Multiple glasing arrangement

Abstract

 In the multi-layer glazing unit, there are at least three parallel glass sheets (1, 6, 8) arranged at a distance from each other and intermediate pieces (5, 7) for forming the distances between the sheets. For installing the glass, there is at least one fastener (9) in the arrangement for attaching the multi-layer glazing unit to the loadbearing structure. A least one of the outermost glass sheets (1) of the multi-layer glazing unit is of tempered laminated glass and the fasteners (9) of the multi-layer glazing unit are attached only to this glass sheet (1).

Description

Field of technology

[0001] The invention relates to multi-layer glazing units, which can be attached to frame structures of buildings or corresponding structures.

[0002] In particular, the invention relates to frameless insulating glazing units used in the facades of buildings and a glass outer surface assembled from them.

Background to the invention

[0003] Insulating glazing units are formed of flat sheets of glass, which are surrounded gas-tightly, with the aid of edge seals, at a distance from each other. The air or other gas between the glass sheets acts as an insulator, so that an insulating glazing unit has a good coefficient of thermal transmittance, i.e. U-value. The U-value depicts the thermal insulating ability of a structure, which is important when attempting to reduce the energy consumption of buildings. Insulating glass can be used as window structures or as larger unified surfaces, in which case frameless insulating glazing units are installed with their edges against each other. In this way, the effect of a unified glass surface is achieved.

[0004] Publication GB 2171137 discloses a construction, in which a flexible fastener attached to the glass sheets of one unit is used to attach the double-insulating glazing units, which permits the insulating glazing units and the fastener to flex, in such a way that the airtightness of insulating glass and their mutual edge seals is not endangered.

[0005] If a better thermal insulating ability than that of double insulating glazing units is required, triple or multiple-layered glazing units must be used. Multi-layered glazing units are naturally heavier than double-layered glazing units, so that supporting the mass of a multi-layered glazing unit on the frame structures of a building is also more demanding. The fastener must also simultaneously withstand the wind load acting on the outer surface.

[0006] In order to receive the increased loading, fasteners can be used, which support at least both outermost sheets of glass through the triple insulating-glass pack. This form of fastener requires making holes through all the glass sheets and usually the air-tight sealing all the feed-throughs. An example of such an attachment manner is disclosed in European patent 1354103.

Summary of the invention

[0007] If the attachment or support of a multi-layer glazing unit is made by means of a fastener running through the glass pack, at least the outermost sheets of glass in the pack must be of tempered glass and, in necessary, laminated glass. Because the sheets of glass must be cut and the openings required for the fasteners made before tempering, the insulating-glass manufacturer must order the sheets of glass ready cut to the defined dimensions and equipped with the necessary openings, as well as ready tempered. It is naturally more expensive to order such finished glasses than an uncut sheet of glass. Nowadays, special glasses, such as selective glasses and sun-proof glasses are used in multi-layer glazing units. The tempering of these glasses requires special techniques and there are few companies able to perform tempering. It is not possible for special-glass manufacturers to temper at least special glasses themselves, so that the glass sheets cut to size ordered from a glass manufacturer must often be transported for long distances for tempering. This increases costs and considerably lengthens delivery times. In addition, it is possible that, during transportation, manufacturing, or installation, sheets of glass break or are simply wished to be changed. In that case, a cut to size glass sheet must be ordered from the glass manufacturer, sent for tempering, and only then can a replacement multi-layer glazing unit be assembled. The same situation arises when repairing glazing units in use. It is obvious that, in this situation, the repair and replacement of, for example, broken multi-layer glazing units, especially when comprising special glass surfaces, is expensive and time-consuming. Some special-surface glasses cannot even be tempered, so that their use is limited in applications in which fasteners must be installed in the glass sheet.

[0008] Thus, it would be advantageous to create an insulating glass arrangement, in which the fewest possible openings or other cuts must be made in the glass sheets of a multi-layer glazing unit for attaching the multi-layer glazing unit to the frame.

[0009] One embodiment of the invention is intended to create a multi-layer glazing unit, in which the fasteners supporting the multi-layer glazing unit are fitted to only one sheet of glass in the multi-layer glazing unit.

[0010] One embodiment of the invention is intended to create a multi-layer glazing unit, in which only one sheet of glass is tempered.

[0011] One embodiment of the invention is intended to create a multi-layer glazing unit, which has an improved U-value.

[0012] One embodiment of the invention is intended to create a multi-layer glazing unit, in which there are at least two sheets of special glass.

[0013] One embodiment of the invention is intended to create a multi-layer glazing unit, in which the sheets of glass are attached to each other only by gluing.

[0014] The invention is based on at least one of the outermost sheets of glass of a multi-layer glazing unit being tempered laminated glass and the fasteners of the multi-layer glazing unit being fitted to this sheet of glass.

[0015] According to one embodiment of the invention, at least two sheets of glass of a multi-layer glazing unit are attached to each other and to at least one tempered sheet of glass by gluing. According to one embodiment, at least one of the glass sheets of a multi-layer glazing unit is selective glass and one sun-proof glass.

[0016] In the various embodiments of the invention, it is possible to combine the features described above and later in the description and the Claims, in order to manufacture multi-layer glazing units suitable for different purposes.

[0017] Several advantages are gained with the aid of the invention.

[0018] With the aid of the invention, it is possible to considerably accelerate the manufacture of multi-layer glazing units and save manufacturing costs. Because only one of the glass sheets must be tempered, the glass sheets used in manufacture can be order from the manufacturer as large uncut blank sheets in the dimensions that can be most economically supplied by the manufacturer. Because expensive transportation for making holes and tempering is not required, delivery times are cut in both new production and in the delivery of replacement glasses. In the construction, it is possible to use special glasses, which cannot be tempered, so that the properties of multi-layer glazing units can be better tailored to customer requirements. Assembling a multi-layer glazing unit by gluing from complete flat sheets of glass is easier than assembling corresponding structures, in which the making of holes is required in all sheets. Because the fastener of a multi-layer glazing unit need not go through the whole glass pack, the u-value of a fastener and multi-layer glazing unit is better than that of one with holes through it.

Description of drawings

[0019] 

Figure 1 shows one multi-layer glazing unit according to the invention.

Figure 2 shows one fastener, which can be used in a multi-layer glazing unit according to the invention.

Description of embodiments

[0020] Within this description, the term multi-layer glazing unit refers to a glass arrangement consisting of at least three parallel flat glass layers, such as insulating glass.

[0021] The term facade glass refers to a glass arrangement, by means of which the outer surface of a building is formed.

[0022] The term adhesive refers to a bonding agent, which adheres to pieces bounding it and attaches them to each other. When being spread, the adhesive is in the form of a liquid or paste, and hardens in gluing to form a membrane, which attaches the pieces to each other.

[0023] Figure 1 shows one example of the implementation of the invention. The glass of Figure 1 is a triple-layer glazing unit, the loadbearing glass sheet 1 of which is a double-layer laminated and tempered glass sheet, which consists of two glass layers 2 and 3, and a polymer membrane 4 between them. In this loadbearing glass sheet 1, a hole 10 is made for a fastener 9. The fastener 9 can be, for example, a flanged fastener with a circular cross-section like that in Figure 1, in which there is a cylindrical body and flanges 11 extending over the edges of the hole made in the loadbearing glass sheet. The fastener 9 is preferably fitted to the hole 10 in the loadbearing glass sheet before the pack of glass sheets is assembled to form a multi-layer glazing unit. The loadbearing glass sheet must be of tempered laminated glass, in which there are at least two glass layers 2, 3 laminated to each other. Because in façade glazing, for example, a multi-layer glazing unit is attached to the frame of the building, the loadbearing glass sheet 1 should be installed on the façade on the inside, facing the building. The fasteners are usually located at the corners of the multi-layer glazing unit, but they can, of course, be located otherwise anywhere in the area of the loadbearing glass.

[0024] After the placing of the fastener 9, the other functional glass layers 6, 8 can be attached to the loadbearing glass layer. Because there must be an insulating gap between the glass layers 1, 6, 8, the glasses must be located at a distance from each other. In order to achieve a suitable gap, a bead 5, 7, running round the edges, is placed on the edges of the glass sheets 1, 6, 8. The bead 5, 7 is attached to the surfaces of the glass sheets 1, 6, 8 and correspondingly the glass sheets 1, 6, 8 to the beads 5, 7 by gluing. For gluing, commercially available adhesives for this purpose can be used. In this way, a functional multi-layer or composite structure can be created from a multi-layer glazing unit.

[0025] In practice, the properties of the multi-layer glazing unit can be influenced by altering the properties of the various layers of the multi-layer glazing unit according to the invention. One of the outer layers must be sufficiently strong to be able to carry the weight of the multi-layer glazing unit and withstand the wind and other loads according to the dimensioning and transmit the strains to the building's frame through the fastener. The other glass layers can be selected according to the properties desired. For instance, two selective glasses or a selective glasses and sun-proof glass can be used in the construction. Other alternatives are self-cleaning glass, glass that change its properties due to the effect of an electric current or light, or simply coloured glass. There can be several glass layers and, in addition to the loadbearing glass sheets, one or more sheets can be tempered and/or laminated. However, it is preferable for tempered glass to be used only as the loadbearing glass sheet, to avoid the costs incurred by tempering and the transportation relating to tempering. What is important, however, is that there is a hole or holes only in the loadbearing glass layer, and the other glass sheets are complete sheets without holes.

[0026] Figure 2 shows an example of one type of fastener, which can be used to apply the invention. The invention is not restricted to this example; instead any suitable fastener whatever can be used within the scope of the Claims. In the example of the fastener, the flanged parts 11 supporting the loadbearing glass sheet 1 are attached to each other by means of a thread 16 and they can be pressed against each other by screwing against the outer surfaces of the loadbearing glass layer 1. In the flange parts 11 is a layer of flexible material 12 on the side facing the glass sheet, to avoid damage to the glass. By means of the flexible material, movement and tolerance are permitted for the construction. The flange parts 11 are joined to the fastener body 13, in which there is a nut arrangement 14 for attaching the fastener to an intermediate piece or directly to the frame 15 of the building.

List of reference numbers

[0027] 

1 loadbearing glass sheet

2 laminated glass layer

3 laminated glass layer

4 polymer membrane

5 strip

6 functional glass layer

7 strip

8 functional glass layer

9 fastener

10 hole

11 flange

12 flexible layer

13 fastener body

14 nut arrangement

15 intermediate piece/frame

16 thread

List of references

[0028] 

EP 1354103

GB 2171137

Claims

1. Multi-layer glazing unit, which comprises at least three parallel glass sheets (1, 6, 8) arranged at a distance from each, and intermediate pieces (5, 7) for forming the distances between the sheets, as well as at least one fastener (9) for attaching the multi-layer glazing unit to a loadbearing structure, characterized in that at least one of the outermost glass sheets (1) of the multi-layer glazing unit is a loadbearing glass sheet of tempered laminated glass and the fasteners (9) of the multi-layer glazing unit are attached only to this glass sheet (1).

2. Multi-layer glazing unit according to Claim 1, characterized in that at least three glass sheets (1, 6, 8) of the multi-layer glazing unit are attached to each other with the aid of beads (5, 7) by gluing.

3. Multi-layer glazing unit according to Claim 1 or 2, characterized in that at least one of the glass sheets of the multi-layer glazing unit is of selective glass.

4. Multi-layer glazing unit according to Claim 1 or 2, characterized in that at least one of the glass sheets of the multi-layer glazing unit is of sun-proof glass.

5. Multi-layer glazing unit according to any of Claims 1 - 4, characterized sin that at least one of the glass sheets of the multi-layer glazing unit is of selective glass and one of sun-proof glass.

6. Multi-layer glazing unit according to any of the above Claims, characterized in that, except for the loadbearing glass sheet (1), the sheets of the multi-layer glazing unit are whole glass sheets without holes.

7. Outer surface of a facade formed of multi-layer glazing, characterized in that it comprises at least two multi-layer glazing units according to any of Claims 1 - 6, which are installed framelessly with their edges against each other.

Drawing