WO2003074831A1 - Spacer - Google Patents

Abstract

Disclosed is a spacer for insulating glass panes or similar in the form of a hollow profile comprising two side walls which are spaced apart parallel to each other and rest against the panes, and two legs which extend between the side walls and run essentially perpendicular to the side walls. The aim of the invention is to improve said spacer in such a way that serious plastic-specific problems are prevented while taking into account optimization of small differences in the linear expansion of the materials, bendability or workability on existing machines and devices used by insulating glass producers, the straightness and stiffness of the profiles, which should be at least similar to that of spacers made of metal, vapor trap effect, heat insulation, and purchase costs. Said aim is achieved by making the hollow profile of a deformation-stable sheet metal and by providing said hollow profile with supports made of a thermally insulating material, which are disposed on the metal sheet, at least in the area of the outer surface of the side walls.

Description

 HOLDER

The present invention relates to a spacer for insulating glass elements, wall panels or the like. Such a spacer is used, for example, to hold the panes of an insulating glass pane in a parallel position to one another and, in conjunction with sealants, to seal the space or interior space between the panes of glass towards the edge of the pane and to absorb desiccants.

Spacers are often used in the form of hollow profiles made of metal (stainless steel or aluminum). The profile has two parallel side walls, on which the panes rest, and two legs extending between the side walls, which run essentially transversely to the side walls of the hollow profile and connect them to one another.

This type of spacer meets the usual requirements with regard to the bond strength to the commonly used sealants and the water vapor tightness against water vapor penetrating into the space between the panes, but the heat flow in the edge area of the panes is too great due to the metallic materials. Even if the space between the panes is filled with noble gases, such as xenon or krypton, a serious drop in the insulation value is observed, especially in the edge area. The proposals according to DE-A 33 02 659, EP 127 739 A2, EP-A 0 430 889, EP-A 0 601 488, DE-A 198 05 348, DE 298 14 brought an improvement with regard to thermal insulation in the edge region of the insulating glass element 768 and DE 198 07 454, in which plastic is used instead of metallic materials. is used and in which metallic vapor barrier films are applied or embedded in side walls and / or legs. However, there are serious problems typical of plastics with regard to:

the flexibility in the corner areas on conventional processing machines, as they have been used for the metallic spacers;

the resulting length-dependent, always different deviation from the straight line or the corner bending angle resulting from the resilience of the plastics and the associated high manual fixing effort of the spacer on the pane;

the material constraint or compression caused by the bending in the corner area, which leads to sectoral material distortions and thus to inadmissible sectoral dimensional deviations, as well as to material tears and damage to the vapor barrier, which is a high risk in terms of the long-term effect of pressure threshold loads caused by wind suction - and pressure forces acting on the disc represents;

the increased production costs due to the time-consuming handling and the high reject rates.

The object of the present invention is to bring the above-mentioned conflicting problems with spacers to a common solution, taking into account the optimization of

small differences in the linear expansion of the materials; Bendability or processability on existing machines and equipment at the insulating glass manufacturers;

Straightness and rigidity of the profiles at least similar to that of the spacers made of metal;

Vapor barrier effect;

thermal insulation;

Costs.

This object is achieved according to the invention in the case of the spacers described at the outset in that the spacers are designed in the form of a hollow profile with two parallel spaced, adjacent to the panes side walls and two legs extending between the side walls, essentially extending transversely to the side walls, wherein the hollow profile is constructed from a deformation-stable metal sheet and has thermal insulating material layers arranged on the metal sheet at least in the region of the outer surface of the side walls.

Deformation-stable metal sheets are understood to mean that these metal sheets have the property, after a shaping operation, of maintaining the shape imposed on them during this operation, even if the mechanical action of the shaping tools is eliminated. This behavior could also be described as a low tendency to reset when deforming.

The basic idea of the present invention is, in contrast to the spacers made of plastic materials, to maintain the mechanical rigidity and also the mechanical workability of the spacers, as is known from the metal spacers, but to take care of it. conditions that the heat transfer between the inside and outside of an insulating glass pane is made significantly more difficult by the thermal insulating material supports arranged at least on the outer surfaces of the side walls.

The insulating material coverings on the outer surfaces of the side walls can be full-surface, which is preferred, but it can also be useful to cover the outer surface of the side walls only in regions, in particular if the adhesives used when the side windows are glued to the spacers are used to fill the remaining spaces between the insulation pad sections and are themselves qualified as thermal insulation material.

In a further preferred embodiment, the outer surface of the entire hollow profile is essentially completely covered by a thermal insulating material layer, so that the heat transfer is further minimized and, due to other transport mechanisms, the metal legs only transport heat between the outer and inner glass panes of the insulating glass pane to a lesser extent can.

For further optimization, parts of the inner surface or the inner surface of the hollow profile as a whole can also be provided with a thermal insulating material layer.

The spacer according to the invention is preferably formed from a deformation-stable metal sheet in such a way that the hollow profile produced therefrom has self-supporting properties. If, as explained later, a manufacturing method is used in which the insulating material layers are arranged on the metal sheet before the hollow profile is formed, the contribution of the insulating material layers, which they contain, especially if they contain reinforcing materials, can of course be used in the calculation for the self-supporting properties are able to perform, are taken into account. The metal sheet for producing the hollow profile of the spacers according to the invention is preferably selected from aluminum sheets, steel sheets, in particular stainless steel sheets, and from tin sheets.

The thermal insulating material pad is preferably constructed on the basis of ceramic, natural material or plastic insulating materials.

Examples include the thermoplastic, thermosetting, elastomeric plastics and plastic blends as well as rubber, rubber and cork materials.

More preferably, the thermal insulating material pad of the spacer according to the invention has a pore structure, which reinforces the insulating effect of the insulating material pad.

The pore structure of the insulating material layer is preferably predominantly closed-cell, which reduces heat conduction through transport processes or convection. The pore structure can be the result of foaming of plastic materials.

As already briefly discussed above, these insulating materials can include reinforcing and / or filling materials and their properties can be adapted here to the mechanical properties required by the spacer.

The reinforcement and filler materials are preferably selected from glass, carbon, aramid and natural fibers or chalk, wollastonite, mica, talc and the like. The reinforcing fiber materials can be used in the form of short, long and also in the form of continuous fibers. Their reinforcing effect varies depending on the form in which they are used, and consequently the insulating material cover can take on tasks relating to the self-supporting properties of the spacer according to the invention.

With regard to the necessary bonding of the spacers to the panes of the insulating glass panes or wall panels and the adhesives and sealants used, it is advisable to provide the outside of the insulating material layer in the area of the side walls of the hollow profile, at least in some areas, with an adhesion promoter layer. This widens the spectrum of the adhesive and sealant materials that can be used. In particular, those adhesive and sealant materials can be used that guarantee long-term satisfactory results.

Particularly when parts of the insulating material cover are exposed to sunlight when an insulating glass window or the like is installed, it is advisable to provide such areas of the outer surface of the insulating material cover with a UV protective layer in order to avoid premature aging thereof.

To achieve a better connection of the spacers with the glass panes, i.e. In order to improve the adhesion of the adhesives and sealants on the side of the spacer, it is provided in preferred embodiments that the hollow profile and / or the insulating material layer have corrugations on the outer surfaces, in particular in the form of longitudinal and / or transverse grooves, or knurling that lead to a kind of positive connection with the adhesive.

At the outer edge, the insulating glass panes are sealed with a sealant material, often in the form of relatively expensive polysulfide sealants, between the spacer and the glass pane. The sealing point requires a Sure sealing a certain contact surface of the sealant material on the glass pane surface, so that the sealant can not be applied as thin as desired.

According to the invention, the cost of sealing at the edge of the pane can be reduced by arranging a strip-shaped displacement body, which is preferably made of poorly heat-conducting material, is arranged in the center on the outside of the leg of the spacer which faces the edge region of the pane when installed.

This can be made of an inexpensive material and takes up a part of the volume that was conventionally to be filled with sealant, so that the amount of sealant required to seal the glass pane is reduced. Since the strip-shaped displacement body keeps a distance from the glass surface or the side walls of the spacer on both sides, the volume required for sealing and in particular the contact surface of the glass pane necessary for secure sealing remains free for the sealant material.

The displacement body can have many shapes if it only meets the aforementioned requirements.

For example, the displacement body can be made from foamed plastic material.

An alternative to this is a U-shaped profile, preferably made of plastic material, which is arranged with its open side on the leg.

Another alternative is that the displacement body is formed by two strip-shaped webs which project parallel to one another from the outside of the leg and define a volume that is open to the environment between them. This volume can remain free when sealing the glass panes, so that the webs ultimately represent boundary walls for the sealant volume.

The displacement body can be produced as a separate part and connected to the leg by means of an adhesive connection or in a positive connection.

Alternatively, the displacement body can also be formed in one piece with the leg.

One way of increasing the thermal resistance of the spacers according to the invention is to provide the metal sheet with a large number of openings which are arranged at least in the region of the leg facing the interior of the pane.

In the simplest case, you will use a perforated plate.

The openings ensure a reduced cross-section of good heat-conducting material and, if desired, can be filled with plastic material. The latter makes it possible to produce a substantially closed profile, which in particular matches the appearance of these spacers to that of conventional spacers.

In principle, the openings can take any shape or cross-sectional shape.

However, the use of slots as openings, which are then preferably aligned with the longitudinal direction of the profiles, is particularly effective.

In the cases in which the openings are also arranged in the outer leg of the spacer, it is advisable to use this on the edge of the pane a vapor barrier layer, for example an aluminum foil, to be arranged on the facing leg so that the penetration of atmospheric moisture into the window interior can be avoided.

The invention further relates to a method for producing the spacers described above, wherein according to a variant of the method according to the invention a metallic, deformation-stable flat material is provided at least in some areas with an insulating material layer, the flat material optionally cut to the size of the hollow profile to be produced and in a manner known per se is formed in a reshaping step into an essentially box-shaped hollow profile with two parallel parallel spaced side surfaces and two legs extending between the side surfaces and running essentially transversely to the side walls, the free side edges of the flat material being arranged adjacent to one another after the box-shaped hollow profile has been formed, and are connected to one another by means of connection steps known per se. Such connection steps are e.g. Laser welding, flanging, beads, etc.

In particular, if the insulating material layer contributes to the mechanical strength of the spacer according to the invention, it may be advisable to preheat the flat material provided with the insulating material layer before the forming step. The same is recommended for thicker insulating material layers for thermal reasons. Preheating can counteract the trend of the plastic-based elastic springback effect.

In a second alternative of the method according to the invention for the production of the spacers according to the invention from metallic flat material, an essentially box-shaped hollow profile is formed from this flat material by a known forming step, the free side edges of the flat material being arranged adjacent to one another after the shaping of the hollow profile and by means of known connection steps with each other get connected. Then at least one of the outer surfaces of the side walls of the hollow profile is provided with insulating material.

The forming of the flat materials in this variant of the manufacturing process, as in the first variant, will often be a so-called roll forming process. In the second alternative of the production method according to the invention, an extrusion process can also be used for the production of the metallic hollow profile.

The invention is explained in more detail below with reference to the drawings. They show in detail:

1 shows a sectional view through a spacer according to the invention;

2 shows a sectional view through a further embodiment of a spacer according to the invention;

3: a variant of the spacer according to the invention according to FIG. 2; and

4: a variant of the spacer according to the invention according to FIG. 2.

In Figure 1 is a cross-section of a spacer 10 according to the invention with side walls 12, 14, which come in flat contact with the glass panes 11 of an insulating glass pane, as well as with legs 16, 18, which run essentially transversely to the side walls 12, 14 and connect them together and thus form a box-like hollow profile overall with the side walls 12, 14. The side walls 12, 14 and the legs 16, 18 are formed from a metal sheet which was initially presented as a flat material, the free edges of which meet at a seam 20 and are connected to one another there, in particular welded. Alternatively, the metallic hollow profile could also be produced in an extrusion process.

In this regard, the hollow profile does not differ from the conventional metal hollow profiles that were used for the conventional spacers. According to the invention, however, an insulating material support 22, 24 is provided on the side surfaces 12, 14, which brings about thermal insulation between the metallic hollow profile of the spacer 10 and the glass panes of the insulating glass pane adjoining it.

In preferred spacers according to the invention, the insulating material covering extends around the entire outer surface of the spacer 10, which is illustrated by a dash-dotted line 26. A further increase in the thermal insulation effect is achieved by likewise providing an insulating material layer in the interior of the hollow profile of the spacer 10, which can optionally extend over the entire inner surface of the cavity in the spacer 10. This is indicated by a dash-dotted line 28. The main effect of the thermal separation of the glass panes is, however, already achieved by the insulating material supports 22, 24 as shown.

The bond between the glass panes 11 and the spacer 10 is achieved by means of an adhesive connection (adhesive layers 13), which have been omitted from the figure for the sake of simplicity in the exemplary embodiments described below.

In the leg 16, bores 30 are provided at regular intervals along the longitudinal direction of the spacer 10, which connect the cavity 32 of the hollow profile of the spacer 10 with the interior of the insulating glass pane adjoining the outer surface of the leg 16. As usual, drying agents are accommodated in the cavity 32, which prevent that in the event of temperature fluctuations, in particular temperature differences between inside and outside, fogging occurs on the insulating glass panes.

The thickness of the insulating material supports 22, 24 can be varied, and as the thickness of the insulating material support increases, they can also contribute to the stability, in particular also to the self-supporting property, of the spacer hollow profile.

In this case, particular emphasis is placed on reinforced material for the insulation pad. The thickness of the metal sheet from which the side walls 12, 14 and the legs 16, 18 are formed can thus be reduced, which increases the thermal resistance of the spacer.

When installing the spacers according to the invention, the intermediate space 25 between the glass panes of an insulating glass pane, which results on the side of the leg 18, is filled with a sealing compound in order to additionally seal off the interior of the insulating glass pane from the outside and to preserve any filling gas present in the interior of the insulating glass pane and at the same time to prevent moisture from migrating from the outside to the inside. The commonly used sealing materials are the very expensive polysulfide sealants.

According to the invention, in the case of particularly preferred spacers 10, a plastic element is placed on the side of the leg 18 in the longitudinal direction and approximately in the center of the leg 18, which has the thickness of the usual sealant application. Applying sealant can namely be avoided in the central region of the leg 18, since the critical points are in each case the points which are adjacent to the adjacent glass panes.

Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 1, the leg 18 can be cranked on its side regions, so that between the cranked side areas and form the inner surfaces of the glass panes 11 gusset-shaped cavities 25, which are filled with sealing compound during sealing.

This allows considerable savings to be made in the cost of the polysulfide sealant, so that the use of the spacers 10 is further improved.

The above is not shown in FIG. 1, but this will be explained in more detail with reference to the examples in FIGS. 2 and 3.

In Figure 2, a spacer 40 is shown, which comprises a hollow profile, which is formed by side walls 42, 44 and legs 46, 48 made of metallic material. On the side walls 42, 44, as previously described, insulating material supports 50, 52 are provided, which provide the thermal insulation of the metallic hollow profile of the spacer constructed from the side walls 42, 44 and the legs 46, 48 with respect to the glass panes adjoining the side walls 42, 44 45 serve. A bond of glass panes and spacers is achieved here by gluing the side walls to the glass panes (not shown).

The leg 48 lies after installation in an insulating glass pane in the direction of the pane edge, where the previously mentioned sealant materials are applied. In order to reduce the volume of the applied sealant materials, according to the invention a strip-shaped plastic element 54, which is foamed in the present case, is arranged on the leg 48, which can be glued to the leg 48, mechanically fastened or otherwise held on it, and which the volume of sealant to be applied to the areas 56, 58 indicated in an interrupted manner. FIG. 3 shows a solution similar to this, in which a spacer 60 has a hollow profile with side walls 62, 64 and legs 66, 68 made of a metal sheet which has been bent or formed into the hollow profile of the spacer 60.

Insulating material supports 70, 72 are arranged on the side walls 62, 64 and, as described in connection with FIG. 2, bring about thermal insulation of the metallic hollow profile of the side walls 62, 64 and legs 66, 68 with respect to the glass panes 69 of an insulating glass pane element. A bond of glass panes and spacers is also achieved here by gluing the side walls to the glass panes (not shown).

The leg 68 is again on the outer edge of an insulating glass element and thus in the area in which a sealant is applied. Here again, in order to minimize the volume of the necessary sealant application, a displacement element in the form of a U-shaped flat plastic material is placed in the center on the outside and in particular is glued to the leg 68 in the areas 76, 77. Again, the required amount of sealant is reduced considerably and is now limited to the volumes 78, 79, which are indicated in broken lines to the right and left of the plastic element 74 in FIG. 3.

FIG. 4 shows a modification of the embodiment in FIG. 2, a spacer 80 between glass panes 82, 84 arranged in a sectional view being shown here.

In this embodiment, the spacer 80 is made from a perforated plate which forms the side walls 86, 88 and the legs 90, 92. The openings 94 of the perforated plate, viewed in the transverse direction, reduce the conductive cross section of the metal plate and thus lead to a higher thermal resistance. The side walls 86, 88 are connected via their insulating material supports 89 to the glass panes 82, 84 via adhesive layers 96, 98.

The leg 92 is arranged adjacent to the edge of the pane and carries a displacement element 100 in the middle in order to minimize the volume of the necessary sealant application, as in the case of the embodiment in FIG. This is limited here to the volumes 102, 104 on both sides of the strip-shaped displacement element 100.

In order to ensure the necessary vapor tightness of the gas volume 106 enclosed between the glass panes 82, 84, a vapor barrier layer 108 in the form of an aluminum foil is applied to the spacer 80 on its surface facing the edge of the pane. The vapor barrier layer does not necessarily have to include the strip-shaped element 100, as shown in FIG. 4, but can lie against the leg 92 over the entire surface. The vapor barrier can be located both on the outside of the leg 92 and on its inner surface, i.e. be arranged inside the hollow profile of the spacer 80.

Claims

P A T E N T A N S P R Ü C H E Spacers for insulating glass panes or the like in the form of a hollow profile with two parallel spaced, adjacent to the panes side walls and two legs extending between the side walls, extending substantially transversely to the side walls, the hollow profile being constructed from a deformation-resistant metal sheet and at least in the area has the outer surface of the side walls arranged on the metal sheet thermal insulating material. Spacer according to claim 1, characterized in that the outer surfaces of the side walls have full-surface insulating material. Spacer according to claim 1, characterized in that the outer surface of the hollow profile is substantially completely provided with a thermal insulating material. Spacer according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that at least parts of the inner surface of the hollow profile are provided with a thermal insulating material layer. Spacer according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the deformation-stable metal sheet gives the hollow profile self-supporting properties. Spacer according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the metal sheet is selected from aluminum sheets, steel sheets, in particular stainless steel sheets, and tin sheets. Spacer according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the thermal insulating material layer is constructed on the basis of ceramic, natural material or plastic insulating materials. Spacer according to claim 7, characterized in that the plastic insulating materials are selected from thermoplastic, thermosetting and elastomeric plastics as well as plastic blends, rubber or rubber materials. Spacer according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the thermal insulating material has a pore structure. Spacer according to claim 9, characterized in that the pore structure is predominantly closed-cell. Spacer according to one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that the insulating material pad is made of a material which comprises reinforcing or filler materials. Spacer according to claim 11, characterized in that the reinforcement and filler materials are selected from glass, carbon, aramid and natural fibers or chalk, wollastonite, mica, talc and the like. Spacer according to claim 12, characterized in that the reinforcing fiber materials are in the form of short, long or continuous fibers. Spacer according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the insulating material supports are provided on their outside in the region of the side wall outer surfaces at least in regions with an adhesion promoter layer. Spacer according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the insulating material coverings are provided with a UV protective layer at least in the areas exposed to sunlight in the installed state. Spacer according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the hollow profile and / or the insulating material layer have longitudinal and / or transverse grooves on external surfaces. Spacer according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that on the outside of the leg pointing in the installed state of the spacer towards the edge region of the pane, a strip-shaped displacement body, preferably made of poorly heat-conducting material, is arranged in the center. Spacer according to claim 17, characterized in that the displacement body is made of foamed plastic material. Spacer according to claim 17, characterized in that the displacement body is formed from a U-shaped profile which is arranged with its open side on the leg. Spacer according to one of claims 17 to 19, characterized in that the displacement body is connected to the leg by means of an adhesive connection or in a positive connection. Spacer according to one of claims 17 to 19, characterized in that the displacement body is formed in one piece with the leg. Spacer according to claim 17, characterized in that the displacement body is formed by two strip-shaped webs which protrude parallel to each other from the outside of the leg and define between them a volume open to the environment. Spacer according to one of claims 1 to 22, characterized in that the metal sheet has a plurality of openings which are arranged at least in the region of the leg which is arranged adjacent to the interior of the pane. Spacer according to claim 23, characterized in that the openings are also arranged in the leg pointing towards the interior of the pane and that a vapor barrier layer is arranged on the leg arranged adjacent to the edge of the pane. Spacer according to claim 23 or 24, characterized in that the openings have a circular cross-section and / or are designed as slots. Spacer according to one of claims 23 to 25, characterized in that the openings of the metal sheet are filled with plastic material at least in the region of the legs. Method for producing a spacer according to one of claims 1 to 26, characterized in that a metallic, deformation-stable flat material is provided at least in some areas with an insulating layer, that the flat material is optionally cut to the size of the hollow profile to be produced and in a manner known per se Forming step is subjected to an essentially box-shaped hollow profile, which has two side surfaces spaced parallel to one another and two legs extending between the side walls and extending essentially transversely to the side walls, the free side edges of the flat material being arranged adjacent to one another after the box-shaped hollow profile has been formed, and are connected to one another by means of connection steps known per se. A method according to claim 27, characterized in that the flat material provided with the insulating material is preheated before the forming step. Method for producing a spacer according to one of claims 1 to 26, characterized in that a substantially box-shaped hollow profile is produced from a metallic flat material by a known forming step, the free side edges of the flat material being arranged adjacent to one another after the hollow profile has been formed, and are connected to one another by means of connection steps known per se, wherein insulating material supports are then arranged at least on the outer surfaces of the side walls of the hollow profile.