Neutral-Black Optical Glass Composition for LiDAR Windows
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Common black glasses have high visible light transmission, leading to a non-neutral color impression and often contain toxic components, limiting their applications, especially in fields requiring low visible light transmission and high near-infrared (NIR) transmission, such as LiDAR systems.
Innovation Solution
A glass composition with carefully balanced cations, including silicon, sodium, potassium, nickel, and chromium, achieving low visible light transmission and high NIR transmission, while being free of toxic components like Cr(VI) and V2O5, and having a neutrally black color impression.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Illumination intensity
If common black glass is used to achieve low visible light transmission, then the glass appears black, but the transmission is still high enough to allow visual inspection of structures behind the glass and the glass gives rise to dark blue or dark green color impression rather than neutral black
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies parameter changes by precisely controlling the composition ratios of metal oxides (NiO: 0.1-5 wt%, Cr2O3: 0.1-5 wt%, CoO: 0.1-3 wt%, CuO: 0.1-3 wt%) to achieve the desired optical properties. By adjusting these compositional parameters, the glass achieves neutral black coloration with low visible light transmission while maintaining high NIR transmission.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses a composite material approach by combining multiple metal oxide additives (NiO, Cr2O3, CoO, CuO) with the base glass composition (SiO2, B2O3, Al2O3, Na2O, K2O, CaO, MgO). This composite structure allows each oxide to contribute specific optical properties, achieving the complex requirement of neutral black appearance with selective wavelength transmission.
2Illumination intensity
If common black glass is used to achieve low visible light transmission, then the glass appears black, but toxic components are often present that are not acceptable in many fields of application
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies the extraction principle by removing toxic components (PbO, V2O5) from the glass composition while retaining the optical functionality. The formulation achieves low visible light transmission and neutral black color using only non-toxic metal oxides (NiO, Cr2O3, CoO, CuO) in controlled amounts, making the glass suitable for applications where toxicity is a concern.
3Strength
If glass is used instead of polymeric materials for optical windows in LiDAR systems, then scratch resistance, mechanical resistance and chemical resistance are improved, but achieving the required optical properties (low visible transmission, high NIR transmission, neutral black color) is difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies parameter changes by optimizing multiple compositional parameters simultaneously: the base glass composition (ratios of SiO2, B2O3, Al2O3, Na2O, K2O, CaO, MgO) and the metal oxide additive amounts (NiO: 0.1-5 wt%, Cr2O3: 0.1-5 wt%, CoO: 0.1-3 wt%, CuO: 0.1-3 wt%). This multi-parameter optimization achieves the complex optical property requirements while maintaining the mechanical strength advantages of glass.
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 glass composition provides high chemical and mechanical stability, enabling applications in LiDAR systems without the need for additional coatings, ensuring low visible light transmission and high NIR transmission with a neutral black color.
Implementation Method 1
a glass composition... achieving low visible light transmission and high NIR transmission
Data Source
AI summary
A glass includes cations of the following components in the indicated amounts (molar proportion in cat.-%): 30-80 cat.-% silicon; 0-20 cat.-% boron; 0-2 cat.-% aluminum; 5-35 cat.-% sodium; 2-25 cat.-% potassium; 0-0.5 cat.-% nickel; 0-0.5 cat.-% chromium; and 0.03-0.5 cat.-% cobalt. A sum of the molar proportions of cations of sodium and potassium is in a range of from 15 to 50 cat.-%, a sum of the molar proportions of cations of nickel and chromium is in a range of from 0.1 to 0.5 cat.-%, and a ratio of the sum of the molar proportions of cations of sodium and potassium to the sum of the molar proportions of cations of nickel and chromium is in a range of from 70:1 to 200:1.