SEKISUI CHEMICAL CO., LTD. (President: Teiji Koge, hereinafter called "Sekisui Chemical")'s High Performance Plastics Company (President: Keita Kato) has been proceeding the development of interlayer film (hereinafter called "luminous PVB") for laminated glass that can display characters and diagrams on the whole of the windshield.

Sekisui Chemical has established the basic technology for this product and planning to display a demo kit at the "Eco-Products 2015" exhibition to be held at Tokyo Big Sight from December 10 to 12.
This product will be launched in the market in 2018, and Sekisui Chemical will continue further development for this product.

1. Development Background

Recently the number of vehicles with Head-Up Display (HUD) systems is increasing. HUD system can display information like speed and vehicle lane on the windshield and it can improve safety driving and correspond to the introduction of on-board IT.
HUD (direct display*) systems are being used in approx. 1 million of the new vehicles sold worldwide in FY2014 and prospectively this will expand to over 5 million vehicles in FY2020 (Sekisui Chemical projections).

*Direct display: HUD systems that projects images directly onto the windshield

Sekisui Chemical is a top manufacturer of interlayer film for the windshield, and in 2008 Sekisui Chemical launched "wedge-shaped interlayer film" which is compatible with these HUD systems. The current HUD system uses this wedge-shaped interlayer film and projected images will be displayed onto limited parts of the windshield. So the amount of displayed information on the windshield is limited. In the future, functions that can display more information will be requested from the market and this luminous PVB can meet this requirement.

2. About luminous PVB

1) Image of usage

2) Mechanism

Luminous PVB includes light-emitting materials and it will emit lights when a special laser beam is emitted from the onboard projector. Displayed image can be visible from all angles. So it can also be visible from all position as well as the driver's position.

3) Other features

Other functions such as solar control, sound insulation, wedge shapes, and with a shade band, etc., can also be incorporated at the same time.

4) Future developments

Sekisui Chemical aims to launch this product in the market in 2018, and is continuing the development.

Currently, the target of this development is automotive, but in future Sekisui Chemical would like to promote this product for wide range of application such as laminated glass for building, etc.

3. Exhibition at Eco-Products 2015

A demo kit for luminous PVB will be exhibited at the "Eco-Products 2015" exhibition which will be held at Tokyo Big Sight from December 10 to 12. Further, high-performance interlayer films with sound insulation and solar control functions will also be displayed at the same timing.

Reference (1): About the interlayer film for laminated glass (for motor vehicles)

Interlayer film for laminated glass is a plastic film with adhesion performance and transparency and it will be sandwiched between two glasses to make laminated glass. Laminated glasses are being used for automotive and architecture. Currently the usage of laminated glass is mandatory for the windshield of automotive in many countries and the adoption to other parts like side light and roof light is increasing. 

Reference (2): Sekisui Chemical Interlayer Film Business

Sekisui Chemical is developing its interlayer film business worldwide under the "s-lec^TM" brand. In recent years, we have poured our efforts into the development and sales expansion of high-performance films with sound insulation and solar control in particular, and have also globalized the production of these high-performance films.

■Interlayer Film Production Bases

(*): The Mexico plant is scheduled to start production of sound insulation film in the second half of FY2017