JPH07281110A - Light transparent adjusting device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a light transparent adjusting device which is simple, is small in size and weight and is silent and is suitable for adjusting a light transmission quantity with an area of a wide range. CONSTITUTION:This light transparent adjusting device relatively moves a polarizing layer 16 on a moving side relative to a polarizing layer 15 on a stationary side. The device has an electrostatic actuator having a stator obtd. by disposing plural electrodes 29a to 29c on an insulating layer 28 and a moving element 24 obtd. by disposing plural electrodes 34a to 34c on an insulating layer 33 opposite to the electrodes of the stator and forming the polarizing layer on the moving side. This electrostatic actuator impresses high voltage to the respective electrodes of either of the stator or the moving element by changing over polarities, impresses high voltage fixedly to the respective electrodes of the other thereof and moves the moving element by the electrostatic force generated between the stator and the moving element.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a light transmission adjusting device,
More specifically, the present invention relates to a light transmission adjusting device suitable for adjusting the amount of light transmission in a vehicle window, sun visor, moon roof, or the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a light transmission adjusting device for a vehicle window, a sun visor, a moon roof, etc., for example, one having a structure shown in FIG. 11 is known. (See JP-A-62-29611)

In this apparatus, polarizing plates 4A and 4B formed by alternately combining polarization planes having different polarization characteristics are arranged in the gap 3 between the transparent plates 1A and 1B. Of the two polarizing plates 4A and 4B, one polarizing plate 4A is fixed, and the other polarizing plate 4B is slidably arranged in the gap 3 so that the relative polarizing plates 4A and 4B are arranged. The amount of light transmission can be adjusted by changing the position and changing the overlapping manner of the polarization planes.

A sliding block 6 having a guide groove 6a is in contact with the slidable polarizing plate 4B, and the guide groove 6a is provided at the tip of a drive arm 8 driven by an electric motor 7. The tip pin 8a is engaged. When the drive arm 8 driven by the electric motor 7 rotates, the sliding block 6 moves in the vertical direction in the figure, and the polarizing plate 4B moves in parallel with the other polarizing plate 4A together with the sliding block 6.

[0005]

As described above, in the conventional light transmission adjusting device shown in FIG. 11, the driving force of the electric motor 7 is transmitted to the polarizing plate 4B via the drive arm 8 and the sliding block 6. Although the polarizing plate 4B is moved, in this case, in order to make the polarization planes of the two polarizing plates 4A and 4B accurately overlap each other at a predetermined position, it is necessary to accurately control the positions of two or more points. Therefore, a positioning sensor (not shown) for improving the positioning accuracy is required, and a control circuit for controlling the electric motor 7 based on the input from the positioning sensor is required. Therefore, in the above-mentioned conventional light transmission adjusting device, the structure becomes complicated and the device becomes large.
Further, the electric motor 7 has a large operating noise generated when it is rotated, which may cause a driver to feel uncomfortable. further,
The structure of FIG. 11 also has a problem that it is not suitable for shielding a wide area from light.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems and has a simple structure, a small size and a light weight, a polarizing plate can be positioned with high accuracy, and an operating noise can be reduced. The present invention has been made for the purpose of providing a light transmission adjusting device which is quiet and suitable for adjusting the light transmission amount in a wide area.

[0007]

Therefore, according to a first aspect of the present invention, in a light transmission adjusting device for moving a movable-side polarizing layer relative to a fixed-side polarizing layer, a plurality of electrodes are provided on an insulating layer. A stator provided with a plurality of electrodes in an insulating layer facing the electrodes of the stator, and a mover having the movable side polarization layer formed thereon; A high voltage is applied by switching the polarity to one of the electrodes, and a high voltage is fixedly applied to the other electrode, and the moving element is moved by the electrostatic force generated between the stator and the moving element. The present invention provides a light transmission adjusting device including an electrostatic actuator that moves a light.

[0008]

In the light transmission adjusting device according to the first aspect of the present invention, a high voltage is applied by switching the polarity to each electrode of either one of the stator and the mover in which a plurality of electrodes are arranged in the insulating layer, respectively, and the high voltage is applied to the other electrode. By statically applying a high voltage to each electrode, an electrostatic force is generated between the stator and the mover, and the mover provided with the polarizing layer on the moving side is moved, so that the operating noise is quiet. In addition, the position with respect to the stationary side polarizing layer with respect to the moving side polarizing layer is positioned with high accuracy.

Further, in the light transmission adjusting device of the first aspect, since the polarizing layer on the moving side is moved by the electrostatic actuator having the above structure, even when the light shielding area is set in a wide range, the entire device is It is simple, compact and lightweight.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described in detail with reference to the embodiments shown in the drawings. The light transmission adjusting device 10 according to the first embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 is attached to a glass (window glass 11) forming a window of an automobile.

The transparent member indicated by reference numeral 12 in the drawing is a rectangular box having one opening 12a, and a flange-like portion 12b is provided around the opening 12a. This transparent member 12
Has a flange-shaped portion 12b fixed to the window glass 11 to close the opening 12a.
Are formed. The transparent member 12 is made of resin such as acrylic or polycarbonate or glass.

A fixed-side polarizing layer 15 and a movable-side polarizing layer 16 are housed in the closed space 13, and the movable-side polarizing layer 16 is moved by an electrostatic actuator 17.

The fixed polarizing layer 15 is formed on a rectangular plate-shaped substrate 19 fixed to the window glass 11. The substrate 19 is made of, for example, triacetate cellulose (TAC), polybutyl terephthalate (PBT) or the like.

As shown in detail in FIG. 3A, the fixed polarization layer 15 has a rectangular first polarization plane 15a having a polarization line in the horizontal direction in the figure and a polarization line in the vertical direction in the figure. The rectangular second polarization planes 15b provided with are alternately combined. The width W1 of the first polarization plane 15a and the width W2 of the second polarization plane 15b are set to be equal.

On the other hand, the movable-side polarization layer 16 is formed on the upper surface 32b side (window glass 11 side) in the figure of the base material 32 of the moving element 24, which will be described later, and faces the fixed-side polarization layer 15. ing.

As shown in detail in FIG. 3B, the movable-side polarization layer 16 has the same structure as the fixed-side polarization layer 15. That is, the movable-side polarization layer 16 is formed by alternately combining the first polarization plane 16a having a polarization line in the horizontal direction in the figure and the second polarization plane 16b having a polarization line in the vertical direction in the figure. The width W1 of the first polarization plane 16a and the second polarization plane 16
The width W2 of b is the same and is set to be the same as the widths W1 and W2 of the polarizing layer 15 on the fixed side.

As shown in FIG. 4A, the first polarization planes 15a of the polarizing layer 15 on the fixed side and the polarizing layer 16 on the movable side,
16a and the second polarization planes 15a and 15b match,
When the movable-side polarizing layer 16 is positioned with respect to the fixed-side polarizing layer 15, a light ray from the sun or the like is easily transmitted.

On the other hand, by shifting the position of the movable side polarizing layer 16, as shown in FIG. 4B, the first polarization plane 15a of the fixed side polarizing layer 15 and the second polarization plane of the movable side polarizing layer 16 are moved. Face 16
b overlap each other, and the second polarization plane 15 of the polarization layer 15 on the fixed side
When b and a part of the first polarization surface 16a of the movable-side polarization layer 16 are overlapped with each other, the shielding surface 18 that is difficult to transmit light rays to this part.
Is formed.

As shown in FIG. 2, the electrostatic actuator 17 comprises an actuator body 20 and a control means 21.

The actuator body 20 includes a stator 23 fixed to the transparent member 12 in the closed space 13 and a mover 24 slidably accommodated in the closed space 13.

The stator 23 includes a transparent base material 27 fixed to the transparent member 12 and an insulating layer 28 formed on the base material 27. In the insulating layer 28, electrodes 29a, 29b,
29c is provided. The base material 27 is made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), and the insulating layer 28 is made of polyester.

As shown in FIG. 5, the electrode 29a and the electrode 2 are
9c is arranged in a comb shape so as to be inserted into each other, and an electrode 29b is independently provided in the middle of the electrodes 29a, 29c. The electrodes 29a, 29b, 29c are arranged at equal intervals, and every other two electrodes are arranged. Positioned electrodes 29a, 29
3 phases (A phase, B phase, C phase) by connecting b and 29c to each other
I am trying. Among them, the A-phase electrode 29a is connected to the “+” side of the high voltage source 30 via the photo relays SA + and SA−.
Connected to the "-" side, the B-phase electrode 29b is the photo relay S.
"+" Side of the high voltage source 30 via "B +" and "SB-"
, And the C-phase electrode 29c is connected to the photo relay S.
"+" Side of the high voltage source 30 via "C +" and "SC-"
Connected to the side.

In the mover 24, an insulating layer 33 is formed on the lower surface side 32a of the base material 32 in the figure. In this embodiment, the substrate 32 is made of polyethylene terephthalate and the insulating layer 33 is made of polyester. Both polyethylene terephthalate and polyester are materials having a small water absorption rate, and there is almost no difference in water absorption between the two materials. Therefore, in the mover 24 of the present embodiment, there is less risk that the mover 24 will warp to either side as compared with the case where triacetate cellulose (TAC) is used for the base material 32.

The insulating layer 33 has electrodes 34a, 34b, 3 having the same structure as that of the mover 24 shown in FIG.
4c are arranged at equal intervals, and the electrodes 34a, 34b, 34c, which are located at every other two, are interconnected to connect a phase, a b phase,
There are 3 phases, c phase. Also, of these three phases, b phase and c phase
The phases are interconnected to form the bc phase. High-voltage power supply 3 for phase a
0 is connected to the "+" side and the bc phase is connected to the "-" side, and a "+" high voltage is fixedly applied to the a layer electrode 34a, while the bc phase electrode 34b, A high voltage of "-" is fixedly applied to 34c. On the other hand, the movable polarization layer 16 is formed on the upper surface 32b side (the wind glass 11 side) of the base material 32 of the mover 24 facing the fixed polarization layer 15.

The control means 21 is the operation switch means 3
6, the controller 37, the photorelays SA + to SC−, and the high voltage source 30 are provided, and the mover 24 is provided as described above.
Of the a-phase electrode 34a is connected to the "+" side of the high voltage source 30, and the bc-phase electrodes 34b and 34c are connected to the "-" side of the high voltage source 30, while the A phase, B phase and C phase of the stator 23 are connected. Electrode 29a,
29b and 29c are connected to the "+" side and the "-" side of the high-voltage power supply 30 via photorelays SA + to SC-.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described.
First, when the mover 24 is moved to the right as shown by the arrow A in FIG. 1, when the operation switch 36 is set to the right movement, the controller 37 causes the photo relay SA + to.
By opening and closing SC-, the polarities of the A phase, B phase, and C phase of the stator 23 are switched at the timing shown in FIG. 6 (A).

In this case, assuming that one cycle is 360 °, A
B phase and C phase are 120 ° and 240 °, respectively
The polarity is switched with the delay of. The period from 0 ° to 120 ° is
A phase: "-", B phase: "+", C phase "+", as shown in FIG.
As shown in, the mover 21 is in a stable state.

Next, during the period of 120 ° to 240 °, A
Phase: "+", B phase: "-", C phase: "+", as shown in FIG.
As shown in (A), the floating force from the stator 23 acts on the mover 24, and the repulsive force and the suction force that move rightward act.

Subsequently, during the period of 240 ° to 360 °, A
Phase: "+", B phase: "+", C phase: "-", as shown in FIG.
As shown in (B), in the same manner as the above 120 ° to 240 ° period, the moving member 24 is levitated from the stator 23,
Moreover, the repulsive force and the suction force that move it to the right act.

Thereafter, the states of FIGS. 2, 7A, and 7B are repeated, and the mover 24 moves to the right in the figure with respect to the stator 23.

On the other hand, when the mover 24 is moved to the left as shown by the arrow B in FIG. 1, the operation switch 36
Is set to the leftward movement, the control 37 opens and closes the photorelays SA + to SA− to switch the polarities of the A phase, B phase, and C phase of the stator 23 at the timing shown in FIG. 6 (B).

During the period of 0 ° to 120 °, the stable state shown in FIG. 2 (A phase: "-", B phase: "+", C phase:
"+"). Also, during the period of 120 ° to 240 °,
As shown in FIG. 8 (A), A phase: “+”, B phase:
"+", C phase: "-", during the period of 240 ° to 360 °,
As shown in FIG. 8B, A phase: “+”, B phase:
“−”, C phase: “+”, and the stator 2 is attached to the mover 24.
Repulsive force and suction force act so as to float from 3 and move to the left. Hereinafter, the states shown in FIGS. 2 and 8A and 8B are repeated, and the mover 24 moves leftward in the figure with respect to the stator 23.

When the mover 24 moves to the right or left as described above, the moving-side polarization layer 16 formed on the mover 24 moves with respect to the fixed-side polarization layer 15 and is fixed as described above. By changing the overlapping state of the first polarization planes 15a and 16a and the second polarization planes 15a and 15b of the polarization layers 15 and 16 on the movable side and the moving side, as shown in FIG.
And the state of FIG. 4B, the amount of light transmission can be adjusted.

As described above, in this embodiment, since the electrostatic actuator 17 adjusts the positions of the moving-side polarization surface 16 and the fixed-side polarization surface 15, the operating noise is extremely quiet.

Further, in this embodiment, since the electrostatic actuator 17 is used as the drive source as described above, a positioning sensor and a complicated control circuit are not required, and compared with the case where an electric motor or the like is used as the drive source. The structure is simple and the size and weight can be reduced.

Further, since the electrostatic actuator 17 is used, when the areas of the polarizing layers 15 and 16 are set to be large, it is possible to cope with this by increasing the number of electrodes of the stator 23 and the mover 24. It is suitable for adjusting the amount of light transmission in a wide area.

In the second embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 9, the transparent member 12 has the window glass 11 side closed by the closing portion 12c, and the fixed side polarizing layer 15 is on the closed space 13 side of the closing portion 12c. It is installed directly in. In this second embodiment,
Since the hermetically sealed space 13 is hermetically sealed by the transparent member 12 itself, the stator 23, the mover 24, and the polarizing layers 15 and 16 are provided in the hermetically sealed space even when the entire light transmission adjusting device 10 is removed from the window glass 11. It is accommodated in the inside 13 and is easy to handle. Since the other construction and operation of the second embodiment are the same as those of the first embodiment described above,
The description is omitted.

In the third embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 10, the arrangement order of the stator 23, the mover 24 and the polarizing layers 15 and 16 in the closed space 13 is opposite to that of the first embodiment.
That is, in the third embodiment, the stator 23 is fixed to the window glass 11, while the base material 19 and the fixed polarization layer 15 are formed on the closed space 13 side of the transparent member 12. A mover 24 is arranged between the stator 23 and the fixed polarization layer 15. An insulating layer 32 and electrodes 29a, 29b, 29c are provided on the upper surface side in the figure of the base material 32 of the moving element 24, and the moving element 24 having the polarizing layer 15 on the moving side formed on the lower surface side of the figure is arranged. There is. The other structure and operation of the third embodiment are the same as those of the above-mentioned first embodiment, and the description thereof will be omitted.
In the third embodiment as well, as in the second embodiment, the transparent member 12 is provided with the closing portion 12c, and the closed space 1 is formed.
It is good also as a structure which closes 3.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, but various modifications can be made. For example, in the above embodiment, the light transmission adjusting device is provided in the window of the automobile,
The light transmission adjusting device of the present invention is not limited to this, and can be applied to a sun visor, a moon roof, etc. of an automobile. .

Further, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the high voltage is applied to each electrode of the stator by switching the polarity, and the high voltage is fixedly applied to each electrode of the mover. On the contrary, it is possible to move the mover by electrostatic force even when the polarity is switched to each electrode of the mover to apply a high voltage and the high voltage is fixedly applied to each electrode of the stator. .

[0041]

As is apparent from the above description, in the light transmission adjusting device according to the first aspect, one of the electrodes, one of the stator and the mover in which a plurality of electrodes are arranged in the insulating layer, has a polarity. By switching and applying a high voltage and applying a fixed high voltage to each of the other electrodes, an electrostatic actuator that moves the mover by generating an electrostatic force between the stator and the mover is provided. Since the moving element is provided with the moving-side polarizing layer, the operating noise when moving the moving-side polarizing layer with respect to the fixed-side polarizing layer is quiet.

Further, in the light transmission adjusting device of the first aspect, since the electrostatic actuator having the above structure is used to move the moving-side polarizing layer, the position of the moving-side polarizing layer with respect to the fixed-side polarizing layer is set. Positioning can be performed with high accuracy.

Further, in the light transmission adjusting device of the first aspect, since the means for moving the polarizing layer on the moving side is the electrostatic actuator having the above-mentioned structure to improve the positioning accuracy,
A positioning sensor and a complicated control circuit as in the case of moving the polarizing layer on the moving side by a conventional electric motor or the like are unnecessary, and the structure and the size and weight of the entire device can be simplified.

Furthermore, the light transmission adjusting device of claim 1 is
Even when the light-shielding area is set to a wide range, by increasing the number of electrodes of the stator and the mover of the electrostatic actuator, the moving-side polarization layer can be reliably changed to the fixed-side polarization layer with desired positioning accuracy. It can be moved with respect to each other and is suitable for stretching a wide area and light transmission amount.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing a light transmission adjusting device of a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing an electrostatic actuator.

FIG. 3A is a schematic view showing a fixed-side polarizing layer,
(B) is a schematic view showing a movable-side polarizing layer.

FIG. 4A is a schematic view showing a state of a polarizing layer when transmitting light, and FIG. 4B is a schematic view showing a state of the polarizing layer when shielding light.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing an arrangement of electrodes of a stator.

6A and 6B are diagrams showing switching of application of high voltage to electrodes of a stator.

7A and 7B are schematic diagrams showing the polarities of the electrodes in the case of FIG. 6A.

8A and 8B are schematic diagrams showing polarities of respective electrodes in the case of FIG. 6B.

FIG. 9 is a schematic view showing a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a schematic view showing a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing an example of a conventional light transmission adjusting device.

[Explanation of symbols]

11 Wind glass 12 Transparent member 15, 16 Polarizing layer 23 Stator 24 Moving element 27, 33 Insulating layer 29a, 29b, 29c, 34a, 34b, 34c Electrode 30 High voltage source

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A light transmission adjusting device for moving a movable-side polarizing layer relative to a fixed-side polarizing layer, comprising: a stator having a plurality of electrodes disposed in an insulating layer; and an electrode of the stator. A plurality of electrodes are arranged in the insulating layer facing each other, and the polarity is switched with respect to the mover having the movable side polarization layer formed thereon and each of the electrodes of one of the stator and the mover. And a static voltage that is applied to each of the other electrodes in a fixed manner to move the mover by an electrostatic force generated between the stator and the mover. Adjustment device.