ELECTROCHROMIC FAST DARKENING SUNWEAR FOR PEOPLE 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，以达到消费者准备好的原型水平，用于与视网膜相关的黄斑变性（ARMD）以及其他与年龄相关的眼病患者。它是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，在ARMD科目上测试了EC太阳镜，以及该公司最初为办公室/汽车窗户开发的新的CP EC技术。在先前的工作中，研究表明，使用EC太阳镜，ARMD患者的功能性视力和移动性能显着改善。在第一阶段的工作中，表现出优异的EC透镜性能：3%至83%的亮/暗对比度; 1至3秒的切换时间;薄（l.t. 3 mm），柔性（塑料），固态结构，可循环性g.t. 5,000个周期展示了一种用于太阳镜的环境光依赖控制的复杂控制器（硬件/软件）。对9名ARMD患者的受试者测试显示在模拟室外环境中的真实的性能差异。在本项目中，将进一步完善镜片的EC性能，制造100个带有更复杂的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。拟定商业应用：之前的研究表明，这种快速变暗的太阳服也会吸引普通的正常视力人群，除了美国200万ARMD患者和超过100万患有其他与年龄相关的眼部问题的人。因此，如果如预期的那样，EC太阳镜可用于l.t.只要250美元，就有很大的市场。

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.