Automotive Laminated Glazing Cutout for Camera Optical Clarity
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Solution Overview
Problem
Laminated automotive glazing presents challenges in optical clarity due to secondary reflections, curvature, thickness variations, and residual stress, which affect camera-based safety systems' performance by causing double images and distortion.
Innovation Solution
The solution involves creating cutouts in the plastic bonding layer of laminated glazing, inserting a non-adherent material, and filling these areas with a resin that matches the glass's index of refraction, reducing distortion and stress, and allowing for improved optical clarity and camera system functionality.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If multiple layers of bent glass are bonded together by a plastic layer to create laminated windshields, then structural integrity and safety are improved, but optical clarity deteriorates due to secondary reflections and double imaging
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the laminated glass structure into distinct zones: areas with normal multiple layers and areas with cutouts where layers are removed. This segmentation allows the camera field of view to have reduced layer count, minimizing reflections and distortion while maintaining structural integrity in other areas.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts (removes) certain layers of glass and plastic from specific locations to create cutouts. This extraction eliminates the source of secondary reflections and double imaging in the camera field of view area, directly addressing the optical clarity problem while preserving the laminated structure elsewhere.
2Area of stationary object
If the windshield is made larger and more complex in shape to accommodate camera systems, then camera field of view is improved, but optical distortion increases due to glass curvature and thickness variations
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies different structural qualities to different areas of the windshield. The camera field of view area has cutouts with reduced layer count and minimized curvature, while other areas maintain the full laminated structure. This local differentiation optimizes optical quality where cameras operate without compromising overall windshield functionality.
3Ease of manufacture
If standard float glass processes are used with their inherent thickness variations, then manufacturing ease is improved, but optical aberrations worsen due to draw line distortion and residual stress
Solution Approach 1:
The patent converts the harmful effect of thickness variations and residual stress into a beneficial outcome by strategically placing cutouts in areas where these variations cause the most optical aberration. The cutouts eliminate the problematic regions, transforming the inherent flaws of standard glass processes into an opportunity to optimize camera field of view quality.
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
This approach significantly reduces distortion, residual stress, and the likelihood of breakage, while supporting higher-resolution cameras and allowing the use of standard automotive glass processes, enhancing the overall optical quality and performance of laminated glazing.
Implementation Method 1
filling these areas with a resin that matches the glass's index of refraction, reducing distortion and stress
Implementation Method 2
bonding two sheets of annealed glass together using an interlayer which is a thin thermoplastic sheet to bond the glass layers together
Implementation Method 3
Annealed glass is glass that has been slowly cooled from the bending temperature down through the glass transition range during the bending process. This process relieves any stress left in the glass from the bending process
Implementation Method 4
removing at least one cutout area in said at least one plastic bonding layer by an ablation process to create a fill channel that extends to the edge of the glass
Data Source
AI summary
The use of camera based safety systems is growing at a rapid rate in modern automobiles. As the industry moves towards vehicles with full autonomous capability, the number of cameras required and the resolution of the cameras are both increasing. At the same time, windshields, where many of the cameras are mounted, are becoming larger and more complex in shape. This presents problems in the area of camera optics. Variations in the thickness of the glass and the plastic layer, surface mismatch, surface texture and the design curvature of the glass in conjunction with the often low installation angle, can reduce the optical clarity of the camera optics. These optical aberrations are further exacerbated during the lamination process when the layers are bonded together under pressure. The laminate of the invention utilizes a cutout in the plastic bonding layer in side of the laminate, preferable in the camera field of view. A laminating resin is used to fill the gap left by the cutout between the two glass layers.