GLAZING HAVING SENSORS

Abstract

An automotive glazing having an exterior face and an inner face comprising at least one sensor for detecting an impact and discriminating a breakage/non breakage on the glazing and generating a signal representative of the impact, the sensor being connected to an electrical connector, to provide external access to the signal generated by the sensors. The sensor is reusable and mounted on the inner face of the glazing.

Claims

1. An automotive glazing having an exterior face and an inner face comprising at least one sensor for detecting an impact and/or discriminating a breakage/non breakage on the glazing and generating a signal representative of the said impact, the sensor being connected to an electrical connector, to provide external access to the signal generated by the at least one sensor, wherein the sensor is reusable and mounted on the inner face of said glazing.

2. The automotive glazing according to claim 1, wherein the glazing comprises multiple sensors for detecting and locating the impact and/or discriminating the breakage/non breakage on the glazing and generating the signal representative of the said impact.

3. The automotive glazing according to claim 1, wherein the at least one sensor for detecting or detecting and locating the impact is a sensor measuring a vibration and/or acoustic signature of the glazing.

4. The automotive glazing according to claim 1, wherein the at least one sensor is chosen amongst an accelerometer a microphone, and a piezo electric sensor.

5. The automotive glazing according to claim 1, wherein the at least one sensor is mounted and mechanically fixed to a printed circuit board (PCB) to form a monosensor device.

6. The automotive glazing according to claim 2, wherein the multiple sensors are aligned on a long and thin PCB to form a thin multisensors device.

7. The automotive glazing according to claim 1, wherein the monosensor device is fixed to the glazing on the inner face by a double sided adhesive tape or pressure sensitive double sided tape.

8. The automotive glazing according to claim 1, wherein the monosensor device is removable from the glazing and reusable on another glazing.

9. The automotive glazing according to claim 1, wherein the monosensor device is mounted on an edge of the glazing.

10. The automotive glazing according to claim 1, wherein the monosensor is protected by a cover box.

11. The automotive glazing according to claim 1, wherein the glazing is a laminated glazing on which the monosensor device is mounted on an inner sheet on its inner face.

12. The automotive glazing according to claim 18, wherein the glazing comprises multiple multisensors devices.

13. A method to analyze the signal generated by the sensor according to claim 1 after an impact on the glazing, the method comprising: applying a high pass filter to a raw signal, applying a signal amplification to increase the a signal level from tens or hundreds of millivolts to levels compatible with standard Analog to digital conversion stages typically of 0 to 5V, using a microcontroller to manage the functionalities on a PCB, communicating to an external control unit, and using a threshold level to capture a relevant signal situation.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein the method further comprises: extracting an impact occurrence and/or breaking or non-breaking impact information using an algorithm when a monosensor device is used.

15. A re-usable monosensor device for detecting an impact and discriminating a breakage/non breakage on an automotive glazing, and/or for detecting and locating an impact and/or discriminating a breakage/non breakage on the glazing, and generating a signal representative of the said impact according to claim 1, the sensor device being connected to an electrical connector, to provide external access to the signal generated by the at least one sensor.

16. The automotive glazing according to claim 1, wherein the at least one sensor a piezo electric sensor.

17. The automotive glazing according to claim 2, wherein the multiple sensors are mounted and mechanically fixed to a printed circuit board (PCB) to form a multisensors device.

18. The automotive glazing according to claim 2, wherein the multiple sensors are aligned on a PCB to form a multisensors device.

19. The automotive glazing according to claim 1, wherein the monosensor device is fixed to the glazing on the inner face by a repositionable double sided tape.

20. The automotive glazing according to claim 18, wherein the multisensors device is removable from the glazing and reusable on another glazing.

21. The method according to claim 13, wherein the method further comprises: extracting an impact occurrence and/or breaking and/or X and Y location of the impact/breakage when a multisensors device is used.

Description

[0066] The present invention will now be more particularly described with reference to drawings and exemplary embodiments, which are provided by way of illustration and not of limitation. The drawings are a schematic representation and not true to scale. The drawings do not restrict the invention in any way. More advantages will be explained with examples.

[0067] FIG. 1 is a plan view of one example of a multisensors device fixed to a glazing according to one embodiment of the present invention.

[0068] FIG. 2 is a plan view of another example of a monosensor device fixed to a glazing according to one embodiment of the present invention.

[0069] FIG. 3 is a plan view of a windshield comprising multiple multisensors devices according to one embodiment of the present invention.

[0070] Referring to the FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 according to a first and a second embodiments of the present invention, the glazing panel 1 is an automotive laminated glazing more particularly a windshield. According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the automotive glazing is a laminated glazing comprising an exterior and an interior glass sheets laminated with at least one thermoplastic interlayer. For a laminated glazing, the glass sheet in contact with the outside environment the vehicle is known as the face 1 and the surface in contact with the internal part, namely the passenger compartment, is called face 4. The details of the windshield are not shown here in order to not unnecessarily burden the drawing.

[0071] According to the FIG. 1, the windshield carries on its face 4 ie the inner face of the laminated glazing, referred in drawing as reference 2, multiple sensors 3, 3, 3. Sensors are fixed to the glazing 1 through a double sided adhesive tape 4. As mentioned above, the mean to fix the sensor(s) to the glazing may be a pressure sensitive double sided tape, more preferably, a repositionable double sided tape. Thus, the multiple sensors devices 10 may be re-used in case of damage of the glazing.

[0072] It is understood that glazing of the present invention may be a flat or curved panel to fit with the design of the car. The pane of glass can be tempered to respect with the specifications of security. A heatable system, for example a coating or a network of wires, can be applied on the glazing to add a defrosting function for example. Also, the pane of glass can be a clear glass or a colored glass, tinted with a specific composition of the glass or by applying a coating or a plastic layer for example.

[0073] According to the present invention, the multiple sensors 3, 3, 3 are fixed to the printed circuit board commonly called PCB 5 through well-known technologies to provide a multisensors device 10 (multiple sensors fixed to PCB). On the PCB 5, electronic components 6 are provided to process the signals received from the multiple sensors 3, 3, 3 . . . as described below. Preferably, the multiple sensors device 10 are provided on one side of the PCB and the electronic components 6 are provided on the opposite side of the PCB 5 therefore allowing a direct contact between the sensors and the surface of the glass.

[0074] For example, the electronic components 6 may include a high pass filer, a signal amplifier, a microcontroller or other relevant components for communication to an external control unit.

[0075] To protect the multiple sensors device 10 from damages, a cover box or a housing 7 is provided. The cover or housing box 7 is preferably mounted around the PCB 5 to protect the monosensor device 20 or multisensors device 10 but also to improve esthetics and better integration in the car. The cover or housing box 7 may be made of plastic and or composite material.

[0076] The cover or housing box 7 may comprise some holes to evacuate heat to avoid an overheating of sensors (mon or multiple) device. The cover or housing box 7 is preferably attached to the PCB 5 thanks to mechanical means as such bolts, glue . . . or through magnetic means. According to one embodiment of the present invention, a cable is provided from the car battery to the PCB 5 allowing to power the sensor device 10 and its electronics. A wireless system may be used to power the multisensors device 10 as described above.

[0077] According to the present invention, the multisensors device 10 is suitable for detecting an impact, discriminating a breakage/non breakage situation and for locating the impact on the windshield. According to one embodiment of the present invention, multiple sensors 3, 3, 3 . . . are aligned along more than one thin PCB 5 in order to obtain better signal and in order to well defined the location of the impact. Preferably, the interspace between sensors on the thin PCB is about 20 cm. It is understood the space between the sensors 3, 3, 3 . . . fixed to PCB 5 has to be adapted to obtain the best signal and will also depend on the type of sensors used. The multisensors device 10 is provided preferably in a discrete zone on the windshield for an aesthetic point of view and of course not in the driver's field of view. The preferred location of the multiple sensors device is well described above. Preferably, multiple sensors devices 20 are provided on the upper or bottom side of the windshield 1 or in lateral positions as shown in FIG. 3 as an example. The number of multiple sensors 20 device will be fixed based on the sensors used and also the quality of signal required.

[0078] According to the FIG. 2, the difference between the FIG. 1 and the FIG. 2 is based on the sensor device. According to FIG. 2, the sensor 3 is fixed to the PCB 5 to form the monosensor device 20. The monosensor device 20 is provided on the face 4, here referred as reference 2 in the FIG. 2 of the windshied 1. The sensor 3 is fixed to the glass 2 on the inner face and the PCB 5 in the same way described for FIG. 1. The use of monosensor device 20 allow to detect a breakage/no breakage situation. Since the monosensor device 20 is smaller than the multiple sensors device 10, the monosensor device 20 may be placed, further to zones described above, in some other parts of the glazing 1 as for example in the camera zone.

[0079] The invention is not limited to the embodiments of the invention presented and discussed above which are presented for illustration purposes only, and the scope of the invention is only limited by the scope of the following claims and any additional claims that are added to applications having direct or indirect linage to this application.