Miortech improves driving safety with a high speed local dimming rear view mirror

Eindhoven, the Netherlands, March  14, 2012 – A new dynamic dimming automotive rear view mirror from Miortech darkens bright spots locally within a few milliseconds. That is much faster than the three seconds taken by the conventional dimming mirrors currently fitted to many cars, and for night driving it is the difference between seeing clearly and being dazzled.

Uniquely, Miortech's mirror can dim locally (i.e. selectively). This means that only the bright headlight areas will be dimmed, while the rest of the mirrored image remains at ambient light levels. Conventional mirrors can only turn dark completely, which means that essential image information can get lost (e.g. a cyclist moving between cars).

"Besides the internal mirror, we've developed a low-cost manufacturing method for aspherical exterior mirrors and are now entering concept studies with automotive manufacturers," said Dr. Hans Feil, Miortech's CEO. "It is a very versatile technology with fast switching, low weight, low power consumption and integrated display. Other potential applications of electrowetting include mobile displays for tablets, smartphones and laptops."

2nd generation electrowetting display technology is versatile
Miortech's 2nd generation electrowetting technology is inherently a display technology so, unlike conventional automotive mirrors, it is easy and inexpensive to integrate icons and other display functions. Electrowetting is also the only technique whose switching time is all but insensitive to temperature – it switches just as fast at sub-zero temperatures as at room temperature.

Electrowetting display technology works by having two immiscible liquids sandwiched between a glass top layer and a reflecting electrode. The lower electrode has a hydrophobic (water repellent) surface, and is covered with a layer of polar liquid and a layer of dark oil. With no voltage across a cell, surface tension prevents the polar liquid from wetting the hydrophobic surface, which is covered by the dark oil and so reflects no light. A voltage greatly increases the wettability of the surface, and within 10 ms the polar liquid pushes away the oil to make the pixel reflect light. The effect is capacitive and the currents involved are very small, so the mirror draws much lower power than conventional devices (less than10 mW versus more than 200 mW). Pixels are typically 200µm across.

The 1st generation electrowetting display technology was originally developed by Philips Research Laboratories.

Solves first-generation technology issues
Miortech's 2nd generation technology solves a number of 1st generation issues. In particular, the oil flows back completely so there is no 'ghosting' in the image, and large-area devices are easy to manufacture (a neat design trick means the pixel walls act as spacers, with random pixel wall shapes avoiding diffraction effects).

The mirror can show "fuel low" and other messages (drivers look in their rear view mirror on average every 15 seconds, and this is therefore an excellent place to display alerts). Low-weight versions are available, and the mirror comes in different colours to match a car's interior.

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About Miortech:
Since its inception in 2006, Miortech has focused on developing, producing and marketing auto-dimming rear-view automotive mirrors based on electrowetting technology. Auto-dimming rear-view mirrors turn dark automatically when cars coming from behind cause distracting glare. Electrowetting display technology was invented at Philips Research in Eindhoven, the Netherlands and Miortech has now improved on this in its patented 2nd generation technology. Miortech is located at the High Tech Campus in Eindhoven, The Netherlands.

Miortech works with experts from Philips Research, Philips Innovation Services and many other high tech partners. The company uses MiPlaza shared facilities like advanced cleanrooms. Capabilities include micro- and nanotechnology, optics, (polymer) chemistry and physics, electronics, display technology and thin-film processing.

For further information please contact Dr. Hans Feil: hans.feil@miortech.com


Caption: Random shaped pixel walls acting as spacers between two glass layers to avoid diffraction effects.