers facing away the insert assembly. In other words, the clear interlayer facing the insert assembly has a lower melt flow index (MFI) or melt flow ratio (MFR) than the other interlayers used in the glazing. As the clear interlayer in the embodiment has a lower flow rate, during the lamination process, the said will endure the pressure in addition to being clear.

[0022] I n different embodiments of the present invention, the insert assembly may be a solar cell assembly or a functional element having a liquid crystal film or any means having a thickness that creates halo effect when laminated inbetween interlayers.

[0023] I n addition, the solution proposed in the present invention is relatively simple solution that almost no extra time is needed for the production of the glazing and the extra cost is negligible.

[0024] The foregoing detailed description is given primarily for clearness of understanding and no unnecessary limitations are to be understood therefrom for modifications can be made by those skilled in the art upon reading this disclosure and may be made without departing from the nature of the invention.DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0025] The present invention will be described with respect to particular embodiments and with reference to certain drawings but the invention is not limited thereto but only by the claims.

[0026] While some embodiments described herein include some but not other features included in other embodiments, combinations of features of different embodiments are meant to be within the scope of the invention, and form different embodiments, as would be understood by those in the art. For example, in the following claims, any of the claimed embodiments can be used in any combination.

[0027] As used herein, spatial ordirectional terms, such as "inner", "outer", "above", "below", "top", "bottom", and the like, relate to the invention. However, it is to be understood that the invention can assume various alternative orientations and, accordingly, such terms are not to be considered as limiting. Further, all numbers expressing dimensions, physical characteristics, processing parameters, quantities of ingredients, reaction conditions, and the like, used in the specification and claims are to be understood as being modified in all instances by the term "about". Accordingly, unless indicated to the contrary, the numerical values set forth in the following specification and claims are approximations that can vary depending upon the desired properties sought to be obtained by the present invention.

[0028] Moreover, all ranges disclosed herein are to be understood to be inclusive of the beginning and ending range values and to encompass any and all subranges subsumed therein. For example, a stated range of "1 to 10" should be considered to include any and all subranges between (and inclusive of) the minimum value of 1 and the maximum value of 10; that is, all subranges beginning with a minimum value of 1 or more, e.g., 1 to 6.1, and ending with a maximum value of 10 or less, e.g., 5.5 to 10. Further, as used herein, the terms "deposited over" or "provided over" mean deposited or provided on but not necessarily in surface contact with. For example, a coating "deposited over" a substrate does not preclude the presence of one or more other coating films of the same or different composition located between the deposited coating and the substrate.

[0029] Where the term "comprising" is used in the present description and claims, it does not exclude other elements or steps. Where an indefinite or definite article is used when referring to a singular noun e.g., "a" or "an", "the", this includes a plural of that noun unless something else is specifically stated. In this document, "configured to (or set to)" may be interchangeablyused in hardware and software with, for example, "appropriate to", "having a capability to", "changed to", "made to", "capable of", or "designed to" according to a situation. In any situation, an expression "device configured to do" may mean that the device "can do" together with another device or component.

[0030] Furthermore, the terms first, second and the like in the description and in the claims, are used for distinguishing between similar elements and not necessarily for describing a sequence, either temporally, spatially, in ranking or in any other manner. It is to be understood that the terms so used are interchangeable under appropriate circumstances and that the embodiments of the invention described herein are capable of operation in other sequences than described or illustrated herein. When it is described that a constituent element (e.g., a first constituent element) is "(functionally or communicatively) coupled to" or is "connected to" another constituent element (e.g., a second constituent element), it should be understood that the constituent element may be directly connected to the another constituent element or may be connected to the another constituent element through another constituent element (e.g., a third constituent element).

[0031] I n the following description, unless otherwise specified, expression "substantially" or "around" or "proximity" or "close to" preferably mean to within 10%, preferably to within 5% i.e., in this context the terms should be understood as in the range of ± 10%, even more ± 5%. Tolerance may be selected depending on the nature of the intended applications.

[0032] A vehicle should be understood as any conveyor that transfers anything from point a to point b which includes any land, air or sea vehicles like car, van, lorry, motorbike, bus, tram, train, drone, airplane, helicopter and the like.

[0033] In the following description, unless otherwise specified, expression "solar cells assembly", "solar cell assembly", "solar cell matrix", "solar panel", "photovoltaic (PV) cells assembly", "photovoltaic assembly" are used interchangeably, expression "solar cell", "PV cell", "photovoltaic cell" are used interchangeably, further expression "electrical component", "circuitry element", "bypass diode", "wire harness" and "cabling" are used interchangeably, further expression "sheet", "substrate sheet", "glass sheet" and "plastic sheet" are used interchangeably.

[0034] The present invention introduces improvements to a laminated glazing comprising at least two substrate sheets, each sheet having two oppositely disposed major surfaces (Pl, P2, P3, P4), and at least two interlayers as bonding layer, at least one insert assembly with at leastone edge and the insert assembly is laminated inside the glazing in between two sheets. Before going into the details of the present invention, definitions for glazing, structure of the proposed glazing will be explained herein.

[0035] The laminated glazing may be used as a vehicle glazing or as a glazing for buildings and / or architectural purposes or anywhere where such glazing is required. In the automotive industry, such glazings are used as windshields, backlites, sidelites, roofs, rear-door-fixes or quarter-lite-fixes.

[0036] It is understood that the invention is not limited to a roof and in another preferred embodiment of the present invention, the laminated glazing can be used in any glazing for a vehicle and in another preferred embodiment of the present invention, the laminated glazing can be used in outside of automotive industry, i.e., anywhere where a laminated glazing is needed.

[0037] The glazing is comprising a first substrate sheet having an outer (Pl) and an inner (P2) faces, a second substrate sheet having an outer (P4) and an inner (P3) faces. The substrate sheets may be glass sheets as conventional vehicle glazing, however other materials like plastic, thermoplastic polymers and so on can be used as the substrate sheets. According to the invention, the glass may be a glass of soda-lime-silica, aluminosilicate or borosilicate type, and the like, or the plastic may be PC, PET, PMMA, etc. For the sake of the invention, the material or other properties (thickness, number of substrate sheets, relative sizes) of the substrate sheet is not utmost important, the glazing may be made of combination of different substrate sheets. Thus the composition of the glazing is not crucial for the purpose of the present invention. Moreover, the thicknesses of the sheets are also not crucial for the purpose of the present invention.

[0038] The glazing is comprising two interlayers as bonding layer for the substrate sheets. The interlayer may be one of the conventional interlayers used in lamination processes, examples of the interlayer are EVA, TPO, POE, PVB, TPU, Ionomers, and etc. which are widely known and used in both automotive and architecture industry. For the sake of the invention, the two interlayers of the glazing may be two different interlayer. The insert assembly is sandwiched between the interlayers.

[0039] The glazing is preferably curved. The term "curved" is defined by the following criteria: "the curved laminated glazing has at least 50% of its total surface area having a minimum radius of curvature (R min) comprised between 50 and 15000 mm". Therefore, as understoodfrom the definition of curved surface, the curvature of the glazing may be in only one direction (2D) or in at least two direction (3D) in terms of the orientation as long as the definition of curvature described above satisfied. Preferably, the first and / or the second substrate sheets are bent in a previous step before providing an insert assembly over at least one surface of the first and / or the second substrate sheets, i.e., before the lamination process which will be described below. The curvature values of the first substrate sheet and the second substrate sheet may be in line with each other, it has to be understood that the curvature values might not be the same. Likewise, the first sheet may have a low curvature and the second sheet is flat, this type of glazing can also be counted curved glazing as long as it satisfies the criteria described. However, the curvature of the glazing is not crucial for the present invention.

[0040] According to the invention, the term "laminated" refers to a step of providing a layered structure in which the insert assembly, and one or more sheets are separated by an interlayer extending across substantially the entire interface between the insert assembly and the sheets. In the preferred embodiment, the lamination is realized by sandwiching the insert assembly in between two interlayer, the two interlayer may be same interlayer or different types of interlayers depending on the need. The interlayer is used as a bonding layer during the lamination process. In the preferred embodiment, the lamination process is a classical lamination process including autoclave process.

[0041] The glazing is comprising at least one insert assembly being positioned between the faces 2 (P2) and 3 (P3), where it can be protected from damage. The insert assembly may be composed of at least one solar cell string and the solar cell string is composed of at least one solar cell. The individual solar cells may be any type of solar cells available and suitable for laminating inside a glazing. The solar cell string is at least one series-connected solar cells using flat or round metallic wires running across each solar cell, particularly made of multiple solar cells connected each other end to end. The connection inbetween adjacent solar cells is not significant. The solar cell assembly, particularly solar cell matrix, is made of at least one solar cell string, more specifically multiple solar cell strings connected in series or parallel or combination of both. By "solar cell" it is meant a photovoltaic cell, is an electronic device that converts the energy of light directly into electricity by the photovoltaic effect, which is a physical phenomenon. It is very well known that the solar cells can be c-Si, a-Si or thin-film solar cells or combinations thereof. In a particular arrangement, the solar cell assembly is composed of n*m matrix of solar cells, n being number of solar cell strings and m beingnumber of solar cells in a solar cell string, further wherein n>l and m>l. However, solar cell assembly may also have an irregular matrix design depending on the shape of the glazing and the usable area for such glazing, i.e., solar cell assembly may comprise solar cell strings with different number of solar cells.

[0042] ln a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the surface area of the insert assembly is smaller than the surface area of the glass sheets. Therefore, after the lamination process, the proximity of the edges of the insert assembly are subject to halo effect.

[0043] The glazing in an embodiment of the present invention comprises a first sheet having an external surface (Pl) and an inner surface (P2), and a second sheet having an inner surface (P3) and an outer surface (P4). Such glazing is laminated. The first sheet of the glazing is that sheet in contact with the exterior of the vehicle. The second sheet is that sheet in contact with the inner space of the vehicle. However, as explained above, the ordering can be changed and also the glazing can be a triple glazing or any kind of glazing with at least two sheets.

[0044] Thus, the invention relates to any glazing, whether tempered, curved or not, whether for a vehicle or a building, that comprises a insert assembly with at least one edge, and the glazing comprises a bonding interlayer for lamination as described above, the bonding layer can be any interlayer material suitable for traditional lamination process.

[0045] The glazing of the present invention comprises at least one of the interlayers around the edge of the insert assembly are clear / transparent interlayers. As the halo effect, i.e., the bright lights are seen around the edges of the insert assembly, change of the interlayer parameters are also only needed around the edges of the insert assembly. Use of clear interlayer around the edges of the insert assembly allows squeezing of the clear interlayer by the insert assembly so that the halo effect cannot be seen since the clear interlayer does not include dye molecules for coloring. Therefore, a small patch of clear interlayer may be incorporated around the edges of the insert assembly before the lamination process so that the halo effect around the insert assembly becomes invisible by a simple and yet low cost solution.

[0046] In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the interlayers being clear / transparent around the edge of the insert assembly should be understood as only the part of the interlayers around the edges of the insert assembly is clear / transparent and the rest of the interlayer may be colored. Especially, the interlayer close to the interior of thevehicle is preferably colored in order to mask the insert assembly. For example in the case of the insert assembly being solar cells, the interlayer underneath the solar cells, namely in contact with the P3 surface of the glazing are selected as a colored interlayer in order to mask the solar cells and only the region of the interlayer around the edges of the insert assembly are chosen to be clear / transparent. As the present invention describes, the inventors found out that the interlayer around the edges of the insert assembly needs to be clear / transparent in order to solve the halo issue explained above.

[0047] In one embodiment of the present invention, at least one of the interlayers facing the insert assembly are clear / transparent interlayers. The clear interlayer may also cover a bigger surface area than the edges of the insert assembly.

[0048] In another embodiment of the present invention, the clear / transparent interlayers have a visible light transmission of higher than or equal to 80%. In order to make the halo effect more invisible, the clear interlayer has a visible light transmission of higher than or equal to 80% so that the squeezed interlayer does not cause a visible halo effect. Therefore, even the interlayer comprises a relatively small portion of dye molecules for coloring, the halo effect is still not disturbing when the interlayer has a visible light transmission of higher than or equal to 80%. The measurement of light transmission can be realized via the conventional methods used in the field, even the light transmission value of the corresponding interlayer can be seen from the technical sheet of the interlayer.

[0049] In another embodiment of the present invention, at least one of the interlayers has at least two layers that are extruded together, wherein the layer facing the insert assembly are clear / transparent. It has been found out that to eliminate halo effect or make it invisible, at least a clear layer of interlayer is needed around the edges of the insert assembly. Therefore, interlayers having multiple layers extruded together may also be used to solve the halo effect problem provided that the layer facing the insert assembly is being a clear layer.

[0050] In another embodiment of the present invention, at least one of the layers of the extruded interlayer is a colored layer. A colored layer in the interlayer may be used to cover blank / empty area inbetween multiple insert assemblies or inbetween the edges of the same insert assembly. As mentioned above, the preferred embodiment of the present invention comprises a colored interlayer which has clear / transparent regions configured to be aligned with the proximity of the edges of the insert assembly in order to solve the halo issue.

[0051] In another embodiment of the present invention, at least one colored interlayer is provided on the clear / transparent interlayer. A colored interlayer in the interlayer stack may be used to cover blank / empty area inbetween multiple insert assemblies or inbetween the edges of the same insert assembly, provided the colored interlayer is facing away the insert assembly.

[0052] In another embodiment of the present invention, colored (inter)layers have a visible light transmission of less than 80%. It has been found out from the experiments that the halo effect occurs with the colored interlayers having a visible light transmission less than or equal to 80%. Therefore, for the sake of the invention, an interlayer having a visible light transmission less than 80% should be understood as a colored interlayer.

[0053] In another embodiment of the present invention, the thickness of the interlayers around the edge of the insert assembly are at least half of the thickness of the insert assembly. One another reason forthe bright lighting effect around the edges of the insert assembly may be the gap inbetween the two interlayers around the edges of the insert assembly, used in the lamination process, when the insert assembly is laminated. The clear inter(layer) to make the halo effect invisible then may fill the said gap to achieve the intended function, thus the thickness of the clear interlayer around the edges of the insert assembly is at least the half of the thickness of the insert assembly.

[0054] In a different embodiment of the present invention, the minimum thickness of the interlayers around the edge of the insert assembly, preferably the solar cells, are at least 20 pm, and more preferably 50 pm. It has been shown with various experiments that the minimum thickness of the clear interlayer to make the halo invisible has to be at least 20 pm.

[0055] In another embodiment of the present invention, the clear / transparent (inter)layers have a lower melt flow rate (MFR) than the colored interlayers, i.e., the clear interlayers are harderthan colored (inter)layers. One another reason forthe bright lighting effect around the edges of the insert assembly may be the flow of the interlayer during the lamination process. Therefore, surprisingly the clear interlayer being harder, i.e., less flowing in lamination process, than the colored interlayers helps to make the halo effect invisible.

[0056] In different versions of the present invention, the insert assembly may also be an insert to provide more safety for the glazing and may be made of polycarbonate, polyimide, PET or PMMA. Moreover, in further different versions of the present invention, the insert assembly may also be an insert for decorative purposes with a patterned design and etc.

[0057] Thanks to the incorporating of the clear interlayer of the present invention, glazings can comprise any type of insert assembly without concerning halo effect around the edges of the insert assembly. Moreover, the solution proposed by the present invention can be applied in various ways like providing a clear interlayer patch only around the edges of the interlayer or providing an interlayer having a clear interlayer around the edges of the insert assembly or providing an extruded interlayer having a clear layer facing the insert assembly, but not limited to.

Claims

CLAIMS1. A laminated glazing comprising at least two substrate sheets, each sheet having two oppositely disposed major surfaces (Pl, P2, P3, P4), at least one insert assembly having at least one edge, provided in between at least two interlayer and surface area of the insert assembly smaller than the surface area of the major surfaces (Pl, P2, P3, P4), characterized in that at least one of the interlayers around the edge of the insert assembly are clear / transparent interlayers.

2. A laminated glazing according to claim 1, characterized in that at least one of the interlayers facing the insert assembly are clear / transparent interlayers.

3. A laminated glazing according to any preceding claims, characterized in that the clear / transparent interlayers have a visible light transmission of higher than or equal to 80%.

4. A laminated glazing according to any preceding claims, characterized in that at least one of the interlayers has at least two layers extruded together, wherein the layer facing the insert assembly are clear / transparent.

5. A laminated glazing according to claim 4, characterized in that at least one of the layers of the extruded interlayer is a colored layer.

6. A laminated glazing according to any preceding claims, wherein at least one colored interlayer is provided on the clear / transparent interlayer.

7. A laminated glazing according to any preceding claims, wherein the colored (inter)layers have a visible light transmission of less than 80%.

8. A laminated glazing according to any preceding claims, characterized in that the thickness of the interlayers around the edge of the insert assembly are at least half of the thickness of the insert assembly.

9. A laminated glazing according to any preceding claims, characterized in that the minimum thickness of the interlayers around the edge of the insert assembly are at least 20 pm.

10. A laminated glazing according to any preceding claims, characterized in that the clear / transparent (inter)layers having a lower melt flow rate (MFR) the than colored (inter)layers.

11. A laminated glazing according to any preceding claims, wherein the insert assembly is a solar cell assembly with at least one solar cell string with at least one photovoltaic solar cell.

12. A laminated glazing according to any preceding claims, wherein the insert assembly is a functional element having liquid crystal film.

13. A laminated glazing according to any preceding claims, wherein the glazing is a roof glazing.

14. A vehicle comprising the laminated glazing according to any preceding claims.

15. A vehicle according to claim 14, wherein the insert assembly is a solar cell assembly.