Production of Head-Up Display windshield and its relation with the image quality

Abstract

Previously, car windshields served as a barrier against the wind or to prevent the driver from flying outside the vehicle in a collision. The windshield is therefore laminated and consists of two glasses and an intermediate layer consisting of the so-called polyvinyl butyral foil. The latest trend in car windshields is to consider the windshield as a display and project key information onto the windshield. Such glasses are called head-up displays. Various information such as car speed or route can be projected. The driver thus constantly maintains contact with the road, which increases driving safety. Head-Up Display quality is key to display information correctly without negative effects. Such a negative effect is if the displayed information is duplicated, which is called ghosting or double-image. This effect is undesirable and ranks first among the defects we detect in Head-Up Displays. The aim of this article is to compare different production technologies with a focus on the quality of HUD projection and on the double-image occurrence. The production technology enabling optimal HUD image quality is discussed as well. The article deals with a summary of HUD production technologies, focusing on the most common defect that occurs in HUD windshields and which reduce the overall quality of the product. The article evaluates and summarizes the key findings from the perspective of the end customer, but also in terms of the production process. For the driver, as an end customer, it is a source of information according to which he can orient himself in the offer of car equipment. It can be useful for production or development people in terms of processability and process costs. At the same time, the benefits and negatives of using windshields with a Head-Up Display are discussed.