Segmented Smart Glass Windshield Glare Reduction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Excessive glare from oncoming vehicle lights poses a challenge for drivers, particularly at night, as existing solutions fail to effectively minimize glare while maintaining awareness of approaching vehicles.
Innovation Solution
A system utilizing a smart glass windshield with electrically-tunable transmittance and an augmented reality HUD display that detects oncoming vehicles and dims specific segments of the windshield to reduce glare, while simultaneously highlighting the vehicle's presence and location through virtual images.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If the windshield is dimmed to reduce glare from oncoming vehicle lights, then the driver's visual comfort is improved, but the driver's awareness of the remote vehicle's presence and location deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The smart glass windshield is divided into multiple independently controllable segments or zones. When oncoming vehicle lights are detected, only the specific segments corresponding to the light sources are dimmed, while other segments remain transparent. This selective segmentation allows glare reduction in affected areas while preserving visibility and awareness in other areas of the windshield.
Solution Approach 2:
Different regions of the windshield are given different optical properties based on local needs. The areas directly exposed to oncoming lights are dimmed to reduce glare, while other areas maintain their original transparency to preserve the driver's awareness of the vehicle environment. This local differentiation resolves the contradiction by applying dimming only where necessary.
Solution Approach 3:
The smart glass acts as an intermediary material between the external light environment and the driver's eyes. It dynamically adjusts its transmittance properties in response to detected light conditions, mediating the harmful glare while maintaining overall visibility. The augmented reality display also serves as an intermediary by providing alternative information presentation.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If the entire windshield is dimmed to block glare, then the driver's eyes are protected from excessive light, but the overall visibility and situational awareness deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
Rather than dimming the entire windshield, the system segments the glass into multiple independently controlled zones. Only the specific zones receiving excessive light from oncoming vehicles are dimmed, while the remainder of the windshield maintains full transparency. This preserves overall visibility and situational awareness while protecting against glare in affected areas.
Solution Approach 2:
The windshield transitions from having uniform optical properties to having spatially varying properties. Each local region's transmittance is adjusted according to its specific exposure to oncoming lights, creating local quality differences that reduce glare where needed while maintaining overall visibility through the majority of the windshield surface.
3Measurement precision
If smart glass segments are used for selective dimming, then glare reduction precision is improved, but the device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The windshield is divided into multiple independently controllable segments of smart glass material. Each segment can be individually dimmed or transparent based on detected light conditions. This segmentation enables precise targeting of glare sources while maintaining simplicity in the control logic - each segment is controlled independently but follows the same dimming criterion based on local light detection.
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
Effectively minimizes glare from oncoming vehicle lights, ensuring driver safety by maintaining awareness of approaching vehicles and reducing visual discomfort during nighttime driving.
Implementation Method 1
a transparent windshield with a smart glass having electrically-tunable transmittance capabilities
Data Source
AI summary
A method includes detecting at least one remote vehicle that is within a predetermined distance from the host vehicle, detecting that the light of the remote vehicle that is on, determining a luminous intensity of a light beam emitted by the light of at least one remote vehicle that is within the predetermined distance from the host vehicle, comparing the luminous intensity of the light beam emitted by the light of at least one remote vehicle to a predetermined threshold to determine whether the luminous intensity of the light beam emitted by the light is greater than the predetermined threshold in response to determining the luminous intensity of the light of at least one remote vehicle that is within the predetermined distance from the host vehicle, and dimming at least a portion of the windshield of the host vehicle.