JPH02216131A - Display controller for electrochromic element - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a display controller of an electrochromic EC element capable of such control that the density of coloring of the EC element is not changed even at the time of the change of the ambient temperature by controlling the voltage application between both electrode layers of the EC element in accordance with the detected temperature of a temperature detecting sensor. CONSTITUTION:An EC layer 3 is laminated on a transparent electrode layer 2 on the display device of a glass substrate 1 and a reflecting electrode layer 4 is laminated on this layer 3 to obtain a reflecting EC element 5, and the ambient temperature of the EC element 5 is detected by a temperature detecting sensor 8, and the detection signal is outputted to an operation part 7b. The operation part 7b subtracts a reference temperature from the detected temperature and multiplies this calculated temperature by a temperature coefficient of voltage to calculate a minute change value of the voltage. The operation part 7b adds this minute change value to the value of the coloring voltage due to a setting part 7d to detect the voltage value. An application control part 7a controls the voltage application between both electrode layers 2 and 4 of an applying part 6 so that the value of the voltage applied between both electrode layers 2a and 4 by a measuring part 7c is equal to the voltage value detected by the operation part 7b.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a display control device for an electrochromic device.

(Prior Art) An electrochromic element (hereinafter referred to as an EC element) consisting of a pair of electrode layers and an electrochromic layer (hereinafter referred to as an EC layer) located between the two electrode layers is formed by ta+. When a voltage is applied to the EC layer, the ECl1i becomes colored, and when a voltage of opposite polarity is applied or the two electrodes are short-circuited, the EC layer is decolored and returns to its original colorless and transparent state.

By coloring or decoloring in this manner, the amount of transmitted light or reflected light of the EC element can be adjusted, and it can be used as a light control element.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, when the EC element is colored, the coloring voltage between both electrode layers is kept constant and the coloring density is not changed.
However, since EC elements have temperature characteristics, if the ambient temperature of the EC element changes, the coloring density will also change.
There was a problem in that it was not possible to keep the 1 degree constant.

An object of the present invention is to solve this problem and provide a display control device for an EC element that controls the coloring 11 degrees so that it does not change even if the ambient temperature changes.

(Means for solving problem ii) 'In order to achieve the above object, the present invention has a structure in which voltage application between both electrode layers of the EC element is controlled according to the ambient temperature of the EC element.

[Effect]

By controlling the voltage application between both electrodes, both 1tl
The coloring voltage between fi is adjusted according to each temperature, and therefore the coloring density can be controlled to be kept constant.

The EC element used in the present invention is already known, and basically consists of a transparent electrode layer on the display side, a reflective electrode layer or a transparent electrode layer on the back side, and a transparent electrode layer on the display side and the back side. and an EC layer located between the 'r quadrupole layer. Although the laminated structure of the EC layer is not particularly limited, the present invention is composed of a multilayer film including a reduction coloring layer, an ion conductive layer, and an oxidation coloring layer.

As a material for the transparent electrode layer, for example, tin oxide (SnOz
), indium oxide (IngOff), ITO (a mixed film of tin oxide and indium oxide), etc. are used. Such a transparent electrode layer is formed in -II by a vacuum thin film forming technique such as vacuum evaporation, ion blasting, or sputtering. As the reduction coloring layer of the EC layer, tungsten oxide (WO, +), molybdenum oxide (Mob, ), etc. are used.

As the ion conductive layer, for example, tantalum oxide (Taxe
s), titanium oxide (Tilt), aluminum oxide (A
ltoj) etc. are used. These thin films of materials are insulators for electrons due to the manufacturing method, but they are insulators for electrons (H
It becomes a good conductor for 2) and hydroxy ions (0).Cations are required for the coloring and decoloring reaction of the reduction coloring layer, and it is necessary to contain H' ions and Li' ions in the reduction coloring layer and other parts. 1 (The ions do not have to be ions from the beginning, it is sufficient that H" ions are generated when a voltage is applied. Therefore, water may be contained instead of H" ions. This water is extremely It is sufficient to have a small amount of water, and often even moisture that naturally enters from the atmosphere can cause discoloration.

A reversible electrolytic oxidation layer, an oxidation coloring layer, or a catalyst layer may be provided with a 417111 layer interposed between the reduction coloring layer. Such layers include, for example, iridium oxide or hydroxide, nickel, chromium, vanadium, ruthenium, rhodium, and the like. These substances may be dispersed in the ion conductive layer or the transparent electrode, or the reflective electrode layer may contain these constituent substances dispersedly, for example, gold, silver, aluminum, Metals such as chromium, tin, zinc, nickel, ruthenium, rhodium, and stainless steel are used.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

〔Example〕

FIG. 1 +8+ is a vertical sectional view of an EC element according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1+8+, an ITO film with a thickness of approximately 2000 wafers is formed on the glass substrate 1 as the transparent electrode IM2 on the display side, and is separated into the main body 2a and the extraction portion 2b of the electrode layer 2 by etching. did. On top of that, as ECl 13, there is an oxidized coloring layer 3c made of a mixed film of iridium oxide and tin oxide with a thickness of about 1,000 mm and a thickness of about 1. An ion conductive layer 3b made of a tantalum oxide film with a thickness of about 5,000 mm and a reduction color forming layer 1i3a made of a tungsten oxide film with a thickness of about 5000 mm were sequentially laminated. Further, on the EC layer 3, as a reflective capping layer 4 on the back side,
A reflective EC element 5 was fabricated by laminating an aluminum film with a thickness of about 1,000 layers so as to be in contact with the extraction portion 2b.

When the ambient temperature of the EC element 5 is 20°C and the bipolar pole layers 2a and 4
When the applied voltage between is zero, through the electrode lead-out part 2b of the reflective electrode N4 and the lead-out part 2C of the transparent electrode scratching layer 2,
Coloring voltage (+1.35V) between the two types of pole layers 2a and 4
When applying , the wavelength 63 incident from the glass substrate 1 side
The reflectance for 3 nm light decreased to 10% after 10 seconds, and this reflectance was maintained for a while even after the voltage application was stopped. Next, when a decoloring voltage (-1.35 V) was applied, the reflectance recovered to 60% after the same <10 seconds. Further, the reflectance can be arbitrarily adjusted between 10% and 60% by changing the applied voltage between the bipolar pole layers 2a and 4. Figure 2 shows the EC element 5. This is a graph showing the relationship between the ambient temperature and the applied voltage between the picture electrodes N2a and 4, and one side A of the two-dot chain line ASB in the graph is 1.35V when the ambient temperature is 20°C and the applied voltage is zero. The maximum voltage of 1.35 V is applied between the voltages 2a and 4, and the applied voltage of 1.35 V is kept constant regardless of changes in the ambient temperature. However, as mentioned above, in order to prevent the coloring density of the EC element 5 from changing due to changes in the ambient temperature, it is necessary to adjust the applied voltage of around 1.35 V according to the changes in the ambient temperature. As a result of adjusting the applied voltage based on one of the diagonal lines C, the color density of the EC element 5 could be kept constant. Similarly to the above-mentioned one A, the other B of the two-dot chains iA and B is applied with a voltage of 1.32V when the ambient temperature is 20°C and the applied voltage is zero, and is constant regardless of changes in the ambient temperature. The other side of the diagonal line shows the state when the applied voltage of around 1.32 V is adjusted in accordance with each temperature in order to maintain a constant coloring density. Note that the slopes of the diagonal lines C and D are the same.

At the diagonal line C above, the applied voltage corresponding to the lowest temperature (-20°C) located on the horizontal axis of the graph is approximately 1.41 V
, and the applied voltage corresponding to the maximum temperature (90° C.) is about 1.24V. Subtract the voltage (1,41V) from this applied voltage (1,24V) and get the value (-〇.17)
Detecting, and - subtracting the minimum temperature (-20°C) from the above-mentioned maximum temperature (90°C) and detecting the value (110°C),
By dividing the detected value of applied voltage (-0,17) by the detected value of temperature (110°C), the value (-1,5 m
V/° C.) is calculated as the temperature coefficient of voltage (slope of the diagonal line).

And the temperature coefficient mentioned above (-1,5m V/'c
) The configuration of this device that controls voltage application to the EC element 5 is shown in FIG. 1 (bl).

In FIG. 1 (1), the application section 6 connected to the electrode extraction parts 2b and 2c applies a voltage between the bipolar electrode layers 2a and 40 via the electrode extraction parts 2b and 2c. Further, an application control section 7a that controls voltage application by the application section 6 is connected to a calculation section 7b and a measurement section 7c.

The measuring section 7c measures the voltage applied between the bipolar electrode layers 2a and 4, and uses, for example, a voltmeter. Arithmetic unit 7
b is connected to the setting section 7d and the temperature sensor 8. The setting unit 7d is a keyboard for setting the coloring density of the EC element 5, and when the coloring density is set by operating each key, the bipolar polar layer 2 at the surrounding reference temperature (20° C.) is set.
The coloring voltage between a and 4 is set according to the above-mentioned set density, and a voltage signal corresponding to the value of the coloring voltage is output to the calculation section 7b. The temperature sensor 8 detects the ambient temperature T of the EC element 5.
A temperature measurement signal corresponding to t is output to the calculation section 7b. Arithmetic unit 7
b is calculated by detecting the detected temperature T°C by inputting the temperature measurement signal, subtracting the reference temperature (20°C) from the measured temperature T'C, and calculating the calculated temperature by the temperature coefficient of the voltage (-1.5m V
/° C.) to calculate the voltage minute change value.Next, the arithmetic unit 7b adds the voltage minute change value to the coloring voltage value provided by the setting unit 7d to detect the voltage value. The application control section 7a controls the application of voltage between the picture electrodes N2.4 of the application section 6 so that the value of the voltage applied between the polar layers 2a and 4 by the measurement section 7c is equal to the voltage value of the calculation section 7b. control.

Next, the operation of controlling the voltage application between Hyakurai IJi 2a and IJi 4 according to the diagonal line C based on each temperature in the graph shown in FIG. 2 will be described.

First, when the keyboard 7d in FIG. 1 (bl) sets the maximum coloring density by operating each key, the coloring voltage at the reference temperature (20°C) is set to the maximum 1.35V, and A signal corresponding to the maximum coloring voltage (1,35V) is output to the calculation unit 7b.On the other hand, when the temperature sensor 8 detects that the ambient temperature of the EC element 5 is, for example, -20°C, the signal corresponding to the maximum coloring voltage (1,35V) is outputted to the calculation unit 7b. Temperature measurement signal is calculated by calculation unit 7
Output to b. The calculation unit 7b calculates by subtracting the reference temperature (20°C) from the detected temperature (-20°C) based on the input of the temperature measurement signal, and calculates the calculated temperature (-40°C) by using the above-mentioned temperature coefficient (-1
, 5mV/℃) to obtain the minute voltage change value (
Δ0.06V) is calculated.

Next, the calculation unit 7b adds the minute change value (Δ0.06V) to the maximum coloring voltage (1.35V) to obtain the voltage value (
1,41V) is detected. The application control section 7a is the measurement section 7
The application of voltage between the picture electrodes 1'12a and 4 by the application section 6 is controlled so that the value of the voltage applied between the picture electrode layers 2a and 4 by C is equal to the above voltage value (1, 41V). As the voltage application unit 6 applies voltage, the value of the applied voltage changes to the above voltage value (
1.41V), the voltage application control unit 7a detects this via the measurement unit 7C and stops applying the voltage from the voltage application unit 6. Therefore, the value of the applied voltage at an ambient temperature of -20° C. is 1.41 V, and it is possible to color the film according to the above-mentioned set density.

Further, when the temperature sensor 8 detects that the ambient temperature of the EC element 5 is +90° C., it outputs a temperature signal corresponding to the detected temperature to the calculation unit 7b. The calculation unit 7b calculates the detected temperature (
Calculated by subtracting the reference temperature (20°C) from 90°C, and then converting the calculated temperature (70°C) to the aforementioned temperature coefficient (-1.5mV
/ t) to obtain the minute voltage change value (△-0,1
1V). Next, the calculation unit 7b calculates the minute change value (△
-0,1,1,V) to the maximum coloring voltage (1,35V)
) and detects the voltage (i (1, 24V).The application control unit 7a controls the measurement unit 7C to add the voltage (i (1, 24V)
The voltage application of the application unit 6 is controlled so that the value of the applied voltage between the voltages 4 and 4 is equal to the above voltage value (1, 24V). When the voltage applied between the picture electrodes 1i2a and 4 reaches the above voltage value (1, 24V) as the voltage application unit 6 applies the voltage,
The application control unit 7a detects this through the measurement unit 7C, and stops applying the voltage from the application unit 6.

Therefore, the value of the applied voltage at an ambient temperature of plus 90° C. is 1.24 V, and it is possible to color according to the above-mentioned set density.

Furthermore, when the temperature sensor 8 detects that the ambient temperature of the EC element 5 is, for example, plus 20°C or 60°C, the applied voltage corresponding to the ambient temperature of 20°C is calculated by the calculation unit 7b in the same manner as described above. .35V and 60℃
The applied voltage corresponding to the ambient temperature is 1.29V, and the applied voltage is adjusted in the same manner as described above.

Adjustment of the applied voltage due to the diagonal line in the graph of FIG. 2 is performed by setting the coloring density according to the intermediate color. That is, when each key on the keyboard 7d in FIG. 1 [b] is operated to set the intermediate concentration, the reference temperature (20
The coloring voltage at 0.degree. C.) is set, for example, to the aforementioned 1.32 V in accordance with the intermediate density, and a signal corresponding to the voltage (1.32 V) is output to the calculation section 7b. The calculation unit 7b calculates the temperature measurement signal from the temperature measurement sensor 8 and the voltage (1,
32V) When the 1s number is input, the temperature is calculated by subtracting the reference temperature (20℃) from the detected temperature in the same way as above, and the calculated temperature is multiplied by the temperature coefficient of the voltage (-1.5mV/'c). Then, calculate the minute change value of the voltage. Next, the calculation unit 7b applies the minute change value to the above-mentioned coloring voltage (1.32V).
The application control unit 7a detects the voltage value by adding the voltage to
The voltage application by the application part 6 is controlled so that the voltage value of the calculation part 7b becomes equal to the value of the voltage applied by the measurement part 7C. Thereby, the EC element 5 can be colored according to the above-described set intermediate density.

Therefore, the setting section 7 for presetting the coloring density of the EC element 5
d, the coloring density can be set as desired, and the set density of the setting section 7d can be kept constant according to changes in the ambient temperature.

In addition, when the surrounding temperature is high, the applied voltage is the maximum applied voltage (1, 35 V) at the base temperature (20°C).
Since the voltage is lower than that, there is an advantage that no overvoltage is applied to the EC element 5, and uneven coloring does not occur or the ECD is not damaged.

According to the above embodiments, it has been described that the reflective EC element 5 provided with the reflective electrode layer 2 on the rear side is used to control the voltage application to the element 5, but the present invention is not limited to this. Of course, a transmission type EC element having a transparent electrode layer formed on the rear side may be used, and it goes without saying that by controlling the voltage application, a constant coloring density can be maintained as described above.

Regarding the materials of each layer 2.3a to 3C14 that constituted the IEC element 5, in this example, the transparent electrode layer 2 is an ITO thin film, and the ECC84 oxidized coloring layer 3c is an iridium oxide-tin oxide mixed film, an ion conductive layer. 3b is a tantalum oxide film, the reduction color forming layer 3a is a tungsten oxide film, and the reflective electrode layer 4 is an aluminum film. Often, the EC element is constructed by changing each layer 2.3a to 3c, 4 from the material described in this embodiment to another material, such as molybdenum oxide may be used as the reduction coloring layer 3a.
What is necessary is to control the voltage application to the element.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the present invention, in order to control the voltage application to the EC element according to the temperature detected by the temperature sensor, the applied voltage is adjusted according to the change in the ambient temperature of the EC element, thereby coloring the EC element. It can be controlled to keep 4 degrees constant.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 fa) is a vertical cross-sectional view of an EC element according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1tb+ is a schematic configuration diagram of an EC element and its display control device according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a graph showing the relationship between the ambient temperature of the EC element and the charging voltage between both electrode layers. [Explanation of symbols of main parts] 2----m-transparent electrode layer 3 on the display side -electrochromic layer 4-m-reflective electrode layer s on the back side---1-electrochromic element 6--- ---Application section 7a ---Application control section 7b ---Arithmetic section 7c ---A measurement section 7d--Setting section 8
−・−・・−−11 Temperature sensor

Claims (1)

[Claims] Consisting of at least a transparent electrode layer on the display side, a reflective electrode layer or a transparent electrode layer on the back side, and an electrochromic layer located between the two electrode layers on the display side and the back side. A display control device for an electrochromic element, which includes an electrochromic element and an application means for applying a voltage between the two electrode layers, comprising: a temperature sensor that detects the ambient temperature of the element; and a temperature sensor that detects the ambient temperature of the element; a setting means for setting in advance a coloring voltage between the two electrode layers at a reference temperature around the element, thereby setting a coloring voltage between the two electrode layers according to the set concentration; calculated by subtracting the reference temperature from the temperature detected by the temperature sensor; and calculating means for multiplying the calculated temperature by the temperature coefficient of the voltage to calculate a minute change value of the voltage, and adding the minute change value to the value of the colored voltage by the setting means to detect the voltage value. a measuring means for measuring the value of the voltage applied between both electrode layers by the voltage application of the applying means; and a measuring means for measuring the value of the voltage applied between the two electrode layers; 1. A display control device for an electrochromic element, comprising: an application control means for controlling voltage application to the means;