Cloaking Device Optical Path Matching
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing cloaking devices for vehicle pillars rely on complex metamaterials or video technology, which are cumbersome and inefficient in making pillars appear transparent, failing to provide consistent images due to optical path length differences.
Innovation Solution
A cloaking device with non-planar boundary planes, half mirrors, and matching mediums that alter optical path lengths to redirect light around the pillar, creating a consistent image of the pillar as transparent by adjusting the optical path difference between obscured and visible light paths.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If metamaterials or video technology are used to make a pillar appear transparent, then the transparency effect is achieved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses a camera to capture an image of the scene behind the pillar and displays it on a transparent display screen, creating a visual copy of the obscured area. This allows the pillar to appear transparent without requiring complex metamaterials, as the solution replicates the visual information electronically rather than manipulating light physically through complex materials.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a camera and display screen as intermediary devices between the observer and the pillar. Instead of directly manipulating light paths through complex metamaterials, the system uses these intermediary components to capture and reconstruct the visual information, simplifying the overall device complexity while maintaining the transparency effect.
2Reliability
If video cameras and display screens are used to achieve transparency, then the transparency effect is achieved, but the equipment becomes cumbersome
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the camera, display screen, and power supply into an integrated assembly that attaches to the pillar. This combination reduces the overall bulk and complexity of the equipment compared to using separate video camera and display screen components, making the system more compact and easier to install and operate.
Solution Approach 2:
By using a transparent display screen that shows a copied image of the scene behind the pillar, the system achieves the transparency effect with simpler, more compact equipment rather than requiring large, complex optical systems or multiple separate components.
3Device complexity
If optical path length differences are not adjusted, then the device structure is simpler, but image consistency deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses the camera and display screen as intermediary devices to capture and reconstruct the image behind the pillar. This electronic imaging approach naturally handles optical path differences through digital processing and timing synchronization, achieving image consistency without requiring complex optical path adjustment mechanisms that would increase device structure complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The system adjusts temporal parameters (timing of image capture and display) and spatial parameters (positioning of the display screen) to compensate for optical path length differences. By changing these parameters rather than physically adjusting optical paths, the system maintains image consistency while keeping the device structure relatively simple.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution effectively reduces optical path differences, providing improved consistency and clarity in images, allowing the pillar to appear transparent without the need for metamaterials or video technology, thus enhancing visibility and reducing blind spots.
Implementation Method 1
The matching medium is positioned in the second optical path and alters the second optical path length such that an optical path difference between the first optical path length and the second optical path length is reduced
Implementation Method 2
a cloaking region (CR) boundary plane with an outward facing mirror surface
Implementation Method 3
A half mirror is spaced apart and generally parallel to the outward facing mirror surface
Data Source
AI summary
A cloaking device includes cloaking region boundary planes oriented non-planar to each other, each of the cloaking region boundary planes having an outward facing mirror surface and an inward facing opaque surface. The cloaking device includes a cloaking region bounded at least partially by the inward facing opaque surfaces of the cloaking region boundary planes. Light from an object positioned on the object-side of the cloaking device and obscured by the CR has a first optical path through the cloaking device and light from the object not obscured by the CR has a second optical path through the cloaking device. A first matching medium is positioned between the object-side and the image-side in the second optical path and increases the second optical path length such that an optical path difference between the first optical path length and the second optical path length is reduced.