WO2006130092A9

WO2006130092A9 - Insulated glass unit and arrangement for windows

Info

Publication number: WO2006130092A9
Application number: PCT/SE2006/050084
Authority: WO
Inventors: Ola Karlsson
Original assignee: FLEX FASADER AB
Current assignee: FLEX FASADER AB
Priority date: 2005-05-30
Filing date: 2006-04-25
Publication date: 2007-02-22
Anticipated expiration: 2007-11-30
Also published as: SE528645C2; WO2006130092A1; EP1885981A1; SE0501228L

Abstract

The present invention relates to an insulated glass unit for glass facades, comprising two glass sheets (1, 2) that are joined together by an inner joining barrier (3) and an outer joining barrier (4), a thermoplastic sealing agent being arranged in the binding layers (3A and 3B, respectively) between the respective glass sheets (1, 2) and said inner barrier (3), which thermoplastic sealing agent is arranged to seal in respect of a heat insulating gas (8) between said glass sheets (1, 2), within said joining barriers (3, 4), said outer joining barrier (4) being arranged to interact with an anchoring element (6) for reliable anchoring of said insulated glass unit in a glass facade (7), wherein said inner (3) and outer (4) joining barriers are composed of elastic bodies (3, 4), and said inner joining barrier (3) comprises along its entire extension a continuous layer of the same type of thermoplastic agent as in said binding layers (3A, 3B), said continuous layer being integrated with said two binding layers (3A, 3B).

Description

INSULATED GLASS UNIT AND ARRANGEMENT FOR WINDOWS

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an insulated glass unit for glass facades, comprising two glass sheets that are joined together by an inner joining barrier and an outer joining barrier, a thermoplastic sealing agent being arranged in the binding layers between the respective glass sheets and said inner barrier, which thermoplastic sealing agent is arranged to seal in respect of a heat insulating gas between said glass sheets, within said barriers, and said outer barrier being arranged to interact with an anchoring element for reliable anchoring of said insulated glass unit in a glass facade.

PRIOR ART

Glass facades formed from insulated glass have been known for long. The most common and cheap anchoring structure is to use external covers, which is however not considered aesthetical. Many other types of fixing arrangements are known, which all exhibit a strive for achieving an arrangement that is as aesthetically appealing as possible. Most are of the opinion that from an aesthetical point of view an optimal arrangement should have as little exposure of the fixing arrangement as possible. Another important aspect is to achieve an insulating property that is as reliable as possible. Heat insulation is achieved either by sealingly enclosing between the glass sheets a gas having a low U-value, usually a gas of high density, or arranging one or more energy glass sheets in the construction of the insulated glass. Irrespective of the method, it is crucial to maintain the sealing between the glass sheets, since the tiniest impairment of this sealing leads to diffusion and thereby an impairment of the heat insulating ability over time. Known arrangements show that these two desires (an optimal aesthetical appearance and a reliable insulation) are not easy to combine without employing some type of compromise solution or using a very expensive fixing arrangement.

A so called bolted glass facade is disclosed in e.g. US 20020031398, which makes use of a large number of individually and spot-wise arranged anchoring elements, resulting in high erecting costs. In addition, the solution is considered by many to be aesthetically non-appealing.

An alternative fixing method makes use of elongated fixing arrangements (anchoring profiles) enabling rational erection and being provided with anchoring means that interact with the edge portions at the glass panels for reliable anchoring, and enabling the anchoring means (as opposed to bolted panes) to be hidden behind the joint in order to be practically invisible, which however is a safety risk in case the outer pane comes loose. Such systems are disclosed in e.g. US 5,199,236, DE 4206593 and US 5493831. According to this known principle, anchoring and sealing are achieved by arranging an inner barrier and an outer barrier. The actual fixing in the anchoring of the facade elements is achieved thereby by allowing a part of the anchoring element to penetrate and be fixed inside the outer barrier, which is flexible. A similar type of solution is shown also in SE 524721. These known solutions have in common that they use a relatively stiff inner barrier structure in combination with an outer, load-carrying, flexible barrier. Experience has shown however that in practice, glass panels formed according to this principle are not tight. It has been speculated about the reason that this principle of construction makes use of the outer barrier to transmit forces between the glass unit and the anchoring.

An alternative known solution, avoiding the above described principle, makes use of recesses in the edge of one of the glass sheets themselves, instead of the outer barrier, for interaction with anchoring elements. Such a construction has however proven to result in high manufacturing costs as well as high erection costs.

Accordingly, there is a need to try to find a solution that with improvement in relation to prior art can achieve a construction that obliges with the existing, complex combination of desire.

BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to eliminate or at least minimize any of the above mentioned problems, which is achieved by aid of an insulated glass unit for glass facades, comprising two glass sheets that are joined together by an inner joining barrier and an outer joining barrier, a thermoplastic sealing agent being arranged in the binding layers between the respective glass sheets and said inner barrier, which thermoplastic sealing agent is arranged to seal in respect of a heat insulating gas between said glass sheets, within said barriers, said outer barrier being arranged to interact with an anchoring element for reliable anchoring of said insulated glass unit in a glass facade, said inner and outer barriers being composed of elastic bodies, and said inner barrier comprising along its entire extension a continuous layer of the same type of thermoplastic agent as in said binding layers, said continuous layer being integrated with said two binding layers. Somewhat surprisingly, it has been shown that thanks to the solution according to the invention, a completely reliable, gas tight construction can be achieved, enabling a minimum possible visual exposure, hi addition, the arrangement results in the possibility of achieving particularly cost efficient anchoring methods.

According to further aspects of the invention:

- said continuous layer of and said binding layers for said inner barrier are composed of a butyl-based polymer, and said outer barrier is composed of a silicone-based polymer, which has proven to be a synergistically interacting combination resulting in many advantages. said outer barrier is provided with at least one female element arranged to interact with said anchoring element, enabling very rational erection and a cost efficient manufacturing of the glass unit, - said female element is made of a different material than said inner barrier, which results in several advantages such as the ability to optimize the female element based on the individual requirements for the particular female element as an anchoring element (among other aspects from an insulation point of view, a wear point of view, a manufacturing point of view, etc.), which is a considerable advantage in comparison with the type of prior art that employs female elements of the same material as the inner barrier,

- said female element constitutes a separate part in relation to said inner barrier, resulting in particular advantages in manufacturing, among other things by facilitating the application of the outer barrier, - said female element is composed of an elongated profile element comprising a

U-shaped portion, the height of the legs of said U-shaped profile essentially corresponding to the thickness of said outer barrier, resulting in certain advantages, among other aspects from a cost point of view, since it enables a very cost efficient production, - besides said U-shaped portion, said profile element comprises additional structures, resulting in synergy advantages as some base parts of a profile element can be more or less standardised, at least one profile element comprises a supporting structure arranged to be able to support one of said glass sheets, resulting in improved flexibility/reliability for the use of such facade elements, since it means that larger/heavier glass sheets can be secured by the supporting structure. - at least on one side of said glass unit, profile elements having different cross- sections are arranged next to each other, resulting in the advantage of giving extremely good flexibility in the manufacturing of different types of glass units and in combination with the utilisation of a limited number of (standardised) items,

- an arrangement according to the invention, where said anchoring element comprises a pivotal element, resulting in obvious advantages in connection with the erection, said pivotal element is arranged in connection with an anchoring device in the form of a profile element, resulting in the flexible option of using the invention in connection with profile elements already existing on the market for anchoring of glass facades, said pivotal anchoring element is arranged in connection with a bracket element, resulting in that very cost efficient mounting structures can be used for glass facades, thereby considerably decreasing the costs.

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

In the following, the invention will be described in greater detail with reference to the attached drawing figures, of which: Fig. 1 shows a portion of a glass facade according to a preferred embodiment of the invention,

Fig. 2 shows a cross-section along line A-A in Fig. 1 ,

Fig. 3 shows a cross-section along line B-B in Fig. 1,

Fig. 4 shows side view of a short side of a glass panel according to the invention, i.e. a view from below according to Fig. 1 ,

Fig. 5 shows a first female element according to the invention, as seen from the side,

Fig. 6 shows a second female element according to the invention, as seen from the side,

Fig. 7 shows a corner portion of a glass element according to a preferred embodiment of the invention, and Fig. 8 shows a preferred mounting device for the mounting of a glass panel according to the invention, as seen in a side view.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Fig. 1 shows a preferred portion of a glass facade 7 according to the invention, comprising four glass units, the outer glass sheets 1, 1' of which are outwardly exposed. The joints between the different glass units are sealed by silicone 11. The units are mounted by aid of anchoring elements 5, 5'. One of the units also comprises a special type of female element 5' having a supporting structure (se Fig. 6).

Fig. 2 shows a vertical cross-section along line A-A in Fig. 1. It is shown that each glass unit comprises an outer glass sheet as well as an inner glass sheet 2, between which there is arranged an inner elastic barrier 3 and an outer elastic barrier 4. The inner barrier 3 is made of a thermoplastic sealing material that results in a reliable seal binding of the layers 3 A, 3B that binds it to the respective glass sheet 1, 2, preferably a butyl-based thermoplastic (often denoted TPS). The outer barrier layer 4 suitably consists of silicone, which results in a synergistic interaction.

The vertical cross-section shows that the glass facade 7 comprises an upper glass element 1', 2, which is combined with a lower glass element 1, 2 by a silicone sealing 11 in the joint them between. Female elements 5, 5' are arranged in the outer barrier 4 for attachment and anchoring of the glass elements 1', 2. The two female elements 5, 5' are of different cross-sectional configurations, which are explained in greater detail below. The two female elements 5, 5' have in common that they exhibit a U-shaped portion, the side legs of which extending in parallel with the glass sheets 1, 2. Inside the elongated channel that is formed between the legs, an anchoring element 6 is arranged, which anchoring element in its turn is pivotally connected with an anchoring profile 9 that is fixedly mounted at a wall 13 of a building, as is known per se. A sealing strip 12 is arranged between the anchoring element 6 and the silicone joint 11, which sealing strip serves to function as an inner barrier for the silicone joint 11. One type of the female elements 5' is arranged in the vicinity of each corner (eight in total) of the upper glass unit 1', 2. As opposed to the other female element 5, this female element 5' includes a supporting structure (see Fig. 6) that serves to secure/support the outer glass sheet 1, which accordingly may be considered to be necessary in some occasions, and sometimes not, depending on risk assessment and determined among other aspects by static calculations.

Fig. 3 shows a horizontal cross-section according to the line B-B in Fig. 1. Accordingly, a cross-section is shown through two neighbouring glass units 1, 2 of the panel 7. As is clear from the figure, most details included are exactly the same as in a vertical cross- section according to A-A in Fig. 2. The only major difference is that in this cross- section, the two female elements 5 are of exactly the same shape, which is explained by it not having been considered necessary to have a supporting structure here for the two lower glass elements 1, 2. Fig. 4 shows a view from a short side of a glass unit 1, 2 according to the invention. It is clear that the anchoring arrangement comprises three female elements 5, 5', in the form of a middle, elongated U-profile unit 5 and two female elements 5' arranged on the side thereof and aligned therewith, and having supporting structures. It is accordingly clear from this side view that a preferred embodiment of the invention offers very flexible possibilities of combining different types of profile elements depending on the requirements.

Fig. 5 shows a cross-section of a female element 5 according to the invention. This female element is essentially U-shaped, consisting of two legs 50, 52 and a bottom portion 51 that connects them at their lower ends. Corrugations are arranged along the outer walls of the legs 50, 52, serving to improve the anchoring of the female element inside the barrier 4. As is shown, the height of the legs H is considerably greater than the width B of the bottom portion 51. According to a preferred embodiment, the width B is 3-15 mm and the height H is 5-25 mm, more preferably in the range 4-8 mm and 10-15 mm, respectively.

Fig. 6 shows another type of female element 5', for which the U-shaped part is preferably exactly identical with said first female element 5. As opposed to the other female element 5, this female element 5' is provided with a supporting structure 53, 54. The supporting structure consists in that a certain projection of one of the legs 52', angularly thereto, has been provided with a lower supporting portion 53 and an outer supporting portion 54 that is directed at angle of 90° in relation to this lower supporting portion 53. The height H' of this female part is somewhat greater than the height H of the actual U-portion. Furthermore, its lateral extension L is considerably greater than the width B of the U-shaped portion, preferably at least 1.5 times greater than B, even more preferred 2-3 times greater than B.

Fig. 7 shows a corner of a glass unit V, 2 according to a preferred arrangement of the invention, for the case when extra safety is needed, especially in connection with larger/heavier glass sheets 1'. Accordingly, a corner is shown in which the glass element 1', 2 is secured by special female elements 5' close to the corner area, on either side thereof, which female elements have a supporting structure 53, 54. This supporting structure is there to provide extra safety. Firstly, it can act as a retaining element in case the glass 1' would come loose from the barriers 3, 4, and secondly it can act to eliminate the risk of damage or injury if the glass is about to fall out, given that the type of hardened glass that is used gets pulverized in connection with severe bending stresses (that would arise if the glass sheet V was to tilt out from the supporting structure 53, 54), thereby eliminating the risk of a loose glass sheet 1' from falling down and injuring/damaging someone/something on the ground below.

Fig. 8 shows an alternative anchoring arrangement consisting of a bracket element 10 that consists of a base plate 1OB (for anchoring in wall 13) on which one (or more) bearing strut(s) 1OA is (are) arranged, at the end of which a pivotal anchoring element 6 is arranged. In many cases it is perfectly adequate to have four brackets 10 per glass unit 1, 2, i.e. two at the upper edge and two at the lower edge, but sometimes a bracket 10 is needed also at half the height, depending on the height/weight of the unit 1, 2. The strut 1OA is suitably welded to the base plate 1OB (that suitably has a width of 50-150 mm), or alternatively, several struts 1OA are welded to an elongated base plate 1OB. Accordingly, the principles are disclosed here for a considerably cheaper anchoring arrangement 10 than the conventional profile elements 9 that are most commonly used. It is realised that in buildings having steel pillars, the struts 1OA can be welded directly thereto, which may exclude the need of a base plate 1OB. Such an anchoring arrangement 10 can, in combination with a glass element according to the invention, lead to a drastic decrease in manufacturing costs as well as erection costs in relation to prior art of today.

The invention is not limited to what has been described above but may be varied within the scope of the claims. It is realised e.g. that the one or the other of the glass sheets can be formed of multilayer glazing and that different types of laminates or interlayers can be arranged thereto or within. It is also realised that other flexible, elastic materials than silicon and butyl-based thermoplastics can be used with the purpose of achieving the type of functionality that is achieved by the invention, i.e. an inner, completely gas tight barrier that is flexible and an outer barrier in direct connection thereto, which outer barrier is also elastic and enables anchoring of a female element. It is naturally also realised that the inner barrier and/or the outer barrier can be supplemented on inside or outside by additional barrier layers, without departing from the basic principles of the invention. Furthermore, it is realised that the female element 5 can be made from many different types of materials, such as aluminium, different types of plastics of good impact and wear resistance, different types of metal alloys etc., as well as composites. It should be understood that the expression "separate part" in respect of the female element in relation to the inner barrier, not excludes that the female element could be glued to the inner barrier by an adhesive, which in some cases may be desirable, even if it, according to the preferred manufacturing method, is applied by first arranging the flexible outer barrier 4 in a non-hardened condition, whereafter the female element 5 can be pushed in and applied, and a subsequent hardening leads to a secure fixing. It is also realised that other structures than supporting structures can be arranged at the female element, which other structures may have a supplementary function.

Furthermore, it is realised that other types of anchoring elements 6 can be used than the type of pivotal elements that are shown in the figures, in order to fix/anchor a glass element. Finally, it is realised that the invention is not limited to the shown number of female elements 5' used in Fig. 1, but that depending on need/desire, this can be varied to use more or less female elements per glass unit.

Claims

1. An insulated glass unit for glass facades, comprising two glass sheets (1, 2) that are joined together by an inner joining barrier (3) and an outer joining barrier (4), a thermoplastic sealing agent being arranged in the binding layers (3 A and 3B, respectively) between the respective glass sheets (1, 2) and said inner barrier

(3), which thermoplastic sealing agent is arranged to seal in respect of a heat insulating gas (8) between said glass sheets (1, 2), within said joining barriers (3, 4), said outer joining barrier (4) being arranged to interact with an anchoring element (6) for reliable anchoring of said insulated glass unit in a glass facade (7), charac t eri s ed in that said inner (3) and outer (4) joining barriers are composed of elastic bodies (3, 4), and said inner joining barrier (3) comprises along its entire extension a continuous layer of the same type of thermoplastic agent as in said binding layers (3 A, 3B), said continuous layer being integrated with said two binding layers (3 A, 3B).

2. An insulated glass unit according to claim 1, ch arac teri s ed in that said continuous layer of and said binding layers (3 A, 3B) for said inner joining barrier (3) are composed of a butyl -based polymer, and said outer joining barrier (4) is composed of a silicone-based polymer.

3. An insulated glass unit according to claim 1, c h arac t eri s ed i n that said outer joining barrier (4) is provided with at least one female element (5, 5') arranged to interact with said anchoring element (6).

4. An insulated glass unit according to claim ^ c h arac t eri s ed in that said female element (5, 5') is made of a different material than said inner joining barrier (3).

5. An insulated glass unit according to claim 2, c harac t eri s ed in that said female element (5) constitutes a separate part in relation to said inner joining barrier (3).

6. An insulated glass unit according to claim 3, c harac t eri s ed in that said female element is composed of an elongated profile element comprising a U- shaped portion (50, 51 , 52), the height (H) of the legs (50, 52) of said U-shaped profile preferably corresponding essentially to the thickness (T) of said outer joining barrier (4).

7. An insulated glass unit according to claim 5, characterised in that besides said U-shaped portion (50, 51, 52), said profile element (5, 5') comprises additional structures (53, 54).

8. An insulated glass unit according to claim 5 or 6, characterised in that at least one profile element (5) comprises a supporting structure (53, 54) arranged to be able to support one of said glass sheets (1, 2).

9. An insulated glass unit according to any one of claims 4-6, characterised in that at least on one side of said glass unit, profile elements (5, 5') having different cross-sections are arranged next to each other.

10. An arrangement in connection with a glass facade (7) comprising an insulated glass unit according to any one of the preceding claims, characterised in that said anchoring element (6) comprises a pivotal element (60).

11. An arrangement according to claim 8, characterised in that said pivotal element (60) is arranged in connection with an anchoring device (9) in the form of a profile element.

12. An arrangement according to claim 8, characterised in that said pivotal anchoring element (60) is arranged in connection with a bracket element (10).