Vacuum insulated glass units and methodology for manufacturing the same

Abstract

A vacuum insulated glass unit includes a first and a second glass pane and a pane bonding layer. The first and second glass panes each include a vacuum chamber side opposite an outer side. The vacuum chamber side of the first glass pane includes an etched interior surface, a glass pane periphery having a periphery surface, and a plurality of glass spacers each having an end surface. The pane bonding layer is positioned between and engaged with the periphery surface of the glass pane periphery of the first glass pane and the second glass pane and couples the first glass pane to the second glass pane. Each end surface of the plurality of glass spacers and the periphery surface of the glass pane periphery are offset from the etched interior surface such that a vacuum chamber is disposed between the first and the second glass panes.

1 . A vacuum insulated glass unit comprising a first glass pane, a second glass pane, and a pane bonding layer wherein:
 the first and second glass panes each comprise a vacuum chamber side opposite an outer side;   the vacuum chamber side of the first glass pane comprises an etched interior surface, a glass pane periphery comprising a periphery surface, and a plurality of glass spacers each comprising an end surface;   the pane bonding layer is positioned between and bonded with the periphery surface of the glass pane periphery of the first glass pane and the vacuum chamber side of the second glass pane, such that the pane bonding layer couples the first glass pane to the second glass pane; and   each end surface of the plurality of glass spacers and the periphery surface of the glass pane periphery are offset from the etched interior surface such that a vacuum chamber is disposed between the etched interior surface of the first glass pane and the vacuum chamber side of the second glass pane.   
     
     
         2 . The vacuum insulated glass unit of  claim 1 , wherein the pane bonding layer comprises a low melting point glass, a glass frit, a low-emissivity material, a metal solder, an inorganic material, or combinations thereof. 
     
     
         3 . The vacuum insulated glass unit of  claim 1 , wherein the pane bonding layer comprises a softening temperature within a range of temperatures at least partially exclusive of a range of softening temperatures of the first and second glass panes. 
     
     
         4 . The vacuum insulated glass unit of  claim 1 , wherein the pane bonding layer comprises a thickness of between about 0.1 μm and about 300 μm. 
     
     
         5 . The vacuum insulated glass unit of  claim 1 , wherein the pane bonding layer is compositionally configured to fuse upon absorption of radiation at a predetermined wavelength. 
     
     
         6 . The vacuum insulated glass unit of  claim 1 , further comprising an anti-friction layer positioned on the end surface of at least one of the plurality of glass spacers. 
     
     
         7 . The vacuum insulated glass unit of  claim 6 , wherein the anti-friction layer comprises an opaque material. 
     
     
         8 . The vacuum insulated glass unit of  claim 1 , further comprising a transparent anti-friction layer positioned on the vacuum chamber side of the second glass pane. 
     
     
         9 . The vacuum insulated glass unit of  claim 1 , further comprising a low-emissivity layer positioned on the vacuum chamber side of the first glass pane, the vacuum chamber side of the second glass pane, or both. 
     
     
         10 . The vacuum insulated glass unit of  claim 1 , wherein the first glass pane and the second glass pane each comprise soda lime glass, soda-lime float glass, alumino silicate glass, borosilicate glass, or a combination thereof. 
     
     
         11 . The vacuum insulated glass unit of  claim 1 , wherein the first glass pane and the second glass pane each comprise heat tempered glass. 
     
     
         12 . The vacuum insulated glass unit of  claim 1 , wherein the glass pane periphery is located along a perimeter of the first glass pane. 
     
     
         13 . The vacuum insulated glass unit of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of glass spacers are positioned in a spacer array such that each glass spacer is positioned between about 10 mm and about 100 mm from an adjacent glass spacer. 
     
     
         14 . The vacuum insulated glass unit of  claim 1 , wherein the end surfaces of the plurality of glass spacers are each offset from the etched interior surface by between about 50 μm and about 300 μm. 
     
     
         15 . The vacuum insulated glass unit of  claim 1 , wherein at least one of the plurality of glass spacers comprises a load resistance of 1800 kilograms or more. 
     
     
         16 . The vacuum insulated glass unit of  claim 1 , wherein each glass spacer of the plurality of glass spacers comprises a thermal transmittance of between about 0.7 W/mK and about 1.1 W/mK. 
     
     
         17 . A method of manufacturing a vacuum insulated glass unit, the method comprising:
 depositing an etching mask layer onto a plurality of masking locations along a vacuum chamber side of a first glass pane;   contacting the vacuum chamber side of the first glass pane with a chemical etchant to remove a depth of glass pane material from unmasked portions of the vacuum chamber side of the first glass pane, such that the vacuum chamber side of the first glass pane comprises an etched interior surface, a glass pane periphery, and a plurality of glass spacers, wherein the plurality of glass spacers and the glass pane periphery extend from the etched interior surface;   removing the etching mask layer;   positioning a second glass pane having a low-emissivity layer on a vacuum chamber side of the second glass pane in contact with the glass pane periphery of the first glass pane; and   irradiating the low-emissivity layer of the second glass pane contacting the glass pane periphery of the first glass pane with a bonding laser to fuse the low-emissivity layer contacting the glass pane periphery and seal the first glass pane to the second glass pane.   
     
     
         18 . The method of manufacturing the vacuum insulated glass unit of  claim 17 , wherein the low-emissivity layer is compositionally configured to fuse upon absorption of radiation output by the bonding laser to seal the first glass pane to the second glass pane. 
     
     
         19 . The method of manufacturing the vacuum insulated glass unit of  claim 17 , wherein the low-emissivity layer is compositionally configured to reflect radiant heat and permit transmission of visible radiation upon exposure to solar radiation. 
     
     
         20 . The method of manufacturing the vacuum insulated glass unit of  claim 17 , the method further comprising:
 depositing an anti-friction mask layer along a perimeter of the vacuum chamber side of the first glass pane; and   
       depositing an anti-friction layer onto the vacuum chamber side of the first glass pane before depositing the etching mask layer onto the plurality of masking locations such that after contacting the vacuum chamber side of the first glass pane with the chemical etchant, the end surfaces of the plurality of glass spacers comprise the anti-friction layer. 
     
     
         21 . The method of manufacturing the vacuum insulated glass unit of  claim 17 , the method further comprising translating the bonding laser such that a contact point of laser radiation output by the bonding laser translates along a perimeter of the first glass pane at a rate of between about 1 mm/s and about 400 mm/s. 
     
     
         22 . The method of manufacturing the vacuum insulated glass unit of  claim 17 , wherein the etching mask layer comprises aluminum, polysilicon, amorphous silicon, silicon carbide, titanium nitride, acrylate polymers, or a combination thereof. 
     
     
         23 . The method of manufacturing the vacuum insulated glass unit of  claim 20 , wherein the anti-friction mask layer comprises aluminum, polysilicon, amorphous silicon, silicon carbide, titanium nitride, or a combination thereof and is deposited using a chemical vapor deposition process, a photolithographic process, a screen printing process, an inkjet printing process, or a combination thereof. 
     
     
         24 . The method of manufacturing the vacuum insulated glass unit of  claim 17 , further comprising contacting the vacuum chamber side of the first glass pane with a fluid to reduce optical distortion through the first glass pane.