Electrochromic window fabrication methods

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10241375-B2
Application number	US-201615226835-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 2, 2016
Priority date	Nov 8, 2010
Publication date	Mar 26, 2019
Grant date	Mar 26, 2019

Abstract

Methods of manufacturing electrochromic windows are described. An electrochromic device is fabricated to substantially cover a glass sheet, for example float glass, and a cutting pattern is defined based on one or more low-defectivity areas in the device from which one or more electrochromic panes are cut. Laser scribes and/or bus bars may be added prior to cutting the panes or after. Edge deletion can also be performed prior to or after cutting the electrochromic panes from the glass sheet. Insulated glass units (IGUs) are fabricated from the electrochromic panes and optionally one or more of the panes of the IGU are strengthened.

First claim

We claim:

1. A method of manufacturing one or more electrochromic panes, the method comprising, in order:
(a) depositing an electrochromic device on a transparent substrate;
(b) inspecting one or more physical features of the electrochromic device on the transparent substrate;
(c) defining a cutting pattern for cutting the transparent substrate based on the one or more physical features of the electrochromic device; and
(d) cutting the transparent substrate with the electrochromic device deposited thereon according to the defined cutting pattern to create the one or more electrochromic panes.

2. The method of manufacturing of claim 1 , wherein (b) comprises inspecting one or more of a transparent conducting oxide layer, an ion conducting layer, an electrochromic layer, and a counter electrode layer of the electrochromic device.

3. The method of manufacturing of claim 1 , wherein (b) comprises one or more of an optical inspection, an electrical inspection, a chemical inspection and a mechanical inspection.

4. The method of manufacturing of claim 1 , wherein the one or more physical features includes optical density, sheet resistance, thickness, defectivity and morphology of the electrochromic device.

5. The method of manufacturing of claim 4 , wherein (b) comprises inspecting the uniformity, across the transparent substrate, of one or more of optical density, sheet resistance, thickness, defectivity and morphology.

6. The method of manufacturing of claim 1 ,
wherein the transparent substrate is non-tempered glass; and
further comprising strengthening each of the one or more electrochromic panes by laminating with another transparent substrate.

7. The method of manufacturing of claim 1 , wherein (b) comprises inspecting for defects and/or non-uniformities in the electrochromic device.

8. The method of manufacturing of claim 7 , wherein inspecting for defects and/or non-uniformities in the electrochromic device comprises applying polarized light to the transparent substrate.

9. The method of manufacturing of claim 1 , wherein (b) comprises inspecting for defects and/or non-uniformities at one or more edges of the transparent substrate.

10. The method of manufacturing of claim 1 , further comprising performing edge deletion to remove the electrochromic device at the periphery of each electrochromic pane created in (d).

11. The method of manufacturing of claim 1 , further comprising individually inspecting one or more physical features of each electrochromic pane created in (d).

12. A method of manufacturing one or more electrochromic panes, the method comprising, in order:
(a) depositing a first electrochromic device on a first transparent substrate, the first electrochromic device comprising two transparent conducting oxide electrode layers;
(b) detecting one or more areas of the electrochromic device having defects and/or non-uniformities;
(c) mapping data sets across the transparent substrate of the areas having defects and/or non-uniformities in the first electrochromic device;
(d) defining a cutting pattern by excluding or relegating the one or more areas of the electrochromic device having defects and/or non-uniformities from the one or more electrochromic panes in the cutting pattern; and
(e) cutting the first transparent substrate with the electrochromic device deposited thereon according to the defined cutting pattern to create the one or more electrochromic panes.

13. The method of manufacturing of claim 12 , wherein (b) comprises applying polarized light to the first transparent substrate.

14. The method of manufacturing of claim 12 , further comprising scribing the first electrochromic device to expose the two transparent conducting oxide electrode layers of the first electrochromic device.

15. The method of manufacturing of claim 14 , further comprising:
applying temporary bus bars to the two transparent conducting oxide electrode layers of the first electrochromic device; and
applying electrical energy to the temporary bus bars to change optical properties of the first electrochromic device to detect the one or more areas of the first electrochromic device having defects and/or non-uniformities in (b).

16. The method of manufacturing of claim 12 , wherein (b) comprises automated scanning of the electrochromic device to detect the one or more areas of the electrochromic device having defects and/or non-uniformities.

17. The method of manufacturing of claim 12 , wherein (b) comprises classifying the type and/or severity of the defects and/or non-uniformities.

18. The method of manufacturing of claim 12 , further comprising mitigating one or more electrical short defects detected in (b) by applying electrical or optical energy to the first electrochromic device.

19. The method of manufacturing of claim 12 , wherein (c) comprises:
(i) creating a first mapping data set based on the one or more areas having defects and/or non-uniformities in the first electrochromic device;
(ii) creating a second mapping data set based on one or more areas having defects and/or non-uniformities in a second electrochromic device on a second transparent substrate; and
(iii) comparing the first mapping data set to the second mapping data set; and
wherein (d) uses the comparison in (iii).

20. The method of manufacturing of claim 12 , further comprising registering a first pane of the one or more electrochromic panes with a second pane of the one or more electrochromic panes into a single insulated glass unit such that respective areas of defects and/or non-uniformities do not align.

21. The method of manufacturing of claim 19 , wherein (iii) comprises comparing the one or more areas having defects and/or non-uniformities in the first electrochromic device with one or more areas having defects and/or non-uniformities in the second electrochromic device, creating the one or more electrochromic panes from both the first and second electrochromic devices and registering two panes of the one or more electrochromic panes in an insulated glass unit such that respective areas of defects and/or non-uniformities do not align.

22. The method of manufacturing of claim 12 , wherein the cutting pattern is defined to cut one or more electrochromic panes with different sizes and/or defectivity levels.

23. The method of manufacturing of claim 12 , wherein the cutting pattern is defined to cut one or more electrochromic panes for different types of windows and/or end users.

24. A method of manufacturing one or more electrochromic panes, the method comprising, in order:
(a) depositing an electrochromic device on a transparent substrate;
(b) cutting the transparent substrate with the electrochromic device deposited thereon according to a cutting pattern to create the one or more electrochromic panes; and
(c) performing edge deletion to remove an edge portion of the electrochromic device at the periphery of each of the one or more electrochromic panes created in (b).

25. The method of manufacturing of claim 24 , further comprising performing an edge trim by removing a perimeter portion of the transparent substrate prior to (b), the perimeter portion comprising a width in a range of about 1 to about 10 inches.

26. The method of manufacturing of claim 24 , further comprising testing the electrochromic device after (c).

Assignees

• View Inc

Inventors

• Collins Mark A
• Parker Ronald M
• Rozbicki Robert T
• Shrivastava Dhairya

Classifications

• Y10T29/49124

  On flat or curved insulated base, e.g., printed circuit, etc. · CPC title

• Y10T156/1062

  Prior to assembly · CPC title

• B32B17/10697

  being cross-linked · CPC title

• Y10T156/1052

  with cutting, punching, tearing or severing · CPC title

• G02B1/14

  Protective coatings, e.g. hard coatings · CPC title