Multi-Layer Windowpane Structure for Lightweight Vacuum Insulation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing multi-layered windowpanes for automotive applications face challenges in balancing high strength, temperature and acoustic insulation with reduced weight, particularly in vehicles with varying altitudes, and require improved energy efficiency to reduce battery consumption.
Innovation Solution
A multi-layered windowpane design featuring a thin inner layer sandwiched between thicker outer layers, connected by adhesive transparent foil layers and surrounded by a sealing, with distributed spacers to support the construction and maintain low-pressure spaces for enhanced insulation, while using thermoplastic elastomers for bonding and cross-linking to handle thermal expansion and stress.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If multi-layered windowpanes use thicker glass layers to improve strength and insulation, then insulation performance and strength are improved, but weight increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The windowpane is divided into multiple layers with different thicknesses - thin inner layers (0.1-0.5mm) for weight reduction and thin protective outer layers (0.5-2mm) for strength, replacing the conventional uniform thick glass design. This segmentation allows each layer to perform its specific function optimally while minimizing overall weight.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention uses composite construction combining thin glass layers with adhesive transparent foil layers and sealing materials. This composite structure achieves the required mechanical strength and insulation performance without relying solely on thick glass, thereby reducing weight while maintaining functionality.
2Weight of moving object
If multi-layered windowpanes use thin inner layers to reduce weight, then weight is reduced, but vulnerability and structural integrity worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The thin inner layer is protected beforehand by robust outer layers and surrounding sealing structures. The outer layers act as a protective barrier that cushions and protects the vulnerable thin inner layer from mechanical damage, environmental factors, and handling stresses, ensuring structural integrity while maintaining weight reduction benefits.
Solution Approach 2:
The adhesive transparent foil layer and sealing structures provide flexible protection around the thin inner layer. These thin film structures conform to the inner layer and provide protective enclosure without adding significant weight, maintaining both vulnerability protection and weight reduction.
3Reliability
If multi-layered windowpanes incorporate sealing and adhesive layers to protect thin inner layers, then structural integrity is improved, but manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The adhesive transparent foil layer serves multiple functions simultaneously - it bonds the inner layer to the outer layer, provides protective enclosure, and contributes to the sealing structure. This merging of functions reduces the number of separate components needed, simplifying the overall construction while maintaining structural integrity.
Solution Approach 2:
The outer layers and sealing structures are designed to perform multiple functions: mechanical protection of thin layers, thermal insulation, structural bonding, and environmental sealing. This multi-functionality reduces the need for additional specialized components, thereby simplifying the overall construction complexity.
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 design achieves robust insulation, reduced weight, and improved stress resistance, enabling compact and efficient windowpanes suitable for automotive use with minimal deformation and optical distortion, while allowing for semi-finished production logistics.
Implementation Method 1
an adhesive transparent foil layer located between the first outer layer and the third inner layer that over the entire surface of the third inner layer connects the third inner layer with the first outer layer
Implementation Method 2
Vacuum insulating glazing is also provided with an evacuated space between two glass layers as the vacuum reduces the temperature and/or vibration transfer between the glass layers due to less or no conduction and convection
Implementation Method 3
radiative heat transfer may be reduced to a low level by incorporating at least one internal transparent low emittance or other infrared reflective coating
Implementation Method 4
the adhesive transparent foil layer attaching the third inner layer over its entire surface to first outer layer also provides a construction that is able to handle relative high temperature differences between the panels (resulting from the temperature insulating properties of the multi-layered windowpane) with the resulting differences in expansion of the glass panels with different thicknesses
Data Source
AI summary
The invention relates to a multi-layered windowpane including a first transparent outer layer, a second transparent outer layer, and a third, smaller, transparent inner layer that is located in between the outer layers, an adhesive transparent foil layer located between the first outer layer and the third inner layer and a sealing surrounding the third inner layer. The invention also provides a thin layered windowpane core to be incorporated in such a multi-layered windowpane as well as a method for producing such a multi-layered windowpane.