ELECTROCHROMIC FAST DARKENING SUNWEAR FOR ARMD

该项目旨在进一步开发和测试一种新的、基于导电聚合物(CP)的电致变色(EC)技术，并将其测试到消费者就绪的水平，用于治疗老年性黄斑变性(ARMD)和其他与年龄相关的眼病。它基于我们之前在亚特兰大退伍军人管理局康复研发中心的工作，使用EC太阳镜在ARMD主题上进行测试，以及该公司最初为办公室/汽车窗开发的新的CP EC技术。以前的工作表明，戴上EC太阳镜后，ARMD患者的功能视力和行动能力都有显著改善。在第一阶段的工作中，展示了出色的EC镜头性能：3%到83%的明/暗对比度；1到3秒的切换时间；薄(L.T.3 mm)，柔性(塑料)，固态结构，可循环G.T.5000次循环。展示了一种用于太阳镜环境光控制的复杂控制器(硬件/软件)。对9名ARMD患者进行的受试者测试显示，在模拟室外环境中的表现存在真正的差异。在本项目中，镜片的EC性能将进一步改进，制造100个带有更复杂助听器大小控制器的EC眼镜，并对25名(第1年)和100名(第2年)患者进行患者测试。建议的商业应用：先前的研究表明，除了200万ARMD患者和100多万其他与年龄有关的眼睛问题的美国人外，这种快速变暗的太阳服也会吸引普通视力正常的人群。因此，如果如预期的那样，EC太阳镜可以为L.T.生产。250美元，他们将拥有一个很大的市场。

This project seeks to further develop and test to a level of consumer-ready prototypes a new, Conducting Polymer (CP) based electrochromic (EC) technology for persons with Age-Related Macular Degeneration (ARMD) as well as other age-related ocular diseases. It is based on our prior work at the Atlanta Veterans Administration Rehabilitation R&D Center with EC sunglasses tested on ARMD subjects, and on new, CP EC technology originally developed at this firm for office/auto windows. In the prior work, it was shown that the functional vision and mobility performance of people with ARMD significantly improves with EC sunglasses. In the Phase I work, excellent EC lens performance was demonstrated: 3% to 83% light/dark contrast; 1 to 3 sec switching time; thin (l.t. 3 mm), flexible (plastic), solid-state construction, cyclability g.t. 5,000 cycles. A sophisticated Controller (hardware/software) for ambient-light dependent control of sunglasses was demonstrated. Subject testing on 9 ARMD patients showed a real performance difference in simulated outdoor environment. In the present project, the EC performance of the lenses will be further refined, 100 EC glasses with a more sophisticated hearing-aid- sized Controller fabricated, and patient testing on 25 (Year 1) and 100 (Year 2) patients demonstrated. PROPOSED COMMERCIAL APPLICATION: Prior research has shown that such fast-darkening sunwear would also appeal to the general, normal-sighted populace, in addition to the 2 M people with ARMD and more than 1 M with other age-related ocular problems in the US. Thus, if as expected the EC sunglasses are producible for l.t. US $250, they would command a large market.