JPS588489B2 - Electric equipment is exhausted. - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention comprises at least a liquid material and a solid material holding the same, and means for applying an electric signal so as to have at least a component parallel to the contact interface of these materials; The present invention relates to an improvement in an electric liquid shift control device including at least means for moving and shifting the liquid material relative to the solid material by an electroosmotic phenomenon in accordance with the intensity of the electric signal.

The electroosmotic phenomenon referred to here is when a solid and liquid material are brought into contact, an electric double layer is electrochemically generated at the interface between the solid and liquid, and the electroosmotic phenomenon occurs when the relative to the solid material changes depending on the applied electric signal. It is defined as a phenomenon in which a liquid material moves.

The device based on the above principle is extremely useful as a light control device that refracts or diffracts external light by the movement and deviation of the liquid and electrically controls the external light by the electric signal intensity. has already been proposed by someone.

In this type of device, the choice of liquid material is particularly important.

Conventionally, inorganic materials such as quartz, borosilicate glass, and soda lime glass have been used as solid materials, and low-viscosity dimethyl silicone oil has been used as liquid materials, but their voltage sensitivity is low, for example, when the electrode gap is set to 500 μm. According to experiments selected for
V/μm, and the movement deviation of the liquid material is also small, so increasing the sensitivity has been a major challenge.

In view of this, it is an object of the present invention to provide an electrical liquid shift control device that operates at extremely low voltage, low electric field strength, and with high sensitivity even for organic solid materials, compared to conventional devices.

In the present invention, a reactive group (functional group) A such as a vinyl group or a cyclic epoxy group that chemically bonds with an organic material such as plastic as a liquid material, and a reactive group (functional group) A such as an alkoxy group that chemically bonds with an inorganic material such as glass. By using a liquid material containing a liquid silicon compound such as silane or siloxane that has at least one of the functional groups (B), it is possible to operate at a voltage and electric field strength that is one to two orders of magnitude lower than that of conventional devices. At the same time, it is possible to realize an electrical liquid shift control device with high sensitivity operation that allows the use of not only inorganic materials such as glass but also organic materials such as plastic as the solid material.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Aspects of the present invention will be described below in detail with regard to embodiments in which the present invention is applied to a light control device.

FIG. 1 is a layout diagram of a sub-sectional structure of an embodiment of a light control device according to the present invention.

The purpose of this example is to refract external light by utilizing the deformation of the liquid surface due to the movement and deviation of the liquid material by an electric signal, and convert it into a change in light intensity using a Schlieren optical system.

In FIG. 1, a light control element 100 has transparent electrodes 120 and 130 arranged in a parallel grid pattern alternately deposited on its surface.
Support plate 11 made of solid material such as glass or plastic
The main component is a thin layer of translucent liquid material 140 maintained at zero.

The liquid material 140 is selected to exhibit electroosmotic phenomena relative to the solid material 110 that holds it.

Reference numeral 150 denotes a surrounding frame for preventing leakage of the liquid material 140, and is made of a plastic material or the like.

The electrodes 120, 130 are composed of a solid material 110 and a liquid material 14.
An electrode provided as an example of a means for applying an electric signal having at least a parallel component to the contact interface with 0, and connected to a variable amplitude electric source 160 via conductive wires 121 and 131, respectively. and the DC voltage is applied to the electrodes 120, 130
applied in between.

210 is an external light source using a light bulb such as tungsten or xenon; 220 is a condenser lens that collects this emitted light; 230 is an input grating made up of a plurality of opaque strips illuminated by the collected light; 240 is a projection lens; Reference numeral 250 denotes an output grating consisting of a plurality of opaque strips having a similar shape to the input grating 230, which form a Schlieren optic.

The light L1 transmitted through the input grating 230 is transmitted to the projection lens 24.
0 transmits through the light control element 100, and the transmitted light LT
is adjusted to be imaged onto the opaque strip of output grating 250.

If the layer of liquid material 140 of the element 100 is flat, the output light L2 transmitted through the output grating 250 is adjusted to be as small as possible, and when the material layer 140 is deformed, the input light L1 is refracted by this deformation.

The transmitted light LT passes through the gap in the output grating 250 to generate output light L2.

Hereinafter, aspects of the present invention regarding the optical weather control device having the above configuration will be described in detail along with experimental results.

Example 1 A soda lime glass plate is used as the support plate 110 made of a solid material, and a transparent conductive film made of tin oxide is deposited on the surface of the plate in a parallel lattice shape, and this is used as the electrodes 1 20 , 1 30
And so.

The width of the conductive portion of the electrodes 120 and 130 is 500 μm, respectively.
The arrangement gap between the electrodes 120 and 130 was 500 μm.

Hereinafter, this configuration will be referred to as cell [1].

As an electric signal, from the power supply 160, the electrode 120 is positive;
A DC voltage is applied so that the electrode 130 becomes negative.

The liquid material 140 contains ethoxy (O
A silane having an alkoxy group consisting of C2H5), ethyl silicate (S1(OC2H5)4), is used to form a layer on the cell [1] to a thickness of about 20 to 50 μm.

The above material is a transparent liquid with a low viscosity of about a few centiTokes.

FIG. 2 shows a part of the light control element 100 taken out.
Liquid material 1 to solid material 110 by electroosmotic phenomenon
FIG. 40 is an explanatory diagram of movement deviation of No. 40.

When a liquid material is brought into contact with a solid material, an electric double layer is generally generated at the interface due to an electrochemical phenomenon.

In general, the polarity tends to be positive for the material with a larger dielectric constant and negative for the material with a smaller dielectric constant.

As in this example, when the solid material 110 is soda lime glass and the liquid material 140 is ethyl silicate, the
As shown in , the solid material 110 side is negative and the liquid material 1 side is negative.
The 40 side is positively charged, creating an interfacial electric double layer.

However, when no electrical signal is applied between the electrodes 130 and 140, the liquid material layer 140
0 are held parallel, a flat layer with a uniform thickness is formed due to the surface tension, and no change in the layer surface occurs.

Therefore, the external light L1 that is irradiated is transmitted as it is without being refracted or diffracted by the liquid material layer 140, producing transmitted light LT.

Therefore, in FIG. 1, the transmitted light LT that passes through the slit of the input grating 230 and is projected onto the output grating 250 via the lens 240 and the element 100 impinges on the opaque grating that constitutes the output grating 250, Almost no output light L2 is transmitted through the slit.

However, when a DC voltage is applied between the electrodes 120 and 130 from the electric signal source 160, the support plate 110 made of solid material is fixed and cannot move.

However, the positively charged liquid material 140 is
Materials 110, 140 are subject to counter-grinding from 0.
The negative electrode 130 is pulled toward the negative electrode 130 by a voltage having a component parallel to the contact interface of FIG.
As shown in the figure, it shifts in the direction F.

That is, the liquid material 140 is transferred to the negative electrode 1 by the electroosmotic phenomenon.
30.

The force of this displacement increases as the amplitude of the applied electrical signal increases.

Therefore, in the negative electrode 130 and its surroundings, the liquid material 140
shows a bulge determined by the balance between its surface tension, gravity, and electroosmotic force, whereas on the positive electrode 120 side, the liquid material 140 moves toward the negative electrode 130 side, and the layer thickness decreases by the amount of shift. It turns out.

Due to this change in layer thickness, as illustrated in FIG. 2b, the LT.
causes refraction and diffraction.

Therefore, based on this refraction and diffraction, the output grating 25
Output light L2 is generated which passes through the 0 slit.

Due to electroosmotic phenomena, the displacement of liquid material 140 increases as a function of the strength or amplitude of the applied electrical signal.

Therefore, the output light L2 also increases, making it possible to control light according to electrical signals.

Below, experimental results of the electric field strength of the DC electric signal applied between the electrodes 120 and 180 and the light intensity ratio will be shown.

The electric field strength E is the amplitude ■A of the applied DC electric signal divided by the gap width (500 μm) between the electrodes 1 20 and 1 30, and is expressed in volts/micrometer (volt/micrometer).
It is expressed as (■/μm).

The output light L2 was subjected to photoelectric conversion using a photomultiplier tube, and its intensity was measured.

The change in light intensity is expressed as a so-called light intensity ratio, that is, a contrast ratio, which is the intensity of the output light L2 when an electric signal is applied divided by the intensity of the output light L2 when no signal is applied.

The electric field strength at which the light intensity ratio is 2 is defined as the operating electric field threshold Et (V/
μm), then Et=3.6X10(V/μm)
The operating range is in a low electric field range of 10<-2> to 10<->1 (V/μm), and the output light L2, that is, the luminous intensity ratio increases in proportion to the electric field strength E to the approximately 1.6 power.

At E 10-' (V/μm), the output intensity L2 is almost saturated, and the light intensity ratio is about 30, that is, a contrast ratio of 1:30 can be easily obtained.

When the electric field strength E is reduced to zero, the displacement of the liquid material 140 instantly disappears due to its surface tension, forming a flat layer surface.
The output light L2 also decreases, returning to the dark state.

Even if the connection method of the conductive wires 121 and 131 to the signal source 160 is reversed and an electrical signal is applied so that the electrical signal is negative to the electrode 120 and positive to the electrode 130, the material 140 moves and shifts toward the electrode 120, contrary to the above. Exactly the same characteristics can be obtained with just one.

On the other hand, when dimethyl silicone oil with a viscosity of about 10 centistokes is used as the liquid material 140 as in the past, the operating electric field threshold Et is 1.5 x 10-1 (V/
μm), and the operating range is 10-1 (V/μm).
It is also quite difficult to increase the light intensity ratio to 10 or more.

According to this example, compared to the conventional example above, the high light intensity ratio is approximately 1
This means that it can be operated in an electric field strength range of an order of magnitude lower.

In this example as well as in the examples described below, the liquid material having the reactive group B is not limited to the above-mentioned glass plate, but can also be used as a supporting plate of other light-transmitting or transparent inorganic materials such as borosilicate glass or quartz plate. 110, good operation can be performed.

Example 2 An experiment was conducted in the same manner as in Example 1 using cell [1] as the phenylmethoxysiloxane material 140, which is a silicon compound made of siloxane having a methoxy group (10 CH3) as the reactive group B.

Among the organic groups of the above-mentioned liquid, the methyl group (CH3-) and phenyl group (φ) are stable, non-reactive organic groups as known.

The above liquid is a transparent liquid with a low viscosity of about 10 centistokes, low vapor pressure, and almost odorless.

According to the experimental results, the polarization moves in the negative polarity direction, and Et =
It was 6×10-2 (V/μm).

This liquid material 140 is very stable electrically, chemically, and thermally, and hardly evaporates even if left in the atmosphere for a long time, making it possible to use electrical liquids such as optical control devices with extremely stable operation. There is an advantage that the control device can be configured.

Example 3 As the liquid material 140, a silicon compound having a methoxyethoxy group (10CH2CH20CH3) as the reactive group B and a vinyl group (CH2=CH-) as the reactive group A, vinyltris(β-mitoxyethoxy)silane (CH2- CH
The following experiment was conducted in the same manner as in Example 1 using Si(OCH2CH20CH3)3).

The above liquid is a transparent liquid that is almost colorless and odorless, and is polarized moving in the negative polarity direction.

Et is 5.4×10 −2 (V/μm), which is about the lowest Et value of conventional devices.

In addition to reactive groups B, the liquid also possesses reactive groups A.

Therefore, the support plate 110 can be made of not only an inorganic material such as the above-mentioned glass, but also an organic material such as plastics to enable high-sensitivity operation.

The vinyl group forming the reactive group A of this example chemically bonds with plastics having double bonds, such as polyester, acrylic, and styrene, and cellulose acetate.

Therefore, these plastic materials can be used to form the support plate 110 to perform similar light control operations.

For example, cellulose acetate is used as the support plate 110, and comb-shaped electrodes made of a transparent conductive film made of copper iodide, indium oxide, etc. are installed on the surface of the support plate 110 so as to fit into each other, and parallel grid electrodes 1 are insulated from each other. 20, 1 30
form.

The width and gap of the conductive part are 500 μm, similar to cell [1].

This cell is hereinafter referred to as cell (2).

When this cell (2) uses the liquid material described above as the liquid material 140 and operates in the same manner as described above for cell [1], the operating threshold electric field Et is 6 × 10' (V/μm), and dimethyl silicone oil This means that the operating sensitivity can be improved by about three orders of magnitude compared to the conventional example.

Various different types of liquid materials can be constructed by changing the reactive groups.

For example, an alkoxy group consisting of a methoxyethoxy group (10CH2CH20CH3) in this example (
By replacing the reactive group B) with an ethoxy group (OC2H5), vinyltriethoxysilane (CH2=CHS
1 (OC 2 H5 ) a) is obtained.

This compound also has a structure in which the support plate 110 is inorganic.
1], it operates with high sensitivity even for organic cells (2).

For example, according to the experimental results for cell (2), Et is 9×
10'' (V/μm).

This material, unlike the above-mentioned vinyltris(β-methoxyethoxy)silane, is characterized in that a highly sensitive operation can be performed as the substrate 110 without dissolving a mixed ester of cellulose such as acetylcellulose.

A cell using cellulose mixed ester as the substrate 110 and having electrodes 120 and 130 made of a transparent conductive film such as copper iodide or indium oxide and having the same dimensions as cell (2) is hereinafter referred to as cell (2).

In a similar experiment to the above using cell (3), 6 × 10
Et of '(V/μm) was obtained.

Example 4 As the liquid material 140, diphenyldivinylsilane [(C6H,)2Si(CH
-CH2)2] was applied to cell (2), and a similar experiment was conducted.

Et is 1. It was 8×10” (V/μm).

Example 5 As the liquid material 140, the reactive group A is a methoxy group (-0CH3), which is a cyclic epoxy group that chemically bonds with plastic materials such as epoxy, polyester, and melamine resins.
An almost colorless and transparent silicone compound consisting of β(3,4 epoxycyclohexine) ethyltrimethoxyl having the following properties is used.

This material has both reactive groups A and B, and can perform well in both cell [1] where the base material 110 is inorganic and cell (2) where base material 110 is organic.

Similarly to the above, according to the experiment, for cell 0], Et
= 6 × 10” (V/μm), cell (2)
For Et = 1. 8 × 1 0-3 (V/
μm).

As described above, when a liquid silicon compound having at least one of the reactive groups A that chemically bonds with an organic material and the reactive group B that chemically bonds with an inorganic material is used as a liquid material, extremely sensitive electrical polarization can be achieved. A transfer control device can be realized.

Its operating mechanism is assumed as follows.

Electroosmosis is an interfacial electrochemical phenomenon, and the configuration of the interface between solid and liquid materials is an extremely important factor.

Liquid silicon compounds having an alkoxy group such as methoxy, ethoxy, or methyl cellosolve as the reactive group B include glass containing silica sand (S i02 ), metals such as steel, aluminum, silver, copper, and brass, or metals containing these. In an inorganic material such as an inorganic solid, it is bonded to the inorganic material through hydrolysis or condensation with silanol or aminol in the material, or water adsorbed on the surface of the inorganic material.

On the other hand, the organic reactive group A reacts with organic materials such as plastics to form a good chemical bond, as is known.

For example, in the vinyl group shown in this example, a resin having a double bond, such as polyester, acrylic, styrene resin, and a cyclic epoxy group chemically bonds with epoxy, polyester, melamine resin, and the like.

Therefore, the reactive group A can be appropriately selected from a wide range depending on the desired organic substance.

For example, for epoxy and polyester, meta-determination can be made for glycopolyethylene, polypropylene, etc.

In this way, the bonding of liquid materials with appropriately selected reactive groups A and B to the surface of a solid material can be achieved with extremely small thicknesses measured in molecular thicknesses of these liquid materials, that is, in angstroms. .

In other words, the chemical bond between the liquid and the solid through such molecular bridges not only prevents the formation of an interfacial electrical double layer due to insufficient wetting of these interfaces, but also prevents the formation of an interfacial electric double layer due to insufficient wetting of these interfaces. It is electrically oriented with the reactive group A or B to be bonded to the material surface as the head, making it possible to form an extremely thin interfacial electric double layer close to a monomolecular layer.

Therefore, the improvement of the contact interface by the reactive groups A and B facilitates the formation of an interfacial electric double layer, that is, the generation of the electroosmotic phenomenon, and the extremely thin thickness of the electric double layer facilitates the formation of an interfacial electric double layer. Coupled with the orientation phenomenon of the liquid silicon compound, this means that the amount of liquid material that is immobilized is relatively small and can be shifted into a layer of liquid material that can actually move and shift in response to a low-voltage electrical signal. This shows that the ratio is large.

In this way, according to the present invention, a highly sensitive and highly efficient electrical liquid deviation control device is realized, which is stable in operation, uses an electrical signal with low electric field strength, and can obtain a large movement deviation of the liquid material. It will be possible.

Further, in the above embodiments, all liquid materials containing no dissimilar materials such as solvents were used, but the present invention is not necessarily limited to this.

In the electrical liquid shift control device according to the present invention, a solvent or the like can be added as necessary to dilute or mix liquid materials, including the liquid materials described later.

Addition of such a solvent is extremely convenient for adjusting viscosity and the like.

For example, the vinyl ethoxysilane of this example is alcohol,
Beta-(3,4-epoxycyclohexyl)ethyltrimethoxysilane can be diluted with most organic solvents, such as ketones and esters.

It is desirable to select a solvent that is transparent and not extremely volatile in order to prevent changes in viscosity during operation and instability of operation.

Note that the liquid material 140 is not limited to a single material, and can be configured by mixing multiple types of liquid materials.

In the above embodiments, an example in which the liquid material 140 having an organic reactive group A is applied to the organic substrate 110 has been described.

However, when it has a reactive group B such as an alkoxy group,
In some cases, it may be possible to operate effectively even in the absence of the reactive group A.

Particularly, when the substrate 110 is made of an organic resin such as an ester of cellulose such as cellulose acetate, it is particularly effective when the liquid material or the organic substrate material absorbs moisture or mixes some moisture.

For example, the ethyl silicate used in Example 1 is Et=3×10'' (V
/μm).

The Et of phenylmethoxysiloxane in Example 3 was 6 × 10'' (
v/μm), 1. 8 × 10-2 (Vμm)
Met.

In this way, good operation due only to the presence of the reactive group B is due to the fact that the water molecules adsorbed on the organic substrate 110 are tightly bound to the substrate molecules, and this water molecule is connected to the reactive group B such as an alkoxy group. It may react and chemically bond, or it may condense and chemically bond with silanol, which is said to be produced by hydrolysis of silicon compounds, or it may form an interfacial electric double layer due to the orientation of liquid silicon compounds. Conceivable.

Therefore, when the liquid material for the organic substrate has an alkoxy group (methoxy, ethoxy, methoxyethoxy group, etc.) as the reactive group B, the reactive group A can be omitted and the reactive group B can be substituted.

In addition to the alkoxy group, the reactive group B can be replaced by a chlorine group (-CA) which also functions as the reactive group A.

Silicon chloride compounds form silanols upon hydrolysis and chemically bond with inorganic substrates containing silica sand (SiO2), such as glass in particular.

Although some examples of silanes and siloxanes have been given above, many derivatives can be used.

For example, when silane is represented by the general formula Sia4, one or more of the four a's is at least one of the above-mentioned organic reactive groups A to inorganic reactive groups B, and the other zero to three a's are For example, a liquid monosilane containing a non-reactive group such as a hydrogen group (1H), an alcohol group (1R), or a phenyl group (C6H5) can be used as the liquid material.

That is, those having only reactive group A include diphenyldivinylsilane, those having only reactive group B include dimethyldimethoxysilane, diphenyldichlorosilane, methylphenyldimethoxysilane, and allyloxy group (monocarbon) as an alkoxy group. Examples of those having both A and B include tetraaryloxysilane using CH2CH-CH2, tetraamyl silicate and tetradecyl silicate using higher alkoxy groups, and vinyl dimethoxysilane.

The same goes for siloxane; for convenience, siloxane is
In this example, n is expressed as i(OSi)α2(n+2).
= 2, but n may be 1 or 2 or more, and at least one of the 2 (n+2) organic groups (a) is at least one of the reactive groups A and B. death,
Others can be non-reactive groups.

That is, in the case where n=1, an example of a compound having a reactive group A is tetramethyldivinylsiloxane.

In addition, when n = 2, in the phenylmethoxysiloxane of Example 2, two to one of the three alkoxy groups (reactive group B) consisting of methoxy groups are replaced with a non-reactive group such as a methyl group, Alternatively, the phenyl group can be substituted with the aforementioned reactive group A.

Further, in Example 5, a case where n = 2 was illustrated for a silane having the general formula A(CH2)nsiB3.

n is not necessarily limited to 2, n = O, or n =
1, and either reactive group A or B can be a non-reactive group.

Although silicon monomers have been described above, silicon polymers can also be used.

A typical liquid silicone polymer is organopolysiloxane, commonly called silicone oil.
It consists of a 0-Si bond and a non-reactive organic group (a).

Organopolysiloxanes are composed of T siloxanes as is known.

Generally, silicone oil has a main chain consisting of D units, the terminal ends with M units, and has a structure like M(D),M.

n is the degree of polymerization. exist.

As the non-reactive organic group (a), hydrogen, methyl, phenyl groups, etc. are used, and as is known, combinations thereof constitute hydrogen silicone oil, methyl silicone oil, phenylmethyl silicone oil, etc.

At least one of the non-reactive organic groups (a) of these silicone oils is substituted with at least one of the above-mentioned reactive group A such as the vinyl group or cyclic epoxy group or the above-mentioned reactive group B such as the alkoxy group. By doing so, a liquid material can be formed.

The viscosity increases as the degree of polymerization n increases.

In the apparatus according to the present invention, the viscosity thereof is preferably 103 centistokes or less, so the degree of polymerization n is selected within the range of 0 to 102.

Simple liquid materials, regardless of whether they are monomers or polymers, are those to which only a reactive group B consisting of an alkoxy group such as methoxy or ethoxy is added. It may also work effectively on organic base materials and is particularly effective.

According to the present invention, it is possible to realize a liquid shift control device with higher sensitivity than conventional devices, and by selecting appropriate materials, it is possible to operate at a field strength of two orders of magnitude or more.

Obviously, various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention.

The present invention is intended to include these as well.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing an embodiment of a light control device using an electric liquid shift control device according to the present invention, and a diagram of its operating system. It is a diagram. 100... Light control element, 110... Support plate made of solid material having electrodes 120, 130, 1
40... Liquid material, 150... Surrounding frame,
160... Electric signal source, 210... External light source, 220... Condenser lens system, 2
30...Input grating, 240...Projection lens system, 250...Output grating, L1...
...Input light, LT...Transmitted light, L2...
...Output light.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Means for applying an electric signal having at least a parallel component to the contact interface of these materials, having a liquid material and a solid material holding the liquid material, and a means for applying an electric signal having at least a parallel component to the contact interface of these materials, the liquid material has a reactive group A selected from the group containing a vinyl group, a cyclic epoxy group, a methacryloxy group, a glycidyl group, an alkoxy group,
A liquid siloxane compound having at least one reactive group B selected from the group containing a chlorine group, or when α is the same or different functional group, the chemical formula is α( C
H2) nSia3 (n-0, 1, 2
), one or more of the four functional groups α,
An electrical liquid shift control device comprising any one of liquid silicon compounds constituted by at least one of the reactive group A and the reactive group B.