Vehicle Interior Trim With Hidden Thin-Film Display Integration
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current interior lighting systems in vehicles face challenges such as heat generation, susceptibility to damage, and integration into trim parts, limiting their aesthetic and functional capabilities, particularly in providing dynamic displays and control elements within the vehicle interior.
Innovation Solution
An interior trim part featuring a glass or glass-like shaped component with a thin-film display device integrated behind or within it, allowing for the transmission of images and control elements through the shaped part, which can include touch sensors and proximity sensors, enabling decorative and functional displays, ambient lighting, and camera monitoring, while utilizing 'hidden-until-lit' functionality.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Illumination intensity
If traditional lighting systems (light bulbs, LEDs) are integrated into interior trim parts, then interior lighting functionality is achieved, but heat generation and susceptibility to damage increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the light-generating function from traditional bulbs/LEDs and replaces it with a light-conducting layer that receives light from external sources (headlights, ambient light). This removes the harmful heat-generating components from the interior trim while preserving the lighting effect through optical conduction and reflection.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a light-conducting layer as an intermediary between external light sources and the interior trim parts. This layer conducts and distributes light without generating heat, acting as a mediator that eliminates the harmful thermal effects while maintaining illumination functionality.
2Illumination intensity
If traditional lighting systems are integrated into interior trim parts, then lighting functionality is achieved, but integration into trim parts becomes complex
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the lighting function directly into the interior trim parts by making the trim parts themselves light-conducting or by integrating light-conducting layers within the trim structure. This eliminates separate lighting components and simplifies integration while achieving uniform lighting distribution.
Solution Approach 2:
The interior trim parts are designed to serve multiple functions: structural decoration, light conduction, and illumination distribution. This multi-functionality reduces the need for separate lighting systems and simplifies overall integration into the vehicle interior.
3Shape
If 'hidden-until-lit' lighting systems are used, then aesthetic integration is improved, but visibility when deactivated is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies different optical properties to different regions of the interior trim parts. Some areas are designed to be transparent or light-conducting to allow visibility of the trim structure when deactivated, while other areas are designed to hide the lighting components until activation. This local differentiation resolves the contradiction between aesthetic integration and visibility.
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 provides a versatile, aesthetically pleasing, and functionally enhanced interior trim part that offers dynamic displays, control elements, and camera monitoring, improving user interaction and safety by integrating lighting, sensors, and display functions seamlessly within the vehicle's interior.
Implementation Method 1
the thin-film display device transmits an image through the shaped part into the interior of the motor vehicle
Implementation Method 2
a shaped part made of or comprising glass or a glass-like material which is arranged on the side of the interior trim part facing the interior of the motor vehicle
Data Source
AI summary
The disclosure relates to an interior trim part of a motor vehicle which comprises: a shaped part made of glass or a glass-like material which is arranged on the side of the interior trim part facing the interior of the motor vehicle, a thin-film display device which as seen from the motor vehicle interior is arranged behind the shaped part or is integrated therein, and a control device for activating the thin-film display device, so that the latter transmits an image through the shaped part to the interior of the motor vehicle.