Laminated glass with photosensitive element and automatic device for turning on and off lights of a motor vehicle

• US 4,968,895 A
• Filed: 09/24/1985
• Issued: 11/06/1990
• Est. Priority Date: 10/04/1984
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Saint-Gobain Vitrage
• Original Assignee: Saint-Gobain Vitrage
• Inventors: Leclercq, Jacques
• Primary Examiner(s): Shoop, Jr., William M.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Logan, Sharon D.
• Application Number:
  US06/779,406
• Time in Patent Office: 1,869 Days
• Field of Search: 307/10 LS, 307/10 R, 307/117, 307/010.8, 357/72, 250/211, 250/239, 315/82, 315/83, 315/149, 315/150, 315/158, 315/159
• US Class Current: 307/10.8
• CPC Class Codes: B32B 17/10036 comprising two outer glass sheets
• CPC Class Codes: B32B 17/10376 Laminated safety glass or glazing containing metal wires
• CPC Class Codes: B32B 2307/40 having particular optical properties light or UV resistant B32B2307/71
• CPC Class Codes: B32B 2605/08 Cars
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 1/1423 Automatic dimming circuits, i.e. switching between high beam and low beam due to change of ambient light or light level in road traffic
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 2300/052 Switching delay, i.e. the beam is not switched or changed instantaneously upon occurrence of a condition change
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 2300/314 Ambient light
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 2300/337 Tunnels or bridges

Abstract

A laminated glass of the present invention includes as a photosensitive element a photodiode of such thickness that it can be buried in the plastic interlayer of the laminated glass between two outside glass sheets of the glass. The photodiode is coated in a plastic compatible with that from which the interlayer is made and mounted along one of the side edges of the glass, so that conductors from the diode and their terminals project out from the glass and can be connected to any suitable electric circuit. The electric circuit for use with the diode can be a lighting circuit of a motor vehicle so that the photodiode automatically controls turning on of the lights of the vehicle when ambient light falls below a certain threshold and turning off the same lights when ambient light exceeds a second threshold.

Claims

1. A laminated glass including an incorporated photosensitive element being a thin photodiode buried in the plastic interlayer of said laminated glass, the sensitive face of said photodiode being positioned in said plastic interlayer substantially parallel to at least one of the outerlayers of said laminated glass.

2. In a laminated glass as claimed in claim 1, a photodiode which is a silicon cell photodiode.

3. In a laminated glass as claimed in claim 1, a photodiode placed in vicinity of one of the edges of the glass, conductors connected to said photodiode going outside said glass for connection to an outside electric circuit.

4. In a laminated glass as claimed in claim 1, a photodiode and conductors attached thereto encased in a plastic coating compatible with the plastic of the interlayer of said glass to facilitate incorporation of said photodiode and said conductors in said interlayer.

5. In a laminated glass as claimed in claims 1, more than one photodiode buried in the interlayer of said glass.

6. An automatic device for turning on and off the lights of a motor vehicle comprising a laminated glass including a thin photodiode buried in the plastic interlayer of said laminated glass, the sensitive face of said photodiode being positioned in said plastic interlayer substantially parallel to at least one of the outerlayers of said laminated glass, conductors connected to said photodiode, said conductors mounted in parallel to a lighting circuit for a motor vehicle to control by an amplification circuit the lights of said vehicle, said lights being turned on when the ambient light decreases below a certain threshold and turning off when ambient light exceeds a second threshold.

7. An automatic device as claimed in claim 6, wherein the glass is the windshield of the vehicle, the photodiode is mounted on the inside of a mounting seal for said windshield along one of the side posts of said windshield, the sensitive face of said photodiode being turned toward the inside of the motor vehicle so that said photodiode is protected from any direct lighting and is affected primarily by the ambient light transmitted along the laminated glass through the inside glass sheet thereof.

8. An automatic device as claimed in claim 6, wherein the turn-on threshold for the lights is about 100 lux and the turn-off threshold for the lights is about 300 lux, a time delay being incorporated in the electric control circuit so that turning off is accomplished only a certain period after the threshold of 300 lux has been reached.