TRENDS

What is the trend in car design today? There is not just one! The demand for cars for specific user groups – with different life styles and educational and social backgrounds –
brings different cars on to the market. In other words, clichés are out. The market wants creativity: cars to match life style.

Breaking new ground with designs that are original and appealing is a daily challenge for car designers. One limitation on their creativity may be the constraints placed by the materials used in the design.

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS

New glass technologies have brought significant advances in design; windshields have gone from being flat to curved, and now they can be spherical with wrap-around corners. Many practical issues still pose a challenge; visibility during the day and at night, comfort and safety, to name a few.

As a result, car designers today are including more and more glass in their cars. They are looking for aerodynamic efficiency, driving comfort and safety, as well as optimum structural stability and an attractive appearance. This has led to higher and wider windscreens, and steeper inclinations. And more glass overall in the car body.

TECHNOLOGY

For deep sags (> 30 mm), it has almost been the rule to use a press bender. This is certainly justified in long OEM series, but for short OEM series and replacement windscreens, it reduces manufacturing flexibility. Glassrobots has designed its innovative, reliable TFA FuzzyBend™ range of windscreen bending furnaces to be flexible enough for short and long runs in OEM and ARG production. With the new TFA 3evolution™ furnace, windscreens with sags of up to 32 mm are also produced with the reliable Glassrobots gravity bending control method. Using the TFA 3evolution™, it is possible to manufacture these windscreens, which manufacturers used to think required a press bender. Windscreen manufacturers can then decide whether they do short, long or replacement series. With the TFA 3evolution™, they at least have the right furnace.

The tooling for a press bender is also very expensive, which makes it uneconomical and unsuitable for producing replacement windscreens. Since more and more new windscreen models are being produced, it was time to design a reliable and flexible furnace for this ARG market.

Complex, wrap-around corners, increased cross-bending and larger glass sizes are typical features of modern windscreen design.
The outstanding, distortion free quality and dimensional accuracy of the end product, as well as the higher capacity, derive from the following innovative features of the TFA 3evolution™ furnace:

• New enhanced bending programme based on percentage control of heating elements with the proven and patented FuzzyBend™ control system
• Bottom heating elements with individual control for different models
• Special second level heating zone
• Customised heating elements for making the most demanding windscreen shapes
• Optimised arrangement of moving parts

All this is backed up by the experience and proven technology of Glassrobots, such as:

• Vertically Adjustable Heating Elements, VAHE™, to focus heat in difficult areas in the bending section
• 5-part heating elements in the bending sections, instead of the normal 3-part elements
• Temperature Balancing System, TBS™, consisting of an extra pyrometer in the bending sections, guarantees symmetrical heating. The glass temperature is measured systematically and if variations are detected, the control system automatically adjusts the heating pattern.
• Side Heaters enhance the heating of the side areas. They are normally installed in the pre-bending and bending sections.
• MirrorPattern™ (patent pending) eliminates the negative effect in mixed production of thermal inertia from the heating pattern for the previous glass.
• GlassButler™, remote diagnostic software that enables our technicians to be in direct contact via a modem link with the client’s process computers.
• Condition Monitoring and Maintenance System, CMMS™, a preventive maintenance feature that minimizes downtime and maximizes hours of operation.

RECENT DELIVERIES

Trakya Cam Sanayii A.S. Oto Cam Fabrikasi, a member of the Sisecam Group in Turkey, acquired its second car windscreen bending furnace from Glassrobots in just two and a half years. Sisecam is the biggest glass producer in Turkey. The Sisecam Group, one of the first public enterprises in Turkey, is quoted on the Istanbul Stock Exchange.

Gilan Glass Industries, Iran, is one of the largest OEM suppliers in Iran. They have one plant operating in Rashd in northern Iran. Capacity requirements have increased, and GGI is building a new plant in southern Iran. To better serve OEM car suppliers, GGI chose the new Glassrobots furnace, with an option for a second one.

The innovative details characteristic of Glassrobots furnaces were the main reason why these clients chose aGlassrobots furnace. And there are more to come, with windshield manufacturers queuing up for this fantastic product.

FUTURE INNOVATIONS

Much has been achieved, but even more remains to be done, to satisfy the ever-increasing demands of windscreen benders, or ultimately the car designers and makers. Future models will probably make even greater demands on the bending and laminating process. The use of solar-control glass, heated windscreens, integrated antenna systems, advanced display systems etc. is becoming more common, but research on these and other issues is going on all the time.

It is not just windshields that are undergoing considerable changes in design. Windscreens today may even continue directly into a roof window that is also laminated. Some car models now have laminated side lites. These provide better sound insulation, improve security against break-ins and safety in roll-over accidents, and of course give a wide range ofcolour options. But they cost five times more for the carmakers.

In order to meet future requirements and develop the new technology for them, the windscreen processor and furnace manufacturer have to work together and come up with new ideas to give them an edge over the competition. The key factors in success will continue to be cost efficiency, process quality and control and, above all, product quality.