Patent ID: 6164783
Filing Date: 2000-12-26
Classification: B60R

Abstract:
A dimming mirror assembly for a vehicle comprising:a housing constructed and arranged to be mounted on a vehicle,a reflective member and a cooperating transparent member together defining a mirror within said housing; said reflective and transparent members mounted in said housing in juxtaposition with respect to one another for relative movement towards and away from one another to define a gap of variable size between said reflective and transparent members;a light reducing medium disposed within said gap;an actuating mechanism including a deformable member formed from an electrically deformable material adapted to deform in response to an application of voltage thereto, said deformable member having a portion thereof engaging at least one of said transparent and reflective members and another portion thereof engaging a fixed surface within said housing such that upon application of voltage to said electrically deformable material thereof said deformable member deforms to effect relative motion between said reflective and transparent members to vary the size of the gap therebetween and responsively vary an amount of light reducing medium disposed within said gap, anda voltage regulating mechanism communicated to said actuating mechanism, said voltage regulating mechanism being adapted to regulate the voltage applied to said electrically deformable material to thereby control the size of the gap between said reflective and transparent members and the amount of light reducing medium disposed within said gap.