WO1995011363A1

WO1995011363A1 - Method and device for assembling double-glazing units with frame-shaped spacers made from a plastic compound

Info

Publication number: WO1995011363A1
Application number: PCT/EP1994/003435
Authority: WO
Inventors: Karl Lenhardt
Original assignee: Lenhardt Maschinenbau Gmbh
Priority date: 1993-10-20
Filing date: 1994-10-19
Publication date: 1995-04-27
Also published as: DE4335671A1

Abstract

Proposed is a method of assembling double-glazing units with a frame-shaped spacer (7) made from a plastic compound on a fabrication line working substantially in the vertical plane. A first pane of glass (6) is transferred from its initially substantially vertical position to a horizontal position. The spacer (7) is then extruded on to the pane (6). At the same time, a second pane of glass (26) is brought, in a substantially vertical position, through the work station (5) to an assembly and pressure-application device (9) where it is placed in position. The first pane (6) with the spacer (7) is then swung back into its vertical position and transferred in this position to the assembly and pressure-application device (9) where it is married to the second pane (26) to give a double-glazing unit.

Description

Method and device for assembling insulating glass panes with frame-shaped spacers from a plastic mass

Description:

The invention is based on a method for assembling insulating glass panes with frame-shaped spacers from a plastic mass by conveying the glass panels in an almost vertical position, by continuously applying the initially pasty mass in the form of a strand to a first glass panel along its edges, whereby the frame-shaped spacer is formed, and joining the first glass sheet with a second glass sheet so that the spacer adheres to both glass sheets, the second glass sheet being positioned opposite one another in the almost vertical position of the first glass sheet before being joined. Furthermore, the invention is based on a device with the features specified in the preamble of claim 8.

For more than 15 years, insulating glass panes, which consist of glass panels, which are glued to one another at the edge with the interposition of a frame-shaped spacer, have been assembled in an almost vertical position in order to add a sag of the upper glass panel which is otherwise observed in a horizontal position during assembly avoid. Such a sag cannot occur after assembly of the insulating glass pane, if the interior of the insulating glass pane is thereby hermetically sealed. more undone. When plastic spacers are used, there is also the fact that they can flow under the weight of a glass sheet bearing on them, especially in the case of large-format and thick glass sheets, and when the plastic spacer is only immediately before the insulating glass pane is assembled by extrusion onto one of the glass sheets is applied, so that it is difficult in this way to produce spacers with a precisely predetermined thickness, ie insulating glass panes with a precisely predetermined air gap. In order to counter this disadvantage, it is known to embed balls in the plastic spacer, the diameter of which determines the distance between the glass sheets of the insulating glass pane (DE-C-41 04 108). However, this is an additional work step which is undesirable per se and makes production more expensive.

However, if, as usual, the plastic spacer is extruded onto an almost vertical glass sheet (EP-B-0 176 388), leaving a gap between the beginning and the end through which excess air can escape during assembly, then you have to struggle with the problem that the freshly extruded, still relatively soft plastic strand sags on the two horizontal edges or inclines downwards, and more so the larger the air gap in the insulating glass pane and thus the width of the spacer should be. This effect is particularly unpleasant because the thermal insulation effect of an insulating glass pane increases with an increasing air gap and the requirements for thermal insulation capacity are constantly increasing. As a countermeasure against the inclination of the extruded spacer, attempts have been made to let the nozzle with which the spacer is extruded follow a support roller which acts on the underside of the spacer in order to straighten it up. However, the duration of action of the support roller is necessarily too short to be sufficiently effective.

In order to avoid the described difficulty with the inclination of the plastic spacer, it is also known to embed a corrugated metal strip in the plastic spacer, which holds the spacer horizontally. Such spacers cannot, however, be directly extruded onto a glass sheet, rather a plastic strand with embedded metal strips must be prefabricated and then applied from a supply roll to the glass sheet with a special applicator, the change to other air spaces always being made changing the supply roll and threading the new strand into the applicator, which is time consuming.

The present invention has for its object to show a way how to do insulating glass panes with a plastic spacer, which is not prefabricated, but extruded onto one of its glass sheets as a strand immediately before the assembly of an insulating glass pane, can assemble even particularly wide spacer strands with a precisely predetermined spacing of the glass sheets from one another and without sagging.

This object is achieved by a method with the features specified in claim 1 and by a device with the features specified in claim 8. Advantageous developments of the invention are the subject of the dependent claims.

The combination of features according to the invention combines the advantages of a vertical insulating glass assembly line with the advantages of a horizontal method of operation without having to accept their respective disadvantages. Only for the purpose of applying a plastic spacer by extrusion onto a glass sheet does the vertical mode of operation differ, in that only one of the glass sheets, namely the one on which the plastic spacer is to be extruded, is brought into a horizontal position before extrusion and after extrusion is brought back into its vertical or almost vertical starting position. While previously working exclusively vertically due to the instability of the extruded spacer If the maximum spacer width and thus the air gap of the insulating glass pane was limited to 10 to 12 mm, it is surprisingly possible when using the invention to extrude plastic spacers with a width of 20 mm and more and the insulating glass panes to assemble without the dreaded sagging or bending down of the spacer at the horizontal glass sheet edges. During the extrusion in a horizontal position, the internal cohesion of the initially still pasty plastic mass, which is usually a polyisol butylene heated to 70 ° C. to 80 ° C., is sufficient even with the largest air spaces or spacer widths Prevent inclination of the spacer to the side, although it is relatively soft and flowable when hot extruded. You do not even need rollers trailing the extrusion die to straighten the spacer, and this is advantageous because the freshly extruded strand is very sticky. As a result, the freshly extruded strand cools down by giving off heat to the glass sheet and to the ambient air and progressively solidifies in the process. When the glass sheet with the spacer is then swiveled up, the solidification has progressed so far that the spacer no longer sags until the assembly of the insulating glass pane is complete. The actual assembly takes place in the almost vertical position of the glass panels, in which an undesired glass panel sag is avoided and in which the air intermediate space of the insulating glass pane, ie the width of the spacer _f compressed after the glass sheets have been compressed, not by the weight of a glass sheet resting thereon, but solely by the pressing process, which is usually carried out in a plate press with a calibrated plate spacing.

In this way, perfectly calibrated insulating glass is obtained with extruded, plastic spacers that run exactly in a straight line, even with large spacer widths.

The time period in which the spacer is extruded onto a glass sheet is preferably used to position the second glass sheet to be connected at the point at which the actual assembly is to take place. Therefore, the first glass sheet is preferably first conveyed into a station in an almost vertical position, in which it is brought into the horizontal or almost horizontal position and the pasty strand is applied, while the second glass sheet follows the first glass sheet in the almost vertical position, in this position runs through the station into a plate press and is transversely displaced from its infeed path to a position parallel to it.

The first glass sheet covered with the initially pasty strand is only then returned to the almost vertical position pivots when the second glass sheet has passed through the station in which the spacer is extruded and released again. Thereafter, the glass sheet covered with the spacer is conveyed on the infeed path into the plate press, positioned there opposite the second glass sheet and joined together, wherein it is calibrated by the plate press to a preselected air gap. The spacer widens due to the compression that occurs. Since the extent of the compression is known, the extent of the widening is also known. In a further development of the invention, the spacer is therefore extruded onto the first glass sheet in such a way that it has a waist between its underside lying on the glass sheet and the surface facing away from it, which is dimensioned such that it is compressed in the press by the subsequent upsetting disappears. Such a mode of operation would not be possible when extruding the spacer onto an approximately vertically standing glass sheet, because the waist would further increase the sagging or tipping of the spacer strand at its horizontal sections. In the case of a vertical mode of operation, the opposite, namely a bulbous design of the spacer profile, would be advisable in order to stabilize the spacer profile, which, however, leads to a very bulbous, visible in the insulating glass pane and therefore undesirable top surface of the spacer would lead.

In the case of insulating glass panes which are assembled under normal ambient air pressure, the plastic spacer has so far been applied in such a way that a gap remains in the spacer between the beginning and the end through which the air which escapes when the insulating glass is pressed in can escape is displaced by the considerable compression of the spacer. So far, this gap has only been closed after the insulating glass has been pressed, which requires an additional operation, and a weak point remains for the penetration of water vapor. The ends of the spacer are particularly vulnerable to sagging in the prior art until the insulating glass pane is assembled if they are located in the horizontal section of the spacer. In a further development of the invention, the spacer is therefore preferably extruded onto the glass sheet without gaps, and this measure is combined with one or both glass sheets being bent away from the spacer, in particular at one corner, before they are assembled and pressed to form the insulating glass pane. As a result, the excess air when pressing the insulating glass pane can escape from the insulating glass pane despite the gap-free spacer, and only then is the insulating glass pane closed in its last corner by reversing the bend. A press suitable for this purpose is known from WO 89/11021 and from DE-U-9014304 for another purpose, namely for filling a foreign gas into an insulating glass pane. The commonly used polyisobutylene is a thermoplastic. In order to promote its solidification, the extruded spacer on the first glass sheet is preferably cooled, for example by being blown with air, the air also being colder than room temperature. If, on the other hand, the spacer is extruded from a crosslinking plastic, the solidification can be promoted by heating it to accelerate the crosslinking, for example by blowing on with hot air or by irradiation with heat radiation, possibly followed by cooling by blowing on with cold Air.

If the first glass sheet has entered the station in a vertical position in which it is to be covered with the spacer, then it could, for example, be operated with a manipulator equipped with suction devices which are placed on the glass sheet surface. are lifted by the horizontal conveyor on which the glass sheet has entered the station and placed on a horizontal surface on which the spacer is extruded onto the glass sheet. Is favorable for reasons of cycle time and the pollution of the glass sheet surface, the first glass sheet, together with the section of the horizontal conveyor, on which it stands, in the horizontal position to pivot _^, and the resulting gap in the horizontal conveyor is closed by a correspondingly designed, additionally provided section of the conveyor which can be moved back and forth transversely to the conveying direction of the glass sheet. With the aid of this conveyor track section, which is alternatively pushed into the previously opened gap of the horizontal conveyor, the subsequent second glass sheet can pass through the station unhindered, while the first glass sheet is coated with the spacer.

However, it would also be possible to immediately run the first glass sheet into the press, there from the support device on which it is located in an approximately vertical position

Take down the holding device, for example by means of a suction plate, pivot the suction plate into the horizontal position, then extrude the spacer onto the first glass sheet, in the meantime convey the second glass sheet into the assembly and pressing device, there in a predetermined, approximately vertical position to position on the support device, then swivel up the first glass sheet covered with the spacer and press it against the second glass sheet with the holding device on which it is located. However, this mode of operation is not preferred because it leads to a longer cycle time and requires more equipment. The nozzle with which the spacer is extruded can be located at the end of a three-dimensionally movable, program-controlled robot arm; however, it is preferably located on a support which can be moved along a cantilever arm or a traverse, which in turn can be moved across the tilting table transversely to its longitudinal direction, on which the first glass sheet lies when the spacer is extruded. The cantilever arm preferably extends at right angles to the horizontal conveyor, because then, when the spacer is extruded, it can be moved out in a particularly short way on the pivoting area of the tilting table.

In order to achieve particularly short cycle times, the tilting table can be divided transversely to the horizontal conveyor into two sections which can be moved jointly or independently of one another, on which smaller glass panels can be positioned independently of one another and then coated successively. For large-sized glass panels that are longer than a section of the tilting table, the two sections of the tilting table can be moved together in synchronism.

Embodiments of the invention are shown schematically in the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a plan view of a section of a vertical insulating glass production line,

FIG. 2 shows the view II-II according to FIG. 1 of that station in the insulating glass production line in which a plastic spacer is extruded on glass sheets, but with the tilting table pivoted upwards,

FIG. 3 shows the station from FIG. 2 while the tilting table is being pivoted,

FIG. 4 shows the station from FIG. 2 with the tilting table pivoted down, corresponding to FIG. 1, and

FIG. 5 shows a top view of another insulating glass production line with two tilting tables in the station for extruding plastic ones

Spacers on glass panels.

In the two exemplary embodiments, identical or mutually corresponding parts are identified by corresponding reference numbers.

A horizontal conveyor 1, divided into several sections, leads through the section of the insulating glass production line shown in FIG. 1, each formed from a horizontally running roller conveyor 2 on which the glass sheets are conveyed standing, and from a support device 3, which is almost runs vertically and to which the glass panels lean during conveying. The support device 3 is preferably an air cushion wall, but could also be formed by a field of driven or non-driven rollers.

The production line shows an intermediate transport path 4, which comes from a washing machine, for example, a station 5 in which glass sheets 6 are coated with a plastic spacer 7, a further intermediate transport path 8, and an assembly and pressing device 9, which are usually followed by a further conveyor track section and a sealing station.

The direction of conveyance is indicated by arrow 11.

The assembly and pressing device 9 has a fixed air cushion wall 12 as a supporting device for the glass panels, which run into the assembly and pressing device on the horizontal conveyor 1. The horizontal conveyor 1 also passes through the assembly and pressing device 9.

In this, the fixed air cushion wall 12 is opposite a parallel pressure plate 13, the distance to the air cushion wall 12 can be changed by a press drive, through which the pressure plate 13 can be moved on rails 10 parallel to itself. The Press plate 13 has numerous air intake openings distributed over its surface, through which air and with it glass panels can be sucked in and held.

The station 5 has a movable tilting table 16 on rails 14 and 15, which run at right angles to the conveying direction 11, the table top 16a of which is designed as an air cushion wall. At the lower edge of the table top 16a, but separately from it, there is a roller row 2 on a chassis 16b of the tilting table 16, which is part of the horizontal conveyor 1. Furthermore, a second air cushion wall 17 is slidably mounted on the rails 14 and 15, which is oriented approximately vertically, just like the support wall 3, but cannot be tilted, and which likewise carries a row of rollers 2 on its lower edge, which are part of the Horizontal conveyors 1 and, like the rollers 2, can be driven synchronously in the other sections of the production line. On the outside of the rails 14 and 15, two further rails 18 and 19 parallel to them are provided on two stands 20 and 21, on which a crossmember 22 transversely to the conveying direction 11 over the tilting table 16 tilted into the horizontal position (FIGS. 1 and 4) is movable. A carrier 23, which carries a nozzle 24 through which a plastic spacer 7 can be extruded, can be moved along the crossmember 22, ie in the conveying direction 11. The nozzle 24 is supplied with the mass to be extruded by an arrangement 25 comprising a pump and a reservoir. The tilting table 16 has a chassis 36, on which the table top 16a is pivotably mounted. The table top 16a is also fastened to the floor by means of two articulated pull rods 37 with a fixed attachment point 38 and is connected to the chassis 36 by a piston-cylinder unit 39 which, like the pull rods 37, engages on the back of the table top 16a . The second air cushion wall 17 also rests on a chassis 40, which is connected to the chassis 36 by two push rods 34 and 35.

The device works as follows:

First, the tilting table 16 is in its erected position in the alignment of the horizontal conveyor 1 (FIG. 2) and the second air cushion wall 17 is pushed on its chassis 40 into a position behind the horizontal conveyor 1. In this position, a first glass sheet 6 is placed on the two glass sheets to be assembled into an Islier glass sheet

Horizontal conveyor 1 is conveyed upright into station 5, stopped in a predetermined position at the end of station 5, the tilting table 16 on its frame 36 is pushed forward out of the conveying path of the horizontal conveyor 1 by the piston-cylinder unit 39 of its piston retracts, whereby the table top 16a is pivoted down (FIG. 3) and in cooperation with the tie rods 37 the chassis 36 is inevitably advanced until the table top 16a is in the horizontal position (FIG. 4), whereas the conveyor rollers 2 remain on the frame 36. In this phase, no air is expediently extracted from the Blown existing openings, but in the opposite part sucked air through these openings and thereby held the glass sheet 6. When the tilting table 16 has arrived in its horizontal position (FIG. 4), it is additionally supported on posts 41 which stand on the push rods 34 and 35. The crossbeam 22 on which the nozzle 24 is mounted can now be moved over the tilting table 16 in order to extrude the spacer 7 onto the glass plate 6 located there, ideally starting with the edge section of the glass plate 6 running parallel to the conveying direction 11 in the vicinity of the arrangement 25, then progressively traversing the one edge section perpendicular to the conveying direction 11, the other edge section parallel to the conveying direction 11 and finally the last edge section of the glass sheet running transversely to the conveying direction 11.

By tilting the tilting table 16, the second air cushion wall 17 was also advanced on the rails 34 and 35 in order to close the gap left by the tilting table 16 in the horizontal conveyor, so that a second glass panel 26 on the horizontal conveyor 1 through the station 5 can be conveyed into the assembly and pressing device 9, where it is stopped in a predetermined position, the pressing plate 13 is placed against it in order to suck it in, and the pressing plate is then moved back again with the second glass sheet 26 sucked in to the assembly - And press device 9 to open.

When the spacer 7 is completely extruded and the crossmember 22 is no longer in the swivel range of the tilting table 16 is located, the tilting table 16 can be swung up and moved back into the gap of the horizontal conveyor 1, these two movements overlapping because they both originate from the piston-cylinder unit 39, and at the same time the second air cushion wall 17 is moved back. As soon as the tilting table 16 has reached its end position in the gap of the horizontal conveyor 1, the first glass panel 6 is conveyed into the assembly and pressing device 9, where it is congruent with the second glass panel 26 and the pressing plate 13 approximates the air cushion wall 12, whereby the two glass panels 6 and 26 are connected to the insulating glass pane and pressed to a predetermined thickness.

After the pressing process has been completed, the assembly and pressing device 9 is opened and the insulating glass pane is removed.

In the case of smaller pane formats, two glass panels 6 can also be coated next to one another in the station 5 with a spacer (FIG. 1), and two insulating glass panes can be assembled and pressed together in the assembly and pressing device 9. In order to achieve a gain in cycle time, the station 5, possibly also the assembly and pressing device 9, can be divided into two successive sections 5 and 5 'in the conveying direction 11, each of which has a tilting table 16 and 16' and has a further movable support wall 17 and 17 ', which can be moved independently as desired, see FIG. departing from the first exemplary embodiment, in FIG. 5 the carrier 23 with the nozzle 24 is also movably supported on a cantilever arm 42 which extends transversely to the conveying direction 11 and which is attached to a carriage 43 which in turn is mounted on two rails parallel to the conveying direction 11 44 and 45 in the neighborhood of the arrangement 25 consisting of the pump and the storage container is running. The cantilever arm 42 has its starting position and end position between the tilting tables 16 and 16 'and can alternately operate both from there at short notice. As a result, short cycle times of the production line and at the same time sufficient hardening times for the spacers 7 are possible before they are swiveled up.

A corresponding design of the device for moving the nozzle 24 as in FIG. 5 could also be used in the first example.

Claims

Claims:

1. Process for assembling insulating glass panes with frame-shaped spacers (7) from a plastic mass

Conveying the glass panels (6, 26) in an almost vertical position,

Transfer of a first glass sheet (6) into a horizontal or almost horizontal position,

continuous application of the initially pasty mass in the form of a strand to the first glass sheet (6) along its edges, as a result of which the frame-shaped spacer (7) is formed in situ,

Positioning a second glass sheet (26) in the almost vertical position of the first glass sheet (6) opposite,

Joining the two glass panels (6, 26) by pivoting the first glass panel (6) up against the second glass panel (26) until the spacer adheres to both glass panels (6, 26).

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the first glass sheet (6) in almost vertical

Position is conveyed to a station (5), in which it is brought into the horizontal or almost horizontal position and the pasty strand is applied,

that the first glass sheet (6) is followed by the second glass sheet (26) in the almost vertical position, passes through the station (5) in this position, runs into a plate press (9) and is positioned parallel to its infeed path,

that the first glass sheet (6) covered with the pasty strand is returned to the almost vertical position on the infeed path after the second glass sheet (26) has passed through the station (5), and

that the first glass sheet (6) is then conveyed on the runway into the plate press (9), positioned opposite the second glass sheet (26) and joined together with it.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized gekenn¬ characterized in that the first glass sheet (6) is pivoted up along a trajectory whose center of curvature is above the surface of the first glass sheet (6) occupied by the spacer (7).

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the mass is a thermoplastic and is cooled on the first glass sheet (6).

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the mass is a crosslinking

Is plastic and is heated on the first glass sheet (6) to accelerate the crosslinking.

6. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the rod made of the plastic mass is applied to the first glass sheet (6) in such a way that it lies between its underside lying on the glass sheet (6) and the its opposite surface has a waist (27).

7. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the plastic spacer (7) is applied to the first glass sheet (6) without gaps and at least one of the glass sheets (6, 26) at the edge before assembling and pressing the insulating glass pane , preferably at a corner, elastically bent away from the spacer (7), the insulating glass pane assembled and pressed in the bent state, and finally the bending is reversed.

8. Device for assembling insulating glass panes with a plastic spacer (7) between pairs of glass panels,

with a support device (12) for supporting a first glass sheet (6) in an almost vertical position, with a holding device (13) for a second glass sheet (26) provided at a variable distance from the support device (12), the holding device (13 ) and the support device (12) can be pressed against one another in a position parallel to one another, and with a horizontal conveyor (1) for the glass sheets (6, 26) leading through the area of the support device (12) and the holding device (13),

characterized in that a tilting table (16) pivotable about an axis parallel to the horizontal conveyor (1) is provided, which has means for holding the first glass sheet (6), and that the tilting table (16) has a relative to the The tilting table (16) is assigned a nozzle (24) movable parallel to its surface with the surface facing the mouth, which is fed with the pasty mass, so that the nozzle (24) applies the mass as a strand to the first glass sheet (6) .

9. The device according to claim 8, characterized gekennzeich¬ net that the tilting table (16) based on the

The conveying direction (11) of the horizontal conveyor (1) is arranged in front of the holding device (13) and, when swiveled up, forms a section of the supporting device (3) lying in front of the holding device (13).

10. The device according to claim 9, characterized in that the tilting table (16) can be swiveled up along a path curve whose center of curvature lies above the table surface, and that an almost vertical one which can be displaced transversely to the horizontal conveyor (1) Support device (17) is provided which, when the tilting table (16) is pivoted down, is caused by its absence Gap in the horizontal conveyor (1) closes.

11. The device according to claim 8 or ^' 9, characterized ge indicates that the nozzle (24) is attached to the end of a three-dimensionally movable robot arm.

12. The apparatus of claim 8 or 9, characterized ge indicates that the nozzle (24) along one

Traverse (22) can be moved, which in turn can be moved across the tilting table (16) transversely to its longitudinal direction.

13. The apparatus according to claim 12, characterized gekennzeich¬ net that the cross member (22) extends parallel to the horizontal conveyor (1).

14. The apparatus of claim 8 or 9, characterized ge indicates that the nozzle (24) along a cantilever arm (42) is movable, which in turn is parallel to the conveying direction (11) on the tilting table (16) and movable is attached to a slide (43) which runs on rails (44, 45) which run parallel to the conveying direction (11) on the side of the tilting table (16) facing away from the horizontal conveyor (1).

15. Device according to one of claims 8 to 13, characterized in that the tilting table (16) is divided transversely to the horizontal conveyor (1) into two sections (16, 16 ') which can be moved together or independently of one another. 16. The apparatus according to claim 14 and 15, characterized ge indicates that the cantilever arm (42) its initial position between the two tilting tables (16,

16 ').

17. Device according to one of claims 8 to 16, characterized in that it is surrounded by an air-conditioned housing.