Vehicle Sensor Cover Display Color Matching
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Solution Overview
Problem
Modern vehicles face aesthetic issues due to color variations between sensor covers and vehicle exteriors, as different manufacturers produce sensor covers that do not match the vehicle's paint or trim colors, making the sensors visibly distinct and detracting from the vehicle's appearance.
Innovation Solution
A programmable sensor cover display system that includes a processor and a color-changing element, allowing the sensor cover to be instructed to display a desired color or pattern matching the vehicle's color, styling, or owner preferences, using reflective or transflective displays that are transparent to sensor waves, enabling seamless integration and aesthetic enhancement.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If sensor covers are manufactured by different manufacturers with standardized colors, then manufacturing cost and production time are reduced, but color matching with vehicle exterior deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The sensor cover incorporates a display device that can dynamically change its displayed color to match different vehicle exterior colors. This dynamic adaptability allows a single standardized sensor cover design to serve multiple vehicle color variants, resolving the contradiction between production efficiency and color matching precision.
Solution Approach 2:
The display device on the sensor cover can change its optical parameters (color) in response to control signals. This parameter change capability enables the sensor cover to adapt its appearance to match various vehicle exterior colors while maintaining a standardized physical structure for efficient manufacturing.
2Manufacturing precision
If sensor covers are manufactured in multiple standardized colors, then color matching with vehicle exterior is improved, but device complexity and manufacturing cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
A single sensor cover design with an integrated display device serves multiple functions: it provides sensor coverage, displays various colors to match different vehicle exteriors, and can potentially display informational content. This multi-functionality eliminates the need for multiple specialized sensor cover variants, reducing manufacturing complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of manufacturing multiple physical sensor cover variants in different colors, the invention uses a digital copy approach where a single physical sensor cover displays different colors through its display device based on control signals. This digital substitution of physical variants simplifies the manufacturing process.
3Manufacturing precision
If sensor covers are made opaque for color display, then aesthetic appearance is improved, but sensor functionality deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The sensor cover is designed with spatially varying optical properties: certain regions are opaque to display color information for aesthetic purposes, while other regions remain transparent to allow sensor functionality. This local differentiation resolves the contradiction between appearance and function.
Solution Approach 2:
The sensor cover is segmented into functionally distinct zones: opaque display regions for aesthetic color matching and transparent regions for sensor operation. This segmentation allows each zone to optimize its specific function without compromising the other.
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 system improves the aesthetic appeal of vehicles by allowing sensor covers to match or complement the vehicle's color, reducing manufacturing costs and production time, while maintaining functionality by being adjustable to different surroundings.
Implementation Method 1
The sensor cover display includes a color-changing element that can be instructed to display a desired color
Implementation Method 2
The color-changing element includes a reflective or transflective display
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed is a system for controlling the visual appearance of a sensor cover on a vehicle. The system includes a processor, and a sensor cover display disposed on the sensor cover and in communication with the processor. A color-changing element is included in the sensor cover display. The processor is configured to provide a signal representing a desired color or pattern to the color-changing element, and the color-changing element is configured to render the desired color or pattern.