U.S. patent application number 17/035316 was filed with the patent office on 2021-04-22 for light-guide sunroof assembly.
This patent application is currently assigned to Enflex Corporation. The applicant listed for this patent is Enflex Corporation. Invention is credited to Hsin Yuan Chen, Jui Lin Hsu, Chih Teng Ku, Lung Hsiang Peng, Jyh Horng Wang.
Application Number | 20210116630 17/035316 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 1000005177061 |
Filed Date | 2021-04-22 |
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United States Patent
Application |
20210116630 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Wang; Jyh Horng ; et
al. |
April 22, 2021 |
Light-Guide Sunroof Assembly
Abstract
A light-guide sunroof assembly comprises a plastic substrate and
a light source module furnished besides the plastic substrate. An
outer layer of the plastic substrate is added with dye to form a
colored background. A plurality of light-guide microstructures is
furnished on the plastic substrate to guide the light generated by
the light source module toward an inner surface of the plastic
substrate. Thereby, the light generated by the light source module
is guided by the plastic substrate and then ejects out of the inner
surface of plastic substrate, so as to provide a light decoration
or lighting effect that enriches the visual experience. Moreover,
the plastic substrate is first formed into a curved plastic plate
through a hot pressing process, and then a connecting structure is
formed and fixed on the plastic plate by an insert-molding
injection process, in order to replace the traditional car sunroof
mechanism which is assembled by glass plate bonded with metal
connecting parts.
Inventors: |
Wang; Jyh Horng; (Taoyuan
City, TW) ; Chen; Hsin Yuan; (Taoyuan City, TW)
; Hsu; Jui Lin; (Taoyuan City, TW) ; Ku; Chih
Teng; (Taoyuan City, TW) ; Peng; Lung Hsiang;
(Taoyuan city, TW) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Enflex Corporation |
Taoyuan City |
|
TW |
|
|
Assignee: |
Enflex Corporation
Taoyuan City
TW
|
Family ID: |
1000005177061 |
Appl. No.: |
17/035316 |
Filed: |
September 28, 2020 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
B32B 27/20 20130101;
B60J 7/043 20130101; B32B 27/308 20130101; B32B 2307/536 20130101;
G02B 6/004 20130101; B32B 2307/71 20130101; B32B 2605/006 20130101;
B32B 7/023 20190101; B32B 2255/10 20130101; B32B 2255/26 20130101;
B32B 2307/554 20130101; B29C 45/14688 20130101; B32B 7/04 20130101;
G02B 6/0003 20130101; B32B 2307/4026 20130101; B32B 2307/412
20130101; B32B 2551/00 20130101; G02B 6/0065 20130101 |
International
Class: |
F21V 8/00 20060101
F21V008/00; B60J 7/043 20060101 B60J007/043; B32B 7/023 20060101
B32B007/023; B32B 7/04 20060101 B32B007/04; B32B 27/20 20060101
B32B027/20; B32B 27/30 20060101 B32B027/30 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Oct 18, 2019 |
TW |
108137743 |
Claims
1. A light-guide sunroof assembly, comprises: a substrate, having
an outer surface, an inner surface and a plurality of side surfaces
vertically connected between the outer and inner surfaces; the
substrate being a multilayer structure comprising at least two
layers of plastic materials which comprises a transparent
engineering plastic layer and a colored upper acrylic layer located
above the plastic layer; wherein, the light transmittance of the
colored upper acrylic layer is less than the light transmittance of
the plastic layer, in addition, the colored upper acrylic layer
forms a colored background upon the plastic layer; at least one
light source module, disposed on at least one of the side surfaces
of the substrate; the at least one light source module being
capable of emitting light sideward toward the plastic layer, such
that the light can travel laterally along the plastic layer; a
primer layer, furnished at an outer rim area of the inner surface
of the substrate; and a connecting structure, fixed to the outer
rim area of the inner surface of the substrate at a position having
the primer layer; the connecting structure being capable of
connecting to an external component, such that the substrate
together with the at least one light source module can be connected
to the external component through the connecting structure.
2. The light-guide sunroof assembly of claim 1, wherein, a coloring
agent is added in the upper acrylic layer, so that the upper
acrylic layer has a color and its light transmittance is between 5%
and 70%; the coloring agent contains at least one of the following
colors: black, red, blue, green, or other relatively dark colors;
the plastic layer is one of transparent, colorless or
transparent-white and has a light transmittance greater than
90%.
3. The light-guide sunroof assembly of claim 1, wherein, the
light-guide sunroof assembly further comprises a plurality of
light-guide microstructures disposed on at least one of the outer
surface, or a middle layer, or the inner surface of the substrate;
the plurality of light-guide microstructures can guide and direct
the light traveling laterally along the plastic layer downward
toward and then emit out of the inner surface of the substrate; the
light-guide microstructures are arranged in a predetermined
pattern; when the at least one light source module emits light,
only the light at the positions of these light-guide
microstructures will be guided downward and then emitted out from
the inner surface of the substrate; the predetermined pattern of
light emission formed by the arrangement of the light-guide
microstructures can be displayed on the inner surface of the
substrate.
4. The light-guide sunroof assembly of claim 3, wherein,
fluorescent powders are filled in the plurality of light-guide
microstructures in order to improve the luminous brightness of the
predetermined pattern of light emitted by the arrangement of the
plurality of light-guide microstructures.
5. The light-guide sunroof assembly of claim 3, wherein, the
light-guide microstructures are formed by using a laser engraving
machine, such that, the predetermined pattern is "engraved" inside
the middle layer of the substrate.
6. The light-guide sunroof assembly of claim 3, wherein: an upper
hard coating layer is formed above the upper acrylic layer, and a
lower hard coating layer is formed on the inner surface of the
substrate; the plurality of light-guide microstructures is disposed
on at least one of the following: the upper acrylic layer and the
plastic layer.
7. The light-guide sunroof assembly of claim 3, wherein: the
substrate is composed of at least three layers of different plastic
materials by coextrusion, which comprises: the plastic layer
located at middle of the substrate, the upper acrylic layer located
above the plastic layer, and a lower acrylic layer located under
the plastic layer; an upper hard coating layer is formed above the
upper acrylic layer, and a lower hard coating layer is formed under
the lower acrylic layer; the lower acrylic layer is one of
transparent, colorless or transparent-white, and the transmittance
of the lower acrylic layer is greater than 90%; the plurality of
light-guide microstructures is disposed on at least one of the
following: the upper acrylic layer and the lower acrylic layer.
8. The light-guide sunroof assembly of claim 7, wherein: a coated
film layer is formed above the upper hard coating layer; the coated
film layer comprises a cohesive layer, a UV-cut layer and a
wear-resistant layer; the material of the cohesive layer comprises
SiO.sub.2; the material of the UV-cut layer comprises
Ti.sub.3O.sub.5 added with UV absorber; the material of the
wear-resistant layer comprises SiO.sub.2; a top hard coating layer
is further furnished on the top of the coated film layer.
9. The light-guide sunroof assembly of claim 7, wherein, the
light-guide sunroof assembly further comprises at least one sealing
ring layer; the sealing ring layer is disposed on a surface of the
primer layer facing the connecting structure, such that the sealing
ring layer is sandwiched between adjoining surfaces of the primer
layer and the connecting structure.
10. The light-guide sunroof assembly of claim 9, wherein: the
substrate has a curved surface at least at an outer peripheral
region of the inner surface of the substrate; the external
component is a sunroof actuating mechanism of car; the connecting
structure is made of hard plastic material or metal material;
wherein, when the connecting structure is made of the hard plastic
material, the connecting structure is molded and fixed on the outer
rim area of the inner surface of the substrate having the primer
layer by using an insert-molding injection process; in addition,
the hard plastic material of the connecting structure includes at
least one of the following: polymethyl methacrylate (also referred
as PMMA), Polycarbonate (also referred as PC), Acrylonitrile
Butadiene Styrene (also referred as ABS), Polypyromellitimide (also
referred as PMMI), Polyethylene terephthalate (also referred as
PET), Polyethylene 2,6-naphthalene dicarboxylate (also referred as
PEN), Polyethersulfone (also referred as PES), and Polyimide (also
referred as PI); when the connecting structure is made of metal
material, the connecting structure is adhered and fixed to the
outer rim area of the inner surface of the substrate at a position
having the primer layer by using the primer layer as an adhesive;
the primer layer comprises one of the following: compounds of
Amines and heterocyclic amines, Silane compounds, and Polyurethane
(also referred as PU), and is coated on the outer rim area of the
inner surface of the substrate by precision wet coating process,
and can provide good adhesion effect between the substrate and the
connecting structure; the sealing ring layer comprises one or more
rings which are furnished on the surface of the primer layer by a
dispensing method; each ring of the sealing ring layer is extending
around the outer rim area in a ring shape; the material of the
sealing ring layer includes one of the following: silicone and
Polyurethane (PU for short), which can improve the sealing effect
between the substrate and the connecting structure.
11. The light-guide sunroof assembly of claim 3, wherein, material
of the substrate of the light-guide sunroof assembly is weakened at
a predetermined area of the substrate, so that the substrate
includes an easily breakable structure at the predetermined
area.
12. The light-guide sunroof assembly of claim 11, wherein, the
easily breakable structure is formed by the one of the following: a
plurality of dots is densely arranged in the predetermined area of
the substrate by mechanical or laser processing in order to create
small cracks in the material at these densely arranged dots and
makes the structure there weakened and easily broken, so as to form
the easily breakable structure; a ring-shaped dotted structure is
formed in the predetermined area of the material inside the
substrate by energy irradiation or a different material interface
in order to make the structure of the ring-shaped dotted structure
weakened and easily broken, so as to form the easily breakable
structure; and a plurality of vertical dashed structures and
horizontal dashed structures are formed inside the material of the
substrate by energy irradiation in order to make the dashed
structures weakened and easily broken, so as to form the easily
breakable structure; wherein, the easily breakable structure also
has the function of directing light traveling in the substrate
toward and emitting out from the inner surface of the substrate,
such that a user can visually identify the location of the easily
breakables structure.
Description
[0001] This application claims the benefit of Taiwan Patent
Application Serial No. 108137743 filed Oct. 18, 2019, the subject
matter of which is incorporated herein by reference.
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
[0002] The present invention refers to a light-guide sunroof
assembly, and more particularly to a light-guide sunroof assembly
that comprises a plastic substrate made of at least two layers of
plastics and a light source module furnished besides the plastic
substrate; in which, an outer layer of the plastics is added with
dye to form a colored background, such that the light generated by
the light source module is guided by the plastic substrate and then
ejects out of the inner surface of plastic substrate.
2. Description of the Prior Art
[0003] Traditional cars usually use glass to produce sunroofs,
windshields, and side windows. However, because glass has the
disadvantages of heavy in weight, fragile, and difficult to shape;
in recent years, some people have developed plastic materials that
are light-transmissive to replace traditional glass for the
production of car sunroofs, windshields, and side windows. In
addition, the traditional car glass sunroof has no lighting
function. The roof lights are installed on the roof of car. Due to
the limited space, the effective lighting area of the roof lights
is limited, cannot provide enough lighting function. Furthermore,
for cars with panoramic sunroofs, since there is no room for roof
lights, and thereby are forced to abandon the top-down lighting
function of the roof lights in the cars. In order to improve this
shortcoming, some manufacturers have also developed luminous light
bars around glass or plastic car sunroofs to provide a light
decoration effect. In order to improve this shortcoming, some
manufacturers have also developed glass or plastic car sunroofs
that are surrounded by luminous light bars to provide lighting
decoration effect.
[0004] Please refer to FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B, which are respectively
a cross-sectional schematic diagram and a schematic top-view of an
example of assembled luminous light bars around a car sunroof of
conventional technology. In order to achieve the lighting
decoration effect, the conventional car sunroof is attached with a
luminous light bar 02 on the outer periphery of the transparent
plate 01 of the sunroof made of glass or plastic. Since the
conventional car sunroof transparent plate 01 has no light guide or
decoration function, therefore, the light emitted by the luminous
light bar 02 can only form a visual effect of a thin annular halo
(light-ring) around the plate 01. In addition, the car sunroof
transparent plate 01 itself does not have a light-emitting surface,
not only the visual appearance is monotonous, but also it cannot
provide the light decoration configuration of a surface light
source.
[0005] There are various kinds of plastics, in which, engineering
plastics made of polycarbonate (PC for short) have high
transparency and free dyeability, high strength and coefficient of
elasticity, high impact strength, wide operatible temperature
range, low molding shrinkage, good dimensional stability, and good
weather resistance, tasteless and odorless, harmless to the human
body, in line with health and safety, easy to shape, etc., and thus
is suitable to be used to make transparent plastic plates with
curved surfaces or special structures, in order to replace the
fragile and difficult to shape glass plates. For example, car
sunroofs are usually made of polycarbonate (PC). However,
polycarbonate (PC) also has the deficiencies such as poor wear
resistance and easy yellowing under ultraviolet radiation and etc.
Therefore, in the prior arts, a wear-resistant hard layer is formed
on the outer surface of the polycarbonate (PC) substrate, and an
ultraviolet (UV) absorbing material is added in the substrate, in
order to improve the wear-resistant ability and reduce the
yellowing phenomenon of the substrate. Such method is to "absorb"
the UV light. UV light will still enter the PC substrate and then
be blocked. Although it has the function to blocking UV from
entering the car, it will still cause UV yellowing and UV
degradation of the substrate itself.
[0006] In addition, in order to have a fashionable sense of design
and aesthetic visual feeling in appearance and shape, today's car
sunroofs are no longer simply flat structures, but mostly plastic
plates with smooth and curved surfaces. Regardless of the
conventional car sunroofs which are made of either plastic or glass
plates, the connecting structure (or mechanism) thereof used for
connecting the car body is always made of metal and is adhered to
the plastic plate (or glass plate) by using adhesive. Because the
plastic plate (or glass plate) for producing the car sunroof is
made of hard plate with curved surface, therefore, when the metal
connecting structure (which is also a hard material) is attached on
the connecting structure (or mechanism) made of metal by adhesive,
it is inevitable that the joint surface between the plastic plate
(or glass plate) and the connecting structure (or mechanism) will
contain gaps; not only the effect of waterproofing and
moisture-proofing is reduced, but also the combination strength of
these two parts is worse. Furthermore, the connecting structure (or
mechanism) made of metal also has the deficiencies of heavier in
weight (causing the vehicle to consume more fuel and electricity
during driving), fragile, lack of anti-ultraviolet (UV) and thermal
insulation effects, and poor adhesion between metal and plastic (or
glass) plates, and thus leaves a room for improvements.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0007] The primary objective of the invention is to provide a
light-guide sunroof assembly which comprises a plastic substrate
made of at least two layers of plastics and a light source module
furnished besides the plastic substrate. An outer layer of the
plastics of plastic substrate is added with dye to form a colored
background. A plurality of light-guide microstructures are
selectively furnished at one of the plastic layers to guide the
light generated by the light source module toward an inner surface
of the plastic substrate. Thereby, the light generated by the light
source module is guided by the plastic substrate and then ejects
out of the inner surface of plastic substrate, so as to provide a
light decoration or lighting effect that enriches the visual
experience.
[0008] Another objective of the invention is to provide a
light-guide sunroof assembly. The plastic substrate of the
light-guide sunroof assembly is first formed into a curved plastic
plate through a hot pressing process, and then a connecting
structure is formed and fixed on the plastic plate by an
insert-molding injection process, in order to replace the
traditional car sunroof mechanism which is assembled by glass plate
bonded with metal connecting parts. The light-guide sunroof
assembly comprises a lightweight polymer sunroof and a lightweight
plastic connecting structure fixed to the sunroof by insert-molding
injection, which can reduce the weight of traditional glass
sunroof, front and rear windshield, and side window glass
assembly.
[0009] In order to achieve aforementioned objectives, the invention
provides a light-guide sunroof assembly, which comprises: a
substrate, at least one light source module, a primer layer, and a
connecting structure. The substrate has an outer surface, an inner
surface and a plurality of side surfaces vertically connected
between the outer and inner surfaces. The substrate is a multilayer
structure comprising at least two layers of plastic materials which
comprises a transparent engineering plastic layer and a colored
upper acrylic layer located above the plastic layer. Wherein, the
light transmittance of the colored upper acrylic layer is less than
the light transmittance of the plastic layer, in addition, the
colored upper acrylic layer forms a colored background upon the
plastic layer. The light source module is disposed on one of the
side surfaces of the substrate. The light source module is capable
of emitting light sideward toward the plastic layer, such that the
light can travel laterally along the plastic layer. The primer
layer is furnished at an outer rim area of the inner surface of the
substrate. The connecting structure is fixed to the outer rim area
of the inner surface of the substrate at a position having the
primer layer. The connecting structure is capable of connecting to
an external component, such that the substrate together with the at
least one light source module can be connected to the external
component through the connecting structure.
[0010] In an embodiment, a coloring agent is added in the upper
acrylic layer, so that the upper acrylic layer has a color and its
light transmittance is between 5% and 70%; the coloring agent
contains at least one of the following colors: black, red, blue,
green, or other relatively dark colors; the plastic layer is one of
transparent, colorless or transparent-white and has a light
transmittance greater than 90%.
[0011] In an embodiment, the light-guide sunroof assembly further
comprises a plurality of light-guide microstructures disposed on at
least one of the outer surface, or a middle layer, or the inner
surface of the substrate; the plurality of light-guide
microstructures can guide and direct the light traveling laterally
along the plastic layer downward toward and then emit out of the
inner surface of the substrate; the light-guide microstructures are
arranged in a predetermined pattern; when the at least one light
source module emits light, only the light at the positions of these
light-guide microstructures will be guided downward and then
emitted out from the inner surface of the substrate; the
predetermined pattern of light emission formed by the arrangement
of the light-guide microstructures can be displayed on the inner
surface of the substrate.
[0012] In an embodiment, fluorescent powders are filled in the
plurality of light-guide microstructures in order to improve the
luminous brightness of the predetermined pattern of light emitted
by the arrangement of the plurality of light-guide
microstructures.
[0013] In an embodiment, the light-guide microstructures are formed
by using a laser engraving machine, such that, the predetermined
pattern is "engraved" inside the middle layer of the substrate.
[0014] In an embodiment, an upper hard coating layer is formed
above the upper acrylic layer, and a lower hard coating layer is
formed on the inner surface of the substrate. The light-guide
microstructures are disposed on at least one of the following: the
upper acrylic layer and the plastic layer.
[0015] In an embodiment, the substrate is composed of at least
three layers of different plastic materials by coextrusion, which
comprises: the plastic layer located at middle of the substrate,
the upper acrylic layer located above the plastic layer, and a
lower acrylic layer located under the plastic layer. An upper hard
coating layer is formed above the upper acrylic layer, and a lower
hard coating layer is formed under the lower acrylic layer. The
lower acrylic layer is one of transparent, colorless or
transparent-white, and the transmittance of the lower acrylic layer
is greater than 90%. The plurality of light-guide microstructures
is disposed on at least one of the following: the upper acrylic
layer and the lower acrylic layer.
[0016] In an embodiment, a coated film layer is formed above the
upper hard coating layer; the coated film layer comprises a
cohesive layer, a UV-cut layer and a wear-resistant layer. The
material of the cohesive layer comprises SiO.sub.2. The material of
the UV-cut layer comprises Ti.sub.3O.sub.5 added with UV absorber.
The material of the wear-resistant layer comprises SiO.sub.2. A top
hard coating layer is further furnished on the top of the coated
film layer.
[0017] In an embodiment, the light-guide sunroof assembly further
comprises at least one sealing ring layer; the sealing ring layer
is disposed on a surface of the primer layer facing the connecting
structure, such that the sealing ring layer is sandwiched between
adjoining surfaces of the primer layer and the connecting
structure.
[0018] In an embodiment, the substrate has a curved surface at
least at an outer peripheral region of the inner surface of the
substrate. The external component is a sunroof actuating mechanism
of car. The connecting structure is made of hard plastic material
or metal material; wherein, when the connecting structure is made
of the hard plastic material, the connecting structure is molded
and fixed on the outer rim area of the inner surface of the
substrate having the primer layer by using an insert-molding
injection process; in addition, the hard plastic material of the
connecting structure includes at least one of the following:
polymethyl methacrylate (also referred as PMMA), Polycarbonate,
(also referred as PC), Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (also
referred as ABS), Polypyromellitimide (also referred as PMMI),
Polyethylene terephthalate (also referred as PET), Polyethylene
2,6-naphthalene dicarboxylate (also referred as PEN),
Polyethersulfone (also referred as PES), and Polyimide (also
referred as PI); when the connecting structure is made of metal
material, the connecting structure is adhered and fixed to the
outer rim area of the inner surface of the substrate at a position
having the primer layer by using the primer layer as an adhesive.
The primer layer comprises one of the following: compounds of
Amines and heterocyclic amines, Silane compounds, and Polyurethane
(also referred as PU), and is coated on the outer rim area of the
inner surface of the substrate by precision wet coating process,
and can provide good adhesion effect between the substrate and the
connecting structure. The sealing ring layer comprises one or more
rings which are furnished on the surface of the primer layer by a
dispensing method; each ring of the sealing ring layer is extending
around the outer rim area in a ring shape; the material of the
sealing ring layer includes one of the following: silicone and
Polyurethane (PU for short), which can improve the sealing effect
between the substrate and the connecting structure.
[0019] In an embodiment, material of the substrate of the
light-guide sunroof assembly is weakened at a predetermined area of
the substrate, so that the substrate includes an easily breakable
structure at the predetermined area.
[0020] In an embodiment, the easily breakable structure is formed
by the one of the following:
[0021] a plurality of dots is densely arranged in the predetermined
area of the substrate by mechanical or laser processing in order to
create small cracks in the material at these densely arranged dots
and makes the structure there weakened and easily broken, so as to
form the easily breakable structure;
[0022] a ring-shaped dotted structure is formed in the
predetermined area of the material inside the substrate by energy
irradiation or a different material interface in order to make the
structure of the ring-shaped dotted structure weakened and easily
broken, so as to form the easily breakable structure; and
[0023] a plurality of vertical dashed structures and horizontal
dashed structures are formed inside the material of the substrate
by energy irradiation in order to make the dashed structures
weakened and easily broken, so as to form the easily breakable
structure;
[0024] wherein, the easily breakable structure also has the
function of directing light traveling in the substrate toward and
emitting out from the inner surface of the substrate, such that a
user can visually identify the location of the easily breakables
structure.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0025] The present invention will now be specified with reference
to its preferred embodiment illustrated in the drawings, in
which:
[0026] FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B are respectively a cross-sectional
schematic diagram and a schematic top-view of an example of
assembled luminous light bars around a car sunroof of conventional
technology;
[0027] FIG. 2A and FIG. 2B are respectively the A-A cross-sectional
schematic drawing and the top-view schematic drawing of the first
embodiment of the light-guide sunroof assembly of the present
invention;
[0028] FIG. 3 is a schematic sectional view of the second
embodiment of the light-guide sunroof assembly in accordance with
the present invention;
[0029] FIG. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a third
embodiment of the light-guide sunroof assembly of the present
invention;
[0030] FIG. 5A and FIG. 5B are respectively a schematic
cross-sectional view and a schematic top view of the fourth
embodiment of the light-guide sunroof assembly of the present
invention;
[0031] FIG. 6 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a fifth
embodiment of the light-guide sunroof assembly of the present
invention;
[0032] FIG. 7 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a sixth
embodiment of the light-guide sunroof assembly of the present
invention;
[0033] FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of the
predetermined pattern of light emission formed by the arrangement
of the plurality of light-guide microstructures of the light-guide
sunroof assembly of the present invention;
[0034] FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of another embodiment of the
predetermined pattern of light emission formed by the arrangement
of the plurality of light-guide microstructures of the light-guide
sunroof assembly of the present invention;
[0035] FIG. 10 is a schematic sectional view of the seventh
embodiment of the light-guide sunroof assembly in accordance with
the present invention;
[0036] FIG. 11 is a schematic sectional view of the eighth
embodiment of the light-guide sunroof assembly in accordance with
the present invention;
[0037] FIG. 12A is a schematic drawing of the first embodiment of
the coated film layer furnished on the substrate of the
invention;
[0038] FIG. 12B is a schematic drawing of the second embodiment of
the coated film layer furnished on the substrate of the
invention;
[0039] FIG. 12C is a schematic drawing of the third embodiment of
the coated film layer furnished on the substrate of the invention;
and
[0040] FIG. 13A, FIG. 13B and FIG. 13C respectively are the
schematic diagrams of three embodiments of the easily breakable
structure provided on the substrate of the present invention.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
[0041] The light-guide sunroof assembly of the present invention
comprises a plastic substrate made of at least two layers of
plastics and a light source module furnished besides the plastic
substrate. An outer layer of the plastics of plastic substrate is
added with dye to form a colored background. A plurality of
light-guide microstructures is selectively furnished at one of the
plastic layers to guide the light generated by the light source
module toward an inner surface of the plastic substrate. Thereby,
the light generated by the light source module is guided by the
plastic substrate and then ejects out of the inner surface of
plastic substrate, so as to provide a light decoration or lighting
effect that enriches the visual experience. Moreover, the plastic
substrate is first formed into a curved plastic plate through a hot
pressing process, and then a connecting structure is formed and
fixed on the plastic plate by an insert-molding injection process,
in order to replace the traditional car sunroof mechanism which is
assembled by glass plate bonded with metal connecting parts. The
light-guide sunroof assembly comprises a lightweight polymer
sunroof and a lightweight plastic connecting structure fixed to the
sunroof by insert-molding injection, which can reduce the weight of
traditional glass sunroof, front and rear windshield, and side
window glass assembly, and is particularly suitable for use in
oil-electric hybrid electric vehicles and pure-electric vehicles
that require lightweight specifications, and further can provide a
light decoration or lighting effect.
[0042] In order to more clearly describe the structure of the
light-guide sunroof assembly, detailed descriptions of various
embodiments are provided with reference to the drawings.
[0043] Please refer to FIG. 2A and FIG. 2B, which are respectively
the A-A cross-sectional schematic drawing and the top-view
schematic drawing of the first embodiment of the light-guide
sunroof assembly of the present invention. In the first embodiment
of the invention, the light-guide sunroof assembly comprises: a
substrate 10, at least one light source module 30, a primer layer
81, and a connecting structure 82. The substrate 10 has an outer
surface (upper surface), an inner surface (lower surface), and a
plurality of side surfaces vertically connected between the outer
and inner surfaces. In this embodiment, the substrate 10 is a
multilayer structure comprising at least two layers of hard plastic
materials formed by coextrusion process, which comprises: a
transparent engineering plastic layer 11 made of polycarbonate
(PC), and an upper acrylic layer (polymethyl methacrylate, also
refers as PMMA) 12 located above the plastic layer 11. An upper
hard coating layer (also referred as HC) 14 is formed above the
upper acrylic layer 12, and a lower hard coating layer (HC) 15 is
formed on the inner surface of substrate 10 (that is, below the
lower surface of plastic layer 11). A coloring agent is added in
the upper acrylic layer 12 so that the upper acrylic layer 12 has a
color and its light transmittance is between 5% and 70%. Wherein,
the coloring agent contains at least one of the following colors:
black, red, blue, green, or other relatively dark colors. The
plastic layer 11 is one of transparent, colorless or
transparent-white and has a light transmittance greater than 90%.
Thereby, the light transmittance of the colored upper acrylic layer
12 is less than the light transmittance of the plastic layer 11; in
addition, the colored upper acrylic layer 12 can also form a
colored background upon the plastic layer 11. In a more preferably
embodiment, the transmittance of the upper acrylic layer 12 as a
colored background is between 5% and 20%, in order to achieve a
good car sunroof sun-shading function.
[0044] The at least one light source module 30 is disposed on at
least one of the side surfaces of the substrate 10. The at least
one light source module 30 can emit light sideward toward the
plastic layer 11, such that the light can travel laterally along
the plastic layer 11. In this embodiment, the at least one light
source module 30 includes at least two LED light bars respectively
disposed in a concave space 110 on two opposite side surfaces of
the plastic layer 11, making the LED light bars to be substantially
buried in the peripheral of the plastic layer 11 (i.e., buried
design), such that the light source module 30 can be hidden in the
mechanism design of the vehicle sunroof substrate 10. Each light
bar can provide multiple point-light sources or line-light sources,
which comprises a plurality of light emitting diodes 31 (LED) and a
circuit component (not shown in figures) for carrying the LEDs 31.
The circuit component is electrically connected to the LEDs 31 and
has a connector (not shown in figures) for connecting to the
vehicle's mobile computer or power supply, so as to transmit the
power and control signals of the vehicle to each light bar to make
it illuminate. The LEDs 31 emit light sideward toward the inside of
the plastic layer 11, because the colored upper acrylic layer 12
will form a dark background on the upper surface of the plastic
layer 11, therefore, the light emitted by the LEDs 31 of light
source module 30 enters the plastic layer 11 and then travels
laterally along the plastic layer 11, and emits out from a
light-emitting area 100 of the lower surface of the plastic layer
11 (that is, the light is emitted downwardly from the inner surface
of the substrate 10). Thereby, in the light-guide sunroof assembly
of the present invention, the substrate 10 composed of a dark upper
acrylic layer 12 and a transparent plastic layer 11 can guide the
light emitted by the light source module 30 toward the inner
surface of the substrate 10 in order to emit light into the
vehicle, so as to achieve the visual effect of light decoration or
light illumination.
[0045] In the present invention, The composition of materials of
the upper and lower hard coating layers 14, 15 comprises granular
dispersed nano-inorganic materials and/or organic-inorganic hybrid
UV oligomers or silicone base oligomers, which can provide
lightweight polymer plastic substrates with high hardness on the
outer and inner surfaces and excellent Taber Test characteristics,
maintain high transparency and low haze, and provide a hard and
wear-resistant hard protective layer on the outer surface and the
inner surface of the substrate 10. In this embodiment, the hard
coating layers 14, 15 contain a UV-light elastic oligomer with high
glass transition temperature (Tg.gtoreq.120.degree. C.) or a high
Tg monomer (Tg.gtoreq.240.degree. C.), which can provide polymer
plastic material at the adjoining surface with high impact
resistance, high flexibility and good stability under high
temperature, as well as to improve the reliability when proceeding
with the high temperature and high humidity environmental tests.
The thickness and shape of the substrate 10 may vary according to
different applications; taking the car sunroof as an example, the
thickness of the substrate 10 is usually between 3 mm to 12 mm. The
thickness of the engineering plastic layer 11 accounts for about
60% to 99.99% of the total thickness of the substrate, while the
thickness of the acrylic layer 12 accounts for about 0.01% to 40%
of the total thickness of the substrate.
[0046] The composition of the hard coating layers 14, 15 of the
invention comprises organic-inorganic hybrid UV oligomers. Compared
with the conventional hard layer formula with high-crosslink
density, the composition of the hard coating layers 14, 15 of the
invention has a relatively low crosslink density, which can form a
wear-resistant hard coating layer with low shrinkage and good
flexibility. The inorganic material contained in the hard coating
layers 14, 15 of the invention can provide good physical properties
for the surfaces and thus provide the coatings with high hardness
and high wear resistance. Moreover, the hard coating layers 14, 15
contain a UV-light elastic oligomer with high glass transition
temperature or a high Tg monomer; compared with the conventional
hard layer formula with high-crosslink density, the composition of
the hard coating layers 14, 15 of the invention has better
stability under high temperature. Therefore, it has better
thermo-formability during high temperature processes, and the
UV-cured composite sunroof material can be bended to any curvature
freely.
[0047] The primer layer 81 is furnished at an outer rim area of the
inner surface of the substrate 10 for improving the bonding
strength and adhesion tightness between the substrate 10 and the
connecting structure 82. The connecting structure 82 is fixed to
the outer peripheral (rim) area of the inner surface of the
substrate 10 at a position having the primer layer 81. The
connecting structure 82 is for connecting to an external component
located at the car roof (such like car body or sunroof actuating
mechanism of car, not shown in figures), such that the substrate 10
and the light source module 30 can be connected to the external
component through the connecting structure 82, and thus be fixed to
the car roof.
[0048] In this embodiment, the primer layer 81 is furnished at an
outer rim area of the inner surface of the substrate 10 for
improving the bonding strength and adhesion tightness between the
substrate 10 and the connecting structure 82. In the present
invention, the primer layer 81 comprises one of the following:
compounds of Amines and heterocyclic amines, Silane compounds, and
Polyurethane (also referred as PU), and is coated on the outer
peripheral (rim) area of the inner surface of the substrate 10 by
precision wet coating process, and thus can provide good adhesion
effect between heterogeneous materials and is beneficial to pass
various environmental aging tests. In addition, the primer layer 81
can be mixed with a pigment (such as a black pigment) so that the
primer layer 81 can also have the function of forming an
ink-printed layer on the inner surface of the substrate 10.
[0049] The connecting structure 82 is fixed to the outer peripheral
(rim) area of the inner surface of the substrate 10 at a position
having the primer layer 81. The connecting structure 82 is for
connecting to an external component (such like car body or sunroof
actuating mechanism of car, not shown in figures), such that the
substrate 10 together with the at least one light source 30 can be
connected to the external component through the connecting
structure 82. The connecting structure 82 is made of hard plastic
material or metal material. In the first embodiment shown in FIG.
2A and FIG. 2B, the connecting structure 82 is made of metal such
like iron, stainless steel, aluminum alloy by casting, forging or
stamping processes. The connecting structure 82 is adhered and
fixed to the outer peripheral (rim) area of the inner surface of
the substrate 10 at a position having the primer layer 81 by using
the primer layer 81 as an adhesive.
[0050] In the following embodiments of the invention, because the
structures and functions of most components are the same or similar
with which of the aforementioned first embodiment, thereby, the
same of similar components will be given with the same names and
numerals of components without repeating their detailed
descriptions.
[0051] Please refer to FIG. 3, which is a schematic sectional view
of the second embodiment of the light-guide sunroof assembly in
accordance with the present invention. In the second embodiment of
the invention, the light-guide sunroof assembly also comprises: a
substrate 10, at least one light source module 30, a primer layer
81 and a connecting structure 82. The difference between the
light-guide sunroof assembly of the second embodiment and the
aforementioned first embodiment is that, in the second embodiment
of the light-guide sunroof assembly shown in FIG. 3, the substrate
10 is a multi-layer structure composed of at least three layers of
different plastic materials by coextrusion, which comprises: a
plastic layer 11 located at middle of the substrate 20, an upper
acrylic layer (upper PMMA) 12 located above the plastic layer 11, a
lower acrylic layer (lower PMMA) 13 located under the plastic layer
11, an upper hard coating layer 14 located above the upper acrylic
layer 12, and a lower hard coating layer 15 located under the lower
acrylic layer 13. The plastic layer 11 and the lower acrylic layer
13 are one of transparent, colorless or transparent-white, and the
transmittance of both the plastic layer 11 and the lower acrylic
layer 13 is greater than 90%. The upper acrylic layer 12 is
internally added with black, red, blue, green, or other relatively
dark coloring agents; such that the upper acrylic layer 12 can have
a color, and the light transmittance of the upper acrylic layer 12
is between 5% and 70%, and thereby forming a dark background above
the transparent plastic layer 11.
[0052] As for the other components of the light-guide sunroof
assembly of the second embodiment, for example but not limited to:
light source module 30, primer layer 81, connecting structure 82,
and etc., because their structures and functions are substantially
the same as or similar to those described in the first embodiment,
so won't be repeatedly described here.
[0053] Please refer to FIG. 4, which is a schematic cross-sectional
view of a third embodiment of the light-guide sunroof assembly of
the present invention. In the third embodiment of the present
invention, the light-guide sunroof assembly also comprises: a
substrate 10, at least one light source module 30, a primer layer
81 and a connecting structure 82. The substrate 10 is a multilayer
structure comprising at least two layers of different plastic
materials, which comprises: a transparent engineering plastic layer
11 made of polycarbonate (PC), and an upper acrylic layer (PMMA) 12
located above the plastic layer 11. The plastic layer 11 is one of
transparent, colorless or transparent-white and has a light
transmittance greater than 90%. A coloring agent such as black,
red, blue, green, or other relatively dark color is added in the
upper acrylic layer 12 so that the upper acrylic layer 12 has a
color and its light transmittance is between 5% and 20%. The
colored upper acrylic layer 12 forms a colored background upon the
plastic layer 11. An upper hard coating layer (HC) 14 is formed
above the upper acrylic layer 12, and a lower hard coating layer
(HC) 15 is formed on the inner surface of substrate 10 (that is,
below the lower surface of plastic layer 11). The difference
between the light-guide sunroof assembly of the third embodiment
and the aforementioned first embodiment is that, in the third
embodiment of the light-guide sunroof assembly shown in FIG. 4, the
light-guide sunroof assembly further comprises a plurality of
light-guide microstructures 141 disposed on at least one of the
outer surface or the inner surface of the substrate 10. As shown in
FIG. 4, the plurality of light-guide microstructures 141 are
arranged on the upper surface of the upper acrylic layer 12, or the
lower surface of the upper hard coating layer 14, or a middle layer
between the upper acrylic layer 12 and the upper hard coating layer
14. The plurality of light-guide microstructures 141 can guide and
direct the light traveling along the horizontal direction of the
engineering plastic layer 11 downward toward and then emit out of
the inner surface of the substrate 10. These light-guide
microstructures 141 are arranged in a predetermined pattern;
therefore, when the at least one light source module 30 emits
light, only the light at the positions of these light-guide
microstructures 141 will be guided downward and then emitted from
the inner surface of the substrate 10, and the predetermined
pattern of light emission formed by the arrangement of these
light-guide microstructures 141 can be displayed on the inner
surface of the substrate 10, so as to achieve the visual effect of
light decoration.
[0054] Please refer to FIG. 5A and FIG. 5B, which are respectively
a schematic cross-sectional view and a schematic top view of the
fourth embodiment of the light-guide sunroof assembly of the
present invention. In the fourth embodiment of the present
invention, the light-guide sunroof assembly also comprises: a
substrate 10, at least one light source module 30, a primer layer
81 and a connecting structure 82. The substrate 10 is a multilayer
structure comprising at least three layers of different plastic
materials, which comprises: a transparent engineering plastic layer
11 made of polycarbonate (PC), an upper acrylic layer (PMMA) 12
located above the plastic layer 11, and a lower acrylic layer
(PMMA) 13 located below the plastic layer 11. The plastic layer 11
and the lower acrylic layer 13 both are either transparent,
colorless or transparent-white and have a light transmittance
greater than 90%. A coloring agent such as black, red, blue, green,
or other relatively dark color is added in the upper acrylic layer
12 so that the upper acrylic layer 12 has a color and its light
transmittance is between 5% and 20%, such that, the colored upper
acrylic layer 12 forms a colored background upon the plastic layer
11. An upper hard coating layer (HC) 14 is formed above the upper
acrylic layer 12, and a lower hard coating layer (HC) 15 is formed
below the lower acrylic layer 13. The difference between the
light-guide sunroof assembly of the fourth embodiment and the
aforementioned first embodiment is that, in the fourth embodiment
of the light-guide sunroof assembly shown in FIG. 5A and FIG. 5B,
the light-guide sunroof assembly further comprises a plurality of
light-guide microstructures 141 disposed on at least one of the
following: the upper surface of the upper acrylic layer 12, the
lower surface of the upper hard coating layer 14, or between the
upper acrylic layer 12 and the upper hard coating layer 14. The
plurality of light-guide microstructures 141 can guide and direct
the light traveling along the horizontal direction of the
engineering plastic layer 11 downward toward and then emit out of
the inner surface of the substrate 10. These light-guide
microstructures 141 are arranged in a predetermined pattern;
therefore, when the at least one light source module 30 emits
light, only the light at the positions of these light-guide
microstructures 141 will be guided downward and then emitted from
the inner surface of the substrate 10, and the predetermined
pattern of light emission formed by the arrangement of these
light-guide microstructures 141 can be displayed in a
light-emitting area 100 on the inner surface of the substrate 10,
so as to achieve the visual effect of light decoration.
[0055] Please refer to FIG. 6, which is a schematic cross-sectional
view of a fifth embodiment of the light-guide sunroof assembly of
the present invention. In the fifth embodiment of the present
invention, the light-guide sunroof assembly also comprises: a
substrate 10, at least one light source module 30, a primer layer
81 and a connecting structure 82. The substrate 10 is a multilayer
structure comprising at least two layers of different materials,
which comprises: a transparent engineering plastic layer 11, and an
upper acrylic layer 12 located above the plastic layer 11. The
plastic layer 11 is one of transparent, colorless or
transparent-white and has a light transmittance greater than 90%. A
coloring agent such as black, red, blue, green, or other relatively
dark color is added in the upper acrylic layer 12 so that the upper
acrylic layer 12 has a color and its light transmittance is between
5% and 20%. The colored upper acrylic layer 12 forms a colored
background upon the plastic layer 11. An upper hard coating layer
14 is formed above the upper acrylic layer 12, and a lower hard
coating layer 15 is formed on the inner surface of substrate 10.
The difference between the light-guide sunroof assembly of the
fifth embodiment and the aforementioned first embodiment is that,
in the fifth embodiment of the light-guide sunroof assembly shown
in FIG. 6, the light-guide sunroof assembly further comprises a
plurality of light-guide microstructures 151 disposed on at least
one of the lower surface of the plastic layer 11, or the upper
surface of the lower hard coating layer 15, or between the lower
surface of the plastic layer 11 and the lower hard coating layer
15. The plurality of light-guide microstructures 151 can guide and
direct the light traveling along the horizontal direction of the
plastic layer 11 downward toward and then emit out of the inner
surface of the substrate 10, so as to achieve the visual effect of
light decoration.
[0056] Please refer to FIG. 7, which is a schematic cross-sectional
view of a sixth embodiment of the light-guide sunroof assembly of
the present invention. In the sixth embodiment of the present
invention, the light-guide sunroof assembly also comprises: a
substrate 10, at least one light source module 30, a primer layer
81 and a connecting structure 82. The substrate 10 is a multilayer
structure comprising at least three layers of different materials,
which comprises: a transparent engineering plastic layer 11, an
upper acrylic layer 12 located above the plastic layer 11, and a
lower acrylic layer 13 located below the plastic layer 11. The
plastic layer 11 and the lower acrylic layer 13 are both
transparent, colorless or transparent-white and have light
transmittance greater than 90%. A coloring agent such as black,
red, blue, green, or other relatively dark color is added in the
upper acrylic layer 12 so that the upper acrylic layer 12 has a
color and its light transmittance is between 5% and 20%. The
colored upper acrylic layer 12 forms a colored background upon the
plastic layer 11. An upper hard coating layer 14 is formed above
the upper acrylic layer 12, and a lower hard coating layer 15 is
formed below the lower acrylic layer 13. In the sixth embodiment of
the light-guide sunroof assembly shown in FIG. 7, the light-guide
sunroof assembly further comprises a plurality of light-guide
microstructures 151 disposed on at least one of the lower surface
of the lower acrylic layer 13, or the upper surface of the lower
hard coating layer 15, or between the lower acrylic layer 13 and
the lower hard coating layer 15. The plurality of light-guide
microstructures 151 can guide and direct the light traveling along
the horizontal direction of the plastic layer 11 downward toward
and then emit out of the inner surface of the substrate 10, so as
to achieve the visual effect of light decoration.
[0057] In a preferred embodiment of the invention, fluorescent
powders can be filled in the recesses of the plurality of
light-guide microstructures 141, 151, in order to improve the
luminous brightness of the predetermined pattern of light emitted
by the arrangement of the plurality of light-guide microstructures
141, 151.
[0058] In this invention, the plurality of light-guide
microstructures 141 and 151 are formed on the surface of the
substrate by using physical processing methods and tools such as
laser carving machines, laser engraving machines or computer
numerical controlled (CNC) milling or other processing machines.
The locations of the light-guide microstructures 141 and 151 can be
formed on the surface of the plastic layer, the upper or lower
acrylic layer, or the upper or lower hard coating layer. When the
light-guide microstructures are fabricated on the surface of a
polymer material (for example, the engineering plastic layer or one
of the upper and lower acrylic layers), the thickness of the
subsequent hard layers must not be larger than the depth of the
light-guide microstructures. If the light-guide microstructures are
fabricated on the surface of the hard coating layer, it is
necessary to consider that the depth of the post-processed
light-guide microstructures should not be deeper than the thickness
of the hard coating layer. The detailed and specific shape or
structure of the light-guide microstructures itself is not
described in detail because it can be selected from the well-known
technologies.
[0059] Please refer to FIG. 8, which is a schematic diagram of an
embodiment of the predetermined pattern of light emission formed by
the arrangement of the plurality of light-guide microstructures of
the light-guide sunroof assembly of the present invention. In this
embodiment, the predetermined pattern formed by the arrangement of
the plurality of light-guide microstructures looks like a night sky
pattern having starlight and galaxy. That is, when the light source
module 30 emits light, the light guiding effect of each light-guide
microstructure will form a light spot 101 similar to the light of a
star under the inner surface of the substrate; therefore, the
starry light spots 101 provided by a lot of light-guide
microstructures can provide a visual experience of light decoration
similar to the numerous stars and the galaxy in the night sky.
[0060] Please refer to FIG. 9, which is a schematic diagram of
another embodiment of the predetermined pattern of light emission
formed by the arrangement of the plurality of light-guide
microstructures of the light-guide sunroof assembly of the present
invention. In this embodiment, the predetermined pattern formed by
the arrangement of the plurality of light-guide microstructures
presents specific patterns or texts. When the light source module
30 emits light, the light guiding effect of the light-guide
microstructures will form specific patterns or texts arranged by
the plurality of light spots 101 under the inner surface of the
substrate, and such patterns or texts can be designed by the
customer or the car factory to provide honorable and unique light
decoration visual experience.
[0061] In a further embodiment, the predetermined pattern formed by
the arrangement of the plurality of light-guide microstructures can
also be a very dense and regularly arranged array pattern; such
that, the light emitted by the light source module 30 can be
emitted neatly and in large quantities from the inner surface of
the substrate, in order to provide lighting effects similar to car
roof lights.
[0062] In yet another embodiment, according to the predetermined
patterns of light emissions formed by the arrangements of the
plurality of light-guide microstructures as shown in FIG. 8 and
FIG. 9, the light-guide microstructures are formed by using
two-dimensional (2D) or three-dimensional (3D) laser engraving
machines. By using the 2D or 3D laser engraving machine, the
predetermined pattern is "Engraved" as a plane pattern or a 3D
pattern inside the middle layer of the substrate 10, but not formed
on the upper or lower surface of the substrate 10. Similarly, the
light traveling along the horizontal direction of the engineering
plastic layer can also be directed toward the bottom of the
substrate 10 at locations of the light-guide microstructure formed
by the laser engraving machine, therefore, the plurality of light
spots 101 provided by the light-guide microstructures can provide a
visual experience of light decoration similar to specific patterns,
or texts, or numerous stars.
[0063] Please refer to FIG. 10, which is a schematic sectional view
of the seventh embodiment of the light-guide sunroof assembly in
accordance with the present invention. In the seventh embodiment of
the invention, the substrate of the light-guide sunroof assembly is
a light-transmissive plastic plate structure with curved surface.
The seventh embodiment of the light-guide sunroof assembly has a
structure similar with which of the first embodiment and also
comprises: a substrate 10 formed with a concave space 110, at least
one light source module 30 located at the concave space 110, a
primer layer 81 and a connecting structure 82. In addition, the
substrate 10 also comprises: a plastic layer 11, an upper acrylic
layer (upper PMMA) 12, a lower acrylic layer (lower PMMA) 13, an
upper hard coating layer 14 and a lower hard coating layer 15.
Because the substrate 10 of the invention is made of hard material
with curved surface, and the connecting structure 82 is also made
of hard metal; when the curvatures of the joining surfaces of these
two components mismatch (curvature tolerance exists), the sealing
effect and tightness become poor, and the problem of leaks arises.
Therefore, in the seventh embodiment of the invention shown in FIG.
10, one or more rings of high-temperature-resistant sealing ring
layer 83 are partially furnished on the primer layer 81 by
dispensing method, which can effectively fill the gaps between two
hard materials, and avoid leakage risk of composite sunroof
assembly due to curvature tolerance (curvature mismatch). In this
embodiment, the sealing ring layer 83 is disposed on a surface of
the primer layer 81 facing the connecting structure 82, such that
the sealing ring layer 83 is sandwiched between the adjoining
surfaces of the primer layer 81 and the connecting structure 82.
The one or more rings of sealing ring layer 83 are applied on the
surface of the primer layer 81 facing the connecting structure 82
by a dispensing method, and each ring of the sealing ring layer 83
is extending around the outer peripheral (rim) area in a ring
shape. The material of the sealing ring layer 83 includes one of
the following: silicone and Polyurethane (PU for short), which can
fill the gaps caused by curvature tolerance between hard materials
in order to improve the sealing effect between the substrate 10 and
the connecting structure 82 and is beneficial to pass the leak
test.
[0064] It is worth mentioning that, in the seventh embodiment of
the light-guide sunroof assembly of the present invention shown in
FIG. 10, the plastic layer 11 or one of the upper and lower acrylic
layers 12, 13 is also provided with the light-guide microstructures
for guiding light to the lower surface of the substrate 10; these
light-guide microstructures are not drawn/shown in FIG. 10 just to
make the drawing of FIG. 10 concise.
[0065] In addition to the aforementioned connecting structure that
is made of metal, the invention further provides a technology for
directly molding and fixing the connecting structure onto the
plastic plate by using an insert-molding injection process, which
can replace the traditional car sunroof mechanism which is
assembled by glass plate bonded with metal connecting parts.
[0066] Please refer to FIG. 11, which is a schematic sectional view
of the eighth embodiment of the light-guide sunroof assembly in
accordance with the present invention. In the eighth embodiment of
the invention, the light-guide sunroof assembly is similar to the
aforementioned seventh embodiment and also comprises: a substrate
10 formed with a concave space 110, a light source module 30
located at the concave space 110, a primer layer 81, a connecting
structure 82 and at least one sealing ring layer 83. In addition,
the substrate 10 also comprises: a plastic layer 11, upper and
lower acrylic layers 12, 13, and upper and lower hard coating
layers 14, 15. The differences between the eighth embodiment and
previously illustrated embodiments comprise: the connecting
structure 82a is made of a hard plastic material and is molded and
fixed on the outer peripheral (rim) area of the inner surface of
the substrate 10 having the primer layer 81 by using an
insert-molding injection process; wherein the thickness of the
connecting structure 82a is between 1 mm to 50 mm. In addition, the
hard plastic material of the connecting structure 82a includes at
least one of the following: polymethyl methacrylate (also referred
as PMMA), Polycarbonate, (also referred as PC), Acrylonitrile
Butadiene Styrene (also referred as ABS), Polypyromellitimide (also
referred as PMMI), Polyethylene terephthalate (also referred as
PET), Polyethylene 2,6-naphthalene dicarboxylate (also referred as
PEN), Polyethersulfone (also referred as PES), and Polyimide (also
referred as PI). Moreover, in the eighth embodiment shown in FIG.
11, a coated film layer 20 having a multilayer film structure is
further provided on at least the upper hard coating layer 14 of the
substrate 10. The coated film layer 20 can provide anti-ultraviolet
and abrasion resistance effects to the surface of the substrate 10,
and also can improve the shortcomings of the substrate 10 itself,
such as poor surface hardness and abrasion resistance, as well as
yellowing or degradation due to long-term exposure to heat or
ultraviolet. The details of the coated film layer 20 will be
described in detail in the subsequent embodiments. It is worth
mentioning that, in the eighth embodiment of the light-guide
sunroof assembly of the present invention shown in FIG. 11, the
plastic layer 11 or one of the upper and lower acrylic layers 12,
13 is also provided with the light-guide microstructures for
guiding light to the lower surface of the substrate 10; these
light-guide microstructures are not drawn/shown in FIG. 11 just to
make the drawing of FIG. 11 concise.
[0067] The light-guide sunroof assembly having a substrate with
curved surface of the invention provides a solution for lightweight
polymer sunroof of cars, which comprises a lightweight polymer
sunroof and a lightweight plastic connecting structure fixed to the
sunroof by insert-molding injection, and thus can reduce the weight
of traditional glass sunroof assembled by glass and metal, and is
particularly suitable for use in oil-electric hybrid vehicles and
pure-electric vehicles that require lightweight specifications. The
lightweight polymer sunroof of the invention comprises primer layer
and sealing ring layer sandwiched between the plastic substrate and
the plastic connecting structure, especially suitable to be
manufactured by using insert-molding injection process to assemble
two or more hard and different plastic materials, and has the
following advantages:
[0068] 1. Can reduce the weight of traditional glass sunroof, front
and rear windshield, and side window glass assembly, and also has
the advantages of light weight (reducing fuel consumption or power
consumption) and safety (uneasy to break). The invention uses
composite materials such like PMMA/PC/PMMA or PMMA/PC to make the
substrate, and uses wet coating and sputtering coating processes to
produce the sunroof; the surface hardness can be increased to more
than 4H (4H.about.9H), the wear resistance can pass the Taber Test
with level "L", and the UV yellowing resistance test (5000 hours)
can maintain the specification of .DELTA.E <1. The manufacturing
method of the mechanism of the connecting structure of the present
invention is to directly place the composite sunroof into the
injection machine, and then using the insert-molding injection
process to insert-mold the connecting structure onto the sunroof.
Not only the weight can be reduced by replacing the glass with the
polymer PC substrate, but also the weight can be further reduced by
replacing the iron or stainless steel parts with the polymer
connecting structure, and that the effect of reducing the overall
weight to 1/2 to 1/3 of the original weight of the conventional
sunroof made of glass and metal parts can be achieved.
[0069] 2. By using the polymer material formula, coating formula
design and precision coating technologies, the abrasion resistance
of polymer surfaces can be improved to the same level as glass
(abrasion resistance test "Taber Test" can reach "L" level), and
the original optical and physical properties can also be maintained
after passing various weather resistance tests. The traditional
insert-molded polymer materials (connecting structure) and the
injection adjoining surface (hard coating of the substrate) cannot
be effectively bonded because of their different material
properties, and might peel off after environmental tests. In the
present invention, a high-temperature-resistant primer layer made
of Amine, Silane, or PU-based material is used as the bonding
medium between the hard coating layer of substrate and the injected
connecting structure, such that, the hard coating layer adjoining
the injection surface can has a high surface dyne value (>44
dyne), which is conducive to the bonding of the injected connecting
structure; not only can pass the harsh high temperature, high
temperature and high humidity, high and low temperatures with cold
and hot shock environmental tests, but also can avoid the problems
of peeling of the injected polymer connecting structure from the
composite sunroof after the environmental tests.
[0070] 3. By the manufacturing process that the plastic plate is
first hot pressed and then insert-molding injected, the
conventional design of glass bonded with metal parts can be
replaced. In the traditional injection process, the insert-molding
polymer materials must reach a high temperature of more than 250
Celsius degrees in the injection screw, and be injected on the hard
coating layer of the bonding surface of the composite sunroof;
thereby, the composite sunroof has to suffer the high temperature
of the injection process. In addition, because the composite
sunroof substrate is a hard plastic material with a curved surface,
and the injected polymer connecting structure is also made of hard
plastic, when the curvatures of the adjoining surfaces of these two
parts do not match (curvature tolerance), it will cause poor
sealing between these two parts and thus result in water leakage
problems. According to the present invention, one or more rings of
high-temperature-resistant sealing ring layer are partially
furnished on the primer layer 81 by dispensing method, which can be
performed coordinating with the injection process, and can
effectively fill the gaps between two hard materials, so as to
avoid the risk of leakage of composite sunroof assembly due to
curvature tolerance (curvature mismatch)
[0071] Please refer to FIG. 12A, which is a schematic drawing of
the first embodiment of the coated film layer furnished on the
substrate of the invention. The substrate 10 shown in FIG. 12A is
similar to the eighth embodiment shown in FIG. 11 and also
comprises: a plastic layer 11, upper and lower acrylic layers 12,
13, upper and lower hard coating layers 14, 15, and a coated film
layer 20 located above the upper hard coating layer 14. In the
present invention, the coated film layer 20 comprises
multifunctional optical inorganic materials, which can provide
effects of UV resistance, IR resistance and surface abrasion
resistance, and can pass L-level Taber Test. Wherein, the
multifunctional optical inorganic materials comprise: SiO.sub.2,
Ti.sub.3O.sub.5, Nb.sub.2O.sub.5 and/or other materials with low
refractive index or high refractive index. As shown in FIG. 12A,
the first embodiment of the coated film layer 20 comprises (from
bottom to up): a cohesive layer 21, a UV-cut layer 22 and a
wear-resistant layer 23. In this embodiment, the multilayer film
structure of the coated film layer 20 can be sequentially formed by
a plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (also referred as
Plasma-Enhanced CVD or PECVD) or vacuum sputtering process on the
outer surface of the substrate 10 (that is, the outer surface of
the upper hard coating layer 14). In this embodiment, the material
of the cohesive layer 21 can be SiO.sub.2, the material of the
UV-cut layer 22 can be Ti.sub.3O.sub.5 added with UV absorber,
while the material of the wear-resistant layer 23 can include
SiO.sub.2.
[0072] In a preferred embodiment, the different materials of
different layers of the substrate have different glass transition
temperatures (Tg), and the differences between these different
glass transition temperatures of different materials are ranged in
30-60. In addition, a ratio of thicknesses of these different
layers of the substrate is between 0.0001-0.001. The refractive
index difference between the wear-resistant layer and the UV-cut
layer is at least 0.3. For light in ultraviolet wavelength range,
the ratio of the refractive indices of the wear-resistant layer and
the UV-cut layer is between 2.35 and 1.38. The thickness difference
between the wear-resistant layer and the UV-cut layer is at least
100 nm.
[0073] Please refer to FIG. 12B, which is a schematic drawing of
the second embodiment of the coated film layer furnished on the
substrate of the invention. In FIG. 12B, the second embodiment of
the coated film layer 20a comprises (from bottom to top
sequentially): a first cohesive layer 21, a UV-cut layer 22, a
second cohesive layer 21a, an IR-cut layer 24 and a wear-resistant
layer 25. The material of first and second cohesive layers 21, 21a
can include SiO.sub.2, the materials of the UV-cut layer 22 and the
IR-cut layer 24 can be Ti.sub.3O.sub.5 added with UV absorber and
IR absorber respectively, while the material of the wear-resistant
layer 25 can include SiO.sub.2. By providing the anti-ultraviolet
(UV-cut) and anti-infrared (IR-cut) functions on the outer surface
of the substrate 10 body, not only the UV and IR blocking effects
can be provided, but also the substrate itself does not yellow, and
it does not accumulate thermal energy as well; the substrate itself
retains optically transparent status.
[0074] Please refer to FIG. 12C, which is a schematic drawing of
the third embodiment of the coated film layer furnished on the
substrate of the invention. In FIG. 12C, the structure of the
coated film layer 20, 20a can be the same as the embodiment
illustrated in FIG. 12A or FIG. 12B, however, a top hard coating
layer 26 can be further furnished on the top of the coated film
layer 20, 20a in order to improve the hardness and abrasion
resistance ability of the top surface of the coated film layer 20,
20a; in addition, the top surface of the coated film layer 20, 20a
is better resistant to strong acid and alkali.
[0075] Please refer to FIG. 13A, FIG. 13B and FIG. 13C, which
respectively are the schematic diagrams of three embodiments of the
easily breakable structure provided on the substrate of the present
invention. In this invention, the material of the substrate 10 of
the light-guide sunroof assembly can be weakened by mechanical or
laser methods at a predetermined area (usually near to a corner) of
the substrate 10, so that the substrate 10 will include a
predetermined area with an easily breakable structure after the
weakening treatment. When an emergency occurs, the user can operate
a tool (such as a hammer) to aim at the predetermined area of the
easily breakable structure to strike, and the substrate 10 will be
easily broken from this predetermined area, such that, it will be
convenient for users to escape through the broken substrate 10
(that is, sunroof of vehicle). As shown in FIG. 13A, the dots 411
are densely arranged in a partial area 41 (i.e., the predetermined
area) of the substrate 10 by mechanical or laser processing in
order to create small cracks in the material at these densely
arranged dots 411 and makes the structure there weakened and easily
broken, so as to form the easily breakable structure. As shown in
FIG. 13B, a ring-shaped dotted structure 42 is formed in a
predetermined part (i.e., the predetermined area) of the material
inside the substrate 10 by energy irradiation (for example,
high-energy laser irradiation) or a different material interface in
order to make the structure of the ring-shaped dotted structure 42
weakened and easily broken, so as to form the easily breakable
structure. As shown in FIG. 13C, a plurality of vertical dashed
structures 431 and horizontal dashed structures 432 are formed
inside the material of the substrate 10 by energy irradiation in
order to make the structure at the dashed structures 431 and 432
weakened and easily broken, so as to form the easily breakable
structure. Preferably, the easily breakable structure also has the
function of directing light traveling in the horizontal direction
inside the substrate 10 toward the inner surface of the substrate
10 and allowing the directed light to emit out from the inner
surface of the substrate 10, such that the user can visually
identify the location of the easily breakables structure.
[0076] An embodiment of the manufacturing method of the light-guide
assembly according to the present invention comprises the following
steps.
[0077] Step A: providing a substrate. The substrate at least
comprises a plastic material with multilayer structure. In this
embodiment, the substrate can be the substrate with coated film
layer shown in FIG. 11, in which, the detailed and specific
structure of the substrate and the coated film layer can be
selected from any of the substrates and the coated film layers
shown in FIG. 11 and FIGS. 12A to 12C.
[0078] Step B: preheating the substrate. The substrate is heated to
a first predetermined temperature by a preheating process.
[0079] Step C: cooling and pressure-molding the substrate with
mold. By using a stamping process and a cooling process, the
substrate is first cooled down to a second predetermined
temperature, and then the substrate is pressure-molded by a mold at
the same time.
[0080] Step D: cutting the contour of substrate by CNC. The contour
of the pressure-molded substrate is cut by a CNC (Computer
Numerical Control) milling machine to make a plastic plate with a
predetermined contour and shape.
[0081] Step E: applying primer layer. By using a coating process, a
primer layer is applied to an outer peripheral (rim) area of the
surface of the plastic plate.
[0082] Step F: applying sealing ring layer. By using a glue
dispensing process, at least one sealing ring layer is provided on
the primer layer. The sealing ring layer is partially disposed on
the surface of the primer layer facing the connecting structure,
and the sealing ring layer is sandwiched between the contact
surfaces of the primer layer and the connecting structure.
[0083] Step G: insert-molding injection of the connecting
structure. Through an insert-molding injection process, a
connecting structure is formed in an insert-molding injection
manner and fixed at the position of the outer peripheral (rim) area
of the plastic plate having the primer layer.
[0084] Step H: assembling at least one light source module in a
concave space installed on the side surface of the plastic layer of
the substrate. The light-guide sunroof assembly as shown in FIG. 11
can be manufactured through the above Steps A-H.
[0085] While the present invention has been shown and described
with reference to the preferred embodiments thereof and the
illustrative drawings, it should not be considered as limited
thereby. Various possible modifications and alterations can be
conceived by persons skilled without departing from the scope and
the spirit of the present invention.
* * * * *