Granted Patent B2

US 12,378,157 · App. 17/904,345 · Granted Aug 5, 2025

Inventors: Julien Dupuy (Mons, BE); Yves Hernandez (Mons, BE); Jerome Hily (Mons, BE); Eric Morgante (Gosselies, BE)

Assignees: AGC GLASS EUROPE; EURO-MULTITEL

C03C23/0025B23K26/032B23K26/048B23K26/0884B23K26/352B23K2103/54C03C17/366C03C2218/328

Abstract

Claims (57)

1. An apparatus for removing at least one portion of at least one coating system present in a multi-glazed window comprising at least two glass panels and at least one interlayer between each pair of adjacent glass panels, forming multiple interfaces (P 1 -P 6 ); the apparatus comprising:

a decoating means including a laser source and a lens array configured to focus the laser source at a focus distance (Fd); and

two motors configured to move the decoating means along a plane (P), defined by a longitudinal axis X and a transversal axis Y;

wherein the apparatus further comprises:

one optical system configured to detect on which interface (P 4 ) the coating system is localized, and to estimate a distance (Ed 2 ) between the decoating means and the detected interface (P 4 );

at least a third motor configured to control a position of the decoating means along a Z-axis, orthogonal to the X and Y axes;

a displacement control unit of the third motor configured to displace the decoating means a displacement distance (Dd) equal to a difference between the estimated distance (Ed 2 ) and the focus distance (Fd) in order to focus the decoating means on the detected interface (P 4 ) of the at least one coating system;

at least two fixing points configured to mount the apparatus on a first interface (P 1 ) of the multi-glazed window;

a support structure mounted on the at least two fixing points;

a robot head mounted on the support structure movable by the two motors along the longitudinal axis X and the transversal axis Y relative to the support structure; and

a shuttle, carrying the decoating means, mounted on the robot head movable by the third motor along the Z-axis relative to the robot head,

wherein the shuttle is movable along the Z-axis between 100 and 500 mm away from the first interface of the multi-glazed window.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the optical system detects on which interface (P 4 ) the coating system is localized by a near infrared unit comprising:

at least one near infrared light source configured to emit an incident light (Icl) toward the multi-glazed window, and to generate a diffraction pattern (DifP) after refraction on the multi-glazed window; and

at least one detector configured to measure an intensity of light spots (Ils) of the diffraction pattern (DifP); wherein each light spot corresponds to an

interface (P 1 -P 6 ) in the multi-glazed window, and a spot of maximum intensity corresponds to the detected interface (P 4 ) on which the coating system is localized.

3. The apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the at least one near infrared unit is fixed relative to the support structure.

4. The apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the at least one near infrared light source is monochromatic with a wavelength between 700 and 1100 nm.

5. The apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the at least one detector of the near infrared unit corresponds to an array of photodiodes, a CMOS camera sensor or a 2D silicon detector.

6. The apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the estimation of the distance (Ed 2 ) between the decoating means and the detected interface (P 4 ) is obtained by a confocal unit comprising:

at least one polychromatic light source configured to emit an incident light, punctual or in line, with several wavelengths toward the multi-glazed window, an optical element focalizing the incident light with different focus distances depending on the wavelength; and

at least one detector configured to receive light refracted by the multi glazed window and detect the light intensity for each wavelength of the polychromatic light source; the wavelengths with intensity peaks being the ones with a focus distance corresponding to an interface (P 1 -P 6 ) in the multi-glazed window; the estimated distance (Ed 2 ) being calculated based on the wavelength with the intensity peak associated with the detected interface (P 4 ).

7. The apparatus according to claim 6 , wherein the at least one polychromatic light source and the at least one detector are mounted on the shuttle with a fixed distance along the Z-axis from the decoating means.

8. The apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein the apparatus comprises a calculation unit configured to:

determine a number of the interfaces detected by the confocal unit in view of the number of wavelengths with intensity peaks;

estimate the distances between the said confocal unit and the interfaces (P 1 -P 6 ); identify at least one most relevant interface (P 4 ) corresponding to a spot of maximum intensity detected by the near infrared unit;

retrieve a first estimated distance (Ed 1 ) of the detected interface (P 4 ) matching with the identified most relevant interface:

calculate the estimated distance (Ed 2 ) between the decoating means and the detected interface (P 4 ) equal to a sum of the first estimated distance (Ed 1 ) and a fixed distance (Df) between the confocal unit and the decoating means; and

calculate the displacement distance (Dd) equal to a difference between the estimated distance (Ed 2 ) and the focus distance (Fd).

9. The apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the at least one near infrared light source is monochromatic with a wavelength of 850 nm.

10. A method for removing at least one portion of at least one coating system present in a multi-glazed window with an apparatus according to claim 1 ; the method comprising:

mounting the apparatus on a first interface (P 1 ) of the multi-glazed window;

using the optical system to detect on which interface (P 4 ) the coating system is localized, and to estimate the distance (Ed 2 ) between the decoating means and the detected interface (P 4 );

moving the decoating means along said Z-axis to focus the decoating means on the detected interface (P 4 ); and

removing at least one portion of the coating system applied on the detected interface (P 4 ) with the decoating means by displacing the decoating means along the X and Y axes to etch a predetermined shape from the coating system.

11. The method according to claim 10 , wherein, during the removing of the at least one portion of the coating system, the position of the coating system is monitored in real time by the optical system to detect a difference between the estimated distance (Ed 2 ) and the focus distance (Fd); when a difference is detected, the decoating means are moved the difference along the Z-axis to adjust a focus position of the decoating means to be coincident on the detected interface (P 4 ).

12. The method according to claim 11 , wherein the multi-glazed window comprises two coating systems applied on two different interfaces (P 1 -P 6 ), the method comprises:

using the optical system to detect a first interface (P 1 -P 6 ) where a first coating system is applied, and estimate a first distance between the decoating means and the first detected interface (P 1 -P 6 );

using the optical system to detect a second interface (P 1 -P 6 ) where a second coating system is applied, and estimate a second distance between the decoating means and the second detected interface (P 1 -P 6 );

moving the decoating means along the Z-axis to focus the decoating means on the first detected interface (P 1 -P 6 );

modifying the first coating system applied on the first detected interface (P 1 -P 6 ) with the decoating means by displacing the decoating means along said X and Y axes to etch a predetermined shape from the first coating system;

moving the decoating means along the Z-axis to focus the decoating means on the second detected interface (P 1 -P 6 ); and

modifying the second coating system applied on the second detected interface (P 1 -P 6 ) with the decoating means by displacing the decoating means along the X and Y axes to etch a predetermined shape from the second coating system.

13. An apparatus for removing at least one portion of at least one coating system present in a multi-glazed window comprising at least two glass panels and at least one interlayer between each pair of adjacent glass panels, forming multiple interfaces (P 1 -P 6 ); the apparatus comprising:

a decoating means including a laser source and a lens array configured to focus the laser source at a focus distance (Fd); and

two motors configured to move the decoating means along a plane (P), defined by a longitudinal axis X and a transversal axis Y;

wherein the apparatus further comprises:

one optical system configured to detect on which interface (P 4 ) the coating system is localized, and to estimate a distance (Ed 2 ) between the decoating means and the detected interface (P 4 );

at least a third motor configured to control a position of the decoating means along a Z axis, orthogonal to the X and Y axes;

a displacement control unit of the third motor configured to displace the decoating means a displacement distance (Dd) equal to a difference between the estimated distance (Ed 2 ) and the focus distance (Fd) in order to focus the decoating means on the detected interface (P 4 ) of the at least one coating system;

at least two fixing points configured to mount the apparatus on a first interface (P 1 ) of the multi-glazed window;

a support structure mounted on the at least two fixing points;

a robot head mounted on the support structure movable by the two motors along the longitudinal axis X and the transversal axis Y relative to the support structure; and

a shuttle, carrying the decoating means, mounted on the robot head movable by the third motor along the Z axis relative to the robot head,

wherein the optical system detects on which interface (P 4 ) the coating system is localized by a near infrared unit comprising:

at least one near infrared light source configured to emit an incident light (Icl) toward the multi-glazed window, and to generate a diffraction pattern (DifP) after refraction on the multi-glazed window; and

at least one detector configured to measure an intensity of light spots (Ils) of the diffraction pattern (DifP); wherein each light spot corresponds to an interface (P 1 -P 6 ) in the multi-glazed window, and a spot of maximum intensity corresponds to the detected interface (P 4 ) on which the coating system is localized.

Assignments (1)

Priority Claims (1)

Continuity (1)

References Cited (10)