Laminated vehicle pane with opaque polymeric film

Abstract

A laminated vehicle includes an outer pane and an inner pane that are joined to one another via at least one thermoplastic intermediate layer and an opaque polymeric film that is arranged between the outer pane and the inner pane, wherein the opaque polymeric film has at least one cutout.

Claims

1. A laminated vehicle pane comprising: an outer pane and an inner pane that are joined to one another via at least one thermoplastic intermediate layer, an opaque polymeric film that is arranged between the outer pane and the inner pane, and an optical sensor secured on an interior-side surface of the inner pane, wherein the opaque polymeric film has at least one cutout, wherein the at least one cutout extends through a thickness of the opaque polymeric film, wherein the opaque polymeric film is made of a film composed of a single layer of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) or polyethylene (PE), wherein the optical sensor is directed toward the at least one cutout, and wherein the at least one cutout is a sensor window for said optical sensor to detect a radiation beam passing through the laminated vehicle pane in said sensor window, said sensor window being defined solely by said at least one cutout formed in the single layer of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) or polyethylene (PE), wherein the at least one thermoplastic intermediate layer contains at least polyvinyl butyral (PVB), ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA), polyurethane (PU), or mixtures or copolymers or derivatives thereof.

2. The laminated vehicle pane according to claim 1, wherein the outer pane and the inner pane are joined to one another via exactly one thermoplastic intermediate layer and the opaque polymeric film is arranged between the inner pane and the thermoplastic intermediate layer or between the outer pane and the thermoplastic intermediate layer.

3. The laminated vehicle pane according to claim 1, wherein the outer pane and the inner pane are joined to one another via at least two thermoplastic intermediate layers and the opaque polymeric film is arranged between two of the thermoplastic intermediate layers.

4. The laminated vehicle pane according to claim 1, wherein a thickness of the opaque polymeric film is between 10 μm and 80 μm.

5. The laminated vehicle pane according to claim 1, wherein the opaque polymeric film is black.

6. The laminated vehicle pane according to claim 1, additionally comprising a masking print, wherein the opaque polymeric film and the masking print have substantially the same optical density and the masking print is a peripheral masking print.

7. The laminated vehicle pane according to claim 1, wherein the at least one cutout has an area of at least 1 cm.sup.2.

8. The laminated vehicle pane according to claim 1, wherein the laminated vehicle pane is a curved laminated vehicle pane.

9. The laminated vehicle pane according to claim 8, wherein the laminated vehicle pane is a windshield that is mirror-symmetrical along a center line, and the opaque polymeric film is arranged on the center line in the vicinity of the upper edge of the windshield.

10. A method for producing a laminated vehicle pane according to claim 1, comprising: providing an outer pane, an inner pane, at least one thermoplastic intermediate layer, and an opaque polymeric film, which has at least one cutout; arranging the at least one thermoplastic intermediate layer and the opaque polymeric film between the outer pane and the inner pane; and joining the outer pane to the inner pane via the at least one thermoplastic intermediate layer by lamination.

11. A method comprising utilizing a laminated vehicle pane according to claim 1 as a windshield of a vehicle.

12. The laminated vehicle pane according to claim 1, wherein the opaque polymeric film is made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET).

13. The laminated vehicle pane according to claim 1, wherein the at least one thermoplastic intermediate layer contains polyvinyl butyral (PVB) or polyvinyl butyral (PVB) and plasticizers.

14. The laminated vehicle pane according to claim 4, wherein the thickness of the opaque polymeric film is between 25 μm and 50 μm.

15. The laminated vehicle pane according to claim 7, wherein the area is of 10 cm.sup.2 to 250 cm.sup.2.

16. The laminated vehicle pane according to claim 8, wherein the curved laminated vehicle pane is a windshield.

17. The laminated vehicle pane according to claim 1, wherein the opaque polymeric film is black or dark grey.

18. The laminated vehicle pane according to claim 1, wherein the opaque polymeric film has a surface area of at most 75% of a surface area of the laminated vehicle pane.

19. A laminated vehicle pane comprising: an outer pane and an inner pane that are joined to one another via at least one thermoplastic intermediate layer, an opaque polymeric film that is arranged between the outer pane and the inner pane, and an optical sensor secured on an interior-side surface of the inner pane, wherein the opaque polymeric film has at least one cutout, wherein the at least one cutout extends through a thickness of the opaque polymeric film, wherein the opaque polymeric film is made of a film of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) or polyethylene (PE), wherein the optical sensor is directed toward the at least one cutout, and wherein the at least one cutout is a sensor window for said optical sensor to detect a radiation beam passing through the laminated vehicle pane in said sensor window, an area of the at least one cutout corresponding exactly to a size of the sensor window so that the sensor window is bordered by said opaque polymeric film without being bordered by an opaque masking print, wherein the at least one thermoplastic intermediate layer contains at least polyvinyl butyral (PVB), ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA), polyurethane (PU), or mixtures or copolymers or derivatives thereof.

Description

(1) In the following, the invention is explained in detail with reference to drawings and exemplary embodiments. The drawings are schematic representations and not to scale. The drawings in no way restrict the invention.

(2) They depict:

(3) FIG. 1 plan view of an embodiment of the laminated vehicle pane according to the invention,

(4) FIG. 2 cross-section through the laminated vehicle pane according to the invention of FIG. 1 along the line A-A′,

(5) FIG. 3 cross-section through another embodiment of the laminated vehicle pane according to the invention,

(6) FIG. 4 plan view of another embodiment of the laminated vehicle pane according to the invention,

(7) FIG. 5 plan view of another embodiment of the laminated vehicle pane according to the invention,

(8) FIG. 6 plan view of another embodiment of the laminated vehicle pane according to the invention,

(9) FIG. 7 plan view of another embodiment of the laminated vehicle pane according to the invention,

(10) FIG. 8 plan view of another embodiment of the laminated vehicle pane according to the invention,

(11) FIG. 9 plan view of another embodiment of the laminated vehicle pane according to the invention,

(12) FIG. 10 cross-section through the laminated vehicle pane according to the invention of FIG. 9 along the line A-A′,

(13) FIG. 11 a flow chart of one embodiment of the method according to the invention, and

(14) FIG. 12 cross-section through the laminated vehicle pane according to an embodiment of the invention.

(15) FIG. 1 depicts an embodiment of the laminated vehicle pane 1 according to the invention, and FIG. 2 depicts the cross-section through the laminated vehicle pane 1 according to the invention of FIG. 1 along the line A-A′, which corresponds to the center line M. The laminated vehicle pane 1 depicted in FIG. 1 is mirror-symmetrical along the center line M and the opaque polymeric film 5 is arranged on the center line in the vicinity of the upper edge. In the embodiment depicted in FIGS. 1 and 2, the laminated vehicle pane 1 comprises an outer pane 2 and an inner pane 3 that are joined to one another, surface-to-surface, via a thermoplastic intermediate layer 4. The outer pane 2 and the inner pane 3 are made of soda lime glass and have, for example, a thickness of 2.1 mm. Arranged between the inner pane 3 and the thermoplastic intermediate layer 4 is an opaque polymeric film 5 that has a cutout 6. In the embodiment depicted in FIGS. 1 and 2, the opaque polymeric film 5 is arranged between the inner pane 3 and the thermoplastic intermediate layer 4. The opaque polymeric film 5 can, however, also be arranged between the outer pane 2 and the thermoplastic intermediate layer 4. In addition, the laminated vehicle pane 1 according to the invention can also include more than one thermoplastic intermediate layer 4. The thermoplastic intermediate layer 4 is made of polyvinyl butyral (PVB) and is 0.76 mm thick. The opaque polymeric film 5 is made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and is 25 μm (microns) thick. In the embodiment depicted in FIGS. 1 and 2, the cutout 6 is trapezoidal and has an area of 35 cm.sup.2. However, any other shape suitable for a sensor window is also possible. The opaque polymeric film 5 has, in the embodiment depicted in FIGS. 1 and 2, a trapezoidal shape wherein the corners pointing toward the lower edge are rounded. However, any other outer shape of the opaque polymeric film 6 suitable for masking a sensor is also possible. In the embodiment depicted in FIGS. 1 and 2, the opaque polymeric film 5 is dark gray. It can, however, also have any other color, for example, black. The inner pane 3 faces the interior of the vehicle in the installed position. The outer pane 2 faces the external environment of the vehicle in the installed position. The laminated pane has an upper edge O and a lower edge U. In the installed position, the upper edge O points upward toward the vehicle roof; the lower edge points, in the installed position, downward toward the engine compartment.

(16) The interior-side surface of the outer pane 2 is joined to the exterior-side surface of the inner pane 3 via the thermoplastic intermediate layer 4. Customarily, the exterior-side surface of the outer pane 2 is referred to as “side I”; the interior-side surface of the outer pane 2, as “side II”; the exterior-side surface of the inner pane 3 as “side III”; and the interior-side surface of the inner pane 3 as “side IV”.

(17) FIG. 3 depicts the cross-section through another embodiment of a laminated vehicle pane 1 according to the invention, wherein, additionally, an optical sensor 7 that is mounted on the inner pane 3 on the interior side via a mount and is directed toward the cutout 6 is also sketched in. The optical sensor 7 is, for example, a lane camera. The detection direction of the optical sensor 7 is directed roughly horizontally forward outside the laminated vehicle pane 1. Radiation that enters horizontally through the laminated vehicle pane in a so-called “sensor window”, which corresponds to the region of the cutout 6 in the embodiment depicted in FIG. 3, is detected by the optical sensor 7.

(18) FIG. 4 depicts another embodiment of a laminated vehicle pane 1 according to the invention. The laminated vehicle pane 1 depicted in FIG. 3 differs from the embodiment depicted in FIG. 1 only in that the opaque polymeric film 5 has two cutouts 6, wherein one cutout 6 is trapezoidal and one cutout 6 is circular.

(19) FIG. 5 depicts another embodiment of a laminated vehicle pane 1 according to the invention. The laminated vehicle pane 1 depicted in FIG. 5 differs from the embodiment depicted in FIG. 4 only in that the trapezoidal cutout 6 is larger and the cutouts are arranged not side-by-side but are arranged one above the other. In addition, the outer shape of the opaque polymeric film 5 in the embodiment depicted in FIG. 5 differs from the outer shape of the opaque polymeric film 5 in the embodiment depicted in FIG. 4.

(20) FIG. 6 depicts another embodiment of a laminated vehicle pane 1 according to the invention. The laminated vehicle pane 1 depicted in FIG. 6 differs from the embodiment depicted in FIG. 4 only in that the opaque polymeric film 5 has three cutouts 6, of which one is trapezoidal and two are circular.

(21) FIG. 7 depicts another embodiment of a laminated vehicle pane 1 according to the invention. It differs from the embodiment depicted in FIG. 6 in that the three cutouts 6 are trapezoidal and are arranged side-by-side and that the opaque polymeric film 5 is extended in the center in the direction of the lower edge U.

(22) FIG. 8 depicts another embodiment of a laminated vehicle pane 1 according to the invention. The laminated vehicle pane 1 depicted in FIG. 8 differs from that depicted in FIG. 1 only in that it additionally includes a peripheral masking print 8 made of enamel. The opaque polymeric film 5 and the peripheral masking print 8 have substantially the same optical density and are dark gray in the embodiment depicted in FIG. 8. To clarify where the opaque polymeric film 5 is arranged in the embodiment depicted in FIG. 8, this is identified in FIG. 8 with a black dashed border. In the embodiment depicted in FIG. 8, the peripheral masking print 8 is only applied adjacent the outer edges of the laminated vehicle pane 1. However, it is also possible to additionally apply a further masking print 8 on the outside around the opaque polymeric film 5.

(23) FIG. 9 depicts another embodiment of a laminated vehicle pane 1 according to the invention. The laminated vehicle pane 1 depicted in FIG. 9 differs from that depicted in FIG. 8 only in that the opaque polymeric film 5 and the peripheral masking print 8 are black.

(24) FIG. 10 depicts the cross-section through the laminated vehicle pane 1 according to the invention of FIG. 9 along the line A-A′, which corresponds to the center line M, wherein, additionally, an optical sensor 7 in the form of a camera installed via a mount 9 is sketched in. The black masking print 8 is applied on the interior-side surface of the outer pane 2 in the embodiment depicted in FIG. 10.

(25) FIG. 11 depicts the flow chart of a method according to the invention for producing a laminated vehicle pane 1 according to the invention. In a first step I, an outer pane 2, an inner pane 3, at least one thermoplastic intermediate layer 4, and an opaque polymeric film 5 that has at least one cutout 6 are provided. In a second step II, the at least one thermoplastic intermediate layer 4 and the opaque polymeric film 5 are arranged between the outer pane 2 and the inner pane 3. In a third step III, the outer pane 2 is joined to the inner pane 3 via the at least one thermoplastic intermediate layer 4 by lamination.

(26) FIG. 12 is a cross-section through the laminated vehicle pane according to an embodiment of the invention. The laminated vehicle pane 1 comprises an outer pane 2 and an inner pane 3 that are joined to one another, surface-to-surface, via a first thermoplastic intermediate layer 4a and a second intermediate layer 4b. As shown in FIG. 12, the opaque polymeric film 5 is arranged between the first and second thermoplastic intermediate layers 4a, 4b.

Example

(27) Tests were carried out to investigate and demonstrate the technical effect of the invention. In the test, a laminated vehicle pane 1 according to the invention, in which a sensor window is bordered by an opaque polymeric film 5, i.e., the sensor window corresponds to the cutout 6 in the opaque polymeric film, is compared to a prior art laminated vehicle pane, in which the sensor window is bordered by an opaque masking print. The opaque masking print was fired at temperatures of 500° C. to 700° C. during the bending of the laminated pane according to the prior art.

(28) The tests showed that optical distortions in the sensor window can be significantly reduced by bordering the sensor window with an opaque polymeric film instead of an optical masking print, for example, from 200 milli-diopters (mdpt) to 100 mdpt.

LIST OF REFERENCE CHARACTERS

(29) 1 laminated vehicle pane 2 outer pane 3 inner pane 4 thermoplastic intermediate layer 5 opaque polymeric film 6 cutout 7 optical sensor 8 masking print 9 mount O upper edge/roof edge of the laminated pane U lower edge/engine edge of the laminated pane M center line