Heads up display system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11340452-B2
Application number	US-201916711935-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 12, 2019
Priority date	Aug 14, 2015
Publication date	May 24, 2022
Grant date	May 24, 2022

Abstract

A heads up display system of a vehicle includes a combiner screen having a first substantially transparent substrate defining a first surface and a second surface, a second substantially transparent substrate defining a third surface and a fourth surface. A primary seal is disposed between the first and second substrates. The seal and the first and second substrates define a cavity therebetween. An electro-optic material is positioned within the cavity and a transflective layer having a multilayer polymeric film positioned on one of the first and second surfaces, and a projector for projecting light having a first polarization toward the first surface of the first substrate.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A heads up display system of a vehicle, comprising:
a combiner screen comprising:
a first substantially transparent substrate defining a first surface and a second surface;
a second substantially transparent substrate defining a third surface and a fourth surface;
a third substantially transparent substrate defining a fifth surface and a sixth surface, wherein the first substrate is positioned between the third substrate and the second substrate;
an electro-optic material positioned between the first substrate and the second substrate; and
a transflective layer comprising a reflective polarizer positioned between the first and sixth surfaces, wherein the combiner screen is configured to fail to a transparent state; and

a projector for projecting light toward the fifth surface of the third substrate.

2. The heads up display system of claim 1 , wherein the combiner screen is a standalone component.

3. The heads up display system of claim 1 , wherein the combiner screen defines a first shape and extends from one of an instrument panel and cluster hood of the vehicle and a windscreen defines a second shape different from the first shape defined by the combiner screen.

4. The heads up display system of claim 3 , further comprising:
an antireflective coating disposed on the fifth surface of the third substrate, wherein the reflection from the fifth surface is less than about 0.5%.

5. The heads up display system of claim 1 , wherein the third substrate is thinner than each of the first substrate and the second substrate.

6. A combiner screen for a heads up display, comprising:
a first substantially transparent substrate defining a first surface and a second surface;
a second substantially transparent substrate defining a third surface and a fourth surface;
a third substantially transparent substrate defining a fifth surface and a sixth surface, wherein the first substrate is positioned between the third substrate and the second substrate;
an electro-optic material positioned between the first and second substantially transparent substrates;
a reflective polarizer positioned between the sixth and first surfaces; and
an antireflection coating positioned on the third substrate.

7. The combiner screen of claim 6 , wherein the combiner screen extends from one of an instrument panel and cluster hood of a vehicle.

8. The combiner screen of claim 7 , wherein the third substrate includes a thickness of less than about 2.2 mm.

9. The combiner screen of claim 6 , wherein the third substrate is thinner than each of the first substrate and the second substrate.

10. The combiner screen of claim 6 , wherein the reflective polarizer is configured to reflect vertically polarized light.

11. A heads up display system of a vehicle, comprising:
a projector for projecting light; and
a combiner screen comprising:
a substantially transparent substrate defining a first surface and a second surface, wherein the substrate is curved along at least two axes; and
a reflective polarizer disposed on the first surface of the substantially transparent substrate, wherein the combiner screen has a reflectance of light greater than about 40% and the combiner screen is operable at different transmittance levels and wherein a low end transmittance of the combiner screen is less than about 10.5%.

12. The heads up display system of claim 11 , further comprising:
an electro-optic element positioned on an opposite side of the reflective polarizer than the substantially transparent substrate.

13. The heads up display system of claim 12 , wherein the electro-optic element is an electrochromic element.

14. The heads up display system of claim 11 , wherein the substrate has a free-form shape.

15. The heads up display system of claim 14 , further comprising:
a protective layer disposed over the reflective polarizer.

16. The heads up display system of claim 15 , wherein the combiner screen is separate from a windscreen of the vehicle.

17. The heads up display system of claim 11 , wherein the reflective polarizer comprises a multilayer plastic film.

Assignees

• Gentex Corp

Inventors

• Cammenga David J
• Tonar William L
• Poll David L

Classifications

• B60K35/415

  Glare prevention · CPC title

• B60K35/60

  Instruments characterised by their location or relative disposition in or on vehicles (arrangements of lighting devices on dashboards B60Q3/10) · CPC title

• B60K35/23

  Head-up displays [HUD] (optical aspects of head-up displays G02B27/01) · CPC title

• G03B21/604

  Polarised screens · CPC title

• G02F2203/09

  transflective · CPC title