Agp America S.a.

Ivan Arturo Cornejo

Mario Arturo Mannheim Astete

Andres Fernando Sarmiento Santos

Alexey Krasnov

Massimo Michetti

Gonzalo Rafael Vizcarra Mendoza

José Nuñez-Regueiro

Raghu K Pendyala

Jorge Ramos

Charles Stephen Voeltzel

Laura Granados Caro

Elena K Mendoza Carranza

Black enamel frit obscurations are commonly printed on laminated and tempered automotive safety glazing where they serve to hide the adhesive used to bind the glazing to the automotive body and to protect the adhesive from ultraviolet radiation. However, frit has a number of drawbacks. Frit weakens the surface of the glass. It can create distortion in the glass due to thermal gradients. Printed frit obscurations are incompatible and cannot be used with many types of coatings. Standard frit blocks ion exchange and cannot be used with the chemical tempering process. In addition, while many types of frits are available for printing on soda-lime glass, there are very few, if any, for non-soda lime glass. As the market moves towards thinner and lighter glazing, non-soda lime glass types are finding increasing application in automotive glazing. These limitations are overcome by replacing the printed black obscuration with an obscuration formed from a thin sheet of plastic, which is integrated into the laminate. This results in a laminate having superior optical quality, higher strength and a lower probability of breakage as compared to a laminate with a black enamel frit obscuration.

Glass laminate with thin insert obscuration having superior strength and optical quality

Strengthened glass substrates with glass fits and methods for forming the same are disclosed. According to one embodiment, the present invention provides a glass frit with a coefficient of thermal expansion less than or equal to the coefficient of thermal expansion of the glass substrate where it is going to be painted. The glass frit of the present invention has similar ion exchange properties to the glass substrate that is going to be used to paint with the glass frit allowing the glass substrate to be ion-exchanged. The glass frit of the present invention is mixed with an organic carrier.

Glass frits for ion-exchangeable glasses

The trend towards increasing the glazed area in automobiles has reduced the potential locations for mounting cabin lighting. This is especially true for vehicles having large panoramic glazing. Attempts to utilize integrated light sources within the glazing have had mixed results. Embedded LEDs in the laminate tend to be too bright for night driving. Edge feed illumination with light dispersing elements on the glass to date have only been able to provide low intensity levels. Both approaches tend to reduce visibility and aesthetics in the off state. The current invention provides a means and a method to produce a laminate which provides bright cabin lighting without compromising the function of the glazing to serve as a window, by creating a light dispersing layer that is substantially invisible when in the off state and very bright in the on state.

Illuminated laminate with superior aesthetics and brightness

Growing community of inventors

Lima, Peru

Ivan Arturo Cornejo