The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Aug. 04, 2009
Filed:
Jul. 28, 2005
Stein Kuiper, Vught, NL;
Bernardus H. W. Hendriks, Eindhoven, NL;
Stein Kuiper, Vught, NL;
Bernardus H. W. Hendriks, Eindhoven, NL;
Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V., Eindhoven, NL;
Abstract
The present invention discloses an optical device comprising a container having an inner wall, said container enclosing a first liquid (A) and an electrically susceptible second liquid (B), said liquids (A; B) being immiscible and being in contact with each other via an interface (), said interface () having a contact angle with the inner wall; and an electrode arrangement () for controlling the shape of the interface () by means of a voltage; the optical device having an operational range in between a first value of the contact angle and a second value of the contact angle, the first value being in a range of 50-110° and the second value being in a range of 70°-130°, the second value being larger than the first value. It has been discovered that the response speed of the interface () to a change in position is a function of the contact angle (θ), with a response speed reaching a maximum value around (θ)=90° and at least 75% of this maximum value in the given interval. Consequently, an optical device having advantageous response characteristics is obtained.