HEATABLE LAMINATED SIDE GLAZING

Abstract

A laminated side glazing of a vehicle, with an upper edge, a lower edge, a front edge, and a rear edge, includes an outer pane and an inner pane, which panes are bonded to one another via a thermoplastic intermediate layer, and a transparent, heatable coating, which is arranged between the outer pane and the inner pane and which is electrically contacted by a first collecting busbar and a second collecting busbar and which has, for guiding a heating current flowing between the collecting busbars, at least one decoated isolating line that runs between the collecting busbars, wherein the first collecting busbar and the second collecting busbar are arranged along the front edge or the rear edge and wherein an upper part and a lower part are defined by pattern of decoated isolated lines different in the upper part and the lower part of the laminated side glazing.

Claims

1. A heatable laminated side glazing, with a curved upper edge (U), a lower edge (L), a first lateral side edge (S1), and a second lateral side edge (S2) at the opposite side of the first lateral side edge (S1), at least comprising an outer pane (1) and an inner pane (2), which outer (1) and inner (2) panes are bonded to one another via a thermoplastic intermediate layer (3), and a transparent, heatable coating (4), which is arranged between the outer pane (1) and the inner pane (2) and which is electrically contacted by a first busbar (bb1) having a height H1 arranged along the first lateral side edge (S1) and a second busbar (bb2)) having a height H2 arranged along the second lateral side edge (S2), and which has, for guiding a heating current flowing between the first and second busbars (bb1, bb2), a plurality of decoated isolating lines (L) that run between the first and second busbars (bb1, bb2), the height H1 of the first lateral side edge (S1) being smaller than the height H2 of the second lateral side edge (S2), and having an Upper part (UP) delimited by a frame-edge line L1(0) in the vicinity of the curved upper glass edge (U) and parallel to the upper edge (U) and a line (LD) drawn from the lower corner (C) of the front edge S1 of the side glazing to extend to the second lateral side edge (S2), the line (LD) being parallel to the frame-edge line L1(0), and a lower part (LP) delimited by the line (LD) and a line L2 (n), which is the last line of the last active strip and parallel to line (LD), the said upper part (UP) having a height higher than the height H1 of the first busbar (bb1) and having as an upper limit the curved line L1(0) and the lower part (LP) having a height higher than height H2 minus height H1 and having as an upper limit the curved line L1(0); wherein in the upper part (UP), n number of consecutive decoated isolated lines parallel to the upper edge (U) separated by a distance from 5 mm to 100 mm and having the same width are provided, wherein n is between 1 to 100 and wherein in the lower part (LP), there are alternating active and passive coated strips, the passive coating strips (i) being delimited by closed decoated line (L), the active coating strips (i) having a width defined by the following formula:
W(i)=L2(i).sup.2/L2(0).sup.2×W0 wherein: W(i): width of the active coated strip L2(i): length of the lower side of the (i) active coated strip L2(0): length of the strip in the upper part (UP) W0: width of the decoated lines in the upper part (UP) And the passive coating having a width defined by the following formula:
D(i)=W0−W(i)−D(0) D(0): width of a decoating line.

2. A heatable laminated side glazing according to claim 1, wherein the first side lateral edge (S1) has a height between 100 mm and 1000 mm.

3. A heatable laminated side glazing according to claim 2, wherein the second side lateral edge (S2) has a height between 100 mm and 1000 mm.

4. A heatable laminated side glazing according to claim 2, wherein D(0) has a width between 0.05 mm and 2 mm.

5. A heatable laminated side glazing according to claim 2, wherein the heating power increases, at least in sections, from the second lateral side edge (S2) to the first lateral edge (S1).

6. A heatable laminated side glazing according to claim 3, wherein the distance between adjacent isolating lines (L) in the upper part (UP) is constant or variable from the second lateral side (S2) to the first lateral side (S1) and is between 1 mm to 110 mm.

7. A heatable laminated side glazing according to claim 1, wherein the distance of the busbars (bb1, bb1) from the edge along which they are arranged is greater than 3 mm.

8. A heatable laminated side glazing according to claim 1, wherein the heatable coating (4) is applied on the surface of the outer pane (1) or of the inner pane (2) facing the intermediate layer (3) or on a polymeric carrier film within the intermediate layer (3).

9. A heatable laminated side glazing according to claim 1, wherein the heatable coating (4) comprises at least one electrically conductive layer, which comprises silver and has a thickness of 10 nm to 50 nm.

10. A heatable laminated side glazing according to claim 1, wherein the busbars (bb1, bb2) are implemented as strips of an electrically conductive film, comprising copper, or as fired screen-printing paste, comprising silver particles.

11. A heatable laminated side glazing according to claim 1, wherein the width of the collecting busbars (bb1, bb2) is from 1 mm to 20 mm.

12. Method for producing a heatable laminated side pane according to claim 1 comprising: (a) providing the outer pane (1), the inner pane (2), and the intermediate layer (3), (b) providing the heatable coating (4) on a surface of the outer pane (1) or of the inner pane (2) or on a carrier film, (c) introducing the isolating lines (L) into the heatable coating (4), (d) contacting the heatable coating (4) to the collecting busbars (bb1, bb2), (e) arranging the intermediate layer (3) between the outer pane (1) and the inner pane (2) and (f) bonding the outer pane (1) to the inner pane (2) via the intermediate layer (3) by lamination.

13. A heatable laminated side glazing side pane according to claim 1 applied to a transportation vehicle for travel on land, in the air, or on water.

14. A heatable laminated side glazing according to claim 3, wherein the distance between adjacent isolating lines (L) in the upper part (UP) is constant or variable from the second lateral side (S2) to the first lateral side (S1) and is between 1 mm to 100 mm.

15. A heatable laminated side glazing according to claim 3, wherein the distance between adjacent isolating lines (L) in the upper part (UP) is constant or variable from the second lateral side (S2) to the first lateral side (S1) and is between 1 mm to 50 mm.

16. A heatable laminated side glazing according to claim 3, wherein the distance between adjacent isolating lines (L) in the upper part (UP) is constant or variable from the second lateral side (S2) to the first lateral side (S1) and is between 1 mm to 30 mm.

17. A heatable laminated side glazing according to claim 1, wherein the distance of the busbars (bb1, bb2) from the edge along which they are arranged is greater than 5 mm.

18. A heatable laminated side glazing according to claim 1, wherein the width of the collecting busbars (bb1, bb2) is from 2 mm to 10 mm.

19. A heatable laminated side glazing side pane according to claim 1, applied to a motor vehicle.

20. A heatable laminated side glazing according to claim 9, wherein the heatable coating (4) comprises two or three electrically conductive layers.

Description

[0082] They depict:

[0083] FIG. 1 a section along A-A′ through the side pane of FIG. 1,

[0084] FIG. 2 a plan view of an embodiment of the side pane according to the invention,

[0085] FIG. 3-1 a plan view of the side pane according to the invention showing the upper and lower part of an embodiment of the side pane according to the invention

[0086] and FIG. 3-2 a plan view of an embodiment of the pattern of decoating lines in the upper part of a side pane according to the invention

[0087] FIG. 4-1 an enlarged view of the alternating active and passive coated strips (i), in the lower part of an embodiment of the side pane according to the invention,

[0088] FIG. 4-2 an detailed view of the FIG. 4-1 showing the alternating active and passive coated strips (i), in the lower part of an embodiment of the side pane according to the invention,

[0089] FIG. 5 a plan view of an embodiment of the pattern of isolating lines in the upper and the lower part of the side pane according to the invention.

[0090] The side pane is a laminated glass composed of an outer pane 1, an inner pane 2, and an intermediate layer 3 that bonds the two planes to one another. The outer pane 1 and the inner pane 2 are made of soda lime glass and have, for example, a thickness, in each case, of 2.1 mm. The intermediate layer 3 is formed by a film made of PVB with a thickness of 0.76 mm.

[0091] The outer pane 1 has an outer surface I and an inner surface II. The inner pane 2 likewise has an outer surface III and an inner surface IV. The term “outer surface” refers to the surface that is intended to be turned toward the external environment in the installed position. The term “inner surface” refers to the surface that is intended to be turned toward the vehicle interior in the installed position. The inner surface II of the outer pane 1 and the outer surface III of the inner pane 2 are turned toward one another and the intermediate layer 3.

[0092] A transparent, heatable coating 4 is applied on the outer surface III of the inner pane 2 as shown in the FIG. 2. It is understood that the heatable coating 4 may be applied on the inner surface II of the outer pane 1. The heatable coating has, for example, two silver layers and further dielectric layers above, below, and between the silver layers to increase transparency and reduce sheet resistance. For generating the heating action, the coating 4 is electrically contacted by means of a first collecting busbar bb1 and a second collecting busbar bb2. The collecting busbars bb1, bb2 are, for example, formed by a printed and fired screen printing paste containing silver particles and glass frits and have a width of L mm and a thickness of 100 μm. When a voltage is applied to the collecting busbars bb1, bb2, a current flows through the coating 4, creating the heating action. The voltage can be the usual motor vehicle on-board voltage of 14 V, or even a voltage of, for example, 42 V or 4 L V. The heatable coating 4 is delimited by frame-edge line L1(0) in the vicinity of the curved upper glass edge (U) and parallel to the upper edge (U), and the line L2 (n), which is the last line of the last active strip and parallel to the line (LD) according to the present invention.

[0093] FIG. 3-1 and FIG. 3-2 depict in each case a detail of an embodiment of the heatable laminated side glazing according to the invention. The side pane for the front side window of an automobile which can be opened by lowering the side pane. The side pane has a front edge S1, a rear edge S2, an upper edge UE, and a lower edge LE. The edges are referred to according to the installed position in the direction of travel.

[0094] The laminated side glazing and more particularly the heatable coating are divided in 2 parts, the upper part UP and the lower part LP, the upper part (UP) being delimited by a frame-edge line L1(0) in the vicinity of the curved upper glass edge (U) and parallel to the upper edge (U) and a line (L) drawn from the lower corner (C) of the front edge S1 of the side glazing to extend to the second lateral side edge (S2), the line (LD) being parallel to the frame-edge line L1(0). The lower part (LP) is delimited by the line (LD) and the line L2 (n), which is the last line of the last active strip and parallel to line (LD) according to the present invention.

[0095] The pattern of isolating lines L within heatable coating 4 in the upper part UP and the lower part LP are designed to have a homogeneous heating of the laminated side glazing with a concentration of the heating in required zones as side-view mirror.

[0096] The heatable coating 4 is divided by isolating lines L into different segments (heating strips (i)). This serves to guide the heating current, enabling the most homogeneous heating of the pane possible. Otherwise, due to the complex shape of typical side panes substantial parts of the pane remain unheated since the current would take the shortest path between the collecting busbars bb1, bb2.

[0097] The first collecting busbar bb1 runs along the front edge S1 of the side pane; the second collecting busbar bb2 runs along the rear edge S2, the height H1 of the first collecting busbar bb1 is smaller than the the height H2 of the first collecting busbar bb2. In the present embodiment, the collecting busbars bb1 and bb2 are provided vertically along respectively the front edge S1 and rear edge S2 and extend to the lower part of the laminated glazing as shown in FIG. 3-1. It is understood that the collecting busbars may be disposed in a different way to allow a homogenous heating accordingly to the complex shape of the laminated glazing. The maximum distance of the collecting busbars from the edge along which they run is, for example, 2 cm. The collecting busbars bb1, bb2 are not visible to an observer even in the opened state of the side window. The collecting busbars bb1, bb2 are covered by auto body parts and sealing lips of typical side windows. The minimum distance is, for example, 6 mm. This distance is sufficient to prevent disruption of the stability of the laminate and penetration of air.

[0098] In the upper part of the laminated glazing, as shown in FIG. 3-2, the isolating lines L run from the first collecting busbar bb1 to the second collecting busbar bb2. The isolating lines L are parallel to the frame-edge line L1(0). In the FIG. 3-2, the features are as follows; [0099] line L1(i) represents the length of upper curve of the (i) strip [0100] L2(i) represents the length of the lower curve of the (i) strip [0101] W(i) represents the width of the (i) strip [0102] D(i) represents the distance between the (i−1) active strip, means the previous active strip and the (i) active strip [0103] (i) represents the strip with a number comprised between 2 and 99.

[0104] In FIG. 4-1 and FIG. 4-2, the feature “*” represents the decoating lines with the first with of decoating line DO comprised between 0.05 mm to 0.5 mm according to one embodiment of the present invention and

D(i)=W0−W(i)+D0

Passive strip(i)=D(i)−2×D0

[0105] Thus, local hotspots can be prevented. In addition, the design is visually appealing. The isolating lines L have only a slight curvature that increases as the distance from the upper edge UE decreases. Thus, despite the complex pane shape with the curved upper edge UE, uniform distribution of the heating power is obtained.

[0106] The FIG. 5 shows an embodiment of the pattern of isolating lines in the upper and the lower part of the side pane according to the invention. The different pattern in the upper and lower parts of the glazing according to the present invention, allows to improve the heating of the glazing and also the uniformity of the heating.

[0107] According to the present invention, the heating may be more located to “side mirror zone” in order to deice, to-frog this zone more quickly than the other part of the glazing to have quicker access to the view from the side mirrors.

[0108] According to one embodiment of the present invention, the distance between adjacent isolating lines (L) in the upper part (UP) is constant or variable from the second lateral side (S2) to the first lateral side (S1) from a distance comprised between 1 mm to 110 mm and preferably between 1 mm and 100 mm and more preferably between 1 mm and 50 mm and more preferably between 1 mm and 30 mm. Thus, the heating may concentrated to a particular zone such as side mirror zone.

[0109] The distance between adjacent isolating lines L (in other words, the width of the heating strips) remains in the course from the rear edge S2 to the front edge S1. Thus, higher heating power is achieved in the region of the front edge S1. Consequently, this region is deiced or freed of moisture first, as a result of which the driver quickly obtains a clear view of the side mirror.

LIST OF REFERENCE CHARACTERS

[0110] 1 outer pane [0111] 2 inner pane [0112] 3 thermoplastic intermediate layer [0113] 4 heatable coating [0114] bb1 first collecting busbar [0115] bb1 second collecting busbar [0116] 7 supply line [0117] L isolating line, decoated line [0118] L1(0) First line of the edge-frame coating [0119] S2 rear edge of the side pane [0120] UE upper edge of the side pane [0121] S1 front edge of the side pane [0122] LE lower edge of the side pane [0123] UP upper part [0124] LP lower part [0125] BL intersection of LE and L2(n). [0126] LD line delimiting the upper and lower parts [0127] L2(n) Last line of the last active strip [0128] C lower corner of the front edge S1 of the side glazing [0129] I outer surface of the outer pane 1 [0130] II inner surface of the outer pane 1 [0131] III outer surface of the inner pane 2 [0132] IV inner surface of the inner pane 2 [0133] (i) active strip