Electrochromic contrast-plate

Details Electrochromic contrast-plate Electrochromic contrast-plate

1999-04-14

2002-02-05

Lester, Evelyn A (Department: 2873)

Optical: systems and elements

Optical modulator

Light wave temporal modulation

C359S268000, C359S272000, C359S273000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06344918

ABSTRACT:

The present invention relates to an electrochrornic (EC) contrast plate for display screens whose transmission in the optically visible region can be controlled by applying a voltage. The invention furthermore relates to an EC contrast plate having an integrated touch screen. The invention also relates to electrochromic side-chain oligomers and polymers which can be used as electrochromic media.
In display screens which are operated, in particular, in daylight, the image contrast is frequently lost due to reflection of ambient light on the screen. In the extreme case, the image is virtually impossible to see. This applies in particular to display screens based on a cathode ray tube (CRT) or on a liquid-crystal display (LCD).
U.S. Pat. No. 5,847,858 (WO 97/22906) proposes arranging an additional, colour-neutral filter in front of the screen. This colour-neutral filter is an electrochromic device which functions on the basis of two different types of metal oxides. The first electrode is treated with a mixture of one or more metal oxides from group 1, consisting of WO
3
, MoO
3
, Nb
2
O
5
, MnO
2
and ZrO
2
, and group 2, consisting of V
2
O
5
, TiO
2
and ZnO. The counterelectrode does not contribute towards modifying the transmission of the EC device. If this colour-neutral filter is arranged in front of a display screen, such as, for example, a cathode ray tube (CRT), it reduces the intensity of the reflected ambient light and also of the internal light source, such as, for example, the phosphors of the CRT. The incident ambient light passes through the colour-neutral filter and is reflected at the screen surface. The reflected light again passes through the absorbent colour-neutral filter before exiting. For a transmission T of the colour-neutral filter, this gives an attenuation by the factor T
2
. Light originating from an internal light source, such as the light from the phosphors, need only pass through the colour-neutral filter once and is thus only attentuated by a factor T. The contrast is thus increased by a factor T
−1
. This colour-neutral filter is produced by a very complex, expensive sputtering process. In addition, electrochromic coloured filters of this type are not particularly resistant and do not allow a large number of switching cycles. Coloured filters based on tungsten oxide/palladium hydride exhibit light scattering and consequently a distortion of the picture and a decrease in contrast.
Display screens are increasingly being used in aggressive environments, such as, for example, in production operations for process control. The input devices used for computers and electronic measurement and control equipment, in particular in production operations and similar environments, in which conventional computer input devices, such as a mouse or keyboard, wear very quickly owing to the considerable dust and dirt loading, are predominantly touch screens. The image displayed on the touch screens usually consists of some explanatory texts and a series of fields, the touching of which corresponds to a certain data or command input.
Known touch screens are constructed, for example, from liquid-crystal displays or cathode ray tubes and an additional touch-sensitive device.
The disadvantage of the known touch screens is firstly that they rapidly become dirty (systems with light barriers) or age rapidly (system with touch-sensitive membranes).
The object according to the invention consists in providing a device for improving the contrast of display screens, while retaining colour neutrality, which is less complex to produce than the colour-neutral filters known from the prior art. The device according to the invention should have a large electrochromic range, be ageing-resistant and allow a very large number of switching cycles. A further object of the invention is simultaneously to provide a robust, easy-to-clean touch screen with the device for improving the contrast.
The object according to the invention is achieved by an EC contrast plate. The EC contrast plate consists of an electrochromic device known per se, comprising a pair of glass or plastic sheets which are provided on one side each with an electroconductive coating, for example indium-tin oxide (ITO). Both sheets are transparent. These sheets are used to construct a cell by connecting them, preferably adhesively bonding them, to an annular or rectangular sealing ring with their electroconductively coated sides facing one another. The sealing ring establishes a uniform distance between the sheets, of, for example, from 0.01 to 0.5 mm. This cell is filled with an electrochromic medium. The two sheets can be provided with separate contacts via the electroconductive layers.
This EC contrast plate is in accordance with the invention either arranged as a discrete unit in front of the display screen or connected to the outer surface of the screen as one substrate through a common sheet
The EC contrast plate according to the invention contains an EC medium which is a solution or a gel or a polymer. A medium of this type can easily be introduced into an electrochromic cell.
The EC medium comprises a mixture of electrochromic compounds which, on application of a voltage, produces a very uniform, neutral grey coloration or causes any desired other coloration, such as, for example, a red coloration of the image. The transmission of the electrochromic layer in the visible region can be varied by varying the strength of an applied voltage.
A preferred embodiment of the invention is determined by the colour coordinates (x,y) of the dyes in the EC medium, which, in accordance with the C.I.E. standard (regarding the C.I.E. standard, see, for example, Colour Physics in Industry, Roderick McDonald, ed., Society of Dyers and Colourists, 1987), are in the colour triangle between 0.3 and 0.37 or preferably between 0.31 and 0.35.
In a further, likewise preferred embodiment of the invention, the colour coordinates of the EC medium in the switched state are in basically any desired region of colour space, this region being determined by the particular requirements of the application, for example the exclusion of certain wavelength ranges on use in photographic development laboratories.
If no voltage is applied between the two electroconductive layers, the EC contrast plate is transparent and preferably has a transmission of greater than 70%. The minimum transmission in the case of colouring is less than 25%. The transmission remains constant over the entire area, even in the case of curved surfaces, and varies by less than 5% in time and space.
The switching times in which colouring or decolouring occurs after application of a voltage or after switching-off of the voltage respectively are less than 5 minutes, preferably less than one minute.
As electrochromic medium, DE 196 05 451 and DE 196 05 448 disclose electrochromic systems, which usually contain pairs of redox substances dissolved in an inert solvent. In addition, conductive salts, light stabilizers (UV stabilizers) and substances which modify the viscosity-may be present. The pair of redox substances used comprises one reducible substance and one oxidizable substance. In the ground state, the two substances are colourless or only weakly coloured. Under the influence of an electric voltage, the first substance is reduced and the other oxidized, at least one becoming coloured. When the voltage is switched off, the ground state is restored in both substances, with decoloration or colour lightening occurring.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,902,108 discloses that suitable pairs of redox substances are those whose reducible substance has at least two chemically reversible reduction waves in the cyclic voltammogram and whose oxidizable substance correspondingly has at least two chemically reversible oxidation waves.
The electrochromic systems from DE 196 05 448 and DE 196 05 451 comprise at least one oxidizable substance RED
1
, and at least one reducible substance OX
2
, which, respectively through electron donation at an anode and electron acceptance at the cathode, are converted from

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