The present invention relates to a device and method for bending at least one glass pane. The device includes: a gravity bending mould with a supporting surface, which is suitable for arranging at least one glass pane thereon; an upper shaping tool arranged opposite the supporting surface, the upper shaping tool being suitable for producing an overpressure on a surface of the at least one glass pane arranged on the supporting surface, and the surface of the at least one glass pane faces away from the supporting surface. The shaping tool has a cover that forms a hollow space open in the direction of the gravity bending mould and is equipped with a sealing lip arranged on an edge section of the cover for making contact with the surface of the at least one glass pane, and the shaping tool is equipped with means for introducing a gas into the hollow space in order to produce the overpressure.

In some embodiments, a method of forming a glass article comprises perforating a glass substrate along a contour with a laser forming a plurality of perforations, such that the contour separates a first portion of the glass substrate from a second portion of the glass substrate. After perforating, thermal forming the glass substrate into a non-planar shape with a mold, and separating the first portion of the glass substrate from the second portion of the glass substrate.

In some embodiments, a method of forming a glass article comprises perforating a glass substrate along a contour with a laser forming a plurality of perforations, such that the contour separates a first portion of the glass substrate from a second portion of the glass substrate. After perforating, thermal forming the glass substrate into a non-planar shape with a mold, and separating the first portion of the glass substrate from the second portion of the glass substrate.

A tool for holding at least one glass pane by means of suction in a bending process, comprising a frame-like, convex contact surface and a cover having a peripheral air guide plate that surrounds the contact surface at least in regions is described. The tool is suitable for generating a first, reduced pressure in a first pressure region between the air guide plate and the contact surface; a second pressure in a second pressure region, which is arranged in a central region inside the contact surface, wherein the second pressure is greater than the first pressure.

A system for shaping glass or metal sheets or panels for use in solar collectors or microwave antennae may include an oven and an adjustable mold. The adjustable mold may comprise a molding surface located within the oven. The molding surface may be coupled to position actuators located outside of the oven via coupling elements. A sheet or panel may be placed in the oven and heated until the sheet or panel softens and takes the shape of the molding surface. The molding surface may be adjusted to achieve different shapes for glass or metal sheets or panels.

Gyroscopes are sensors that measure angular rate and angular orientation. A three-dimensional fused silica micro shell rate-integrating gyroscope is presented. One aspect of the gyroscope includes the use of optical sensors to detect motion of the resonator. The proposed gyroscope is attractive because it achieves several magnitudes higher accuracy as well as high vibration and shock insensitivity from a novel resonator design as well as other unique manufacturing processes.

Provided is a method of thermoforming a molding material to have a bent portion and a flat portion extending from the bent portion. The method includes: placing the molding material on a bending mold, the bending mold having a curved surface; and forming the bent portion of the molding material by heating a portion of the molding material at least to a fluidization temperature such that the portion of the molding material bends due to the weight of the flat portion of the molding material to form the bent portion according to a shape of the bending mold.

The invention relates to a method for shaping a glass pane (1), wherein the glass pane (1) is first heated and then bent until it has reached a shape that corresponds to a predefined target contour (ks), wherein exterior forces act on the glass pane (1) for the purpose of bending the glass pane (1). A change in a local curvature of the glass pane (1) over time is controlled such that the surface of the glass pane (1) simultaneously achieves the target contour at all points of the surface that do not remain static, by setting a temperature, and thus a viscosity, of the glass pane (1) so as not to be constant as a function of the location during the bending operation, and/or by suitably setting forces transferred by mounts (6) and/or pressure forces transferred by one or more pressure strips (3). The application furthermore relates to multiple glazed units produced by the method.

A method for obtaining a laminated curved glazing, includes a. providing a first glass sheet, covered on at least part of one of its faces with a stack of thin layers, b. depositing, on a part of a surface of the stack of thin layers, a layer of enamel, the deposition being carried out by screen-printing an enamel composition including refractory particles having a diameter of at least 20 m in a proportion by volume of at least 0.5%, but no particles having a diameter greater than 80 m, c. bending the first glass sheet, the stack of thin layers located under the enamel layer being completely dissolved by the enamel layer at least at the end of the bending, and then d. laminating the first glass sheet with an additional glass sheet with an lamination interlayer, so that the enamel layer faces the interlayer.

An edge-press molding element is part of a glass-bending tooling that includes a contoured-ring, gasket form factor. The edge-press molding element operates by self-weight bending a glass pane under a thermal load. The glass pane bends under molding conditions where a temperature differential of as low as 30 C. up to 100 C. is achieved between an edge of the glass pane and the center.