Process for sealing a glass package and resulting glass package

A method of hermetically sealing a fill hole (42, 44) in a glass package, the glass package including a first glass (12) plate and a second glass plate (14), an outer peripheral portion of the first glass plate (12) being attached and sealed to an outer peripheral portion of the second glass plate (14), with the first glass plate (12) spaced from the second glass plate (14) defining a cell cavity (40) between the first glass plate (12) and the second glass plate (14), at least one fill hole (42, 44) passing through the second glass plate (14), in communication with the cell cavity (40), the cell cavity (40) being filled with a heat sensitive liquid, said method comprising the steps of:

• obtaining a glass patch (52, 54) having an inner surface and an outer surface and a loop-shaped sealing line (L) on the inner surface of the glass patch (52, 54);
• placing the inner surface of the glass patch (52, 54) on an outer surface of the second glass plate (14), over the at least one fill hole (42, 44) with the sealing line (L) surrounding the at least one fill hole (42, 44);
• and
• uniformly heating the sealing line (L) to a substantially uniform temperature at least as high as a melting temperature of the sealing line (L) to melt the sealing line (L) and thereby hermetically seal the fill hole (42, 44) with the glass patch (52, 54) without heating the heat sensitive liquid to a temperature over 150° C.