For those of us living in colder climates, ice can be a real hassle during winter time; scraping rock like formations from your windshield isn't the best thing that can happen to you in freezing temperatures... But the VW Group in association with the Fraunhofer Institute for Surface Technology (IST) in Braunschweig, may soon provide drivers a solution to this pesky problem.
Researchers have introduced what they claim to be the first anti-fogging and anti-icing car windscreen. Unlike heated windows, the new glass panes make use of a physical principle that does not allow an ice layer to form in the first place, even at temperatures as low as -18 C or -0.4 F.
The Volkswagen Group says the secret of the innovation lies in a wafer-thin transparent coating of indium tin oxide that is applied to the window and in theory, stops heat from going upwards and prevents or delays cooling of the glass surface to below the dew point.
"We call this a 'Low-E' (low thermal emissivity) coating. Applied to the outer glazing, it prevents heat from radiating skyward. We are proud of this innovation and will promote it throughout the Group. That is because an ice-free window is an added convenience to our customers," explains Thomas Drescher of Volkswagen Development.
"The 'Low-E coating' cannot prevent ice formation or condensation entirely, but it can significantly reduce the likelihood of it happening," Drescher added.
The VW Group says is still has to work around some problems before it offers this technology on production models. One such issue in the current development phase is that new coating interferes with radio transmission impairing radio and mobile phone reception.
"It will take some time before the ice-free car windscreen is market-ready, but we are working intensively toward this goal. The bottom line is that for the Volkswagen Group, the ice-free window represents a successful innovation that is unique worldwide," said Drescher.
6 Comments:
This my CS friends is some of best auto news I've heard this year - coming from someone that lives in the frozen tundra - aka the midwest. Now they simply need to apply this principle to the locks and body panels ;-) This truly will save lots of time and frustration during the winter months.
Now, if they could just develop a reactions coating for windscreens too I'd be happy. I've often wondered why it hasn't been done yet, after all they have been applying light sensitive coatings to spectacles for years. It'd be great to just get into the car and have the windscreen / windows darken to cut out the bright lighting and glare, without the need for sunglasses. Also easier on the eyes on longer drives with changing light conditions.
It's about time. But considering that this is VW technology, will it always work or will it become part of the VW electronic glitch legacy? Oh, and I am a VW fan and I do drive VW's.
Seeing as it's a coating of indium tin oxide, it will never ever associate with anything relating to electronics. It's a "physical" barrier, not an electrically controlled one.
In the meantime Aquapel or Rain-X work quite well.
In the meantime, perhaps they could immediately implement addition of a band of heater coil at the bottom of the windshield where the wipers become lodged in an ice pack. That's the slowest part of the windshield to become defrosted. Nowadays, we're only allowed to have our car warming up for a maximum of 5 minutes before starting to drive, and that's not enough time to clear the windshield even after assiduous attempts to remove snow and ice.
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