Development Of HUD Combiner For Automotive Windshield Application

The head-up display system (HUM) has been developed for the windshield of Nissan Motor's passenger car, '88 model of Silvia (240SX) and '89 model of Maxima. HUD consists of a projector with high brightness VFT and a combiner which is a light-selective reflective film applied on the surface of ' e windshield. The system provides nice display legibility of speed in a three-digit reap at the position more than one meter far from driver's eye even under the bright sunlight. In this report, we present the optical properties and manufacturing process of the advanced combiner. The combiner has to have high transmittance as well as high reflectance so that a driver can see both foreground object and display reading at the same time. The optical design for the combiner is based on the concepts: (a) Visible light transmittance has to be 70% or more in accordance with a legal requirement, and (b) taking both peak wavelengths of Vim' and sensitivity characteristics of human eyes into consideration, 530nm of wave length is chosen as a reflective light. The combiner consists of a dielectric thin layer of Ti02-Si02 system. Its basic structure is decided by simulation with matrix method of the resultant waves. The coating film is applied on the restricted area of the forth surface of laminated windshield by newly developed solgel printing process using a metal alkoxide solution with a relatively long storage life.