Electrochromic contrast-plate

• US 6,344,918 B1
• Filed: 04/14/1999
• Issued: 02/05/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 03/29/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Bayer AG
• Original Assignee: Bayer AG
• Inventors: Kostromine, Serguei, Neigl, Ralf, Berneth, Horst, Jacobsen, Wolfgang
• Primary Examiner(s): Lester, Evelyn A
• Application Number:
  US09/291,834
• Time in Patent Office: 1,028 Days
• Field of Search: 359/265-275
• US Class Current: 359/265
• CPC Class Codes: C09K 9/02 Organic tenebrescent materials
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/1533 structural features not otherwise provided for
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0421 by interrupting or reflecting a light beam, e.g. optical touch-screen

Abstract

The invention relates to an electrochromic contrast plate which is either arranged as a discrete unit in front of the screen or is connected to the outer surface of the screen through a common sheet, consisting of a pair of transparent glass or plastic sheets which are provided, on one side each, with an electroconductive, transparent coating, and which are joined together on the sides of their conductive coating via a sealing ring, and in which the volume formed by the two sheets and the sealing ring is filled with an electrochronic medium, characterized in that the electrochromic medium is a liquid, a gel or a polymer. The invention furthermore relates to an electrochromic contrast plate with integrated touch screen which has a larger base area than the area of the screen, and, at at least one of the faces of the outer sheet (outer plate) of the electrochromic contrast plate, a radiation source is arranged whose light enters the outer plate and illuminates it, and, at the inner sheet (carrier plate), in the region which projects beyond the screen area, a photodetector is mounted in whose photosensitive solid-angle region part or all of the carrier plate is located, if it projects beyond the screen area. The invention furthermore relates to electrochromic side-chain oligomers or polymers which can be used as electrochromic media.

Claims

1. An electrochromic contrast plate comprising:

(a) a pair of transparent glass or plastic sheets that are each provided on one side with an electroconductive, transparent coating and that are joined together at the sides of their conductive coating via a sealing ring,

(b) a volume formed by the pair of sheets and the sealing ring, and

(c) an electrochromic medium that is a liquid, a gel or a polymer and that fills in the volume, which upon application of a voltage produces a uniform grey coloration in a C.I.E. triangle so that color coordinates (x,y) of dyes in the electrochromic medium are between 0.3 and 0.37 in the C.I.E. triangle.

2. The electrochromic contrast plate of claim 1, wherein the electrochromic medium comprises at least one pair of electrochromic and oxidizable or reducible substances OX₂ and RED₁.

3. The electrochromic contrast plate of claim 1, wherein the electrochromic medium comprises:

a) a reducible substance that has at least one chemically reversible reduction wave in the cyclic voltammogram and an oxidizable substance that correspondingly has at least one chemically reversible oxidation wave, or

b) a reducible substance and a oxidizable substance that are covalently bonded to one another via a bridge B, or

c) a reducible substance or oxidizable substance, or both a reducible and an oxidizable substance selected from the group consisting of substances in which a reversible transition between the oxidizable form and the reducible form or vice versa is associated with the breaking or formation of a σ

-bond, or

d) a reducible substance, an oxidizable substance, or both a reducible substance and an oxidizable substance selected from the group consisting of metal salts and metal complexes of metals that exist in at least two oxidation states, or

e) a reducible substance, an oxidizable substance, or both a reducible substance and an oxidizable substance selected from the group consisting of oligomers and polymers that contain at least one of said redox systems, or alternatively pairs of such redox systems, as defined under a) to d), or

f) a reducible substance, an oxidizable substance, or both a reducible substance and an oxidizable substance selected from the group consisting of mixtures of the substances described in a) to e), provided that these mixtures comprise at least one reducible and at least one oxidizable redox system.

4. The electrochromic contrast plate of claim 1, wherein the electrochromic medium comprises electrochromic oligomers or polymers of the formulae

5. The electrochromic contrast plate of claim 1, wherein the electrochromic medium comprises electrochromic side-chain oligomers or polymers of the formulae

6. The electrochromic contrast plate of claim 5, wherein the electrochromic medium comprises electrochromic side-chain oligomers or polymers in which

D represents the formula

7. The electrochromic contrast plate of claim 1, wherein the transmission of the electrochromic layer in the visible region varies on variation of the strength of an applied voltage.

8. The electrochromic contrast plate of claim 1, wherein the minimum transmission of the electrochromic layer is less than 25%.

9. The electrochromic contrast plate of claim 1, wherein the maximum transmission of the electrochromic layer is greater than 70%.

10. The electrochromic contrast plate of claim 1, therein, upon application of a voltage to the conductive coatings, the electrochromic layer changes transmission in less than 5 minutes.

11. The electrochromic device of claim 1, wherein the contrast plate is connected to the screen via a common sheet.

12. An electrochromic contrast plate device comprising:

(1) an integrated touch screen,

(2) an electrochromic contrast plate device comprising

(a) a pair of transparent glass or plastic sheets that are each provided on one side with an electroconductive, transparent coating and that are joined together at the sides of their conductive coating via a sealing ring, wherein one sheet faces the screen and is a carrier plate, and the other sheet is an other plate,

(b) a volume formed by the pair of sheets and the sealing ring, and

(c) an electrochromic medium that is a liquid, a gel or a polymer and that fills in the volume, which upon application of a voltage produces a uniform grey coloration in a C.I.E. triangle so that color coordinates (x,y) of dyes in the electrochromic medium are between 0.3 and 0.37 in the C.I.E. triangle,

(d) a base, and

(3) a radiation source,

wherein the base of the contrast plate has an area that is larger than the area of the screen, and the radiation source is arranged at least one face of the outer plate so that that light can enter and illuminate the outer plate, and at least one photodetector is mounted at the carrier plate, wherein some or all of the carrier plate lies within a photosensitive solid-angle region of a photodetector.

13. The electrochromic contrast plate of claim 12, wherein the electroconductive, transparent coating is structured by at least one of the sheets of the electrochromic contrast plate.

14. The electrochromic contrast plate of claim 12, wherein the carrier plate has a coating that predominantly reflects visible light, while it is predominantly transparent to the light emitted by the radiation source.

15. The electrochromic contrast plate of claim 12, wherein the carrier plate has a coating that has an area that is transparent to the light from the radiation source.

16. The electrochromic contrast plate of claim 12, wherein the outer plate has a thickness of at least 0.05 mm.

17. The electrochromic contrast plate of claim 12, wherein the outer plate has a refractive index of at least 1.5.

18. The electrochromic contrast plate of claim 12, wherein the radiation source has an emission maximum at a wavelength of greater than 680 nm.

19. The electrochromic contrast plate of claim 12, wherein at least one and a maximum of three faces of the outer plate are coated with an optically reflective material.

20. The electrochromic contrast plate of claim 12, wherein the optically reflective material is gold, silver, copper, nickel or aluminium, and the coating is produced by vapor deposition, sputtering, CVD or bonding on of metal-coated films.

21. The electrochromic contrast plate of claim 12, wherein a plurality of photodetectors are mounted at the carrier plate, and a region of the outer plate is located at a photosensitive solid-angle region of each photodetector.

22. The electrochromic contrast plate of claim 12, wherein each photodetector is followed by a unit for processing the electrical signal.