Vehicle Mirror Lighting with Microstructured Film
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing vehicle exterior mirrors with lighting units struggle to harmoniously adapt to the vehicle's surroundings without complex and costly design precautions, often making the lighting structures visible due to material thickness differences when colored as gray filters.
Innovation Solution
A lighting unit with a cover panel integrated into the vehicle's contour, featuring a microstructured film applied to the cover pane, which scatters light uniformly and blends with the surroundings, using PMMA or other optically clear plastics that can be colored without affecting optical properties, and microstructured films that deflect light at specific angles.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If the cover panel is colored as a gray filter to blend with surroundings, then the lighting blends harmoniously with the vehicle's color, but the structures become visible due to different thicknesses of the colored material
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies a microstructured film with a specific refractive index to the cover panel. This film creates optical effects that mask the visibility of internal structures while allowing the colored PMMA material to blend harmoniously with the vehicle surroundings. The microstructured film modifies light transmission properties without requiring complex manufacturing precision for uniform thickness.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent combines colored PMMA material with a microstructured film having a different refractive index. This composite structure allows the cover panel to achieve both aesthetic blending with vehicle color and uniform appearance by masking structure visibility through optical effects at the material interface.
2Ease of manufacture
If conventional plastic injection molding is used to create collimating optical elements, then manufacturing is simplified, but the structure depth is limited to under 0.2 mm which restricts optical performance
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a separate microstructured film as an intermediary layer applied to the cover panel. This film provides the necessary optical functionality with greater structure depth than injection molding alone can achieve, while the injection molding process itself remains simple for creating the basic cover panel geometry.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses a thin microstructured film applied to the cover panel surface to achieve optical effects that would be difficult to create with injection molding alone. This flexible film approach allows for greater structural depth and optical precision without complicating the main manufacturing process.
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 harmonious and adaptive lighting that blends with the vehicle's color, ensuring a uniform illumination without making the structures visible, thus enhancing the overall aesthetic and functional performance.
Implementation Method 1
Microstructures, which are applied to the cover pane as a film, serve to achieve the object of the invention... which scatters light uniformly
Implementation Method 2
microstructured films that deflect light at specific angles
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3a~3b
Figure 4~5
AI summary
The unit (1) has a light source i.e. wired LED (9), emitting light through a covering plate (8) i.e. neutral density filter, which is harmoniously provided into a contour of a motor vehicle. The plate is not completely transparent, and comprises a surface with an optical microstructure film (10) for changing direction of the light from the light source, where the film surface faces toward the light source. The plate is provided with an optical film that comprises a prismatic microstructure and a microstructure for directed deflection of the light in a defined direction.