Vacuum Insulated Panel Seal Composition for Faster Laser Sintering
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional vacuum insulated glass panels face issues such as significant de-tempering of glass substrates, high manufacturing costs, slow processing times, lack of durability, and hermeticity problems due to edge seal damage, which hinder their commercial viability and compliance with safety codes.
Innovation Solution
Incorporation of thermal diffusivity additives like copper oxide in the seal layer, combined with laser heating to form the edge seal, allows for faster and more efficient sintering, reducing transient stress and maintaining compressive and tensile stresses in the glass substrates, thereby enhancing durability and hermeticity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If conventional seal materials are used without thermal diffusivity additives, then the seal layer can be manufactured with standard materials, but the laser sintering process is slow and causes significant de-tempering of glass substrates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent modifies the thermal diffusivity parameter of the seal layer by incorporating copper oxide particles (0.1-20% by weight). This parameter change enables the seal material to absorb and conduct laser heat more efficiently, increasing sintering speed while reducing the temperature duration that causes glass de-tempering.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a composite seal layer material combining traditional seal glass with copper oxide particles. This composite structure provides both the sealing functionality and the enhanced thermal conductivity needed for fast laser sintering, resolving the contradiction between processing speed and temperature control.
2Productivity
If conventional seal materials are used, then manufacturing processes are simpler, but processing times are long and manufacturing costs are high
Solution Approach 1:
By adjusting the thermal diffusivity parameter through copper oxide addition, the patent achieves faster processing times. The modified material parameters enable efficient laser energy absorption, reducing processing time from minutes to seconds without requiring complex multi-step processes.
3Reliability
If conventional seal materials are used, then the seal structure is simpler, but hermeticity and durability are compromised due to edge seal damage
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs a composite seal layer with copper oxide particles that enhances both hermeticity and durability. The copper oxide reinforcement improves the seal's resistance to thermal stress and mechanical damage during laser sintering, preventing edge seal damage while maintaining a relatively simple overall structure.
4Productivity
If thermal diffusivity additives are added to the seal layer, then laser sintering becomes faster and more efficient, but the seal layer composition becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The patent optimizes the copper oxide content parameter within a specific range (0.1-20% by weight) to achieve maximum sintering efficiency. This parameter optimization ensures that the enhanced thermal diffusivity improves productivity without requiring excessive amounts of additive material, thus limiting the increase in compositional 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 solution results in vacuum insulated panels with improved heat transfer, reduced manufacturing time, enhanced durability, and compliance with safety standards by maintaining optimal stress gradients and hermeticity, while reducing manufacturing costs.
Implementation Method 1
the seal can be laser fired and/or sintered more quickly and/or more efficiently in the manufacturing process
Implementation Method 2
it exhibits high spectral absorption from about 700 to 850 nm, including from about 750 to 815 nm
Implementation Method 3
allowing for heat to be more easily absorbed and/or transferred through the seal material(s)
Implementation Method 4
Providing a vacuum in the space between the substrates reduces conduction and convection heat transport, and thus provides insulating properties
Implementation Method 5
reducing radiative energy with a low-emissivity (low-E) coating provided on one of the substrates
Data Source
AI summary
A vacuum insulating panel may include: a first glass substrate; a second glass substrate; a plurality of spacers provided in a gap between at least the first and second substrates, wherein the gap is at a pressure less than atmospheric pressure; and a seal having at least one layer provided between at least the first and second substrates. Additive(s) may be provided in material(s) for the seal in in order to improve thermal diffusivity and/or thermal conductivity thereof.