US 5,664,395 · Granted 1997-09-09
The Pillar-and-Vacuum Window Patent That Could Replace Your Drafty Glass
Imagine a window made of two glass panes with a near-vacuum between them, held apart by tiny metal pillars instead of thick rubber spacers. This patent describes exactly that—a thinner, stronger way to make windows that block heat and cold way better than regular double-pane glass.
The plain-English version
What it protects
The claim covers a sandwich-like glass panel where two sheets of glass are separated by empty space and connected at the edges by a fused solder-glass seal. What's protected here is the specific structural design: the use of an array of metal pillars (or a mix of metal and glass pillars) that hold the two panes apart while the low-pressure space between them does the insulating work. The method of fusing the peripheral joint to lock everything together is also covered.
Why it matters
This patent represents a fundamentally different approach to thermal insulation in windows. Traditional double-pane windows use thick spacer bars filled with gas; this design replaces that with a vacuum and thin structural pillars, which theoretically provides better insulation in a thinner package. For building construction, better insulation means lower heating and cooling costs. The University of Sydney's approach could have enabled a new class of high-performance window products, though uptake in the commercial market has been limited compared to conventional insulated glazing.
Real-world use
If this technology were widely adopted, you'd notice it when looking at new windows in your home—they'd be thinner than today's double-pane windows but keep heat in better during winter and cold in better during summer.
Original USPTO abstract
A thermally insulating glass panel comprising two spaced-apart sheets of glass enclosing a low pressure space, and interconnected by a peripheral joint of fused solder glass and an array of pillars transversely between the glass sheets. The pillars may be made entirely of metal. Alternatively, the array may be made of a combination of solder glass-containing pillars and non-solder glass-containing pillars. Additional support pieces may be arranged between the glass sheets before the peripheral joint of solder glass is fused.
Patent details
- Publication number
- US 5,664,395
- Filing date
- 1993-01-29
- Grant date
- 1997-09-09
- Assignee
- The University Of Sydney
- Inventor(s)
- COLLINS; RICHARD EDWARD, TANG; JIAN ZHENG
- CPC class
- E06B3/6775
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