Curved Conductive Pattern Heating Plate for Vehicle Windshield
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional defroster apparatuses using tungsten heating wires suffer from visibility issues due to the wires' high electric resistivity, making them difficult to thin while maintaining effective heat generation, and they often result in bubbles during manufacturing, affecting the appearance quality of the heating plate.
Innovation Solution
A heating plate design featuring a conductive pattern with a reduced percentage of straight line segments, thin copper wires arranged in specific patterns, and a joint layer configuration to minimize bubble formation, ensuring both invisibility and efficient heat generation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Use of energy by moving object
If tungsten wire is used as heating wire to prevent high electric resistance, then heat generation efficiency is improved, but the wire becomes visible to observers deteriorating visibility
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the material parameter from tungsten to copper, which has lower electric resistivity. This allows the heating wire to be made thinner while maintaining effective heat generation, thereby improving visibility by reducing the wire's visual presence in the pane.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions from a three-dimensional wire structure to a two-dimensional conductive pattern. This dimensional change allows the heating element to be flattened and integrated into the pane surface, reducing its visual profile while maintaining heating functionality through distributed conductive traces.
2Illumination intensity
If heating wire is made thinner to improve see-through property, then visibility is improved, but electric resistance becomes too high reducing heat generation
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the material parameter from tungsten to copper, which has lower electric resistivity. This allows the heating wire to be made thinner while maintaining effective heat generation, thereby improving visibility by reducing the wire's visual presence in the pane.
3Ease of manufacture
If connection elements are formed as straight lines to simplify manufacturing, then ease of manufacture is improved, but the conductive pattern becomes visible to observers
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies curvature to the connection elements by forming them as curved lines rather than straight lines. This curvature disrupts the regular reflection of light that occurs with straight lines, making the conductive pattern less visible to observers while maintaining manufacturing feasibility through standard photolithographic processes.
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 improves the invisibility of the conductive pattern and achieves excellent see-through properties while maintaining effective heat generation, reducing bubble formation and enhancing the manufacturing process.
Implementation Method 1
By powering the conductive pattern, a temperature of a pane is raised by means of resistance heat
Data Source
AI summary
A heating plate includes: a pair of glass plates; a conductive pattern disposed between the pair of glass plates and defining a plurality of opening areas; and a joint layer disposed between the conductive pattern and at least one of the pair of glass plates; wherein the conductive pattern includes a plurality of connection elements that extend between two branch points to define the opening areas; and a rate of the connection elements, which are straight line segments connecting the two branch points, relative to the plurality of connection elements, is less than 20%.