Electric heating – Heating devices – Combined with diverse-type art device
Patent
1995-06-29
1999-11-23
Hoang, Tu Ba
Electric heating
Heating devices
Combined with diverse-type art device
H05B 100
Patent
active
059904496
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF TECHNOLOGY
The present invention relates to a mirror with a heater, which has a reflective film-cum-heating resistor film, or a reflection film and a heating resistor film, formed on a mirror base plate and includes at least a pair of electrodes for applying current to the heating resistor film to heat it, and which is suitably used in a bathroom and a vehicle and can prevent its surface from being clouded with moisture, rain droplets, dew or ice.
BACKGROUND TECHNOLOGY
When a vehicle is traveling in rainy or snowy weather, the outside mirrors are clouded with water droplets or ice, degrading the rearward view and therefore lowering the safety of driving. To prevent this, various types of mirrors have been proposed; which can be heated to remove water droplets and ice adhering to the mirror surface.
For example, Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 58-28937/1983 discloses a mirror for a vehicle, in which a heat distribution plate with high heat conductivity is attached to the back of a mirror base plate and has a heating body bonded to the back of the heat.
Further, Japan Utility Model Publication No. 62-33648/1987 discloses a mirror with heater, in which a flat heater is fixed to the back of a mirror body and the pattern of the heater is made more dense in the peripheral portion of the mirror than in the center.
Further, Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 102599/1992 discloses a flat heating body for a mirror, in which a heating region is divided into sections by electrodes.
The above-mentioned mirror and flat heating body for a mirror adopts a structure in which an electric heating plate which has a complex heating resistor pattern or a complex electrode pattern is fixed to the back of the mirror base plate in order to heat the entire mirror surface evenly to provide a good view. By the method using the electric heating plate, which is provided separately from the mirror base plate, it is necessary to design and manufacture a complex heating resistor pattern and electrode pattern, which increases the cost. Another drawback of this method is that because the mirror base plate is heated through the conduction of heat from the separate electric heating plate, the heat efficiency is low and it takes a long time to remove water droplets.
To solve the above problems, Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 5-13872/1993 proposes a mirror with a heater, in which chromium or NICHROME is deposited on the surface of the mirror base plate by vacuum vapor deposition or sputtering to form a reflective heating resistor film whose surface is coated with an insulating overcoat layer.
Ordinary mirror reflection films are made of such materials as aluminum and chromium deposited by vacuum vapor deposition and sputtering.
It is, however, difficult to use an aluminum or chromium film as the reflective film-cum-heating resistor (reflective heating resistor film) of the mirror with a heater. The reason for this is that the electrical resistivity of aluminum and chromium is low. That is, a film made of aluminum or chromium has a low resistance, which allows a large current to flow, increasing the power consumption and making the temperature control difficult.
One possible method of solving this problem is to raise the resistance of the film made of aluminum or chromium, that is, to reduce the thickness of the aluminum or chromium film formed as the reflective heating resistor film as much as possible.
When a mirror with a heater is used for a vehicle, the current applied to the mirror is preferably in a range of 1 to 5 A. If the current is under this range, the mirror may lack the ability to melt ice in the cold season, especially when exposed to wind; and if the applied current is over this range, the current application by temperature control function may result in overheat due to overshoot, burning of peripheral components and even a human. Considering the fact that in the case of vehicles a voltage of DC 12 V is applied to a mirror with a heater, the sheet resistance of the reflective heating resistor film of
REFERENCES:
patent: 2808351 (1957-10-01), Colbert
patent: 3686473 (1972-08-01), Shirn et al.
patent: 3839620 (1974-10-01), Seibel et al.
patent: 4352006 (1982-09-01), Zega
patent: 4459470 (1984-07-01), Shlichta et al.
patent: 4634242 (1987-01-01), Taguchi et al.
patent: 4634835 (1987-01-01), Suzuki
patent: 4724304 (1988-02-01), Teshima et al.
patent: 4940317 (1990-07-01), Reuben
patent: 5155340 (1992-10-01), Morita et al.
patent: 5155625 (1992-10-01), Komatsu et al.
patent: 5406049 (1995-04-01), Reiser et al.
"Electrical Conducting Coating", Corning Glass Works Product Information Bulletin, Section H, Apr. 1959.
Nagaoka Makoto
Sugiyama Tetsuya
Tazunoki Hiroshi
Ueda Yoshiya
Hoang Tu Ba
Pentel Kabushiki Kaisha
LandOfFree
Electric heating device for mirror does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Electric heating device for mirror, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Electric heating device for mirror will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-1224277