HUD Glare Trap Lens Redirects Sunlight
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current head-up display (HUD) systems suffer from glare due to sunlight reflection within the eye-box, which is not completely absorbed by existing absorptive materials, necessitating a design that increases the overall size of the HUD to redirect reflected light outside the eye-box.
Innovation Solution
A HUD system incorporating a HUD glare trap lens with a curved reflective top surface and a light trap, such as a prism or horn-shaped structure, positioned at a focal bar to redirect and absorb sunlight, preventing it from interfering with the projected image.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of energy
If absorptive material is used to absorb focused sunlight, then sunlight absorption is improved, but the material becomes a Lambertian surface that reflects light back to the driver's eye causing glare
Solution Approach 1:
The patent converts the harmful glare effect into a beneficial solution by designing a light trap that captures and redirects the reflected light. The Lambertian surface that causes glare is positioned within a light trap structure that redirects the reflected light outside the eye-box, transforming the harmful glare into a controlled light redirection mechanism.
Solution Approach 2:
The light trap acts as an intermediary element between the absorptive material and the driver's eye. It captures the light reflected from the Lambertian surface and redirects it away from the eye-box, mediating the interaction between the absorptive material and the observer to eliminate glare while maintaining absorption functionality.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If the curvature and tilt angle are designed to ensure reflected light is outside the eye-box, then glare is reduced, but the overall size of the HUD increases
Solution Approach 1:
The light trap is nested within the existing HUD structure, utilizing the space created by the curved reflective surface and focal bar configuration. The light trap structure is integrated into the HUD assembly, with the absorptive material positioned at the focal bar where sunlight converges, allowing glare reduction functionality to be embedded within the existing optical path without requiring additional external components.
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 glare by redirecting and absorbing sunlight, ensuring that substantially all reflected light is directed outside the eye-box, thereby improving the visibility of the HUD image without increasing the HUD's size.
Implementation Method 1
the HUD glare trap lens... adapted to reflect sunlight that passes through the windshield to the HUD glare trap lens
Implementation Method 2
the light trap is adapted to absorb the sunlight that passes through the windshield and is reflected by the top surface of the HUD glare trap lens
Data Source
AI summary
A head-up display (HUD) system for a vehicle comprises a windshield, a projector adapted to project an image onto an inner surface of the windshield, a HUD glare trap lens positioned between the projector and the windshield, the HUD glare trap lens adapted to allow the projected image to pass through the HUD glare trap lens to the inner surface of the windshield, and to reflect sunlight that passes through the windshield to the HUD glare trap lens, and a light trap adapted to deflect sunlight that passes through the windshield and is reflected by the HUD glare trap lens, to prevent the reflected sunlight from interfering with the HUD image projected onto the windshield.