Heater for Windshield Wiper Park Position

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2018014362-A1
Application number	US-201615543497-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jan 13, 2016
Priority date	Feb 13, 2015
Publication date	Jan 11, 2018
Grant date	—

Abstract

A windshield wiper park position heater employs an area-type heater construction having a flexible substrate supporting a high resistance heater material between electrodes of a lower resistance electrode material. The high length-to-width of the heater element is accommodated through a bus structure that orients current flow along the shortest dimension of the heater and by supplying power at a midpoint of the bus structure to decrease voltage drop over the longest dimension of the heater. A clip structure allows internal conductive layers of laminated connection point between heater components to be simply joined in the crimping operation.

First claim

We claim:

1 . A windshield wiper park position heater comprising:
a flexible polymeric insulator sheet adapted to conform to a lower surface of a curved automotive windshield, having a length aligned with a length of a windshield wiper in park position and sized so that a periphery of the insulator sheet proximately circumscribes a contact area of a windshield wiper blade against a windshield in the park position, the insulator sheet supporting: (a) a relatively high resistance conductive heater material; and (b) a relatively low resistance conductive electrode material having a lower resistance than the heater material and applied to the heater material on opposite sides of gap regions of the heater material that are not in direct contact with the electrode material to establish a current flow through the heater material of the gap regions; wherein the gap regions are sized to be distributed along substantially along an entire length of the insulator sheet proximate to a contact area of the windshield wiper blade against the windshield in park position when the insulator sheet is applied to the automotive windshield.

2 . The windshield wiper park position heater of claim 1 wherein the length of the insulator sheet is at least six times longer than a height of the insulator sheet measured along a plane of attachment of the windshield wiper park position heater to a windshield and wherein the electrode material extends in continuous bus structures along the length of the windshield wiper park position heater to promote average current flow along a width of the heater.

3 . The windshield wiper park position heater of claim 2 wherein the insulator sheet has a length greater than 20 inches and a height less than three inches.

4 . The windshield wiper park position heater of claim 2 wherein the insulator sheet has a length greater than 40 inches.

5 . The windshield wiper park position heater of claim 2 further including an adhesive applied in contact with the heater material in the gap regions.

6 . The windshield wiper park position heater of claim 5 wherein the windshield wiper park position heater is black when viewed from the side of the insulator sheet.

7 . The windshield wiper park position heater of claim 6 wherein the insulator sheet is transparent and the heater material is black.

8 . The windshield wiper park position heater of claim 1 wherein the electrode material includes upper and lower electrodes extending along a length of the insulator sheet at opposite edges of the insulator sheet across its width and including a feeder electrode extending from one end of the insulator sheet to a connection point with one of the upper and lower electrodes substantially at a midpoint along a length of the flexible polymeric insulator sheet.

9 . The windshield wiper park position heater of claim 8 wherein the upper and lower electrodes each include finger elements extending outwardly in interdigitated arrangement with finger electrodes of an other of the upper and lower electrodes.

10 . The windshield wiper park position heater of claim 1 wherein the electrode material includes an outer and inner electrode extending along the length of the insulator sheet, with the outer electrode surrounding the inner electrode wherein the outer electrode has a width less than the inner electrode.

11 . The windshield wiper park position heater of claim 10 wherein the inner and outer electrode each include finger elements extending outwardly into interdigitated arrangement with finger electrodes of an other of the inner and outer electrodes.

12 . The windshield wiper park position heater of claim 1 wherein the insulator sheet, heater material and electrode material are divided into first and second portions joined by ductile metal crimp connectors.

13 . The windshield wiper park position heater of claim 12 wherein the ductile metal crimp connectors include conductive elements piercing the first and second portions when they are overlapped to electrically join the electrode materials on the first and second portions.

14 . The windshield wiper park position heater of claim 12 wherein ductile metal crimp connectors include opposed portions sized to receive therebetween the first and second portions in overlapping configuration and to be inelastically crimped together about the first and second portions and wherein the opposed portions include inwardly extending teeth adapted to pierce through the overlapping first and second portions to electrically join the electrode material on the first and second portions.

15 . The windshield wiper park position heater of claim 12 wherein the ductile metal crimp connector further includes a connector for receiving an electrical cable for electrical communication with the inwardly extending teeth.

16 . The windshield wiper park position heater of claim 15 wherein the connector is a crimp sleeve for receiving an electrical cable conductor to be crimped thereabout for electrical connection between the electrical cable conductor and the ductile metal crimp connector.

17 . The windshield wiper park position heater of claim 1 further including an automotive windshield assembly providing a windshield and windshield wipers for wiping the windshield being positioned in the park position when the windshield wipers are not activated.

18 . The windshield wiper park position heater of claim 1 wherein the heater material is a positive temperature coefficient material.

19 . The windshield wiper park position heater of claim 1 wherein the heater electrode material is conductive metal particles in a binder applied directly to the insulator sheet.

20 . A method of fabricating a windshield using a windshield wiper park position heater having:
a flexible polymeric insulator sheet adapted to conform to a lower surface of a curved automotive windshield, having a length aligned with a length of a windshield wiper in park position and sized so that a periphery of the sheet proximately circumscribes a contact area of a windshield wiper blade against a windshield in the park position; a relatively high resistance conductive heater material coated on the flexible polymeric insulator sheet; a relatively low resistance conductive electrode material having a lower resistance than the heater material and applied to the heater material on opposite sides of gap regions of the heater material not in direct contact with the electrode material to establish a current flow through the heater material of the gap regions; wherein the gap regions are sized to be distributed along substantially an entire length of the insulator sheet proximate to a contact area of the windshield wiper blade against the windshield in park position when the insulator sheet is applied to the automotive windshield, the method comprising the steps of: (a) applying the heater material and the electrode material to the insulator sheet to create a heater assembly; and (b) after step (a), applying the heater assembly to an inner surface of a vehicle windshield in a park position of windshield wipers on the windshield so that the gap regions are proximate to a contact area of the windshield wiper blade against the windshield in the park position.

Assignees

• Illinois Tool Works
• Illinois Tool Works

Inventors

• Bulgajewski Edward F
• Sliwa Piotr

Classifications

• B60S1/048 Primary

  with a heating device for the wiper parking position · CPC title

• H05B3/84 Primary

  Heating arrangements specially adapted for transparent or reflecting areas, e.g. for demisting or de-icing windows, mirrors or vehicle windshields · CPC title

• H05B3/86 Primary

  the heating conductors being embedded in the transparent or reflecting material {(H05B3/845 takes precedence)} · CPC title

• H05B2203/031

  Heaters specially adapted for heating the windscreen wiper area · CPC title

• B32B17/10385

  for ohmic resistance heating · CPC title