Vehicle compound glazing unit with projection area

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12370780-B2
Application number	US-202117925800-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 17, 2021
Priority date	May 18, 2020
Publication date	Jul 29, 2025
Grant date	Jul 29, 2025

Abstract

A vehicle compound glazing unit with first and second regions including a first pane having first and second surfaces, a second pane having third and fourth surfaces, a first thermoplastic polymer interlayer, wherein the first interlayer is arranged between the second surface of the first pane and the third surface of the second pane, and a heatable layer or coating arranged at the second surface of the first pane or the third surface of the second pane, the heatable layer or coating provided with two or more electrical contacts. The vehicle compound glazing unit also includes a diffusely reflecting structure in the second region, which diffusely reflects incident light directed to the glazing unit from the interior of the vehicle and having a maximum gain in the range of 0.1 to 0.8.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A vehicle compound glazing unit with a first region and a second region comprising:
a first pane having a first surface and a second surface,
a second pane having a third surface and a forth fourth surface,
a first interlayer from a thermoplastic polymer,
wherein the first interlayer is arranged between the second surface of the first pane and the third surface of the second pane, and
a heatable layer or coating arranged at the second surface of the first pane or the third surface of the second pane, the heatable layer or coating being provided with two or more electrical contacts, in particular bus bars,
a diffusely reflecting structure in the second region, which diffusely reflects incident light directed to the glazing unit from an interior of the vehicle and having a maximum gain in a range of 0.1 to 0.8 and an intrinsic viewing angle α for a real image element generated within a glazing surface of more than 60°, in a first direction and of more than 30°, in a second direction, perpendicular to the first direction, wherein the intrinsic viewing angle α is an angular width measured at the full width half maximum (FWHM) of a peak around a maximum value of the gain independent of the value of the observation angle θ at a peak center and wherein the θ=0° reference for the gain curve measurement corresponds to a specular reflection direction.

2. The vehicle compound glazing unit according to claim 1 , wherein the diffusely reflecting structure is a rough surface area of the third surface with a reflective coating.

3. The vehicle compound glazing unit according to claim 1 , wherein the diffusely reflecting structure is a rough surface area of the second surface with a reflective coating.

4. The vehicle compound glazing unit according to claim 2 , wherein the reflective coating fully covers the second surface or the third surface.

5. The vehicle compound glazing unit according to claim 2 , wherein the heatable layer or coating and the reflective coating are implemented as a single heatable reflective coating.

6. The vehicle compound glazing unit ( 2 ) according to claim 1 , comprising a second interlayer and a third interlayer, the second interlayer comprising the diffusely reflecting structure and a transparent region, and the third interlayer being made from a thermoplastic polymer, the second interlayer being sandwiched between the first interlayer and the third interlayer.

7. The vehicle compound glazing unit according claim 6 , wherein the second interlayer comprises a PE, PET, TAC, PVB, PMMA or polycarbonate sheet.

8. The vehicle compound glazing unit according claim 6 , wherein the diffusely reflecting structure comprises nanoparticles or microparticles, or a random nanostructure or a random microstructure.

9. The vehicle compound glazing unit according to claim 6 , wherein the diffusely reflecting structure comprises a rough surface area of the second interlayer with a heatable reflective coating.

10. The vehicle compound glazing unit according to claim 1 , wherein the first region is located in the middle of the vehicle compound glazing unit and the second region is located at an outer region of the vehicle compound glazing unit, surrounding partially or completely the first region.

11. The vehicle compound glazing unit according to claim 1 , wherein the first pane is supposed to be arranged as outer pane and the second pane is supposed to be arranged as inner pane, wherein each of the first pane and second pane is made from glass or plastic.

12. The vehicle compound glazing unit according to claim 1 , wherein the vehicle compound glazing unit is a glass roof, a windshield, a side window or a back window.

13. A vehicle compound glazing system ( 1 ) comprising a vehicle compound glazing unit according to claim 1 and at least one projector for projecting an image in the second region of the vehicle compound glazing unit to generate a real image in a plane of the vehicle compound glazing unit.

14. The vehicle compound glazing system according to claim 13 , wherein the projector is suitable to be arranged in a dashboard and/or at a roof of the vehicle.

15. The vehicle compound glazing system ( 1 ) according to claim 13 , comprising at least two projectors and a projector control unit connected to the at least two projectors and adapted to calibrate the projection of the image on a pixel base.

16. The vehicle compound glazing unit according to claim 1 , wherein the maximum gain is between 0.3 and 0.6.

17. The vehicle compound glazing unit according to claim 10 , wherein the second region is located along opposing edges of the vehicle compound glazing unit.

Assignees

• Saint Gobain

Inventors

• Cappuccilli Michele
• Wolf Johannes
• Nositschka Andreas

Classifications

• B60K35/00

  Instruments specially adapted for vehicles; Arrangement of instruments in or on vehicles · CPC title

• B60K35/425

  Anti-reflection arrangements · CPC title

• B60K35/10

  Input arrangements, i.e. from user to vehicle, associated with vehicle functions or specially adapted therefor · CPC title

• B60K35/81

  for controlling displays · CPC title

• B60K2360/771

  on the ceiling · CPC title