Could it be useful for automobile windscreens? The article says it's solved for cars with embedded wires but this is not generally seen in the front windscreen - probably because it impairs vision and maybe even makes the glass less robust. I checked and it seems now we do have windscreens with electric heat but perhaps your system could be adapted to the lower end cars.
The only car I’ve ever owned with a heated windscreen was a Ford Focus. It worked a treat and was still really useful even after some of the conductors corroded and stopped working.
Oh man, our Ford Mondeo (UK must be 15 years ago) had the fine heating wires in the front windscreen - best defrost/demist ever, almost instantaneous compared to every other vehicle I've driven. Definitely a feature that would sway me from choosing one vehicle over another!
Not really. Windscreen heating is quite common in the industry, and the patents lie with the glass suppliers (No Vehicle Company builds their glass themselves). Most common techniques are thin tungsten wires or a heatable thin metal layer which additionally acts as IR-reflection.
You say it’s common but it didn’t used to be. It was common on Fords but no other vehicle manufacturer had it. Rear window heating, sure. But not front windscreen.
Moreover, Ford dealerships (in the U.K. at least) would boast that they owned the patent.
Looking online, I can see lots of references on car enthusiast sites talking about Ford owning the patent but any documents on the patent I find states it’s owned by an independent window manufacturer (like you suggested it would be).
So that leaves me wondering if either Ford had the patent but then sold it (unlikely in my opinion), or if they simply bought exclusively rights?
