COMPOSITE PANE FOR A HEAD-UP DISPLAY

Abstract

A composite pane for a head-up display, includes a first pane and a second pane that are joined to one another via a composite layer as well as a transparent, electrically conductive coating, wherein the composite layer has a first thermoplastic film, a polyester film, and a second thermoplastic film having a ratio of the thicknesses of the second thermoplastic film to the first thermoplastic film of 1.5:1 to 20:1.

Claims

1. A composite pane for a head-up display, comprising a first pane and a second pane that are joined to one another via a composite layer as well as a transparent, electrically conductive coating, wherein the composite layer has a first thermoplastic film, a polyester film, and a second thermoplastic film having a ratio of the thicknesses of the second thermoplastic film to the first thermoplastic film of 1.5:1 to 20:1.

2. The composite pane according to claim 1, wherein the first thermoplastic film and the polyester film have a common edge that is at least partially spaced at a distance from an edge of the second thermoplastic film.

3. The composite pane according to claim 1, wherein the second thermoplastic film has a wedge angle.

4. The composite pane according to claim 3, wherein the wedge angle is from 0.2 mrad to 1 mrad.

5. The composite pane according to claim 1 wherein the first thermoplastic film has a thickness of 40 m to 110 m.

6. The composite pane according to claim 1, wherein a projector for emitting an image is aimed at a region of the composite pane, and the composite pane is arranged to reflect the image, wherein a reflection of the image generated by the transparent, electrically conductive coating can be adjusted by a change in thickness of the first thermoplastic film.

7. The composite pane according to claim 1, wherein the second thermoplastic film is arranged to absorb infrared and/or ultraviolet radiation.

8. The composite pane according to claim 1, wherein the second thermoplastic film is implemented at least partially sound damping.

9. The composite pane according to claim 1, wherein the transparent, electrically conductive coating is arranged at least partially on a surface of the polyester film.

10. The composite pane according to claim 1, wherein the transparent, electrical coating is arranged to heat the composite pane, for reflecting thermal radiation, and/or for transmitting and receiving radio radiation.

11. The composite pane according to claim 1, wherein the polyester film is a polyethylene terephthalate film.

12. The composite pane according to claim 1, wherein the first thermoplastic film and/or the second thermoplastic film comprises a plastic selected from the group consisting of polyvinyl butyral, ethylene vinyl acetate, polyurethane, polypropylene, polyacrylate, polyethylene, polycarbonate, polymethyl methacrylate, polyvinyl chloride, polyacetate resin, casting resins, polyacrylates, fluorinated ethylene-propylene copolymers, polyvinyl fluoride, and ethylene-tetrafluoroethylene copolymers.

13. The composite pane according to claim 1, wherein the first thermoplastic film is free of or substantially free of plasticizers.

14. A method comprising arranging a composite pane according to claim 1 in a motor vehicle.

15. A method for producing a composite pane according to claim 1, comprising: (a) providing at least one pane having a top side, (b) covering the top side with a thermoplastic film all the way to an edge region of the pane, (c) complete covering of a surface of the thermoplastic film opposite the top side with at least one polyester film, (d) complete covering of the free surface of the polyester film with at least one additional thermoplastic film, (e) vertical cutting of the polyester film and the additional thermoplastic film using a cutting device at a distance from the edge of the thermoplastic films, (f) removing a film strip such that the additional thermoplastic film and the polyester film form a common edge and a free horizontal surface of the thermoplastic film is exposed, and (g) pressing on of an additional pane using pressure, wherein an inner side of the additional pane makes contact with the top side of the additional thermoplastic film and wherein a free space between the edge, the inner side, and the surface is filled by the influx of a material of at least one of the thermoplastic films.

16. The composite pane according to claim 4, wherein the wedge angle is from 0.3 mrad to 0.7 mrad.

17. The composite pane according to claim 16, wherein the wedge angle is from 0.4 mrad to 0.5 mrad.

18. The composite pane according to claim 5, wherein the first thermoplastic film has a thickness of approximately 50 m.

19. The composite pane according to claim 6, wherein the reflection of the image generated by the transparent, electrically conductive coating can be adjusted by a reduction in thickness of the first thermoplastic film.

20. The method according to claim 14, wherein the motor vehicle is a passenger car.

Description

[0052] They depict:

[0053] FIG. 1 a composite pane according to the invention as a component of a head up display,

[0054] FIG. 2 a vertical longitudinal section through an edge region of the composite pane according to the invention,

[0055] FIG. 3 a vertical longitudinal section through the edge region of an intermediate stage 1a during the production of the composite pane according to the invention,

[0056] FIG. 4 a vertical longitudinal section through the edge region of the intermediate stage 1b during the production of the composite pane according to the invention,

[0057] FIG. 5 a plan view of the intermediate stage 1b of the composite pane according to the invention, and

[0058] FIG. 6 a vertical longitudinal section through the edge region of the composite pane according to the invention during an intermediate stage 1c.

[0059] FIG. 1 depicts a composite pane 1 according to the invention as a component of a head-up display that comprises an inner pane 1.1 as a first pane, and an outer pane 1.2 as a second pane that are joined to one another via a multiple-ply composite layer 2, 3, 4. The composite pane 1 is provided as a windshield of a motor vehicle that is equipped with a head-up display (HUD). In the installed position, the outer pane 1.2 faces the external environment; the inner pane 1.1, the vehicle interior. The composite pane 1 has an upper edge that, in the installation position, is arranged upward toward the vehicle roof (roof edge) and a lower edge that is arranged downward toward the engine compartment (engine edge).

[0060] FIG. 1 further depicts a projector 4 as an image encoder of the HUD system, which is aimed at a subregion of the composite pane 1. In the subregion (HUD region), images can be produced by the projector 4, which are perceived by an observer (vehicle driver) as virtual images on the side of the composite pane 1 facing away from him. The non-reflected beam portion of the beam produced by the projector penetrates through the composite pane 1 and is reflected a second time (secondary reflection) on the outer side 1.2.2 of the outer pane 1.2. The wedge angle in the subregion of the composite pane 1 results in surfaces of the outer pane 1.2 and of the inner pane 1.1 inclined relative to one another and, thus, in superimposing of the primary reflection and the secondary reflection in one virtual image. Consequently, the primary reflection produced on the interior-side surface of the windshield and the secondary reflection produced on the outer-side surface of the windshield are no longer perceivable separately from one another.

[0061] The outer pane 1.2 has an outer-side surface 1.2.2, which, in the installed position, faces the external environment, and an interior-side top side 1.2.1, which, in the installed position, faces the interior. Likewise, the inner pane 1.1 has an inner side 1.1.1, which, in the installed position, faces the external environment, and an outer side 1.1.2, which, in the installed position, faces the interior of a vehicle. The interior-side top side 1.2.1 of the outer pane 1.2 is joined to the inner side 1.1.1 of the inner pane 1.1 via the composite layer 2, 3, 4.

[0062] The composite layer 2, 3, 4 consists at least of one first thermoplastic film 2, a polyester film 3, and a second thermoplastic film 4. The first thermoplastic film 2 has a thickness, that is substantially lower than the thickness of the second thermoplastic film 4. The thickness of the first thermoplastic film 2 is, by way of example, approx. 50 m. The thickness of the second thermoplastic film 2 is at least 760 m. The polyester film 3 is arranged between the first thermoplastic film and the second thermoplastic film 4. The polyester film 3 is approx. 50 m thick and has, on its surface facing the first thermoplastic film 2, a transparent, electrically conductive coating 10.

[0063] The second thermoplastic film 4 is, here, in direct contact with the top side 1.2.1 of the outer pane 1.2. The second thermoplastic film 4, the polyester film 3, and the first thermoplastic film 2 are arranged congruently atop each other in the order indicated with increasing distance from the outer pane 1.2.

[0064] The thickness of the second thermoplastic film 4 increases continuously in the vertical course from the lower edge to the upper edge of the composite pane 1. In the figure, for the sake of simplicity, the increase in thickness is depicted as linear but can also have more complex profiles. The second thermoplastic film 4 is made of a single film of PVB (a so-called variable-thickness wedge film). The wedge angle is between 0.25 mrad and 0.8 mrad, preferably between 0.35 mrad and 0.65 mrad. In HUD systems with a large image width, such as an augmented reality (AR) HUD system, even wedge angles of 0.1 mrad to 0.3 mrad are used. Referred to as AR HUD systems are HUD systems that operate with a computer-assisted extension of the perception of reality of a user.

[0065] For a wedge angle of 0.5 mrad and of the composite pane 1 with a height of 1 m, i.e., of an average height of a passenger car windshield, this is approx. 0.5 mm thickness change (e.g., 0.76 mm at the lower edge and 1.26 mm at the upper edge of the composite pane). A thickening of the film depends on the pane height as well as the wedge angle. With a preferred glass combination of inner pane/outer pane of 1.6 mm/2.1 mm, the total glass thickness would be 4.46 mm at the lower edge and 4.96 mm at the upper edge of the composite pane 1.

[0066] As a result of the wedge-shaped design of the second thermoplastic film 4, the two virtual images that are produced by reflections of the projector image on the outer side 1.2.2 of the outer pane 1.2 (secondary reflection) and the outer side 1.1.2 of the inner pane 1.1 (primary reflection), are superimposed. Consequently, the secondary reflection does not appear offset relative to the primary reflection such that distracting images can be avoided and, at the same time, the light yield and, thus, the image intensity is increased.

[0067] The composite pane 1 also has, on one surface of the polyester film 3, the transparent, electrically conductive coating 10. The transparent, electrically conductive coating 10 is IR reflective and is provided for the purpose of reducing heating up of the vehicle interior due to the IR component of sunlight. The transparent, electrically conductive coating 10 is, for example, a thin-film stack including 2 to 4 layers made of silver and other dielectric layers, which, as antireflection layers, blocking layers, or surface matching layers, optimize the optical, electrical, and/or mechanical properties of the coating. The dielectric layers of the transparent, electrically conductive coating 10 contain, for example, silicon nitride, silicon oxide, zinc oxide, tin zinc oxide, and aluminum nitride.

[0068] The transparent, electrically conductive coating 10 constitutes another reflecting boundary surface in the interior of the composite pane 1. Since the first thermoplastic film 2 is relatively thin compared to the second thermoplastic film 4, the distance from the transparent, electrical coating 10 to the outer side 1.1.2 of the inner pane 1.1 responsible for the primary reflection is also greatly reduced. Thus, the layer reflection overlays the primary reflection and the secondary reflection such that a sharp virtual image of the head-up display is created.

[0069] The inner pane 1.1 is made of soda lime glass and has only a low thickness of, for example, 1.6 mm. This ensures that the spatial offset between the primary reflection and the layer reflection is small, and the virtual images coincide such that a sharp, true-color correction image develops in the eye of the observer 5.

[0070] The composite pane 1 according to the invention was irradiated with a HUD projector 8 at an angle of incidence of 60 and the offset between the primary image and the reflection of the coating was determined at a typical eye position (position of the driver's eye). The image width of the HUD system was 2.3 m, as is typical for currently used HUDs. Measurements were carried out with various thicknesses of inner panes 1.1. The results are summarized in Table 1.

TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 Thickness of inner pane 1.1/mm 2.1 1.6 1.4 Offset primary reflection layer reflection/mm 2.291 1.745 1.527

[0071] It can be seen that the offset becomes smaller with decreasing thickness of the inner pane 1.1. The inventors further found that, with a reduction in the distance between the outer side 1.1.2 of the inner pane 1.1 and the transparent, electrically conductive coating 10 of the polyester film 3, the reflection of the coating 10 is hardly noticed by an observer. The reflection of the coating can be positively influenced by the reduction in this distance. The virtual image of the head-up display is displayed particularly clearly. As a result of the relatively thin polyester film 3, which has a thickness of approx. 50 m, the reflection on the coating 10 can be seriously affected; this was unexpected and surprising for the person skilled in the art.

[0072] The outer pane 1.2 is likewise made of soda lime glass and has a significantly greater thickness of, for example, 2.1 mm. This ensures that the composite pane 1 as a whole has sufficient mechanical stability, breaking resistance, and torsional stiffness.

[0073] The minimum thickness of the composite layer 2, 3, 4 is, for example, 0.48 mm (measured at the lower edge U). The second thermoplastic film 4 is implemented here by a single, wedge-shaped PVB film. However, a multiple-ply structure of the second thermoplastic film 4 is also conceivable, wherein at least one sub-film functions as a wedge film.

[0074] FIG. 2 depicts a vertical longitudinal section through an edge region 1.3 of the composite pane 1.

[0075] The composite pane 1 was formed by an inner pane 1.1 made of tempered float glass with a thickness of 2.1 mm. The edges of the inner pane 1.1 were rounded. The inner pane 1.1 had an inner side 1.1.1, which was associated with the multiple-ply composite layer 2, 3, 4.

[0076] In addition, the composite pane 1 was formed by an outer pane 1.2 of the same composition and dimensions. The outer pane 1.2 preferably has, in the region near the glass edge on the inner side 1.2.1, a black imprint to conceal the cutback. The inner pane 1.1 can, for example, for simpler specification of adhesive systems, also have a black imprint on side 1.1.2.

[0077] In addition, the outer pane 1.2 is frequently as much as 5 mm larger than the inner pane 1.1. The edges of the outer pane 1.2 were also rounded. The outer pane 1.2 had a top side 1.2.1, which was associated with the multiple-ply composite layer 2, 3, 4.

[0078] The inner side 1.1.1 of the inner pane 1.1 was in direct contact with a 50-m-thick, plasticizer-free PVB film 2. This was underlaid with a 50-m-thick PET film 3. The PVB film 2 and the PET film 3 had a common edge 6, that was situated at a distance A=1 cm from the edge 4.1 of the underlaid 760-m-thick PVB film 4. The PVB film 4 lay on the the top side 1.2.1 of the outer pane 1.2. The material of the PVB film 4 completely filled the space between the edge 6 and the inner side 1.1.1 of the inner pane 1.1 to the distance A. Thus, the common edge 6 of the PVB film 2 and of the PET film 3 was completely isolated from the environment of the composite pane 1 such that the PET film 3 having the transparent, electrically conductive coating 10 had no corrosion damage. The composite layer 2, 3, 4 was, despite its lamination, no longer impaired in its function. Moreover, the PVB-PET-PVB composite layer 2, 3, 4 had no orange peel and no internal defects. In addition, it was possible to protect the PET film 3 during lamination due to the relatively thin second thermoplastic film 2. Furthermore, the separation of the first thermoplastic film 2 and the polyester film 3 from the second thermoplastic film 4 was quite successfully carried out during the production process. A cutback of the first thermoplastic film 2 and the polyester film 3 could be realized with no problems and thus resulted in no visible distractions. In particular, it was possible to avoid a layer transfer of the PET film 3 known to the person skilled in the art since the contacting PVB film 2 was removed at the same time.

[0079] FIG. 3 through 6 schematically depict production of the composite pane 1 referring to vertical longitudinal sections of the edge region 1.3. To illustrate the method, FIG. 5 shows the plan view of the intermediate stage 1b during the production of the composite pane 1. The materials and dimensions explained in detail with regard to FIG. 2 were used.

[0080] FIG. 3 illustrates the intermediate stage 1a of the production method according to the invention. The second thermoplastic (PVB) film 4 was laminated onto the top side 1.2.1 of the outer pane 1.2. Subsequently, the polyester (PET) film 3 and the first thermoplastic (PVB) film 2 where laminated onto the free top side of the second thermoplastic (PVB) film 4, such that the intermediate stage 1a resulted.

[0081] FIG. 4 illustrates the intermediate stage 1b of the production method. To produce the intermediate stage 1b, the intermediate stage 1a was cut with a diamond knife 5 (shown in FIG. 3) at the distance A from the edge 4.1 of the second thermoplastic (PVB) film 4 all the way to the surface of the second thermoplastic (PVB) film 4. The PVB-PET film piece cut off of the first thermoplastic film 2 and the polyester film 3 was removed, without the now exposed, free, horizontal surface 4.2 of the second thermoplastic (PVB) film 4 being damaged. The first thermoplastic (PVB) film 2 and the polyester (PET) film 3 now formed a common edge 6 spaced at a distance A from the edge 4.1 of the second thermoplastic (PVB) film 4.

[0082] This assembly is again illustrated with reference to FIG. 5.

[0083] FIG. 6 illustrates the intermediate stage lc. The inner pane 1.1 with the inner side 1.1.1 was placed on the assembly of the intermediate stage 1b according to FIGS. 4 and 5 such that they made contact with the first thermoplastic (PVB) film 2. Subsequently, the entire assembly was pressed together in heat and under vacuum with the pressure D in a vacuum bag. The hollow space between the common edge 6, the free surface 4.2, and the inner side 1.1.1 of the inner pane 1.1 was filled, in that the material of the second thermoplastic (PVB) film 4 flowed in the direction of flow 7 into the hollow space and fused with the material of the first thermoplastic (PVB) film 2. After cooling, release of the pressure D, and admission of air into the vacuum bag, the composite pane according to the invention 1 resulted.

LIST OF REFERENCE CHARACTERS

[0084] 1 composite pane [0085] 1a, 1b, [0086] 1c intermediate stages during production of the composite pane 1 [0087] 1.1 inner pane of the composite pane 1 [0088] 1.1.1 inner side of the inner pane 1.1 [0089] 1.2 outer pane of the composite pane 1 [0090] 1.2.1 top side of the outer pane 1.2 [0091] 1.3 edge region of the composite pane 1 [0092] 2 first (thin) thermoplastic film [0093] 3 polyester film [0094] 4 second (thick) thermoplastic (wedge) film [0095] 4.1 edge of the second thermoplastic film 4 [0096] 4.2 free horizontal surface of the second thermoplastic film 4 [0097] 5 cutting device [0098] 6 common edge of the first thermoplastic film 2 and of the polyester film 3 [0099] 7 flow direction of the material of the thermoplastic film 4 [0100] 8 projector [0101] 9 eye of the observer [0102] 10 transparent, electrically conductive coating [0103] A distance of the common edge 6 from the edge 4.1 of the second thermoplastic film 4 [0104] D clamping pressure