Glasstech Features Advanced Automotive And Architectural Technologies At Glasstec 2004

Visitors to the Glasstech, Inc., stand (Hall 13, Stand E33) at Glasstec 2004, November 9-13, Düsseldorf, Germany, will find that the innovation continues as the company will feature some of the most advanced bending and tempering technology available. This includes high-production systems with superior capability for automotive and architectural applications.

Automotive Demand Strong
Worldwide demand has remained strong for automotive glass with extremely complex and compound bends and excellent optics. The Glasstech DB 4™ Advanced Bending and Tempering System has been the foremost solution to this demand for years.

The traditional DB 4 has been upgraded with new technology that reduces changeover times and cycle times. These upgrades are an integral part of new DB 4 systems being ordered by automotive glass manufacturers worldwide to produce complex press-bent parts of high optical quality for a wide variety of vehicles.

The DB 4 Quick Change option provides changeover times of just 90 to 120 minutes from good glass to good glass, compared with the traditional 6-to-8 hours of downtime, and offers product yield improvement. The DB 4 Fast Cycle option typically gives customers 20 percent more output than normal. The Quick Change and Fast Cycle options are available as new systems or retrofit packages for existing DB 4 systems.

The Glasstech External Press Bender™ for Sidelites, EPB – SL, produces glass parts with cylindrical or compound curvature as well as symmetrical or asymmetrical bends. These parts have very accurate peripheral and body shape and the highest optical quality.

Designed to meet OEM demand for reduced overall manufacturing costs, the EPB offers improved productivity and minimized tooling costs. An advanced EPB system utilizes patented Fan Rolls to pre-form glass inside the furnace, reducing the final press motion and decreasing cycle time. Cycle times of 6-to-7 seconds are achievable on the EPB-SL.

By reducing processing time at the external pressing station, glass can be processed at a lower temperature, improving optical quality. Parts produced by the EPB meet European automotive quality standards, including the Audi-Volkswagen test.

The Glasstech EPB employs an innovative, universal quench whose shape can be modified by using simple templates, without removing the quench from the system. A numerically controlled glass aligner is available to improve product accuracy and reduce part changeover times.

A 60-inch wide Advanced Cylindrical Bending and Tempering System™ (CRB), recently introduced by Glasstech, is ideal for the production of large symmetrical and asymmetrical sidelites. Such asymmetrical glass parts are used in buses and railroad passenger cars where the glass sweeps into the roofline. The CRB does not require part-dedicated tooling and offers part changeover in a matter of minutes.

Convection Heating, the Key to Low-E Glass Tempering
Architects and contractors around the world are using Low-E glass to meet energy-control requirements for commercial and residential buildings. To temper glass with high-efficiency coatings, Glasstech has developed the industry’s leading family of forced convection furnaces, using either natural gas or electric heating.

The Glasstech FCH2™ Forced Convection System, fired by natural gas, is the leading system for the efficient tempering of energy-saving Low-E flat glass. The FCH2 can heat clear glass at a typical rate of 30 seconds per millimeter of thickness and high-performance, soft-coat Low-E glass at a typical rate of 33 seconds per millimeter. This reduced heating time provides for higher quality with less distortion and dramatically improves productivity and reduces processing cost.

The Glasstech ERH2-C3™ Architectural Tempering System is the company’s newest convection-assisted radiant electric heater. It utilizes hot-air convection nozzles above and below the glass surface to heat both surfaces of Low-E glass equally, tempering clear glass at a typical rate of 30 seconds per millimeter of thickness and most types of high-performance coated glass in less than 35 seconds per millimeter.

The Glasstech ERH2-C2™ system’s nozzles are located above the glass line and deliver heat to the top coated surface of the glass, improving heating time for Low-E coated glass to 40-50 seconds per millimeter of thickness, compared to a standard radiant heating system’s 70 seconds per millimeter.

Both the ERH2-C2 and ERH2-C3 can be purchased as new systems or can be retrofitted to existing Glasstech ERH systems.

Soldered-Terminal Problems Reduced

Soldered terminals are used to connect electrical power to the heater circuits that defrost and defog automotive backlites and provide telecommunications and advanced sensor capabilities.

Glasstech recently introduced the Instantaneous Soldering™ System, which reduces the time and labor required to attach electrical terminals to automotive backlites. The system uses focused heating of the terminal foot and solder, minimizing the penetration of heat into the glass and maintaining the effects of the initial tempering.

The system provides a stronger joint than traditional soldering techniques and uses a less-expensive, compact terminal.

This fully automatic innovation can be integrated with any existing tempered safety glass manufacturing system. It reduces existing floor space requirements and eliminates multiple handling, which reduces labor costs. Extensive real-time, online testing is performed automatically, which reduces soldering-related problems in the finished automobile.

The Instantaneous Soldering System enables automakers and glass fabricators to comply with the United States National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) ruling requiring tempered safety glass to comply with ANSI Z26.1a 1996. This standard sets a weight limit of 4.25 grams for any piece of fractured glass, including the terminal, when a backlite is broken.

About Glasstech
Glasstech is the leading, world-class innovator and producer of highly productive bending and tempering systems used by glass fabricators supplying the worldwide automotive and architectural safety-glass market. Glasstech automotive and architectural glass bending and tempering systems have become world standards for the efficient production of high-quality safety-glass products.