Display device for transparent glazing

Abstract

A display device comprising a radiation source and a glazing unit is disclosed. The glazing unit comprises a glazing function substrate and a coating that prevents reflection of incident monochromatic laser radiation emitted by the radiation source, which scans a portion of the gazing unit. The coating comprises a stack of two layers, namely, a first layer made of a material based on zinc oxide, tin oxide, silicon nitride, zinc tin oxide or zirconium silicon oxide; and a second layer made of a material based on a silicon oxide, in which the respective geometric thicknesses Ep.sub.1 and Ep.sub.2 of the layers are substantially equal to:
Ep.sub.1=26+0.07(?)?0.007(?).sup.2(1)
Ep.sub.2=83?0.1(?)+0.01(?).sup.2(2), in which ? is the mean angle of orientation of incident monochromatic laser radiation to the normal to the glazing unit in the scanned portion thereof.

Claims

1. A device for displaying a real image on a glazing unit, said device comprising: a source of monochromatic, transverse magnetic polarized laser radiation of wavelength between 380 and 410 nm; and said glazing unit, at least one portion of which comprises a luminophore that absorbs said radiation in order to reemit light in the visible range and thereby display the image, wherein: said source of radiation is oriented toward a portion of said glazing unit in order to scan said portion so as to make a mean angle in degrees of ? to the normal to said glazing unit; said glazing unit is equipped on its face exposed to said source with an antireflection coating comprising a stack of two layers comprising, starting from a glazing function substrate: a first layer comprising a material comprising zinc oxide, tin oxide, silicon nitride, a zinc tin oxide or a zirconium silicon oxide, said first layer having a thickness in nanometers of Ep.sub.1; and a second layer comprising a material comprising silicon oxide, and optionally furthermore comprising at least one of carbon, nitrogen, and aluminum, said second layer having a thickness in nanometers of Ep.sub.2; and respective geometric thicknesses Ep.sub.1 and Ep.sub.2 of said layers are substantially equal to: for the first layer:
Ep.sub.1=26+0.07(?)?0.007(?).sup.2(1) for the second layer:
Ep.sub.2=83?0.1(?)+0.01(?).sup.2(2).

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the glazing unit has, on its face exposed to the incident radiation, a refractive index between 1.5 and 1.6 for said monochromatic radiation.

3. The device of claim 1, wherein, for said monochromatic radiation: a material of the first layer of the stack has an optical refractive index between about 1.9 and about 2.1; and a material of the second layer of the stack has an optical refractive index between about 1.5 and about 1.6.

4. The device of claim 1, wherein the source generates radiation at about 405 nm.

5. The device of claim 1, wherein the source comprises at least one laser diode.

6. The device of claim 1, wherein the glazing unit is a laminated glazing unit formed by joining two glass panes adhesively bonded to each other by an interlayer of a plastic, said luminophore being integrated into said interlayer.

7. The device of claim 1, wherein the material of the first layer comprises zinc oxide, tin oxide, silicon nitride or a zinc tin oxide.

8. The device of claim 1, wherein the first layer comprises silicon nitride and the second layer comprises silicon oxide.

9. The device of claim 1, wherein the first layer comprises zinc tin oxide and the second layer comprises silicon oxide.

10. The device of claim 9, wherein the material of the first layer comprises a mixed zinc silicon oxide in which a Sn/Zn ratio is between 50/50 and 85/15.

11. The device of claim 1, wherein the mean angle ? is between 0 and 50?.

12. A passenger compartment, comprising the display device of claim 1.

13. A method for implementing a device for displaying a real image on a glazing unit of a passenger compartment or a facade, the method comprising: a source of monochromatic, transverse magnetic polarized laser radiation between 380 and 410 nm which source is oriented toward at least one portion of said glazing unit; and said glazing unit, at least one portion of which comprises a luminophore that absorbs said radiation in order to reemit light in the visible range and thereby display the image, the method comprising orienting said radiation source toward said glazing unit and scanning the glazing unit to make a mean angle in degrees of ? to the normal to said glazing unit, wherein: an antireflection coating comprising a stack of two layers is applied to a face of the glazing unit which is exposed to said source, said two layers being, starting from a glazing function substrate: a first layer comprising a material comprising zinc oxide, tin oxide, silicon nitride, a zinc tin oxide or a zirconium silicon oxide, an optical refractive index of which for incident monochromatic radiation being between about 1.9 and about 2.1, this first layer having a thickness in nanometers of Ep.sub.1; and a second layer comprising a material comprising silicon oxide, an optical refractive index of which for the incident monochromatic radiation being between 1.5 and 1.6, this second layer having a thickness in nanometers of Ep.sub.2; and respective geometric thicknesses Ep.sub.1 and Ep.sub.2 of said layers are substantially equal to: for the first layer:
Ep.sub.1=26+0.07(?)?0.007(?).sup.2(1) for the second layer:
Ep.sub.2=83?0.1(?)+0.01(?).sup.2(2).

Description

(1) The invention and its advantages will be better understood on reading the following description of an embodiment thereof, given with regard to the appended FIGURE, FIG. 1.

(2) FIG. 1 schematically shows a windshield and a device placed in a passenger compartment of an automotive vehicle (not shown):

(3) The windshield 1 is made up of two panes 2 and 9, typically glass panes, but they could also consist of sheets of a strong plastic such as polycarbonate. Present between the two sheets is an interlayer sheet 3 made of a plastic such as PVB (polyvinyl butyral), plasticized PVC, PU or EVA, or else a multilayer thermoplastic sheet incorporating for example PET (polyethylene terephthalate), the succession of layers in which is for example PVB/PET/PVB.

(4) Particles of an organic luminophore of the terephthalate type according to the invention were deposited on at least one portion of the internal face of the thermoplastic interlayer sheet 3 before lamination, that is to say before the various sheets were assembled.

(5) The luminophore particles have a size distribution predominantly between 1 and 100 microns. The term predominantly is understood to mean that more than 90% of the particles making up the commercial powder have a diameter between 1 and 100 microns. Preferably, the terephthalate-type luminophore particles are subjected to a prior treatment facilitating their impregnation in the thermoplastic PVB sheet. More precisely, the particles are precoated with a PVB-based binder.

(6) A laser source 4 emitting luminous excitation radiation is used to send incident, concentrated, transverse magnetic polarized radiation 7 of wavelength equal to 405 nm toward a portion 10 of the windshield, on which portion 10 the real image must be generated. The laser source or projector for example comprises a polarizer allowing the incident beam to be polarized such that its electromagnetic field is transverse magnetic. In the context of the present invention, the expression transverse magnetic is understood to mean a TM:TE polarization ratio of at least 100:10 and preferably of at least 100:1 (TM: transverse magnetic; TE: transverse electric).

(7) At least this portion 10 of the glazing unit comprises a suitable luminophore. The luminophore is advantageously a hydroterephthalate such as described in patent application WO2010/139889, for example solvated in molecular form in the thermoplastic interlayer sheet 3. The luminophore has a high coefficient of absorption of the incident radiation. The luminophore then reemits radiation in the visible range, i.e. radiation near 450 nm with an efficiency higher than 80%.

(8) The visible radiation emitted by the luminophore is then directly observable by the eye 5 of the driver, who thus sees the object on the windshield without having to avert his eyes from the road. In this way, an image may be directly formed on a laminated windshield without it being necessary to adapt the structure of the latter, for example the thickness of the interlayer sheet, thereby enabling HUD systems to be manufactured economically.

(9) According to the invention, the source used to generate the concentrated radiation is preferably a source of the UV laser type. For example, it is nonlimitingly a solid-state laser, a semiconductor laser diode, a gas laser, dye lasers or an excimer laser. In general, any known source generating a concentrated and directed flux, within the meaning of the present invention, of UV radiation may be used as an excitation source according to the invention. Alternatively, sources of incoherent light such as light-emitting diodes, and preferably power light-emitting diodes, emitting in the near UV range, may also be used.

(10) According to one possible embodiment, a DLP projector according to the embodiment described in paragraph [0021] of patent application US 2005/231652 may be used to modulate the excitation wave. According to the invention, it is also possible to use as UV excitation source a device as described in patent application US2004/0232826, especially as described in connection with FIG. 3.

(11) Using such systems makes it possible to illuminate specific portions of the glazing unit with the laser radiation, in order to make appear therein any item of information that may be useful to the driver while he is driving, especially safety- or even route-related items of information.

(12) The above embodiment is of course in no way intended to limit any of the aspects the present invention described above.

(13) According to the invention, the zone in question may be illuminated by a device functioning by rapidly scanning said zone with the source or by simultaneously activating pixels in said zone by means of a plurality of mirrors slaved to said source.

(14) In particular, according to a first embodiment, a projector based on MEMS micro-mirrors will be used with a laser source. According to another embodiment, projectors based on DLP, LCD or LCOS matrices will be used with a laser or LED source. Alternatively, it is possible according to the invention to use a projector based on mirrors mounted on galvanometers reflecting a laser source.

(15) If safety in the passenger compartment is to be guaranteed when the device is operating, the main difficulty that must be overcome is with the portion of radiation reflected by the surface of the windshield, which may be, to a first approximation, relatively large and directed toward the eyes of the passengers, especially if the inclination and curvature of the laminated windshield in the zone illuminated by the incident beam are taken into account.

(16) According to the invention, a specific antireflection coating 8, of the type described above, is applied to the internal surface of the laminated glazing unit, i.e. to that face of the glazing unit which is turned toward the passenger compartment of the vehicle. The AR coating is applied at least in the zone of the glazing unit facing the portion 10 of the windshield comprising the luminophore material.

(17) The following examples, based on the embodiment just described, of various types of antireflection coatings demonstrate the advantages obtained by implementing the present invention with the aim of minimizing the risks, described above, for passengers of the vehicle by substantially decreasing reflection of the beam emitted by the source from the surface of the windshield, especially for an angle of incidence comprised between 0 and 50?.

EXAMPLES

(18) In the following examples the embodiment described above with regard to FIG. 1 was reproduced, the laminated windshield 1 comprising the luminophore being illuminated by the source or projector 4 of 405 nm, transverse magnetic polarized laser radiation, said radiation illuminating one portion 10 of the glazing unit.

(19) The glazing unit used was a windshield comprising:

(20) an external first pane consisting of a tinted glass that appeared slightly green in color; an internal second pane consisting of the clear glass sold under the reference Planilux? by the Applicant company; and an interlayer of polyvinyl butyral melted between the two panes and joining the two glass panes together.

(21) Before the laminated structure was assembled, a hydroxyterephthalate (diethyl-2,5-dihydroxyterephthalate) luminophore material was deposited on the PVB interlayer using the method indicated in patent application WO 2010/139889. The luminophore was deposited in the interlayer in a 20?10 cm rectangular portion of the glazing unit with a concentration of about 5?10.sup.?4 g/cm.sup.2.

(22) On that part of the glazing unit which is turned toward the interior of the passenger compartment, various antireflection coatings such as indicated in the rest of the description were deposited. A glazing unit devoid of any antireflection layer on its internal surface was used as a control in order to measure the effectiveness of the protection.

Control Example

(23) For this control glazing unit, no antireflection coating was applied to a glazing unit such as described above including the two glass panes with their interlayer. The 405 nm laser radiation was directed toward the portion of the glazing unit concentrating the luminophores, most of this 405 nm laser radiation being absorbed and converted.

(24) That face of the glazing unit exposed to this laser radiation consisted of glass the refractive index of which was 1.54 at 405 nm. Its coefficient of reflection was about 4.5% at 405 nm.

(25) The following examples differ from the control example in that various types of antireflection coatings were deposited on the internal face of the pane of clear Planilux? glass. The risk level R was determined, as indicated below, as a function of the initial power applied to the laser source.

Example 1

(26) For this first glazing unit according to the invention, the antireflection stack deposited consisted of two layers, namely: a first layer deposited directly on the interior glass surface, said layer consisting of silicon nitride (SiN) containing a small proportion of aluminum and having a refractive index of about 2.0 for incident radiation of wavelength equal to 405 nm. The thickness of this layer was about 24 nm; and a second layer deposited on the silicon nitride layer, said layer consisting of silicon oxide (SiO) containing a small proportion of aluminum and having an index about equal to 1.5 at 405 nm. The thickness of this layer was 87 nm.

(27) The two layers were deposited, before the laminated glazing unit was formed, on the appropriate face of the Planilux glass pane using conventional, well-known magnetron cathode sputtering techniques, the two layers respectively being deposited from: a silicon target comprising 8% by weight aluminum in a nitrogen atmosphere for the silicon nitride layer; and a silicon target comprising 8% by weight aluminum in an oxygen-containing atmosphere for the silicon oxide layer.

Example 2

(28) For this second glazing unit according to the invention, the deposited antireflection stack consisted of two layers made of the same materials and deposited in the same way as above but with different thicknesses, in particular: a first layer was deposited directly on the interior glass surface, said layer consisting of silicon nitride containing a small proportion of aluminum. The thickness of this layer was 12 nm; and a second layer was deposited on the silicon nitride layer, said layer consisting of silicon oxide containing a small proportion of aluminum. The thickness of this layer was 99 nm.

Example 3

(29) In this third glazing unit according to the invention, the deposited antireflection stack consisted of two layers made of the same materials and deposited in the same way as above but with different thicknesses, in particular: a first layer was deposited directly on the surface, said layer consisting of silicon nitride containing a small proportion of aluminum. The thickness of this layer was 28 nm; and a second layer was deposited on the silicon nitride layer, said layer consisting of silicon oxide containing a small proportion of aluminum. The thickness of this layer was 83 nm.

(30) The glazing units obtained according to the above examples were then subjected to laser radiation directed toward the zone comprising the luminophore.

(31) The projector used to illuminate the glazing unit consisted of a laser diode emitting a concentrated, monochromatic, transverse magnetic polarized beam at 405 nm. The angular aperture of the source was about 5?. The diode had an adjustable supply such that the power of the generated beam was modulatable.

(32) The beam was oriented toward the rectangular portion of the glazing unit comprising the luminophore, such that it encountered the antireflection coating before passing through the clear glass of the first sheet.

(33) In a first device, the average angle of incidence ?.sub.1 of the beam on the windshield was fixed and equal to 25?, taking into account the curvature and inclination of the latter.

(34) In a second device, the average angle of incidence ?.sub.2 of the beam on the windshield was fixed and equal to 45?.

(35) In a third device, the average angle of incidence ?.sub.3 of the beam on the windshield was fixed and equal to 0?, i.e. the incident beam was coincident with the normal to the glazing unit at the point of impact on the latter.

(36) The dangerousness of the HUD product was quantified by a risk factor or parameter R calculated using the following procedure:

(37) The intensity of the source was increased until the luminance of the real image formed on the windshield exceeded 3000 candelas/m.sup.2 (luminance initially considered to be enough to obtain an image visible to the driver whatever the daylight conditions). The dangerousness of the beam reflected by the surface of the windshield was determined according to the principles described in standard IEC 60825-1 relating to the security of laser products. A risk factor R was determined equal to the ratio R=E/MPE, where E was the laser exposure perceived by the subject and MPE the maximum permissible exposure under the particular conditions of use of a given laser device. According to this standard, a value R equal to 1 is the acceptable limit of product dangerousness. However, it will of course, according to the invention, be sought to minimize the value of R, a value lower than 0.1 in particular being preferable, in order to obtain an optimal protection over time, or even in anticipation of tightening of said standard in the future, with a view to the dangerousness of such light sources.

(38) By way of example, a laser projector functioning in a vector mode with a scanning speed of 900 rad/s, equipped with a laser diode having an optical power of 500 mW at 405 nm and generating a spot of 1 mm diameter, placed 1 m from the windshield, tracing a 25 cm-long outline allows a luminance of 3225 cd/m.sup.2 to be achieved. Under these conditions, the maximum permissible exposure according to standard IEC 60825-1 is MPE=3.63?10.sup.?4 J/m.sup.2.

(39) Since the measured exposure is equal to E=3.57?10.sup.?3 J/m.sup.2 for the control example, the calculated laser risk factor is then R=9.8.

(40) To decrease the laser risk factor to an R value lower than 1 in this control case, it is thus necessary to decrease the power of the laser source to 50 mW, this having the effect of correspondingly decreasing the luminance to an unacceptable value of 323 cd/m.sup.2.

(41) The results obtained for all the tested configurations are collated in table 1 below for an obtained luminance of about 3000 cd/m.sup.2:

(42) TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 Stack on the Angle of Thickness glazing unit incidence calculated using Glazing unit (from the of the incident formulae (1) and Risk of example surface) radiation (2) factor Control None 0 9.8 25 9.8 45 9.8 1 24 nm SiN 0 26 0.4 87 nm SiO 83 25 23.375 <0.1 86.75 45 14.975 1 98.75 2 12 nm SiN 0 26 3.3 99 nm SiO 83 25 23.375 1.5 86.75 45 14.975 <0.1 98.75 3 28 nm SiN 0 26 <0.1 83 nm SiO 83 25 23.375 0.3 86.75 45 14.975 1.6 98.75

(43) The data collated in table 1 shows that the risk factor associated with the projection of incident laser radiation onto the glazing units according to examples 1 to 3 is acceptable if the thicknesses of the two layers forming the coating preventing reflection of said radiation are chosen and calibrated according to the invention depending on the angle of incidence of said radiation and by applying the preceding relationships (1) and (2). Most particularly, the results collated in table 1 show that the respective thicknesses of the two layers must be configured depending on the angle of incidence of the incident beam on the windshield, in order to limit the risk factor R, i.e. in order to ensure that passengers are safe from reflection of the incident radiation from the glazing surface.

(44) With such an aim in mind, the glazing unit according to example 1 was tailored to an average angle of incidence ?.sub.1 of the beam on the windshield of about 25? whereas the glazing unit according to example 2 was tailored to an average angle of incidence ?.sub.2 of the beam on the windshield of about 45?. The glazing unit according to example 3 was tailored to an average angle of incidence of zero of the beam on the windshield (i.e. the normal to the glazing unit at the point of impact coincided with the direction of the incident beam).

(45) In particular, it may be seen from the results collated in the above table that a very low risk factor, in particular lower than 0.1, may be obtained by applying the present invention, for a signal luminance of about 3000 cd/m.sup.2. In certain cases of very strong illumination of the windshield, it therefore becomes in this case possible to substantially increase the luminance of the signal in order to make the items of information more visible to the driver or user, without however exceeding the risk factor R=1 defined in standard IEC 60825-1.

(46) Such features make it safe to use very concentrated radiation sources such as lasers in vehicular (automobile, airplane, trains, etc.) HUD type applications or even to display information on windows.