Methods and devices for producing a composite pane having a functional coating are presented. The functional coating is applied to part of a surface of a base pane, and a first pane is cut out from the base pane while introducing a frame-shaped peripheral coating-free region into the functional coating having an inner region that is not adjacent a side edge of the first pane. The surface of the first pane with the functional coating is then bonded via a thermoplastic intermediate layer to a surface of a second pane.

A pane with an electrical heating region is presented. The pane has a substantially trapezoidal first pane, an electrically conductive coating applied on part of a surface of the first pane, a substantially trapezoidal electrical heating region that is electrically divided from the electrically conductive coating by a separating line, and two collecting conductors connected to the electrically conductive coating in the electrical heating region.

Methods of manufacturing electrochromic windows are described. Insulated glass units (IGU's) are protected, e.g. during handling and shipping, by a protective bumper. The bumper can be custom made using IGU dimension data received from the IGU fabrication tool. The bumper may be made of environmentally friendly materials. Laser isolation configurations and related methods of patterning and/or configuring an electrochromic device on a substrate are described. Edge deletion is used to ensure a good seal between spacer and glass in an IGU and thus better protection of an electrochromic device sealed in the IGU. Configurations for protecting the electrochromic device edge in the primary seal and maximizing viewable area in an electrochromic pane of an IGU are also described.

A composite pane for a motor vehicle, in particular the front pane, is formed from a first pane and a second pane, which are adhered to one another by way of a film. A coating reflecting infrared rays is applied to the film. The coating has at least one cut-out, within which a transponder is arranged between the two panes. A motor vehicle has a composite pane as described above.

A switchable optical device is provided having a first substrate (11), a second substrate (12) and a seal (114). The two substrates (11, 12) and the seal (114) are arranged such that a cell having a cell gap is formed and a switchable medium (10) is located inside the cell gap. The first substrate (11) has a first transparent electrode (21) and the second substrate (12) has a second transparent electrode (22). The electrodes (21, 22) are facing towards the cell gap. The two substrates (11, 12) are arranged such that the first substrate (11) has a first region (71) adjacent to a first edge (41) of the first substrate (11) which does not overlap with the second substrate (12) and the second substrate (12) has a second region (72) which does not overlap with the first substrate (11). A first electrically conducting busbar (31) is arranged in the first region (71) and a second electrically conducting busbar (32) is arranged in the second region (72). A first terminal is electrically connected to the first busbar (31) and a second terminal is electrically connected to the second busbar (32). The first substrate (11) and the second substrate (12) each have an edge deletion (116) in which the respective transparent electrode (21, 22) is removed. The edge deletion (116) is complete on the edges non-adjacent to a busbar (31, 32) and there is no edge deletion or only partial edge deletion on edges adjacent to a busbar (31, 32).

Further aspects of the invention relate to a method for designing a switchable optical device, a method for driving a switchable optical device, a method for manufacturing a switchable optical device and a system comprising a switchable optical device and a controller for driving the switchable optical device.

A switchable laminated glazing with improved bus bar that solves the problem of inhomogeneities and reduce the cost of its fabrication by providing a laminated glazing that comprise a switchable layer (14) that has an active material sandwiched between two conductive coated plastic layers (8), at least two bus bars (20) in electrical contact with the respective conductive coated plastic layer (8), and at least two pliable conductive media (12), each of them between the respective coated plastic layer (8) and bus bar (20). The area covered by pliable conductive medias (12) is substantially less than the area covered by bus bars (20). The invention provides an improved lower cost bus bar by sparing use of a pliable conductive media and by using a pliable conductive media in different kind of configurations.

One embodiment of the present invention is a transparent sensing device comprising: a transparent substrate; a microsensor arranged on the transparent substrate and having an area of 250,000 μm.sup.2 or less; a plurality of wirings connected to the microsensor; and a sealing layer covering the microsensor arranged on the transparent substrate and the plurality of wirings. The sealing layer is a transparent resin having a water absorption rate of 1% or less after curing. Therefore, it is possible to provide a transparent sensing device in which migration of wirings is suppressed and which has excellent reliability.

A pane arrangement includes a first and second pane joined by an intermediate layer, an electro-optical functional element including a first surface electrode, an electro-optical functional layer, and a second surface electrode, wherein the functional element is arranged between the first and second panes, and the first and second surface electrodes face, respectively, the first and second panes, a sensor electrode arranged between the first surface electrode and the first pane and the sensor electrode is capacitively coupled to the first surface electrode, and a capacitive electronic sensor system electrically connected to the sensor electrode. The sensitivity of the electronic sensor system is selected such that when the outer surface of the first pane is touched above the first surface electrode by a human body part or the human body part approaches the outer surface of the first pane above the first surface electrode, a switching signal is emitted.

A process for obtaining a material including a glass sheet, includes providing a glass sheet including a first face coated at least partly by an essentially mineral first coating, the face having at least one first zone and at least one second zone, the at least one first zone having a higher emissivity than that of the second zone, then applying, on at least one portion of the second zone, a sacrificial layer including a resin, then heat treating the coated glass sheet at a temperature of at least 550° C., during which step the sacrificial layer is removed by combustion.

A glazing includes at least one first pane having a first primary surface and a second primary surface, at least one light source, at least one transparent light coupling system, wherein the light source is connected to the first primary surface of the first pane via the light coupling system such that light from the light source can be coupled into the first pane, and at least one light outcoupling system for outcoupling light from the first pane via at least one of the primary surfaces.