Vehicle Light Lens Coating Detection via Textured Boundary
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional vehicle lights with outer lenses face challenges in determining whether anti-fog or hard coatings have been applied, leading to difficulties in distinguishing defective uncoated products from coated ones during assembly, as visual inspection of transparent coatings is unreliable and lacks effective fallback methods.
Innovation Solution
A vehicle light configuration featuring a textured first area and a non-textured second area on the outer lens, where the coating is applied, allowing for visual inspection or optical measurement to determine coating presence, with the textured surface being smoothed by the coating, facilitating easy detection of coating application.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a transparent anti-fog coating is applied to the inner surface of the outer lens, then moisture resistance is improved, but the ability to visually determine coating application becomes worse
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies a boundary line treatment that creates a visible visual difference between coated and uncoated areas. The boundary line appears as a dark line on the lens surface, providing a clear visual indicator that coating has been applied to the rest of the lens surface, thus solving the detection problem while maintaining transparent anti-fog coating functionality.
Solution Approach 2:
The boundary line acts as an intermediary visual marker that mediates between the transparent coating layer and the detection requirement. It provides a reference feature that makes the invisible coating application visible, allowing workers to determine coating presence without compromising the optical transparency of the anti-fog coating.
2Device complexity
If visual inspection methods are used to determine coating application, then simplicity is maintained, but inspection reliability becomes worse
Solution Approach 1:
The boundary line creates a high-contrast visual feature that dramatically improves detection accuracy. Instead of trying to detect transparent coating variations, the boundary line provides a clear, unambiguous visual marker that is easily distinguishable, thereby improving measurement precision while keeping the inspection method simple.
3Shape
If no boundary line is provided, then the lens appearance is uniform, but defect detection capability is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The boundary line is positioned at the periphery of the lens where it does not affect the central optical appearance uniformity. It provides a localized visual reference that enables defect detection without compromising the overall aesthetic uniformity of the lens surface, balancing appearance requirements with detection needs.
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
Enables reliable and efficient determination of coating application on vehicle lights, preventing defective products from entering the final assembly and ensuring consistent optical characteristics, thereby improving product quality and assembly accuracy.
Implementation Method 1
the outer lens has a first area which is subjected to texturing process on any of the inner surface and the outer surface
Implementation Method 2
at least part of the first area is applied with the coating for surface treatment
Implementation Method 3
ensuring consistent optical characteristics
Data Source
AI summary
A vehicle light can have a simple configuration for easily determining whether or not a coating, such as an anti-fog coating and a hard coating, has been applied to a lens. A manufacturing method of such a vehicle light is also disclosed. The vehicle light can include a housing opened in an illumination direction, a light source disposed within the housing, a reflecting surface disposed within the housing and configured to reflect light from the light source to the illumination direction, and an outer lens disposed so as to hermetically close the front open end of the housing. The outer lens can have an inner surface and an outer surface, at least one of which including a coating for surface treatment. The outer lens can further have a first area which is subjected to a texturing process on the inner surface and/or the outer surface, with at least part of the first area including the coating for surface treatment.