Process and device for cooling of sheets of bent glass so as to produce edge stresses
AssigneeSaint-Gobain Vitrage
InventorsJean Lecourt, Desire Legros, Andre Granville
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Compression stresses are formed on the periphery of a glass sheet by blowing cooling air on the periphery of the heated glass sheet. The cooling air is blown by using a pyramidal deflector to deflect air flow radially outward toward the edges of the glass sheet. By adjusting the spacing between the deflector and the glass sheet, the size of a central, relatively quiescent, zone can be adjusted. The air flow is provided by a duct which can include a pyramidal skirt which surrounds the deflector to form a gas flow path whose size controls the cooling rate. Pyramidal flaps within the gas flow path can be used for adjusting cooling gas pressures.
Claims16
An apparatus for blowing gas on a glass sheet as to create a compression stress on the periphery of the glass sheet, comprising:
- a duct connected to a source of gas flow, a downstream end of the duct, in a direction of the gas flow, being positioned for directing the gas flow issuing therefrom onto a glass sheet;
- and
- a pyramidal deflector having an axis extending substantially parallel to the direction of gas flow with the vertex of the pyramidal deflector being positioned to the upstream in the direction of gas flow, said pyramidal deflector being positioned, relative to the duct so as to divert the gas flow issuing from said duct along sides of said pyramidal deflector, whereby the gas flow is diverted from a central portion of the glass sheet to the periphery of the glass sheet, whereby said central portion is covered by the deflector and is cooled at a lower rate than is said periphery.
A process for cooling glass sheets while creating compression stresses on the periphery thereof, comprising the steps of:
- causing a gas to flow in an initial gas flow direction;
- using deflecting means for deflecting said gas to flow in a deflected direction having a radially outward component with respect to said initial gas flow direction so that a region downstream from said deflecting means receives a reduced gas flow as compared to a region along said deflected gas flow;
- and
- positioning a glass sheet downstream of said deflecting means and at a position such that only the periphery of the glass sheet receives said deflected gas flow while a central portion of said glass sheet is covered by said deflector.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.