A glass panel unit includes: a first panel; a second panel facing the first panel; a sealing member bonded to respective facing peripheral portions of the first panel and the second panel; and at least one spacer provided in a reduced pressure space between the first panel and the second panel. The at least one spacer includes a resin body and at least one ultraviolet protective layer provided on a surface of the resin body.

A glass panel unit manufacturing method includes a bonding step, a pressure reducing step, and a sealing step. The bonding step includes bonding together a first substrate and a second substrate with a first sealant to create an inner space. The pressure reducing step includes producing a reduced pressure in the inner space through an exhaust port that the first substrate has. The sealing step includes melting and expanding a second sealant, inserted into the exhaust port, by heating the second sealant and thereby sealing the exhaust port up with the second sealant expanded to the point of coming into contact with a dam arranged in the inner space.

A method for manufacturing a glass panel unit includes a glue arrangement step, a pillar placement step, an assembly forming step, a bonding step, an evacuation step, and a sealing step. The evacuation step reduces pressure in an internal space by exhausting, with predetermined suction power, a gas from the internal space via a valve and an exhaust port. The valve includes a first valve allowing the gas to flow through a first channel area and a second valve allowing the gas to flow through a second channel area larger than the first channel area. The evacuation step includes a first evacuation step to be performed first and a second evacuation step to be performed next. In the first evacuation step, the first valve is opened and the second valve is closed. In the second evacuation step, the first valve is closed and the second valve is opened.

A method for manufacturing a glass panel unit includes an adhesive disposing step, a glass composite generation step, an internal space forming step, an evacuation step, and an evacuated space forming step. The adhesive disposing step includes disposing a thermal adhesive on a second panel. The glass composite generation step includes generating a glass composite including a first panel, the second panel, and the thermal adhesive. The internal space forming step includes heating the glass composite to melt the thermal adhesive to form internal spaces (a first space and a second space). The evacuation step includes exhausting gas from the internal space to evacuate the internal space. The evacuated space forming step includes heating and applying force to part of a first portion or a second portion to deform the part to close an evacuation path to form an evacuated space hermetically closed.

An assembly includes: a pair of glass substrates; a peripheral wall disposed between the glass substrates; partitions; an evacuation port; and air passages. The partitions are provided to partition an internal space, surrounded with the glass substrates and the peripheral wall, into an evacuation space and a ventilation space. The evacuation port connects the ventilation space to an external environment. The air passages are used to evacuate the evacuation space through the evacuation port. The air passages include particular air passages arranged in a second direction perpendicular to a first direction, in which the glass substrates face each other, to constitute a ventilation path running through the internal space in the second direction.

A glass panel unit manufacturing method includes a glue arrangement step, a pillar forming step, an assembly forming step, a bonding step, an evacuation step, and a sealing step. The glue arrangement step includes arranging a hot glue including a frame member and a partition on either a first panel having a predetermined degree of warpage or a second panel. The pillar forming step includes placing pillars on either the first or second panel. The assembly forming step includes forming an assembly. The bonding step includes heating the assembly with the first panel arranged to form an upper part of the assembly and the second panel arranged to form a lower part of the assembly to bond the first panel and the second panel together. The evacuation step includes reducing pressure in an internal space. The sealing step includes creating a hermetically sealed evacuated space by closing an exhaust port.

A method for producing a glass sheet is disclosed. In an embodiment a method includes applying a plurality of supporting bodies to the glass sheet, wherein applying the supporting bodies to the glass sheet includes performing a float glass process while producing the glass sheet, and wherein the supporting bodies are applied while the glass sheet has a temperature above a glass transition temperature so that the supporting bodies partially fuse with the glass sheet.

A glass panel unit manufacturing method includes a bonding step, a pressure reducing step, and a sealing step. The bonding step includes bonding together a first substrate and a second substrate with a first sealant to create an inner space. The pressure reducing step includes producing a reduced pressure in the inner space through an exhaust port that the first substrate has. The sealing step includes irradiating a second sealant, inserted into the exhaust port, with an infrared ray through a region, where a low emissivity film is nonexistent, of the second substrate.

The invention relates to a method of providing vacuum insulating glass (VIG) units each comprising at least a first and a second glass pane and a plurality of support pillars distributed between opposing surfaces of said glass panes to provide a gap (8) between the glass panes. A plurality of pane elements are provided, and individual topographic representations (TOPREP_2a-TOPREP_2n) of each of said plurality of pane elements (2a-2n) are obtained based on input (4) from a measuring arrangement (3), and the topographic representations are stored in a data storage (DS). The stored topographic representations are processed and resulting surface distance characteristic between pairs of panes are estimated. Vacuum insulating glass (VIG) assemblies are thus provided based on estimated resulting surface distance characteristics. The invention additionally relates to a system for providing manufacturing layouts and a manufacturing facility.

An object of the invention is to provide a multilayer glass which can be manufactured by a simple process. To solve the above problem, the multilayer glass according to the invention includes a first glass substrate, a second glass substrate that faces the first glass substrate at an interval of a predetermined space, and a sealing part that seals a periphery of an internal space defined by the first glass substrate and the second glass substrate. The sealing part is formed with a sealing material containing low melting point glass. The internal space is in a vacuum state. The first glass substrate includes an exhaust port that is provided to be included in a projection part of the sealing part when being projected in a lamination direction of the first glass substrate and the second glass substrate. The exhaust port is blocked by the sealing material (see FIG. 3).