Window aerial for motor vehicles

• US 7,388,548 B2
• Filed: 04/21/2004
• Issued: 06/17/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 05/02/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Saint-Gobain Glass France (Compagnie De Saint-Gobain)
• Original Assignee: Saint-Gobain Glass France (Compagnie De Saint-Gobain)
• Inventors: Maeuser, Helmut
• Primary Examiner(s): CHEN, SHIH CHAO
• Application Number:
  US10/555,103
• Publication Number:
  US 20060273966A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,518 Days
• Field of Search: 343711-713
• US Class Current: 343/713
• CPC Class Codes: B32B 17/10036 comprising two outer glass sheets
• CPC Class Codes: B32B 17/10174 Coatings of a metallic or dielectric material on a constituent layer of glass or polymer
• CPC Class Codes: B32B 17/10376 Laminated safety glass or glazing containing metal wires
• CPC Class Codes: B32B 17/10761 containing vinyl acetal
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/1285 with capacitive feeding through the windscreen
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 21/28 Combinations of substantially independent non-interacting antenna units or systems multiple beam H01Q25/00

Abstract

An antenna glazing for automobiles, including an electrically conducting cladding extending surface-wise over the surface of the glazing up to a zone of the free edge of the cladding, serving as an antenna element, and a coupling electrode furnished with external connections, coupled in the capacitive regime to the electrically conducting cladding with interposition of an insulating layer. The coupling electrode is composed at least of one thin wire, which starts from the zone at the edge of the glazing, is conducted over the surface covered by the cladding, and is returned to the zone of the edge with at least one fold, so that the two ends of the wire are situated in the zone of the edge of the glazing.

Claims

1. An antenna glazing for automobiles, comprising:

an electrically conducting cladding extending over a surface of the glazing, an edge zone around an outer periphery of the glazing being free of the cladding, said cladding serving as antenna element; and

a coupling electrode including external connections and a wire, said electrode being capacitively coupled to the cladding through an insulating layer,

wherein the wire includes two ends electrically connected with the external connections, the two ends located at the edge zone, and the wire is arranged such that one end of the two ends is located at the edge zone, is conducted over the surface covered by the cladding, and is returned to the edge zone by forming at least one loop.

2. The antenna glazing as claimed in claim 1, wherein said wire has a meander-like arrangement on the glazing, with portions of the wire arranged in parallel, and a spacing between portions of the wire that are arranged in parallel to each other are larger than the thickness of the wire.

3. The antenna glazing as claimed in claim 1, wherein the two ends of the wire of the coupling electrode are placed at different locations of the edge zone.

4. The antenna glazing as claimed in claim 3, wherein the two ends of the wire of the coupling electrode are placed in two different corners that belong to one edge of the glazing.

5. The antenna glazing as claimed in claim 1, wherein one end of the wire of the coupling electrode is linked to at least one of a receiver or transmitter, and a other end either free or terminated by a matching resistor.

6. The antenna glazing as claimed in claim 1, further comprising an additional coupling electrode, wherein the coupling electrode and the additional coupling electrode are arranged in different edges of the glazing.

7. The antenna glazing as claimed in claim 6, wherein the ends of the wires of the coupling electrodes are placed in a narrow local neighborhood.

8. The antenna glazing as claimed in claim 6, wherein the coupling electrode is arranged in a side edge of the glazing and the additional coupling electrode is arranged in a longitudinal edge of the glazing.

9. The antenna glazing as claimed in claim 6, where the coupling electrode and the additional coupling electrode form a diversity antenna device.

10. The antenna glazing as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

an opaque edge strip at least partially covering the coupling electrode.

11. The antenna glazing as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

a connection element configured to establish the external connections for the coupling electrode forming an interface that is linked to the ends of the wire.

12. The antenna glazing as claimed in claim 11, further comprising:

and adhesive layer fixing the wire to the antenna glazing.

13. The antenna glazing as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

at least two layers,

wherein the cladding and the coupling electrode are located inside the at least two layers, and at least one of the ends of the coupling electrode or an interface linked to the ends are conducted outside of the two layers.

14. The antenna glazing as claimed in claim 1, wherein the the two layers are two rigid planes bonded together by an adhesive layer that forms said insulation layer.

15. The antenna glazing as claimed in claim 1, wherein the wire has a diameter in a range between 10 μ

m and 100 μ

m.

16. A method of using the antenna glazing as claimed in claim 1, comprising the steps of:

first supplying an antenna signal to the coupling electrode;

second supplying electrical power to the coupling electrode superimposed to the antenna signal so as to generate heat with the coupling electrode.