US 10,240,388 B2Granted

Display case door assembly with tempered glass vacuum panel

AssigneeAnthony, Inc.

InventorsPaul J. Artwohl, Jeffery W. Nicholson, Matthew Rolek, Mark Sandnes

Life of this patent

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Abstract

A display case door assembly for a temperature-controlled storage device includes an opening into the temperature-controlled storage device and a vacuum panel mounted within the opening. The vacuum panel includes a first vacuum pane of tempered glass, a second vacuum pane of tempered glass, and an evacuated gap between the first and second vacuum panes. The evacuated gap has a predetermined thickness within which a vacuum is drawn, thereby providing a thermal insulation effect for the vacuum panel. The vacuum panel further includes a plurality of spacers disposed within the evacuated gap and configured to maintain the predetermined thickness of the evacuated gap when the vacuum is drawn therein.

Claims13

Dependent claims

A method of making a vacuum insulated glass panel, the method comprising:

applying a sealing material around a perimeter of a first glass pane;
printing a ceramic ink onto at least one of the first glass pane and a second glass pane to form a plurality of spacers;
aligning the first glass pane and the second glass pane in parallel, overlapped relation with the sealing material in contact with the second glass pane and a space defined between the first and second glass panes;
applying ultrasonic vibration energy to an outer surface of at least one of the first and second glass panes, thereby bonding the sealing material to the second glass pane to permanently secure the first and second glass panes together at their perimeters;
and then
drawing a vacuum in the space between the first glass pane and the second glass pane.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 15/357,456Filed 21 Nov 2016 · continuation
Priority: 11 Feb 2014
Published: US 2017/0138116 A118 May 2017
Granted: 26 Mar 2019
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification30 codes

E06B 3/67339
Assembling the units: working the edges of already assembled units
A47F 3/001
Show cases or show cabinets: devices for lighting, humidifying, heating, ventilation
A47F 3/002
Show cases or show cabinets: devices for protection against sunlight or theft
A47F 3/005
Show cases or show cabinets: with glass panels

Family

Application61/938,555Us provisional application · filed 11 Feb 2014
Application14/563,760Parent of this continuation-in-part · filed 8 Dec 2014
Application15/058,898Parent of this continuation · filed 2 Mar 2016
US 2017/0138116 A1Pre-grant publication · published 18 May 2017
US 9,498,072 B2Parent of this continuation
Application15/058,898Parent of this continuation-in-part
US 10,165,870 B2Related patent
US 2015/0223619 A1Published application
US 2016/0174734 A1Published application
US 10,240,388 B2This patent

From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.