Abstract
A spacer for insulating glazing units is described. The sealing arrangement includes a polymer base; which includes two pane contact surfaces, a glazing interior space surface and an outer surface and an extruded profiled seal on the outer surface, the extruded profiled seal and the polymer base being co-extruded.
Claims
1. An insulating glazing unit, comprising: a first pane; a second pane; a spacer, the spacer being a circumferential spacer surrounding the first pane and the second pane, the spacer comprising i) a polymeric main body that comprises a first pane contact surface and a second pane contact surface; ii) a glazing interior surface; iii) an outer surface; and iv) an extruded profiled seal on the outer surface, wherein the extruded profiled seal and the polymeric main body are coextruded, wherein the extruded profiled seal protrudes laterally beyond the pane contact surfaces of the polymeric main body and makes contact with first pane and second pane, and wherein the extruded profiled seal has a penetration index between 20 and 40; a glazing interior adjacent the glazing interior surface of the spacer; and an external interpane space adjacent the outer surface of the spacer, wherein: the first pane contacts the first pane contact surface of the spacer, the second pane contacts the second pane contact surface of the spacer, a sealant is fixed between at least one of the first pane contact surface and the first pane and the second pane contact surface and the second pane, and the sealant has a penetration index between 45 to 100.
2. The insulating glazing unit according to claim 1, further comprising an outer seal inserted in the external interpane space.
3. The insulating glazing unit according to claim 2, wherein the outer seal contains a component selected from the group consisting of: a) polysulfides, b) silicones, c) silicone rubber, d) polyurethanes, e) polyacrylates, f) copolymers of one or more of a)-e), and g) mixtures of one or more of a)-f).
4. The insulating glazing unit according to claim 1, wherein the first pane and the second pane contain glass and/or polymers.
5. A method for producing the insulating glazing unit according to claim 1, comprising: coextruding a spacer consisting of a polymeric main body and an extruded profiled seal, fixing the spacer by way of a sealant via a pane contact surface between a first pane and a second pane, performing a pressing operation, and introducing an outer seal into the external interpane space.
6. The insulating glazing unit according to claim 1, wherein the extruded profiled seal contains a component selected from the group consisting of: a) butyl rubber, b) polyisobutylene, c) polyethylene vinyl alcohol, d) ethylene vinyl acetate, e) polyolefin rubber, f) polypropylene, g) polyethylene, h) copolymers, and i) mixtures of one or more of a)-h).
7. The insulating glazing unit according to claim 1, wherein a thickness of the extruded profiled seal is 0.5 mm to 5 mm.
8. The insulating glazing unit according to claim 1, wherein the polymeric main body contains components selected from the group consisting of: a) polyethylene (PE), b) polycarbonates (PC), c) polypropylene (PP), d) polystyrene, e) polybutadiene, f) polynitriles, g) polyesters, h) polyurethanes, i) polymethyl methacrylates, polyacrylates, j) polyamides, k) polyethylene terephthalate (PET), and l) polybutylene terephthalate (PBT), and m) copolymers or mixtures of one or more of a)-l).
9. The insulating glazing unit according to claim 1, wherein the polymeric main body contains components selected from the group consisting of: a) acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), b) acrylonitrile styrene acrylester (ASA), c) acrylonitrile butadiene styrene/polycarbonate (ABS/PC), d) styrene acrylonitrile (SAN), PET/PC, PBT/PC, and e) copolymers or mixtures of one or more of a)-d).
10. The insulating glazing unit according to claim 1, wherein the polymeric main body includes at least one hollow chamber.
11. The insulating glazing unit according to claim 9, wherein the glazing interior surface has one or more openings connecting the hollow chamber to a glazing interior.
12. The insulating glazing unit according to claim 1, wherein the polymeric main body contains a desiccant.
Description
(1) In the following, the invention is explained in detail with reference to drawings. The drawings are purely schematic and not true to scale. They in no way restrict the invention. They depict:
(2) FIG. 1a a schematic representation of the spacer according to the invention,
(3) FIG. 1b a schematic representation of the insulating glazing unit according to the invention with a spacer in accordance with FIG. 1a,
(4) FIG. 2 a flowchart of one possible embodiment of the method according to the invention.
(5) FIG. 1a depicts a schematic representation of the spacer (5) according to the invention comprising a polymeric main body (5.1) and an extruded profiled seal (5.2). The polymeric main body (5.1) is a hollow body profile comprising two pane contact surfaces (7.1, 7.2), a glazing interior surface (8), an outer surface (9), and a hollow chamber (10). The polymeric main body (5.1) contains styrene acrylonitrile (SAN) and roughly 35 wt.-% glass fiber. The outer surface (9) has an angled shape, wherein the sections of the outer surface adjacent the pane contact surfaces (7.1, 7.2) are inclined at an angle of 30 relative to the pane contact surfaces (7.1, 7.2). This improves the stability of the glass fiber reinforced polymeric main body (5.1). The hollow body (10) is filled with a desiccant (11). A molecular sieve is used as the desiccant (11). The glazing interior surface (8) of the spacer (5) has openings (12), which are made at regular intervals circumferentially along the glazing interior surface (8) in order to enable a gas exchange between the interior of the insulating glazing unit and the hollow chamber (10). Thus, atmospheric moisture possibly present in the interior is absorbed by the desiccant (11). The openings (12) are implemented as slits with a width of 0.2 mm and a length of 2 mm. The extruded profiled seal (5.2) is applied on the outer surface (9) of the polymeric main body (5.1), with the polymeric main body (5.1) and the extruded profiled seal (5.2) being coextruded. The extruded profiled seal (5.2) is made of polyisobutylene with a penetration index of 36 and a thickness of 1 mm. The extruded profiled seal (5.2) protrudes beyond the first pane contact surface (7.1) and the second pane contact surface (7.2) by 0.8 mm in each case.
(6) FIG. 1b depicts an insulating glazing unit according to the invention with a spacer in accordance with FIG. 1a. The spacer (5) according to the invention is fixed circumferentially between a first pane (1) and a second pane (2) via a sealant (4). The sealant (4) bonds the pane contact surfaces (7.1, 7.2) of the spacer (5) to the panes (1, 2). The glazing interior (3) adjacent the glazing interior surface (8) of the spacer (5) is defined as the space delimited by the panes (1, 2) and the spacer (5). The external interpane space (13) adjacent the outer surface (9) of the spacer (5) is a strip-shaped circumferential section of the glazing, which is delimited by one side each of the two panes (1, 2) and on another side by the spacer (5) and whose fourth edge is open. The glazing interior (3) is filled with argon. A sealant (4) with a thickness of 0.2 mm is introduced in each case, between a pane contact surface (7.1, 7.2) and the adjacent pane (1, 2), which sealant seals the gap between the pane (1, 2) and the spacer (5). The sealant (4) is polyisobutylene with a penetration index of 50-70. The extruded profiled seal (5.2) contacts the adjacent panes (1, 2), since it protrudes beyond the pane contact surfaces (7.1, 7.2) of the spacer (5), as described in FIG. 1a. An outer seal (6) which serves for the bonding of the first pane (1) and the second pane (2) is fixed on the extruded profiled seal (4) in the external interpane space (13). The outer seal (6) is made of silicone, which is inserted in a thickness of 10 mm into the external interpane space (14). The outer seal (6) ends flush with the pane edges of the first pane (1) and the second pane (2). The outer seal (6) is permeable to gas and water, but is, due to its very good adhesion on glass, of enormous importance for the mechanical stability of the insulating glazing unit. The use of the spacer (5) according to the invention is particularly advantageous since the extruded profiled seal (5.2) is rigid enough to lock the spacer between the panes (1, 2) and thus to fix it in its position even in the event of a possible failure of the sealant (4). On the other hand, the extruded profiled seal (5.2) is flexible enough to give way at the time of pressing of the pane arrangement. Since the extruded profiled seal (5.2) covers the external interpane space (13) over its entire surface and contacts the two panes (1, 2), it also serves for additional sealing of the glazing interior (3) such that its leak tightness can be ensured even in the event of failure of the sealant (4). Thus, the service life of the insulating glazing unit can be decisively increased. At the same time, the spacer (5) according to the invention is simple to use, since the installation of the spacer (5) can be done without modification of the tools and plants used according to the prior art such that no investments are to be made at the time of a changeover in production.
(7) FIG. 3 depicts a flowchart of one possible embodiment of the method according to the invention. First, a spacer (5) composed of a polymeric main body (5) and an extruded profiled seal (5.2) is coextruded. This spacer (5) is fixed via a sealant (4) between a first pane (1) and a second pane (2), with the sealant (4) being introduced between the pane contact surfaces (7.1, 7.2) of the spacer (5) and the panes (1, 2). The glazing interior (3) can optionally be filled with a protective gas. At the time of subsequent pressing of the pane arrangement, the sealant (4) is distributed uniformly in the gap between the spacer (5) and the adjacent pane pane (1, 2) and seals it. The sealant (4) is applied, for example, as a round strand of 1 mm to 2 mm diameter and has, after pressing, a thickness of, for example, 0.2 mm. To support such processing, it is advantageous to use a soft material with a penetration index of 45 to 100 as sealant (4). Then, an outer seal (6) is introduced adjacent the extruded profiled seal (5.2) into the external interpane space (13), with the outer seal (6) ending flush with the edges of the panes (1, 2). The outer seal (6) is preferably extruded directly into the external interpane space (13).
LIST OF REFERENCE CHARACTERS
(8) 1 first pane 2 second pane 3 glazing interior 4 sealant 5 spacer 5.1 polymeric main body 5.2 extruded profiled seal 6 outer seal 7 pane contact surfaces 7.1 first pane contact surface 7.2 second pane contact surface 8 glazing interior surface 9 outer surface 10 hollow chamber 11 desiccant 12 openings 13 external interpane space
