Glass-Ceramic Glazing with Spatially Varying Optical Properties
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current glazing technologies for vehicles and architectural applications face challenges in efficiently constructing composite structures that balance strength, light transmission, and aesthetic requirements, particularly in regions without coatings or decorations, leading to increased costs and complexity.
Innovation Solution
A single sheet of glass-ceramic material with discrete regions, processed to control ultraviolet and infrared transmission and achieve desired coloration, utilizing a silicate amorphous phase with MxWO3 and/or MxMoO3 precipitates, and varying dopant cation stoichiometry to create regions with distinct optical properties, including high visible light transmission and selective infrared transmission.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If multiple layers and coatings are added to satisfy aesthetic and functional requirements, then the windshield meets design specifications, but the construction becomes expensive and time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple functional layers (UV-blocking layer, infrared-blocking layer, decorative layer) into a single glass-ceramic sheet with spatially varying properties. Different regions of the same sheet provide different optical functions, eliminating the need for separate laminated layers while maintaining all required aesthetic and functional specifications.
Solution Approach 2:
The glass-ceramic sheet serves multiple functions simultaneously: it blocks UV radiation, blocks infrared radiation, provides decorative coloration, and maintains structural integrity. A single material and processing operation achieves what traditionally required multiple specialized layers and coatings.
2Adaptability or versatility
If a single glass-ceramic sheet is used with varying dopant cation stoichiometry to create different optical regions, then multiple functions are integrated, but the manufacturing precision requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies different dopant cation stoichiometries to different spatial regions of the glass-ceramic sheet. For example, one region may have higher tungsten content for UV blocking, while another region has different composition for infrared transmission or decorative purposes. This local variation in composition is achieved through controlled melting and cooling processes that create distinct optical zones within a single sheet.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution enables efficient glazing with reduced iron content, allowing for high visible light transmission while controlling infrared and ultraviolet light, and enabling decorative coloration, thus simplifying construction and reducing costs by integrating multiple functions into a single material.
Implementation Method 1
the first region has transmittance of at least 70% over a 100 nanometer-wide band at wavelengths in a range between 380 to 750 nanometers and less than 50% at wavelengths between 900 nanometers to 1800 nanometers
Implementation Method 2
The first region has the MxWO3 and/or MxMoO3 precipitates at a volume fraction of the glass-ceramic greater than 1% and less than 20% and homogenously distributed within the silicate amorphous phase
Data Source
AI summary
Glazing, such as for vehicles, includes a sheet of glass-ceramic that has different regions with different transmission properties, including a first visually clear region that blocks infrared, a second visually clear region that allows transmission of infrared, and a third colored region.