TRANSPARENT STRUCTURE, DISPLAY DEVICE, HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCE AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURING A TRANSPARENT STRUCTURE

Abstract

Transparent structure comprising a first material having a high first transparency with a scattering property and a second material having a high second transparency, wherein the first and second materials are arranged in a plane with a normal vector and a view through the structure is given in the direction of the normal vector, the structure having a peripheral region, which is configured at least for the most part such that light propagating in the structure at least approximately perpendicular to the normal vector is reflected from the peripheral region back into the structure, and wherein the scattering property is such that light propagating perpendicular to the normal vector by the structure is deflected at least partially to the direction of the normal vector. In addition, a display device, a household appliance and a method for producing a transparent structure are disclosed.

Claims

1. A transparent structure comprising a first material having a high first transparency with a scattering property and a second material having a high second transparency, wherein the first and second materials are arranged in a plane with a normal vector and a view through the structure is given in the direction of the normal vector, the structure having a peripheral region, which is configured at least for the most part such that light propagating in the structure at least approximately perpendicular to the normal vector is reflected from the peripheral region back into the structure, and wherein the scattering property is such that light propagating perpendicular to the normal vector within the structure is deflected at least partially to the direction of the normal vector.

2. The transparent structure of claim 1, wherein the plane is at least approximately parallel to a surface of the structure.

3. The transparent structure of claim 1, wherein at least one of the first transparency and the second transparency has an ASTM 1003 Haze value of less than 10%.

4. The transparent structure of claim 1, wherein at least one of the first transparency and the second transparency has an ASTM 1003 Haze value of less than 15%.

5. The transparent structure of claim 1, wherein an element reflecting light into the interior of the structure is arranged on the peripheral region.

6. The transparent structure of claim 1, wherein a reflecting layer reflecting light into the interior of the structure is arranged on the peripheral region.

7. The transparent structure of claim 1, the transmittance of the first material in the direction of the normal vector being 85%-96%.

8. The transparent structure of claim 1, the transmittance of the first material in the direction of the normal vector being 88%-93%.

9. The transparent structure of claim 1, the refractive index of the first material being 1.4 to 1.6.

10. The transparent structure of claim 1, the refractive index of the first material being 1.48 to 1.51.

11. The transparent structure of claim 1, wherein a coupling region is formed at the peripheral region such that light from a light source is substantially uniformly coupled into the structure, wherein the coupled light propagates at least approximately perpendicular to the normal vector.

12. The transparent structure of claim 1, the peripheral region having a substantially circular shape.

13. The transparent structure of claim 1, the first material protruding with a protrusion in the direction of the normal vector beyond the second material.

14. The transparent structure of claim 13, the protrusion having at least one of a rounded and a chamfered edge.

15. The transparent structure of claim 1, wherein the second material is arranged only sideways to the first material with respect to the normal vector.

16. A display device having a transparent structure according to claim 1 and a light source configured to couple light into the structure at least approximately perpendicular to the normal vector.

17. The display device of claim 16 further comprising a controller adapted to control the brightness of the light source based on information from a brightness sensor detecting an environmental brightness.

18. A washing machine, in particular washing machine/dryer, having a porthole and a transparent structure according to claim 1, the porthole comprising the structure.

19. A method for forming the transparent structure of claim 1, the method comprising the steps of: injection molding of at least one first element from a first material having a high first transparency with a scattering property, arranging the at least one first element in a plane with a normal vector, injection molding of a second element from a second material having a high first transparency around the at least one first element to obtain the structure, the first and second materials being arranged in the plane and a view through the structure being given in the direction of the normal vector, and forming of a peripheral region configured reflectively so that at least for the most part light propagating in the structure at least approximately perpendicular to the normal vector is reflected from the peripheral region back into the structure, wherein the scattering property is such that light propagating perpendicular to the normal vector through the structure is at least partially deflected to the direction of the normal vector.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0047] Exemplary embodiments are shown in the drawings and are explained in more detail in the following description. In the drawings:

[0048] FIG. 1 shows a plan view along the normal vector onto a transparent structure according to an exemplary embodiment;

[0049] FIG. 2 shows a perspective view of a section through the structure according to FIG. 1;

[0050] FIG. 3 shows an enlarged representation of the spatial arrangement of the first and second material according to FIG. 1;

[0051] FIG. 4 shows a perspective view of the coupling area of the structure according to FIG. 1;

[0052] FIG. 5 shows a simplified representation of the light distribution in the structure according to FIG. 1;

[0053] FIG. 6 shows a household appliance with a porthole according to an exemplary embodiment; and

[0054] FIG. 7 shows a method for producing a transparent structure according to an exemplary embodiment.

DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

[0055] FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of a transparent structure 10. The structure 10 shows a first material 12 with a high first transparency and a scattering property, and a second material 14 with a high second transparency. The first and second materials 12, 14 are arranged in a plane 16 with a normal vector 18, where the plane 16 is parallel to the drawing plane of FIG. 1 and the normal vector 18 protrudes vertically from the drawing plane of FIG. 1. There is a view through structure 10 in the direction of normal vector 18. It should be noted that nothing changes in the fundamental considerations if one considers a direction opposite to the normal vector instead of the direction of the normal vector.

[0056] The structure 10 comprises a peripheral region 20 which is at least largely configured to reflect light 22here symbolically represented by arrow lineswhich is propagating in the structure 10 at least approximately perpendicular to normal vector 18, back from peripheral region 20 into the structure 10.

[0057] The scattering property of the first material 12 is such that light 22, propagating perpendicular to the normal vector 18 through the structure 10, is at least partially deflected to the direction of the normal vector 18.

[0058] The plane 16 is parallel to a surface 24 of the structure 10. An element 26 reflecting into the interior of the structure 10 is arranged on the peripheral area, where-by the reflecting element 26 in this embodiment is configured as a coating.

[0059] At the peripheral region 20, a coupling region 28 is configured in such a way that light 22 from a light source 30, see FIG. 5, is evenly coupled into the structure 10, the coupled light 22 propagating at least approximately perpendicular to the normal vector 18.

[0060] The peripheral area 20 has an essentially circular shape.

[0061] Finally, a cutting line 32 is shown in FIG. 1 to indicate a section.

[0062] FIG. 2 shows a view of the transparent structure 10 according to FIG. 1 after a cut along the cutting line 32. For this figure and all following figures the same reference numerals are used for the same elements.

[0063] This figure shows the shape of the first material 12. The shape of the first material 12, which appears when viewed along the normal vector 18, reflects the information that a user should perceive. The expansion of the first material 12 in the direction of the normal vector 18 is used for embedding in the second material 14, so that light from the second material 14 can be received by the first material 12 and then be decoupled from the structure 10 via the scattering property at least approximately in the direction of the normal vector 18.

[0064] FIG. 3 shows a magnification from the view according to FIG. 2 along the cutting line 32, where it can be seen that the first material 12 protrudes in the direction of the normal vector 18 beyond the second material 14 with a projection or protrusion 34. The protrusion 34 comprises several rounded edges 36, only some of which are marked with reference numerals. It can also be seen that in this embodiment, the second material 14 is arranged only next to the first material 12 in relation to the normal vector 18. When looking at the transparent structure 10 along the normal vector 18, there is no second material 14 in front of or behind the first material 12.

[0065] Furthermore, it is shown that the transition from the first material 12 to the second material 14 takes place on the surface of the transparent structure 10 in the form of a trench whose surface is recessed relative to the normal vector 18 relative to the surface of the first material 12 and the surface of the second material 14. In this way, the separation between materials 12, 14 is particularly well perceptible and thus the shaping of materials 12, 14, especially the first material 12, is particularly well perceptible. This feature is independent of the protrusion 34 and the rounded edges 36.

[0066] FIG. 4 shows a perspective view from above onto the transparent structure 10 according to FIG. 1, where the shape of the coupling area 28 is clearly visible, which has the shape of a triangle with a flattened tip when viewed along the normal vector 18.

[0067] FIG. 5 shows a display device 38 with a transparent structure 10 and a light source 30, which is configured to couple light 22 at least approximately perpendicular to the normal vector 18 into the structure 10. It should be noted that light source 30 does not have to couple light 22 exclusively perpendicular to the normal vector 18 into the structure 10. However, it is considered advantageous if the design of light source 30 is configured to couple as much light as possible into structure 10 at least approximately perpendicular to normal vector 18.

[0068] In connection with FIG. 5 it should be noted that it is considered advantageous if the distribution of light 22 from light source 30 over the coupling region 28 covers all areas of the first material 12 directly.

[0069] FIG. 6 shows a household appliance 40, here a washing machine, with a porthole 42, whereby the porthole 42 comprises the structure 10.

[0070] FIG. 7 shows a method 44 for producing a transparent structure 10. In a first step S10 at least one first element is produced by injection molding from a first material 12, which has a high first transparency with a scattering property. The scattering property is such that light 22, propagating perpendicular to the normal vector 18 of plane 16 of the structure 10, is deflected at least partially to the direction of the normal vector 18.

[0071] In a second step S12, the first element is arranged in the plane 16. Then, in step S14, second element of a second material 14 which has a high first transparency is injection molded around the at least one first element in order to obtain structure 10. In exemplary embodiments this is done via overmolding. The first and second materials 12, 14 are then arranged in the plane 16 and a view through the structure 10 in the direction of the normal vector 18 is given.

[0072] Finally, in step S16, a peripheral region 20 is formed, which is configured at least for the most part in such a reflective manner that light 22 propagating in the structure at least approximately perpendicular to the normal vector 18, is reflected back from peripheral region 20 into structure 10.

[0073] In the simplest case, the formation of the peripheral area 20 results from the step of overmolding S14, but additional steps can also be used, such as polishing, mirroring or coating, to form the peripheral area 20.