Windshield Navigation May Become a Reality by 2016 – Augmented Reality with comments from Mark Zuckerberg

“Facebook wants to build the next major computing platform, which Zuckerberg believes could be augmented reality and Oculus. He also wants to bring the internet to more people through Internet.org.”

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/zuckerbergs-3-5-and-10-year-facebook-plan-2014-10#ixzz3HYbURZOM

 

Displaying navigation information on car windshields may become reality in less than a decade. If thin, transparent and curved display panels could be attached to a windscreen, drivers would be able to see navigation information displayed there.

There are challenges to this application, namely cost and durability. The inside surface of a windscreen (surface 4) takes abuse, such as parking stickers. This has been the main factoring for not using polycarbonate as the inner layer. Previously HUD worked with aid of a wedged Poly Vinyl Butyral (PVB), looks like that may change.  Head-up displays make driver and vehicle information easily accessible by projecting it onto the windshield just below the driver´s line of sight.

Without taking the eyes off of the road, drivers are informed of important vehicle data, such as speed, engine warnings or navigation data. For its realization a wedge shaped PVB-film is necessary. The wedge shaped film avoids the formation of echo images. Those echo images are dependent on the angle and the thickness of the windshield as well as the angle of incidence of the beam.

Standard wedge angles are defined in order to avoid special developments for every type of windshield. For production of the wedge shaped film small flexible extrusion lines up to a film width of 1200mm are necessary. Colour band film is also available. The loss of thickness during the stretching process of the film has to be compensated in the production process. The related technology is expected to become commercialized by no later than 2016.

Recently, LG Display unveiled the world’s first transparent and curved displays. In order to use the display for windshields, these two technologies must be combined, so that the screen becomes both transparent and curved. The transparency also needs to be improved, she added. The new LG transparent OLED display features a transmittance of 30%, up from 10% for conventional LCD panels. But, to make the panel for car windshields, the transmittance rate needs to be pushed up to over 60%.

The world’s first flexible display developed by LG Display

This is not simple because most electrodes which are used for display panels are opaque. Currently, research is being carried out to find alternative materials such as graphene, which is transparent and conducts electricity.
There is also a visibility issue because users may not be able to clearly see the information displayed on the screen during the day, when it is brighter outside than it is inside the car.
Apart from the technical hurdles, safety issues still remain as the windshields would hinder the drivers’ visibility. This is why transparent displays for vehicles will first be used for entertainment purposes ― made for passengers in the back seat or riding shotgun, as I wrote about in a previous column
Regarding the visibility issue for the passenger seats, companies are developing a “shutter” technology, which is inserted into display panels to make the background black. This will have the same kind of effect you would have when you draw the curtains at home to get a clearer image on your TV screen.

According to sources, the global transparent display market will reach $87 billion by 2015.

Head-up displays with “augmented reality,” the technology that employs much of the windshield as a display area for data and images, is poised to significantly change how drivers see the road.

Auto supplier Continental AG says it has lined up a production contract to supply its new HUD technology for an unnamed customer in 2017.

It allows you to have your eyes constantly on the road, You can travel blindly for quite a few meters.”

Suppliers use the phrase “augmented reality” to describe large, multicolor head-up displays that superimpose data or images across much of the driver’s field of vision through the windshield.

Companies such as Nippon Seiki, Harman, Visteon, Bosch, Panasonic, Delphi and others are developing head-up displays, and Denso has said it will market its own version of augmented reality.

Continental displayed its technology this month to reporters in a modified Kia K900 on public roads near Babenhausen, a town near Frankfurt where Continental designs and produces head-up displays.

For the motorist, the transition from a conventional HUD to augmented reality is like switching from a small, portable black-and-white TV to a big-screen TV.

There’s a big difference in image size, color and definition, and that allows engineers considerably more freedom to display useful data for the motorist.

Continental’s new unit is actually two HUDs packaged together. The first is a conventional unit that displays the vehicle’s speed, directions for the motorist’s next turn and a lane-departure warning.

The basic unit’s display floats about 8 feet in front of the motorist through the bottom of the windshield, a typical HUD position.

The second unit produces a virtual display about 25 feet in front of the motorist. When the navigation system indicates an upcoming exit, a series of virtual blue arrows floats along the route to be taken.

In addition to turn-by-turn information, the second unit displays a more elaborate lane-departure warning, collision alerts and highlights of cars on the road ahead that have been detected by the vehicle’s intelligent cruise control.

A major issue for market acceptance is the bulk of the optics box inside the instrument panel. The prototype optics fit inside a 13-liter container; Continental engineers say they will shrink the production version to 11 liters. A smaller, less expensive “combiner” HUD — which doesn’t require an expensive, custom-designed windshield — could prove to be the technology of choice for small vehicles. Combiner HUD images appear on a small, clear plastic panel mounted behind the instrument panel. These units can display basic information, but not the big, colorful images of the more expensive unit.

Augmented reality HUD has the potential to change the auto industry’s approach to instrumentation.

In Samsung’s design, see FIG. 20 noted above illustrates an example in which the transparent display apparatus is implemented in a vehicle. To be specific, the transparent display is implemented on the front glass of the vehicle. Moreover, patent FIG. 20’s information appears on the front glass while the user drives their vehicle. The information #30 noted as “Vehicle in front slowing down” is one example of a smart transparent display system. The types of information that could be displayed include condition of the vehicle, a driving condition, the surrounding environment, etc. For example, GPS information, fuel status, speed, RPM, traffic, or other vehicle information may be displayed on the front glass.

display of FIG. 20 may alternatively be implemented as a projection type of system. Another alternative could involve a secondary sensor may trace the gaze of the user and the position of displayed information that may be moved according to the user’s gaze.

Remember the stunning heads-up display shown on the amazing BMW i8?

Well, you can’t have it — at least, not yet — but several manufacturers are working hard to improve the humdrum HUDs that many of us rely on for mundane details like vehicle speed and remaining fuel. The latest such gadget to cross our desk is called Navdy.

There are several things to like about Navdy:

• For starters, its aftermarket, so nearly any kind of car can use it.
• It also uses a gesture-based control system, meaning that, with a little bit of trial and error, drivers should be able to interact with it without much problem.
• Navdy uses the apps that are already on your phone (Android and iPhone, for now). Navdy will allow you to control music, messaging, and more using the apps you already know and love. To minimize distractions, users have control over which app notifications appear and when, and parents can block certain apps and features when kids are behind the wheel. Navdy is developing more apps in house to augment the device’s functionality.
• Navigation looks especially nice and useful.

That said Navdy isn’t without its flaws:

• At a retail price of $499, it’s expensive.
• It won’t ship until early 2015
• It uses Bluetooth

Glass will soon be accessible for the drivers on their windscreens of their cars. This innovation is for professionals, who want to remain connected while driving as well. Earlier, the time spent driving could not be utilized for work and hence got wasted, but now this new technology would allow the users to focus on the road while driving and at the same time be able to pay enough attention to their work, as well.

The idea of facilitating work while driving has been brought by a San Francisco-based start-up Navdy that has unveiled Google Inc. For this, the company has designed an aftermarket console that has the capability of combining a projection display with voice and gesture controls. This system is designed to find place between the steering wheel and the windshield. At a distance of nearly six feet from the windshield a transparent image is projected by this system.

The technology called Navdy HUD (Head-Up Display) system is designed to facilitate connectivity of iPhone and android devices via Bluetooth and sharing of data via WiFi. It also provides navigation services by connecting with Google Maps and displaying the projection on the windshield. If by chance a call or message is received while using the navigation service, the screen will split into two-parts with each part displaying one of the two. While the calls can be easily taken by giving thumbs up and hung up by swiping through the windshield, messages can be read aloud to the driver.

The system is compatible with all the cars manufactured after the year 1996, and offers multiple features such as displaying the car alerts including speed, miles-to-empty and battery-voltage. The users can, also, enjoy numerous other services such as Spotify, Pandora, Google Music and messages from the social media sites, but cannot scroll through the Facebook news feed with the Navdy HUD system.

Navdy is a device that will project virtually everything you now get on your mobile device onto the windshield of your car. Think of the windshield becoming a virtual movie screen that shows navigational data from your GPS unit, incoming phone calls, text messages and more. It responds to voice commands and gestures.

Navdy is reported to have racked up $1 million in pre-orders by discounting the device, which the San Francisco-based company later intends to market for $500. Connect it to your iPhone or Android and you’ll never have to reach for them again while you are driving.  As Navdy’s marketing puts it, “No more looking down to fumble with knobs, buttons or touch screens.”

The company calls its product “The future of driving.”

While Navdy advertises itself as an antidote to distracted driving, the Internet was roiling Monday with voices challenging that. Streetsblog called it a “Scary new app.” James Sinclair’s blog at Stop and Move elaborates on those fears:

“When we’re focused on reading text, the world in the background may technically continue to be perfectly clear (as our eyes aren’t limited in focusing like cameras are), but that doesn’t mean our brain is processing it. In reality, it’s just as blurred because we’ve stopped paying attention to everything but the text. Go ahead, look at the image above and read the message — that’s all you really see.”

“Navdy may be safer than having a phone in your lap and looking down at it, but it doesn’t mean it’s a huge improvement. In fact, by making the distractions even more accessible, it might just mean more dangerous results. When your phone vibrates, you can choose to ignore it, when your new message pops into your windshield, showing that restraint becomes a little more difficult.”

The projected text message Navdy uses in its advertising is rather benign, Such as “Want to meet for coffee?”. While pondering a cup of coffee, the driver might notice that bicyclist to the right and the San Francisco trolley car up ahead. But what if the text was something more risqué, like, say, “I want to tickle your ear with a feather boa?” No distraction there?

The concept isn’t exactly new. In fact, Land Rover bragged that all of the glass in its Discovery Concept Vision, which debuted in New York earlier this year, would be “Smart Glass” capable of displaying images, directions, and point of interest (POI) information to passengers.

 

Though Land Rover spoke of this technology in virtual concept form, Jaguar taken the tech one step further and announced that its new XE sedan with offer a laser-projected Head-Up Display, providing drivers with unprecedented augmented reality information about the world outside the car.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rP7x63f7ecQ

The system will project sharp, high-contrast images on the windshield using a device that is smaller and lighter than today’s HUD projectors. These laser diodes will contribute to a larger field of view with higher contrast and an extended range of reproducible colors.

The Land Rover Discovery Vision Concept is perhaps one of the most important and impressive vehicles I’ve ever covered. It uses lasers. It has touch screens, everywhere. Heck, it is a touch screen. It knows where you’re looking and puts information there. It can be driven remotely. And that’s just the beginning.

Vision technology

Not only does the Discovery Vision Concept have a “Transparent Hood” which uses cameras and augmented reality to make the hood disappear during off-road and parking scenarios. It is also capable of displaying images; every single piece of body glass – including the panoramic moon roof – is as well.

Called “Smart Glass”, the entirely transparent glass can display images just like a computer screen. This allows for all kinds applications. Perhaps most exciting is combining eye-tracking sensors and navigation information to relay point of interest (POI) information to passengers.

The Smart Glass can be used for more than just data. It can also be used to tint and dim the interior, with infinite gradients – or just blacked-out with the swipe of a finger. Imagine, too, using the panoramic moon roof to display a screensaver image or mood lighting. This isn’t the only use of screens in the cabin.  Two small OLED screens are embedded into the steering wheel and can be used to operate the infotainment system. Glance through the steering wheel and the driver is privy to a digital instrument cluster on a three-million pixel high-res screen.  In the center of the cabin are two more high-res touch screens, which display system menus. The lower of the two screens flips up to reveal a storage cubby, which also includes an inductive smartphone-charging tray.

The Japanese semiconductor supplier Nichia Corp. has announced development of blue and green laser diodes that it says are specifically designed for automotive HUDs. The laser diodes are slated for production in October, 2015. According to Nichia, these laser diodes will contribute to a larger field of view with higher contrast and an extended range of reproducible colors.

The Future Now

As I wrote in a previous column, General Motors has been working on a new generation Heads up Display system as well. There are many ideal vehicles to set to utilize developing technology by General Motors Research and the students from Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Israel.

GM previews augmented-reality windshield

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94dg2D-jAhM

Whichever carmaker rolls it out, using components from whichever suppliers, there is much more to come. To bridge the gap from a simple HUD projecting rudimentary data ahead of the driver to full augmented reality, a few technical improvements are needed.

 

 

 

Glass Engineering: Design Solutions for Automotive Applications

Receive my first royalty check for my book today. Thanks to all who supported me. Sales have been strong.
http://books.sae.org/r-433/

 

DESIGNING GLASS FOR STYLE – MANUFACTURING

Manufacturing Float Glass Step-by-step

Before glass gets into your car, truck, or SUV as a finished product that you look through, roll up or down, cover your engine bay, or the countless other things you can with the finished glass product, it must be ‘floated’ or made from raw materials. Float glass is a sheet of flat glass made by floating molten glass on a bed of molten metal, typically tin.

The manufacturing of glass dates back to around 3500 BC when glass is believed to have been first artificially produced in Egypt and Mesopotamia.

Typical line sequence for producing glass

 

Melting Furnace

Glass melting requires basically two kinds of raw materials: Sand and recycled glass called cullet. These raw materials are mixed together, charged in a furnace where there are melted at around 1500°C to form molten glass.

A continuous ribbon of molten glass is fed out of the melting furnace onto the surface of an enclosed bath of molten tin at 1100°C. The molten glass literally floats on top of the tin, and as it flows along the surface of the tin bath away from the delivery canal it forms a ribbon of uniform thickness. Thickness is controlled by the speed at which solidifying glass ribbon is drawn off from the bath. The glass is then lifted from the tin bath onto rollers to the annealing lehr to be cooled down. At this stage the internal stresses are released ensuring perfect flatness.

 

 

 

 

Once cooled down and solidified the glass goes to the cutting area where it is cut in to a large sheet of ‘jumbo size’ (6×3.21 meters) or ‘cut-size’ which are specific to customer orders, before being stacked for transportation. The large sheet may be destined for architectural us, while the smaller size to automotive.

 

 

The float process produces glass sheets with a uniform thickness and perfectly smooth surfaces that need no further grinding or polishing. The resulting glass will then be further treated in various ways to incorporate one or several of the advanced technologies applied to flat glass today, depending on the end-product and application for which it is destined. The exact composition of glass may vary but the most commonly used type of glass, soda-lime glass, is made of silica sand, soda ash, limestone, dolomite and glass cullets (recycled glass).

Additional materials such as iron oxide or cobalt can be added to the mix to give a green or blue colour to the glass, in the 1980’s Ford added selenium which produced a pinkish colour. The addition of selenium to glass can have one of two opposite effects. First, it will cancel out the green colour that iron compounds usually add to glass.  If a colourless glass is desired, a little selenium is added to neutralize the effects of iron. About a third of all selenium produced is used as pigments (colouring agents) for paints, plastics, ceramics, and glazes. Depending on the form of selenium used, the colour ranges from deep red to light orange. The element is also used to make photovoltaic (“solar”) cells. The selenium reduces the amount of sunlight that gets through the glass.

Glass production is constantly challenged by a multitude of production processes depending on the final product manufactured and its end-applications. Thicknesses may vary from car to car and from car to truck.

The float line happens in a series of stages on a float that may be nearly half a kilometre long. Raw materials enter at one end. From the other, plates of glass emerge, cut precisely to specification, at rates as high as 6,000 tonnes a week. In between lie six high integrated stages. However, all these manufacturing processes have a common origin.

Stage 1: Melting and refining

Fine-grained ingredients, closely controlled for quality, are mixed to make batch, which flows as a blanket on to molten glass at 1,500^oC in the melter.

 

Raw materials entering the float bath

Float makes glass of near optical quality. Several processes – melting, refining, homogenising – take place simultaneously in the 2,000 tonnes of molten glass in the furnace. They occur in separate zones in a complex glass flow driven by high temperatures. It adds up to a continuous melting process, lasting as long as 50 hours, that delivers glass at 1,100^oC, free from inclusions and bubbles, smoothly and continuously to the float bath. The melting process is the key to glass quality; and compositions can be modified to change the properties of the finished product.

Stage 2: Float bath

The glass from the melter flows gently over a refractory spout on to the mirror-like surface of molten tin, starting at 1,100^oC and leaving the float bath as a solid ribbon (glass looks like a continuous ribbon when formed) at 600^oC.

The principle of float glass is unchanged from the 1950s. But the product has changed dramatically: from a single equilibrium thickness of 6.8mm to a range from sub-millimetre to 25mm. Glass thicknesses may vary from car to car and from car to truck (Thickness is controlled by float line speed). Smaller vehicle generally have thinner windshield than medium or larger vehicles, however there are certain standard thicknesses that glass supplier are set up to run based on volume, and deviation in thickness negates what is saved in weight as the piece price increases. This is truly an amazing process to view, from a ribbon of taffy like glass, frequently marred by inclusions, bubbles and striations to almost optical perfection. Float glass delivers what is known as fire finish, with the lustre of fine china.

Glass over molten tin

 

Stage 3: Coating

Coatings can make profound changes in optical properties can be applied by advanced high temperature technology to the cooling ribbon of glass.

On-line chemical vapour deposition (CVD) of coatings is the most significant advance in the float process since it was invented. CVD can be used to lay down a variety of coatings, less than a micron thick, to reflect visible and infrared wavelengths, for instance. Multiple coatings can be deposited in the few seconds available as the glass ribbon flows beneath the coaters. Further development of the CVD process may well replace changes in composition as the principal way of varying the optical properties of float glass.

Stage 4: Annealing

Is the process of slowly cooling a completed object in an auxiliary part of the glass furnace or in a separate furnace. This is a critical part of glassmaking because if a hot glass object is allowed to cool too quickly, it will be highly strained by the time it reaches room temperature; indeed, it may break as it cools. Highly strained glasses break easily if subjected to mechanical or thermal shock. Despite the seemingly tranquil process in which float glass is formed, considerable stresses are developed in the ribbon as it cools. Too much stress and the glass will break beneath the cutter. To relieve these stresses, the ribbon undergoes heat-treatment in a long furnace known as a lehr. Temperatures are closely controlled both along and across the ribbon.

Stage 5: Inspection

The float process is renowned for making perfectly flat, flaw-free glass. But to ensure the highest quality, inspection (Poke Yoke) takes place at every stage.

Occasionally a bubble is not removed during refining, a sand grain refuses to melt, and a tremor in the tin puts ripples into the glass ribbon. Automated on-line inspection does two things. It reveals process faults upstream that can be corrected. And it enables computers downstream to steer cutters round flaws. Flaws imply wastage; while customers constantly press for greater perfection. Inspection technology now allows more than 100 million measurements a second to be made across the ribbon, locating flaws the unaided eye would be unable to see. The data drives ‘intelligent’ cutters, further improving product quality to the customer.

 

Stage 6: Cutting to order

Diamond wheels trim off selvedge – stressed edges – and cut the ribbon to size dictated by computer.

Float glass is sold by the square metre. Computers translate customers’ requirements into patterns of cuts designed to minimise wastage.

 

The Float Plant scope of operation

• Float glass plants are enormous in scope, they generally are:
• Greater than 350,000 square feet under each roof
• Each plant uses $500,000 of natural gas and $85,000 of electricity every month
• Plants run 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and 365 days a year for 12 to 15 years
• Each FG plant ships 35-40 trucks of glass every day, at almost 35,000 square feet per truck
• Glass is cut in sizes as small as 16” x 20” to as large as 130” x 204”

The world flat glass industry is dominated by four multinational firms, all of which manufacture both float glass and fabricated glass products. These giant companies produce enough flat glass to satisfy a large share of global demand.

Pilkington plc.

The company which made a significant impact on the glass industry with the invention of the float glass process.

Saint-Gobain

One of the Europe’s oldest and largest industrial corporations, employing fields a workforce of over 171,000.

Guardian Industries Corp.

They began in 1932 as a small manufacturer. Today it is one of the leading producers of float glass.

Asahi Glass Co. Ltd. (AGC)

Asahi glass is a leading Japanese glass manufacturer.

The European branch of AGC Glass is the world’s largest producer of flat glass. Based in Brussels, AGC Glass Europe (formerly Glaverbel) was used in the Lancia Stratos by Bertone. Glaverbel was the first western industrial company to invest in the former Czechoslovakia, with phased acquisition of the national flat glass producer (now AGC Flat Glass Czech). It also set up an extensive distribution network in Russia.

European manufacturers of flat glass

Flat glass manufacture, and float glass in particular, is a very capital-intensive activity requiring substantial financial resources, long-term investments and highly technical skills. This is why there are a limited number of large international manufacturers. Smaller producers do exist, although they are not common. In fact, only 9 companies operate float glass production facilities in the European Union or candidate countries.

The main manufacturers of flat glass in Europe are the four members of Glass for Europe and its cooperation partner. Together, these companies account for a significant proportion of the European market and run 56 of the 66 float lines of the European Union and candidate countries, notably Turkey.

 Float tanks in the European Union and candidate countries in 2009

World market structure

The global market for flat glass in 2009 was approximately 52 million tonnes. This is dominated by Europe, China and North America, which together account for around three-quarters of global demand for flat glass.

The significance of China as a market for glass has been increasing rapidly since the early 1990s as the country has become more open to foreign investment and the economy has expanded. In the early 1990s China accounted for about one fifth of world glass demand, but now accounts for 50%.

 

Of the 52 million tonnes of flat glass produced in 2009, over 29 million tonnes were high quality float glass. 3 million tonnes were satisfied by sheet glass production (a process where molten glass is drawn out of the furnace vertically and subjected to an inferior annealing process); and 2 million tonnes were rolled glass (a process where molten glass is squeezed between rollers to form sheets, usually with a pattern embossed on the surface). The remaining 18 million tonnes were lower quality float, produced mainly in China.

Rolled glass demand is expected to grow as new facilities are commissioned for the manufacture of high-transmittance glass for use in solar applications.

Automakers have gone into the glass business before, in an attempt to have more direct control of the process, shipping costs, and time in the supply chain. Ford Motor Company was one of the first to do so. Ford even went so far as to not only build a manufacturing and fabricating facility they built a float oven, a process where the raw glass is made. Bertone, which sold to ACG. Chrysler Corporation built a plant to form, edge finish and assembles components in the U.S. in the late 1950s. Plants like these are similar to Bertone’s undertaking. Most of these efforts have not gone well, as automobile manufacturers are now stepping out of their core competency.

Designing Glass for Style© by Lyn Zbinden – Main Types of Glass and Alternative Materials used in Automotive

Designing Glass for Style^© by Lyn Zbinden

 

 Main Types of Glass and Alternative Materials used in Automotive

Today, flat (float) glass comes in many highly specialised forms intended for different products and applications. Flat glass produced by way of the float process is often further processed to give it certain qualities or specificities. In this way, the industry can meet the various requirements and needs of the automotive and subspecialties like solar absorption or reflectance.

Annealed glass

Annealed glass is the basic flat glass product that is the first result of the float process. It is common glass that tends to break into large, jagged shards. It is used in some end products and often in double-glazed windows. It is also the starting material used to produce more advanced products through further processing such as laminating, toughening, coating, etc.

 

 

Toughened glass

Toughened glass is treated to be far more resistant to breakage than simple annealed glass and to break in a more predictable way when it does break, thus providing a major safety advantage in almost all of its applications.

Toughened glass is made from annealed glass treated with a thermal tempering process. A sheet of annealed glass is heated to above its “annealing point” of 600°C; its surfaces are then rapidly cooled while the inner portion of the glass remains hotter. The different cooling rates between the surface and the inside of the glass produces different physical properties, resulting in compressive stresses in the surface balanced by tensile stresses in the body of the glass.

These counteracting stresses give toughened glass its increased mechanical resistance to breakage, and are also, when it does break, what cause it to produce small, regular, typically square fragments rather than long, dangerous shards that are far more likely to lead to injuries. Toughened glass also has an increased resistance to breakage as a result of stresses caused by different temperatures within a pane.

Toughened glass has extremely broad applications in products for both buildings and, automobiles and transport, as well as in other areas. Car windshields and windows, glass portions of building facades, glass sliding doors and partitions in houses and offices, glass furniture such as table tops, and many other products typically use toughened glass. Products made from toughened glass often also incorporate other technologies, especially in the building and automotive and transport sectors.

Laminated glass

Laminated glass is made of two or more layers of glass with one or more “interlayers” of polymeric material bonded between the glass layers.

Laminated glass is produced using one of two methods:

1) Poly Vinyl Butyral (PVB) laminated glass is produced using heat and pressure to sandwich a thin layer of PVB between layers of glass. On occasion, other polymers such as Ethyl Vinyl Acetate (EVA) or Polyurethane (PU) are used. This is the most common method.

2) For special applications, Cast in Place (CIP) laminated glass is made by pouring a resin into the space between two sheets of glass that are held parallel and very close to each other.

Laminated glass offers many advantages. Safety and security are the best known of these, so rather than shattering on impact, laminated glass is held together by the interlayer. This reduces the safety hazard associated with shattered glass fragments, as well as, to some degree, the security risks associated with easy penetration. But the interlayer also provides a way to apply several other technologies and benefits, such as colouring, sound dampening, and resistance to fire, ultraviolet filtering and other technologies that can be embedded in or with the interlayer.

Laminated glass is used extensively in building and housing products and in the automotive and transport industries. Most building facades and most car windscreens, for example, are made with laminated glass, usually with other technologies also incorporated.

 

Coated

Surface coatings can be applied to glass to modify its appearance and give it many of the advanced characteristics and functions available in today’s flat glass products, such as low maintenance, special reflection/transmission/absorption properties, scratch resistance, corrosion resistance, etc.

Coatings are usually applied by controlled exposure of the glass surface to vapours, which bind to the glass forming a permanent coating. The coating process can be applied while the glass is still in the float line with the glass still warm, producing what is known as “hard-coated” glass. Alternatively, in the “off-line” or “vacuum” coating process, the vapour is applied to the cold glass surface in a vacuum vessel.

 

Extra clear glass

Extra clear glass is not the result of processing of annealed glass, but instead a specific type of melted glass. Extra clear glass differs from other types of glass by its basic raw material composition. In particular, this glass is made with very low iron content in order to minimise its sun reflection properties. It therefore lets as much light as possible through the glass. It is most particularly of use for solar energy applications where it is important that the glass cover lets light through to reach the thermal tubes or photovoltaic cells. Anti-reflective properties can be further increased by applying a special coating on the low-iron glass. It can also be used in windows or facades as it offers excellent clarity, which allows occupants to appreciate true colours and to enjoy unimpaired views.

 

 

 Polycarbonate

As automakers seek improved fuel efficiency, polycarbonate’s lightweight, impact-resistant properties can reduce vehicle weight while enabling sleek curves in modern designs. Not only do polycarbonates reduce the weight of vehicle components by up to 50%, but also help cutting fuel consumption and CO₂ emissions, while keeping strength, safety and style.

Concept car ZaZen

Lightweight materials may find exciting opportunities in the automotive industry as a means of increasing fuel efficiency. With 75% of fuel consumption relating directly to vehicle weight, potential weight reductions that result in improved price-performance ratio promote use of lightweight materials. The automotive industry can expect an impressive 6-8% improvement in fuel usage with only 10% reduction in vehicle weight. This translates into a reduction of around 20 kg of CO₂ per kilogram of weight reduction over the vehicle’s lifetime. Lighter vehicles facilitate easier braking, reduced collision impact overall vehicle performance and superior driving experience. One of the key plastics used in automotive sector is polycarbonate (PC). PC has dominated the market for vehicle headlamp covers for 15 years, and now it challenges glass in windows. The primary advantages of PC automotive glazing are lowered weight and associated CO₂ emissions reductions along with greater styling freedom and simpler functional integration. The main drawback to a PC is weathering, resistance to scratch, positions on the vehicle where PC can be used by federal standards and cost. By the time you apply a hard coat, any potential savings derived from weight is now lost due increased piece price cost which can be as much as 4:1.

 

 

Glass Engineering: Design Solutions for Automotive Applications

 http://books.sae.org/r-433/

Hi Lyn, I just read your book. Well done! Congratulations! David

David Dupont

CFO chez SpectAl

 

 

 

 

 

 

Glass Engineering: Design Solutions for Automotive Applications

 http://books.sae.org/r-433/

Just received this from bus window manufacturer in Quebec, Ca.:

Really great book!!
That is something my Engineering department will cherish!!!

Christian Niquet
V.-P. / Sales & Customer Care

 

 

 

 

 

 

SAE International – This week is ‘Glass week’

 

 

 

zbindendesign and SAE International

Good reading on many topics. This week is ‘Glass week’

https://www.facebook.com/SAEInternational

SAE International – This week we’ll be talking about GLASS!

 

 

 

SAE International

This week we’ll be talking about GLASS! Thanks to the book “Glass Engineering; Design Solutions for Automotive Applications,” we have lots of great information to share!

Designing for Style© by Lyn Zbinden upcoming releases

 

 

 

 

Is a writing machine today 🙂

Released tomorrow: 27/05/2014 Designing for Style© by Lyn Zbinden – Part 2

Designing for Style© by Lyn Zbinden http://www.autodesignclub.com/
In progress now:

1) Manufacturing Float Glass Step-by-step – 1,419 words
2) Overview of the automotive and transport glass market – 358 words
3) Main Types of Glass – 863 words

Written and submitted to my editor in Italy: BMW i8 –  683 words

Written, will submit shortly: 1) Innovative uses (this on the Ferrari and Lotus) – 679 words. 2) Polycarbonates (5 part segment) – 1,420 words. 3) Design Rules overview – 245 words. Design Rules (5 part segment) – ?? words (a lot because this is part of my book)

Edward N. Cole Award for Automotive Engineering Innovation! Nomination

 

 

 

zbindendesign and SAE International

Do you know an SAE Member whose innovative design is described in an SAE paper? What about someone whose made significant achievements in automotive engineering? If so, nominate them for the Edward N. Cole Award for Automotive Engineering Innovation! Nomination deadline is June 1st!

Edward N. Cole Award for Automotive Engineering Innovation

The award honors the memory of Edward N. Cole, former President and Chief Operating Officer of General Motors Corporation, and the inspiration he provided to others in the engineering profession by his continuing search and drive for product innovation.

awards.sae.org