GAS MOLECULES BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE

1. Field of the Disclosure

The present disclosure relates to thermally insulating glass laminates. 2. Description of the Related Art

Glass laminates are used in high temperature applications as windows and sight glasses for the purpose of viewing a heated cavity. To minimize heat loss from the cavity, the laminates have multiple panes of glass with a gap between the panes to prevent direct heat transfer from the cavity to the outer pane, but the temperature of the outer pane still increases and heat escapes into the surrounding environment because of convective heat transfer through air in the gap between the panes. Heat insulating coatings have been used to prevent heat loss but many coatings are inadequate.

A light diffuser is an element that transmits visible light but minimizes the transmission of medium and long wavelength infrared light. Most light diffusers are not necessarily adequate to thermally insulate functional components such as LED's, cameras, lighting assemblies, wiring, sensors and semiconductor components from the high temperatures in residential and

commercial ovens and other heated cavities. This is particularly problematic for functional components such as LED's that are not designed to withstand high temperatures. One approach to insulate a lighting assembly from the high temperatures in ovens is to provide an air gap that cools the lighting assembly by convection. Another approach is to use a heat sink. Still another approach is to shield the lighting assembly with a lens coated with a low-e coating. However, such approaches do not necessarily adequately insulate the functional elements from the high temperatures. SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure provides thermally insulating glass laminates that prevent heat from escaping from heated cavities. In some embodiments, the thermally insulating glass laminates comprise a low or non-conductive coating layer that forms a chemical bond with at least one inner surface of the substrates, where the coating layer can have a thickness of about 0.010 inches or less, and where a plurality of glass spacers is submerged in the coating layer. This arrangement creates at least one sealed three-dimensional cavity of gas molecules that exists between the substrates and around the glass spacers with a small amount of gas molecules therein. Since there is a small amount of gas molecules in the cavity, convective heat transfer between the substrates is minimized thereby minimizing heat loss through the laminates and into the surrounding environment.

Some current thermally insulating glass laminates are optimal insulators when the gas cavity has a thickness of about 15 millimeters, where thinner cavities have increased conduction losses and thicker cavities have increased convection losses. This knowledge suggests that decreasing the thickness of the cavity would increase conduction losses, but conduction losses are not increased in the current disclosure.

The thermally insulating glass laminates of the disclosure can be used for non-limiting example in high temperature applications such as windows and sight glasses in residential and commercial ovens and applications having heated cavities where low heat loss and cool outlet window temperatures are desired. In some embodiments, the high temperature applications are above about 175 °C.

In one embodiment, the present disclosure provides a thermally insulating laminate comprising a first glass substrate having an inner surface, a second glass substrate having an inner surface; and a low or non-conductive coating layer that forms a chemical bond with at least one inner surface. The coating layer has a thickness of about 0.010 inches or less. A plurality of glass spacers is submerged in the coating layer. At least one sealed cavity of gas molecules is created between the substrates and around a portion of the glass spacers not submerged in the coating layer.

The present disclosure also relates to light diffusers that thermally insulate functional components, such as LED's, cameras, lighting assemblies, wiring, sensors and semiconductor components, in or near heated cavities. In some embodiments, the light diffuser comprises the thermally insulating glass laminate described herein. The light diffuser may have a thermally insulating glass laminate located between the oven cavity and the functional element so that the laminate partially or completely insulates the functional element from the temperature within the cavity. In some embodiments, a heat reflective coating is provided on one or more components of the laminate to provide additional heat insulation.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Figure 1 is a scanning electron microscope (SEM) image of a plurality of glass spheres submerged in the coating layer.

Figure 2 shows a schematic diagram of the laminate of the present disclosure.

Figure 3 shows a schematic diagram of an oven using the laminate of the present disclosure to shield a functional component.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure provides thermally insulating glass laminates that prevent heat from escaping from heated cavities. In some embodiments, the thermally insulating glass laminates comprise a first glass substrate having an inner surface, a second glass substrate having an inner surface, and a low or non-conductive coating layer that forms a chemical bond with at least one inner surface, wherein the coating layer has a thickness of about 0.010 inches or less, wherein a plurality of glass spacers is submerged in the coating layer, and wherein at least one sealed cavity of gas molecules is created between the substrates and around the glass spacers.

The glass spacers can comprise without limitation about 100 to about 700, or about 400 spacers per square millimeter of the coating layer. The spacers can have a width of about 10 to about 50 microns. The glass spacers should prevent the substrates from touching. The glass spacers should be submerged in the coating layer without contacting the substrates to minimize conductive heat transfer through the glass spacers, but if the glass spacers do contact one of more of the substrates, the glass spacers should only contact the substrates at tangent points of the glass spacers. The term "submerged" means that a portion of the height of the glass spacers, such as for non-limiting example about 1/3 or less, is embedded within or in contact with the coating layer for purposes of bonding the glass spacers to the coating layer, while the remainder of the height of the glass spacers, such as for non-limiting example the remaining about 2/3 or more, protrudes above the coating layer to contact the other substrate or a layer therebetween. The sealed cavities are created between the substrates and "around" the portion of the glass spacers that are not submerged in the coating layer. That is, the cavities are bounded by an inner surface of substrates, the spacers, and the coating layer, in which a portion of the spacers are submerged.

The glass spacers can be solid or hollow and may comprise without limitation glass spheres, glass columns, glass filaments, any other glass shapes, and any combination thereof. One of the purposes of the glass spacers is to provide a gap between the substrates to trap gas molecules in at least one sealed cavity created between the substrates and around the glass spacers or between the coating layer, the opposite substrate or layer therebetween, and around the glass spacers. Since the glass spacers might contact at least one substrate, the glass spacers should comprise a material having a low or non-conductivity. The glass spacers in some embodiments have a height that is greater than the thickness of the coating layer so that the glass spacers protrude from the coating layer to help form at least one sealed cavity of gas molecules around the glass spacers and between the substrates or the layers therebetween. In some embodiments, the glass spacers contact one or more of the substrates or layers therebetween. In some embodiments, the height of the glass spacers is at least twice the thickness of the coating layer.

The glass spacers in some embodiments are submerged in about 30% or less of the surface area of the coating layer, about 20% or less of the surface area of the coating layer, about 10%) of less of the surface area of the coating layer, or about 5% or less of the surface area of the coating layer. In other words, the coating layer with the glass spacers submerged therein is applied to a substrate with the glass spacers being in a uniform or a non-uniform pattern across the coating layer, wherein about 30%> or less, about 20% or less, about 10%> or less, or about 5% or less of the surface area of the coating layer has glass spacers submerged therein (i.e. the cavity or cavities contact about 70% or more, about 80% or more, about 90% or more, or about 95% or more of one or more of the inner surfaces of the substrates). Figure 1 shows a plurality of glass spacers 45 submerged in the coating layer 40. At least one sealed cavity of gas molecules is created in the empty space between the coating layer, the glass spacers, the lower substrate, the upper substrate (not shown) and the perimeter edges of the coating layer (not shown). In all embodiments, there may be one large sealed cavity or a plurality of smaller sealed cavities that contains the gas in the space between the substrates and around the glass spacers. In addition, if the glass spacers are hollow, there would also be a sealed cavity within each glass spacers itself, but this sealed cavity differs from the sealed cavities created between the substrates and around the glass spacers.

Fig. 2 shows a schematic drawing of laminate 10 of the present disclosure. Laminate 10 has first glass substrate 20, second glass substrate 30, and coating 40. Coating 40 has glass spacers 45 embedded therein, in the manner described above. As previously discussed, there are cavities formed around spacers 45, and in between substrates 20 and 30. In the shown embodiment, spacers 45 contact substrate 20, but as described above, the present disclosure contemplates that spacers 45 do not contact either of substrates 20 or 30.

In some embodiments, the conductivity of the coating layer and/or glass spacers is about

5 W/(m-K) or less or about 3.5 W/(m-K) or less. In some embodiments, the conductivity of the coating layer and/or glass spacers is lower than the conductivity of the substrates that contact the coating composition. For purposes of the current disclosure, a "low conductive" coating layer and/or glass spacer has a conductivity of about 5 W/(m-K) or less and a "non-conductive" coating layer and/or glass spacer has a conductivity of 0 or about 0 W/(m-K).

The coating layer having the submerged glass spacers helps create an insulating layer between the substrates to minimize convective currents and reduce heat transfer between the substrates. In some embodiments, the coating layer is a low or non-conductive coating layer formed from a coating composition, such as for non-limiting example an enamel, a frit, or a combination thereof, comprising a ceramic compound, a glass compound or a combination thereof, optionally with other compounds, some of which may evaporate when curing the coating composition to form the coating layer. In certain embodiments, the ceramic and glass compounds in the coating layer have a similar composition and thermal expansion properties compared to the substrate that contacts the coating layer.

The coating composition can comprise a frit, which is a mixture of inorganic chemical substances produced by rapidly quenching a molten, complex combination of materials, and confining the chemical substances thus manufactured as non-migratory components of glassy solid flakes or granules. Frits include for non-limiting example all of the chemical substances specified below when they are intentionally manufactured in the production of the frit. The primary members include without limitation oxides of some or all of the elements listed below, where fluorides of these elements may also be included: aluminum, antimony, arsenic, barium, bismuth, boron, cadmium, calcium, cerium, chromium, cobalt, copper, gold, iron, lanthanum, lead, lithium, magnesium, manganese, molybdenum, neodymium, nickel, niobium, phosphorus, potassium, silicon, silver, sodium, strontium, tin, titanium, tungsten, vanadium, zinc, zirconium, and combinations thereof. The most common frits are bismuth and zinc based frits. The frits may comprise pigments added in small percentages for color purposes.

A non-limiting example of a suitable coating composition is:

Crystalline Silica: 11-15%

Borates: 19-22%

Zinc Oxide: 25-29%

Titanium Dioxide: 32-36%

Manganese Compound: 0-2%

Iron Oxide: 0-2%

Chromium Compound: 0-2%

Cobalt Compound: 0-3%

Alumina: 3-6%

Another non-limiting example of a suitable coating composition is:

Crystalline Silica: 34-38%

Borates: 8-12%

Zinc Oxide: 16-20%

Titanium Dioxide: 5-9%

Manganese Compound: 0-3%

Iron Oxide: 0-3%

Chromium Compound: 11-15%

Copper Compound: 8-12%

The glass spacers can be submerged in the coating composition before the coating composition is applied to a substrate. The coating layer with the glass spacers submerged therein may be applied to the substrate by silk screening or any other suitable technique. When silk screening for example, the coating composition with the glass spacers is injected through the screen and applied to the substrate so that the glass spacers are submerged within the coating layer. This arrangement helps produce at least one sealed cavity of gas molecules around the glass spacers and between the substrates or layers therebetween. The coating layer can be transparent or colored. Intermediate layers, additional substrates and additional coating layers may be present as desired.

The laminates can be formed by chemically bonding the coating layer to one or more of the substrates in any manner known to those skilled in the art. For a non-limiting example, the laminates can be formed by steps comprising applying the coating composition with the glass spacers to a first substrate, heating the coating composition to adhere the coating composition to the substrate, applying a second substrate on the heated coating composition, and firing the heated coating composition to form a chemical bond between the coating layer and one or more of the substrates. In other embodiments, the laminates are formed by steps comprising applying the coating composition with the glass spacers to a first substrate, applying a second substrate on the coating composition, then firing the coating composition to form a chemical bond between the coating layer and one or more of the substrates. In all embodiments, one or more of the coating layers, the first substrate, the second substrate and the glass spacers can form a chemical bond with the one or more of the others.

The coating layers of the disclosure, at least the coating layer that touches the substrate, is pyrolytic because the coating layer is chemically bonded to the substrate by sharing an oxygen atom and becoming part of the Si-O-X chain. Pyrolytic coatings are "hard" coatings and differ from "soft" coatings like paint that are mechanically adhered to a substrate. Pyrolytic coatings compared to adhered coatings have superior wear resistance, do not easily scratch off, and typically do not require protective topcoats. The pyrolytic coatings of the disclosure can be applied in any manner known to those skilled in the art, such as by deposition using a high temperature plasma process or silk screening.

The term "glass" as used herein includes glass and glass-ceramics, including but not limited to soda lime, borosilicate, lithium aluminosilicate, and combinations thereof. The term "substrate" signifies a platform to which the coatings described herein and other elements can be applied. The substrates are not limited in shape. The substrates may be flat, curved, concave or convex, and may have rectangular, square or other dimensions. In some embodiments, the substrate comprises a glass material and have a thickness of about 1 to about 10 mm or about 2 to about 5 mm.

In some embodiments, the coating layer has a thickness of about 0.010 inches or less, about 0.005 inches or less, or about 0.001 inches or less. This thickness refers to the coating layer itself, and not any glass spacers or portions thereof that may protrude from the top of the coating layer. It is desirable to form a coating layer having such a small thickness and to use a low or non-conductive coating composition to minimize conductive heat transfer. The coating layer at these small thicknesses in combination with the glass spacers helps produce one or more sealed three-dimensional cavities each having a very small volume with a small amount of gas molecules therein. The perimeter edges of the coating layer may have an increased thickness to help form the sealed cavity, for non-limiting example by using a high temperature epoxy, silicon or glue, each of which may form a mechanical bond with the substrates instead of a chemical bond. Since there is a small amount of gas molecules in each cavity, convective heat transfer between the substrates is minimized thereby minimizing heat loss through the laminates into the surrounding environment. The cavities essentially act as thermal insulators. The gas can be air or an inert gas. In some embodiments, there is a partial or complete vacuum in the cavities. In other embodiments, there is no vacuum.

The present disclosure also relates to light diffusers that thermally insulate functional components, such as LED's, cameras, lighting assemblies, wiring, sensors and semiconductor components, in or near heated cavities. In some embodiments, the light diffuser comprises a thermally insulating glass laminate described herein. The light diffuser may have a thermally insulating glass laminate located between the oven cavity and the functional element so that the laminate partially or completely insulates the functional element from the temperature within the cavity. In some embodiments, a heat reflective coating is provided on one or more components of the laminate to provide additional heat insulation.

Unlike lenses with or without low-e coatings, the thermally insulating laminates disclosed herein are visibly transparent, similar to a window or a site glass, since they do not significantly distort the image of the element behind the laminate. As a result, the laminates can be used as light diffusers to thermally insulate functional elements in or near an oven for example while also providing sufficient transmission of visible light to permit a camera or other functional element to view the contents of the cavity through the laminate.

The light diffusers and functional elements can be located anywhere within the heated cavity, such as at the rear, side or top for example. In some embodiments, the light diffuser is parallel to one of the six sides of the oven cavity, such as within the perimeter of such side, in a similar manner to an oven window in the front door of an oven, so that the light diffuser is located between the center of the oven cavity and the functional element.

In Figure 3, a schematic of an oven interior 100 comprising laminate 10, which shields functional component 50. In the shown embodiment, laminate 10 is parallel to and adjacent to one of the sides of interior 100, and shields component 50 from heat. As previously discussed, other locations for laminate 10 and component 50 are contemplated by the present disclosure.

While the present disclosure has been described with reference to one or more particular embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted for elements thereof without departing from the scope thereof. In addition, many modifications may be made to adapt a particular situation or material to the teachings of the disclosure without departing from the scope thereof. Therefore, it is intended that the disclosure not be limited to the particular embodiment s) disclosed as the best mode contemplated for carrying out this disclosure. The ranges disclosed herein include all subranges therebetween.