Luminous glazing unit for architectural use or use in furnishings or a means of public transport

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10114166-B2
Application number	US-201615563282-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 25, 2016
Priority date	Apr 3, 2015
Publication date	Oct 30, 2018
Grant date	Oct 30, 2018

Abstract

A luminous glazing unit for architectural use or use in furnishings or a system of public transport, includes a first glazing pane, made of organic or mineral glass, of refractive index n1 of at least 1.4 with first and second main faces; a light source, coupled to the first glazing pane; and a light-extracting system including a scattering layer of width of at least 1 cm including scattering dielectric particles bound by a transparent matrix of refractive index n2. The scattering particles are mainly microparticles that are spaced apart from one another and that include a shell made of a transparent dielectric material and making contact with the transparent matrix, the shell surrounding a core of refractive index n3 of at most 1.15 and of largest dimension called D3 in a range extending from 5 μm to 200 μm, the microparticles having a largest dimension called D′ smaller than 2D3.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A luminous glazing unit comprising:
a glazing module with an edge face and two main faces, said glazing module including at least one first glazing pane, made of organic or mineral glass, of refractive index n 1 of at least 1.4 with first and second main faces;
a light source optically coupled to the glazing module, the glazing module forming a guide of light emitted by the light source; and
a light-extracting system configured to extract the guided light in order to form a scattering zone of width of at least 1 cm, said light-extracting system including a scattering layer comprising scattering dielectric particles bound by a matrix, said scattering layer being associated with one of the first or second main faces;
wherein the matrix is transparent and of refractive index n 2 at least equal to n 1 or such that n 1 -n 2 is at most 0.15
and wherein the scattering particles are mainly microparticles that are spaced apart from one another and that comprise a shell made of a transparent dielectric material and making contact with the transparent matrix, said shell surrounding a core of refractive index n 3 of at most 1.15, said core having a largest dimension D 3 in a range extending from 5 μm to 200 μm, the microparticles having a largest dimension called D′ smaller than 2D 3 .

2. The luminous glazing unit as claimed in claim 1 , wherein a degree of coverage of the microparticles is at most 20%.

3. The luminous glazing unit as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the microparticles are hollow.

4. The luminous glazing unit as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the dielectric material of the shell is mineral glass, silica or a metal oxide.

5. The luminous glazing unit as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said largest dimension D 3 is in the range extending from 20 μm to 100 μm.

6. The luminous glazing unit as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the scattering layer includes a layer binding the microparticles made of a material chosen from an organic binder or a mineral binder and/or the scattering layer includes a PVB or EVA layer binding the microparticles.

7. The luminous glazing unit as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the scattering layer is directly on the first main face or the second main face of the first glazing pane, and, defining the haze H 1 , in the off state, of the first glazing pane and scattering layer together, H 1 is at most 10%.

8. The luminous glazing unit as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the scattering layer is directly on the first main face or the second main face of the first glazing pane, and, the image clarity, in the off state, of the first glazing pane and scattering layer together, is at least 90%.

9. The luminous glazing unit as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the light source includes a set of light-emitting diodes on a PCB carrier.

10. The luminous glazing unit as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the light source is optically coupled to the first glazing pane, wherein a layer of porous sol-gel silica of refractive index of at most 1.3 is on the second main face of the first glazing pane, wherein the scattering layer is on the first main face or a side of the second main face of the first glazing pane and, when the scattering layer is on a side of the second main face, the porous silica layer has one or more discontinuities and the scattering layer faces the one or more discontinuities, and wherein optionally the glazing module is a laminated glazing unit including said first glazing pane made of mineral glass, and, on the side of the second main face, a lamination interlayer made of an optionally tinted thermoplastic polymeric material, and a second glazing pane made of mineral glass optionally including an absorbing and/or scattering layer.

11. The glazing unit as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the glazing module is a laminated glazing unit including said first glazing pane made of mineral glass, and including on the second main face side a lamination interlayer made of a thermoplastic polymeric material, and a second glazing pane made of mineral glass.

12. The luminous glazing unit as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the glazing module is a laminated glazing unit including said first glazing pane made of mineral glass, a lamination interlayer made of a thermoplastic polymeric material and a second glazing pane made of mineral glass, and wherein the microparticles are bound by the polymeric material forming the transparent matrix.

13. The luminous glazing unit as claimed in claim 10 , wherein the lamination interlayer is a PVB or an EVA.

14. The luminous glazing unit as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the luminous glazing unit forms an architectural glazing unit or a glazing unit used in furnishings or a means of public transport.

15. The luminous glazing unit as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the luminous glazing unit forms an insulating glazing unit that includes an additional glazing pane with third and fourth main faces, the third main face, the innermost, being spaced apart from the glazing module, by a gas-filled cavity, a framing first polymeric seal being arranged on the a periphery of the third main face and making contact with the glazing module.

16. The luminous glazing unit as claimed in claim 15 , wherein the luminous glazing unit forms a side window of a train, tram or a subway train, a door of a refrigerated appliance, a window, a skylight, or a glazed door.

17. The luminous glazing unit as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the luminous glazing unit forms a planar and tempered, clear or extra-clear single glazing unit, the first glazing pane thus being planar and tempered and clear or extra-clear.

18. The luminous glazing unit as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising a profile for mounting the glazing unit, the light source being in a volume between the mounting profile and the edge face of the glazing module, the profile including a web facing the edge face of the glazing module.

19. The luminous glazing unit as claimed in claim 18 , wherein the light source includes a set of light-emitting diodes on a PCB carrier and wherein the luminous glazing unit includes a profile bearing the PCB carrier in the volume between the mounting profile and the edge face of the glazing module.

20. The luminous glazing unit as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the degree of coverage of the microparticles is at most 1%.

21. The luminous glazing unit as claimed in claim 3 , wherein the dielectric material of the shell is mineral glass, silica or a metal oxide.

22. The luminous glazing unit as claimed in claim 7 , wherein H 1 is at most 2%.

Assignees

• Saint Gobain

Inventors

• Berard Mathieu
• Dubost Brice

Classifications

• G09F13/18

  Edge-illuminated signs · CPC title

• G09F21/04

  by land vehicles · CPC title

• B32B17/10614

  comprising particles for purposes other than dyeing · CPC title

• B32B17/10761

  containing vinyl acetal · CPC title

• B32B2605/006

  Transparent parts other than made from inorganic glass, e.g. polycarbonate glazings · CPC title