Laminated Glazing with Ablation Lines for Uniform Heating
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing glazing systems for transport vehicles and buildings face challenges in achieving uniform heating across complex geometries due to incompatibility between electrical conductivities and supply voltages, leading to overheating, optical property deterioration, and non-uniform heating effects.
Innovation Solution
A laminated glazing system with a substantially uniform electrically conductive layer and strategically placed ablation lines to manage current flow, creating non-conductive and conductive strips that adjust resistance and current path to achieve uniform specific power across complex shapes, using busbars and ablation lines to channel the electric current effectively.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If a uniform electrically conductive layer is used for heating, then the heating system is simple and economically advantageous, but uniform heating cannot be achieved across complex geometries leading to overheating and underheating areas
Solution Approach 1:
The uniform conductive layer is segmented by ablation lines that remove portions of the layer, creating a pattern of conductive and non-conductive zones. This segmentation allows current to be channeled through specific paths, distributing heat more uniformly across complex geometries while maintaining the simplicity of using a single uniform layer deposition process
Solution Approach 2:
The ablation lines create local variations in electrical conductivity within the uniform layer by selectively removing material in specific patterns. This allows different regions of the glazing to have different effective resistances, enabling uniform heating across complex shapes while the overall layer remains uniformly deposited
2Power
If the conductive layer thickness or conductivity is adjusted to achieve desired specific power, then heating performance improves, but manufacturing complexity increases due to required thickness gradients or controlled deposition
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of creating continuous thickness gradients or varying deposition conditions across the entire layer, the invention segments the uniform layer through ablation lines. This achieves the desired resistance variation and specific power control through patterned removal rather than complex deposition control
Solution Approach 2:
A uniform conductive layer is deposited first across the entire glazing surface using simple industrial processes, and then ablation lines are created afterward to modify the electrical properties. This preliminary deposition simplifies manufacturing by decoupling the layer formation from the pattern creation
3Temperature
If ablation lines are used to channel current and achieve uniform heating, then temperature uniformity improves, but optical properties may deteriorate due to visible ablation lines or increased manufacturing complexity
Solution Approach 1:
The ablation lines are created in a thin transparent conductive oxide layer that is flexible and can be patterned without creating visible defects. The thin film nature allows the ablation lines to be optically invisible while still providing the necessary electrical segmentation for uniform heating
Solution Approach 2:
The ablation process modifies the optical properties of the conductive layer by removing material, creating patterns that are electrically active but optically invisible or minimally visible. This maintains the aesthetic and optical qualities of the glazing while achieving uniform heating
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
This solution ensures uniform heating across complex geometries, managing overheating and optical effects by adjusting resistance and current flow, allowing for efficient heating with minimal optical haze and extended lifespan of glazing systems.
Implementation Method 1
The heating system consists either of wires embedded in the glazing or of transparent conductive layers... allowing heating by Joule effect
Implementation Method 2
ablation lines of the electrically conductive layer close in on themselves while forming non-conductive strips
Data Source
AI summary
A laminated glazing has a plurality of rigid transparent substrates that are bonded to one another pairwise via an intercalary adhesive layer, at least one of these transparent substrates being coated with an electrically conductive layer that is substantially uniform in nature and thickness, a zone of which has four edges opposing one another in pairs, first and second busbars being arranged along two opposite edges, ablation lines of the electrically conductive layer closing in on themselves while forming non-conductive strips, each occupying a major portion of the distance between the busbars, the shape of the non-conductive strips being capable of providing a temperature of heating by the electrically conductive layer that is virtually constant over the entire area of the zone.