Patent Grant
11635666
Certain embodiments disclosed herein relate to window controllers and methods for controlling smart windows, particularly tinting windows grouped in a zone of windows and/or tinting multi-zoned smart windows such as multi-zone electrochromic windows.
Electrochromism is a phenomenon in which a material exhibits a reversible electrochemically-mediated change in an optical property when placed in a different electronic state, typically by being subjected to a voltage change. The optical property is typically one or more of color, transmittance, absorbance, and reflectance. One well known electrochromic material is tungsten oxide (WO3). Tungsten oxide is a cathodic electrochromic material in which a coloration transition, transparent to blue, occurs by electrochemical reduction.
Electrochromic materials may be incorporated into, for example, windows for home, commercial and other uses. The color, transmittance, absorbance, and/or reflectance of such windows may be changed by inducing a change in the electrochromic material, that is, electrochromic windows are windows that can be darkened or lightened electronically. A small voltage applied to an electrochromic device of the window will cause them to darken and reversing the voltage causes them to lighten. This capability allows control of the amount of light that passes through the windows, and presents an opportunity for electrochromic windows to be used as energy-saving devices.
While electrochromism was discovered in the 1960s, electrochromic devices, and particularly electrochromic windows, still unfortunately suffer various problems and have not begun to realize their full commercial potential despite many recent advances in electrochromic technology, apparatus and related methods of making and/or using electrochromic devices.
Thin-film optical devices, for example, electrochromic devices for windows, and methods and window controllers for controlling transitions and other functions of multi-zone tintable windows using such devices are described herein. Certain embodiments comprise an electrochromic window having two or more tinting (or coloration) zones, e.g. formed from a monolithic electrochromic device coating as physically separate zones or where tinting zones are established in the monolithic device coating. Tinting zones may be defined by virtue of the means for applying electrical potential to the electrochromic device and/or by a resistive zone between adjacent tinting zones and/or by physical bifurcation of the device into tinting zones. For example, a set of bus bars may be configured to apply potential across each of the separate tinting zones of the monolithic electrochromic device to tinting zones selectively. Methods may also apply to a group of tintable windows, where individual windows of the group are tinted independently of others in order to maximize occupant experience, i.e. glare control, thermal comfort, etc.
Certain aspects pertain to an insulated glass unit (IGU) comprising a first lite comprising a first electrochromic device disposed on a first transparent substrate and comprising a plurality of independently-controllable tinting zones and a resistive zone between adjacent independently-controllable tinting zones. The IGU further comprising a second lite and a spacer between the first and second lites. In one case, the second lite comprises a second electrochromic device disposed on a second transparent substrate. In one case, the IGU further comprises a daylighting zone located, e.g., in a top portion of the IGU, wherein the daylighting zone comprises one or more tinting zones held in the bleached state to allow sunlight to pass through the first and second lites.
One aspect pertains to a control system for independently controlling tinting zones of a multi-zone tintable window. The control system comprises a window controller and multiple voltage regulators connected in parallel to the window controller, each voltage regulator connected to one bus bar of a tinting zone of multi-zone tintable window.
One aspect pertains to a control system for independently controlling tinting zones of a multi-zone tintable window. The control system comprises a plurality of subcontrollers, each subcontroller is connected to a pair of bus bars of one of the tinting zones of the multi-zone tintable window and a window controller connected in series to the plurality of sub controllers.
Certain aspects pertain to methods of controlling tint in a plurality of tinting zones of a multi-zone window or a group (zone) of tintable windows. The method determines a projection of direct sunlight through each of the plurality of tinting zones of the multi-zone window or the group of tintable windows. The method also determines an intersection between an occupancy region and the projections. The method then determines a tint level for each of the tinting zones (or tintable windows) based on the intersection. In addition, the method provides instructions to transition tint of one of the tinting zones (or tintable windows) to the tint level determined for the tinting zone.
Certain aspects pertain to methods of controlling a multi-zone tintable window, or one or more tintable windows in a group of windows, in a room of a building. The methods comprise determining whether the room is likely to be occupied. If the room is determined likely not to be occupied, the methods determine a tint level for each tinting zone of the multi-zone tintable window, or a tint level for each window of a group of tintable windows, based on energy control in the building. If the room is determined likely to be occupied, the methods determine the tint level for each tinting zone of the multi-zone tintable window, or window of the group of tintable windows, based on one or more factors including avoiding glare on an occupancy region in the room. The methods also provide instructions to transition each of the tinting zones or windows to the determined tint level. In one case, if the room is determined likely to be occupied, determining the tint level for each tinting zone is based on one or more factors including, in order of priority, avoiding glare on an occupancy region in the room, energy control, and daylighting. Methods include control of a group of multi-zoned tintable windows and monolithic tintable windows together.
These and other features and embodiments will be described in more detail below with reference to the drawings.
In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the presented embodiments. The disclosed embodiments may be practiced without some or all of these specific details. In other instances, well-known control operations have not been described in detail to not unnecessarily obscure the disclosed embodiments. While the disclosed embodiments will be described in conjunction with the specific embodiments, it will be understood that it is not intended to limit the disclosed embodiments. Certain embodiments described herein, although not limited as such, work particularly well with electrochromic devices. Certain embodiments are described in relation to controlling a tintable window having multiple tinting zones; the methods may also be used to tint individual windows in a group (or zone) of tintable windows, or combinations of such windows.
I. Introduction to Multi-Zone Tintable Windows
Certain implementations described herein are related to controlling tinting and other functions of multi-zone tintable windows, and more specifically, to independently controlling each of the tinting (or coloration) zones in a multi-zone tintable window. In some implementations, the multi-zone tintable window is in the form of an insulated glass unit comprised of two or more lites and a spacer sealed between the lites. Each multi-zone tintable window has at least one tintable lite with an optically switchable device. Some examples are described herein with respect to a multi-zone tintable window having an electrochromic lite with an electrochromic device disposed on the transparent substrate. In these examples, the electrochromic lite generally has one or more monolithic electrochromic (EC) devices, each monolithic EC device having multiple tinting (or coloration) zones. In one implementation, the electrochromic lite has a monolithic electrochromic (EC) device disposed over at least a portion of the substrate that is in the viewable area of the tintable window.
Detailed examples of methods of fabricating electrochromic lites with multiple tinting zones can be found in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/137,644, titled “Multi-Zone EC Windows” and filed on Mar. 13, 2013, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. In one implementation, tinting zones of an electrochromic lite are defined by virtue of a resistive region (also called a resistive zone) between adjacent tinting zones and/or by the different techniques used to apply a potential to the electrochromic device to independently control tinting in the tinting zones. For example, a single set of bus bars or different sets of bus bars can be configured to be able to apply potential independently to each tinting zone independently to thereby tint them selectively. With respect to the above mentioned resistive zone, this region allows independently controllable tinting of adjacent tinting zones of a single electrochromic device without destroying the tinting functionality in the resistive zone itself. That is, the resistive zone can be tinted. One advantage of these techniques is that scribe lines cutting through the electrochromic device between tinting zones are not used. These scribe lines can create non-functioning areas of the electrochromic device that can create a visually perceptible bright line in the viewable area of the window when tinted. Moreover, a resistive zone can have gentle tinting gradient between adjacent tinting zones held in different tint states. This tinting gradient blends the transition in tint between adjacent tinting zones to soften the appearance of the transition area between the tinting zones.
II. Multi-Zone Tinting Configurations
Certain implementations described herein are related to different tinting configurations of one or more multi-zone tintable windows, each multi-zone tintable window having multiple independently-controllable tinting zones. In each multi-zone tinting configuration, various tint states can be selected across the tinting zones to provide a particular benefit(s) to an occupant of a building and/or for the building itself. As such, certain embodiments provide tinting methods that are based, at least in part on occupancy of the space, whether actual or anticipated occupancy.
A. Goals of Occupant and/or Building
There are motivations to control tint states of a tintable window for occupant benefit and/or considering the building alone, e.g. energy savings, power requirements and the like. Here, an “occupant” generally refers to an individual or individuals of a particular room having one or more tintable windows being controlled and a “building” refers to the building management system (BMS) together with lighting, HVAC systems, and other building systems. Motivations related to occupancy may include their general wellness that can be affected by lighting in the room and the aesthetics of a tinted window or group of windows. Motivations include, for example, controlling glare from direct sunlight onto an occupant's workspace, visibility through the window to outside the building (their “view”), color of the tintable window and associated color of light in the room, and thermal comfort adjusted tint states to either block or transmit direct sunlight into the room. Although an occupant may want to generally avoid glare onto their workspace, they may also want to allow some sunlight through the window for natural lighting. This may be the case where an occupant prefers sunlight over artificial lighting from, for example, incandescent, light-emitting diode (LED), or fluorescent lighting. Also, it has been found that certain tintable windows may impart too much of a blue color to the room in their darker tint states. This blue color is offset by allowing a portion of unfiltered daylight to enter the room. User motivations related to the building include lowering energy use through reduction of heating, air-conditioning, and lighting. For example, one might want to tint the windows to transmit a certain amount of sunlight through the window so that less energy is needed for artificial lighting and/or heating. One may also want to harvest the sunlight to collect the solar energy and offset heating demand.
Another consideration, perhaps shared by both the building manager and the occupant is related to security concerns. In this regard, it may be desirable for a window to be darkly tinted so that those outside a room cannot see the occupant. Alternatively, it may be desirable that a window be in a clear state so that, for example, neighbors or police outside the building can see inside the building to identify any nefarious activity. For example, a user or a building operator may set a window in an “emergency mode” which in one case may clear the windows.
B. Glare Reduction Using Multi-Zone Designs and Tinting Configurations
In many cases, glare avoidance can be responsible for as much as 95% of tinting decisions made for tintable windows. Methods of making tinting decisions in tintable windows that account for glare avoidance are described in detail in PCT Application No. PCT/US15/29676, filed on May 7, 2015 and titled “CONTROL METHOD FOR TINTABLE WINDOWS,” which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. In these methods, using proprietary algorithms trademarked under the name Intelligence® (by View, Inc. of Milpitas, Calif.), glare is addressed in operations of a Module A. In Module A, decisions are made to determine whether to adjust the tint state of a tintable window based on the penetration depth or glare region caused by solar radiation transmitted through the window into the room. If the penetration depth or glare region where the solar radiation impacts the room overlaps with the position or likely position of an occupant (occupancy region), the tintable windows in the façade are held in or transitioned to a darker tint state in order to reduce glare on this occupancy region. Existing algorithms tint e.g. a whole group of windows associated with a building space based on glare, at the expense of other user comfort considerations.
Methods herein provide granularity and flexibility to tinting decisions by independently tinting one or more windows of a group of windows and/or individual zones of one or more multi-zone windows, e.g. to address glare while also allowing natural daylight into the space and thus address multiple user comfort issues and/or building systems requirements simultaneously. For example, reducing glare is an objective that is often inconsistent with reducing the heating load of a building, increasing natural lighting, etc. In the winter, for example, the energy used to heat a room by the heating system can be reduced by clearing a tintable window to allow more solar radiation to enter the room, which can also generate a glare scenario in an occupancy region. In certain configurations described herein, a multi-zone tintable window (or individual windows of a group of windows) can be controlled to address this concern by limiting the area of the window (or subset of group of windows) placed in a darkened tint to those tinting zones that reduce glare on the location or likely location of the occupant in the room. Although many examples are described herein with respect to controlling tinting zones in a multi-zone tintable window, it would be understood that similar techniques would apply to an assembly of multiple tintable windows, each tintable window having one or more tinting zones. For example, an assembly of tintable windows can be controlled to limit the area of the assembly of windows placed in a darkened tint to those tintable windows and/or tinting zones within tintable windows that reduces glare on the occupancy region.
Glare Reduction Tinting Configuration A
In one particular glare reduction configuration, a multi-zone tintable window is controlled to place (hold or transition) tinting zones in a darkened state that are in an area of the tintable window that can reduce glare on the location or likely location of an occupant while placing the other tinting zones of the multi-zone tintable window in lighter tint states to allow ambient light to enter, for example, to reduce heating/lighting. This configuration may be used for “daylighting.” As used herein, “daylighting” generally refers to an architectural strategy that uses natural light to satisfy illumination requirements and potential color offset while mitigating potential visual discomfort to occupants such as, for example, from glare. Glare can be from direct sunlight shining onto the occupant's workspace or in the eyes of the occupants. This configuration and other daylighting examples described herein can provide benefits including the reduction of the blue color from light in the tinted zones due to visual perception change with added natural light in the room.
Examples of tinting zones that are controlled based on this glare reduction configuration are described below in certain cases with reference to a multi-zone tintable window having multiple independently controllable tinting zones. It would be understood that these examples can also apply in a similar way to an assembly of independently controllable tintable windows or a combination of multi-zone windows and monolithic tintable windows.
—Lighter Tinted Lower Zone(s)
In one example of this glare control configuration, the lower tinting zone(s) of a multiple zone window in vertical wall are controlled to be tinted lighter than one or more higher tinting zones in the multi-zone window. The control configuration may be used, for example, in a scenario where the sun is at a mid to high position in the sky and the lower tinting zone or zones may be in a low location that receives sunlight at such an angle that direct sunlight does not penetrate deep into the room and therefore does not create a glare in an occupancy region located near the window. In this case, the lower tinting zone(s) can be cleared or controlled in a manner that allows maximum light into the room and to minimize heat load needed to heat the room, while the middle and/or top tinting zone(s) of the window can be darkened to reduce glare on the occupancy region.
In the illustrated scenario shown in
—Lighter Tinted Top Zone(s)
In this example, a multi-zone tintable window is controlled such that has a top area is lighter than the lower area. For example, the tinting zone (or multiple zones at the top) may be tinted lighter than one or more tinting zones of the multi-zone tintable window or the top area of the window. In another example, the top area of the window may have a transparent substrate only (no optically switchable device). In these examples, the lighter top zone(s) can act in a similar fashion to a “transom window” by allowing natural ambient light to enter the room at a high level while controlling glare near the window. This example and others daylighting examples described herein can provide benefits including the reduction of the blue color from light in the tinted zones due to visual perception change with added natural light in the room.
In the illustrated scenario shown in
In another example this glare configuration, a multi-zone tintable window may include a top transparent substrate only portion with no optical device and a bottom portion with an optically switchable device having one or more tinting zones. For example, the multi-zone tintable window may have a monolithic electrochromic device with one or more tinting zones at a bottom portion of the window and a daylighting transparent substrate strip or zone at the top.
In another example of this glare configuration and possibly other configurations for other purposes, a multi-zone tintable window comprises one or more tinting zones that can be controlled to have a tinting gradient from one side to an opposing side, according to an embodiment. In one case, the top tinting zone has a tinting gradient that starts at a bleached tint state at one side and increases in tint toward the opposing side. That is, there is no abrupt change in tint as in physically separate zones, where high contrast between zones can be distracting and unattractive to the end user.
—Lighter Tinted Middle Zone(s)
Although certain examples of multi-zone tintable windows in a glare reduction configuration have placed either the top zone(s) or lower zone(s) in a lighter tint state, other examples may darken top or lower zones to control glare while clearing or placing in a lighter tint state one or more middle zones between the top and bottom zones. For example, a multi-zone tintable window located very low or high in a room may have having a tinting configuration that clears or placing in a lighter tint state a middle zone or multiple middle zones. As another example, a single multi-zone tintable window spanning multiple floors e.g., an open mezzanine or loft in a single room may have a tinting configuration that clears a middle zone or multiple middle zones.
Although many examples of multi-zone tintable windows in a glare reduction configuration are described herein with multiple full width tinting zones arranged along the length of the window, other examples may include full length tinting zones arranged along the width of the window. Alternatively, it is contemplated that a multi-zone tintable window may comprise rectangular tinting zones (digitized design) corresponding to a two-dimensional array of locations along the length and width of the window.
—Skylight Example
In another example of this glare reduction configuration, a skylight comprises a plurality of multi-zone tintable windows at different facets facing different angles. Each window has multiple tinting zones, and the multi-zone windows are controlled as a group to allow ambient light to enter while controlling glare in occupied or likely occupied regions.
In
In
In certain implementations, a multi-zone tintable window comprises multiple lites in, for example, the form of an insulated glass unit (IGU) having a spacer sealed between lites. Another example is a laminate construction. Any of the tinting configurations shown and described with respect to
Glare Reduction Tinting Configuration B.
In one glare reduction tinting configuration, a multi-zone tintable window comprises a first multi-zone tintable lite in combination with a second mate lite that has either multiple tint zones or a single tint zone. In this tinting configuration, the combined transmissivity of light through multiple lites can be used to provide lower transmissivity than a single lite. For example, the reduced level of trasmissivity through two tintable lites in an area where both lites are tinted to a darkest tint state may be below 1% T. This reduced transmissivity through the area of combined multiple tinted lites can be used to provide increased glare control in a multi-zone tintable window. That is, transmissivity of lower than 1% may be desired by some end users, for example, to further reduce glare. In these cases, a multi-zone tintable window with multiple lites can be used to reduce transmissivity of lower than 1% as needed.
In one implementation of this tinting configuration, a multi-zone tintable window is in the form of an IGU with multiple lites, each lite having one or more tinting zones that can be tinted to reduce glare. At certain times of the year/day, tinting of the upper region of the window is appropriate because the sun is at an altitude such that sunlight through the upper region is a primary cause of glare across all portions of the window that receives sunlight. In other cases, other regions of the multi-zone tintable window may also benefit from this tinting. For example, a lower portion might as well.
According to one aspect, the regions of a multi-zone window that are determined by a control method to be the most appropriate for tinting to reduce glare are those that do not have a good view potential for the occupant. In other words, when an occupant is in their typical location in the room, it would be desirable if they can see out the window, for example, to view weather patterns. In one example, the control method determines to hold or transition the tint states of certain tinting zones to darker tint states to control glare on an occupancy region only if the region of the tinted zones does not block the view for an occupant.
In certain implementations, a multi-zone tintable window in the form of an IGU is controlled to have tint states that balance glare control with reduced energy consumption. In one case, the mate lite of the IGU may have one or more tinting zones that are designed to always or nearly always reduce glare. Although a mate lite generally refers to any substrate of the IGU, in one case, a mate lite is a substrate of the IGU on which the optically switchable device (e.g., electrochromic device) does not reside.
In one aspect, the mate lite or possibly some other structure in the IGU can be designed to direct sunlight in a horizontal direction regardless of the relative altitude of the sun with respect to the window position. The mechanism for directing light in a horizontal direction may include a very granular group of slats or window blinds structure in the interior of the IGU or the exterior of the IGU or associated with a mate lite. In one example, small mechanical blinds may be built into an electrically controllable region of the mate lite to redirect light. As another example, a series of light tubes may reside external or internal (region between lites) to the IGU to direct sunlight in a substantially horizontal direction.
In another implementation, one or more of the lites of an IGU may have a region with a diffusing light source such that light impinging on this region is diffused or scattered so as to eliminate potential glare on the occupancy region. The diffusion or scattering may be achieved by applying a diffusing film or light directing film to the region. These films contain many scattering centers or other ways to allow light in but at the same time reduce the direct rays upon an occupancy region.
C. Adjusting Color Perception
Other implementations for controlling tintable windows in a particular way can reduce color perception of the tinted or bleached state window and/or of the color of light passing through the tinted or bleached state window. These implementations make use of optical properties that minimize perception of an undesirable color associated with a particular tint state.
As one example, a darkened tint state of an optically switchable device, e.g., electrochromic device, may have a blue color which may be perceivable to an occupant. However, if a tinted zone in the room is juxtaposed with a clear zone through which much daylight shines, the blue color of the tinted zone may be less noticeable to the occupant. For example, a particular tinting zone of a multi-zone window may be in a darker tint state and might appear blue to the occupant. In one implementation of a glare reduction tinting configuration, adjacent or nearby windows and/or tinting zones can be placed in a clear state as long as they do not create glare for the occupant due to their relative position. The light coming through the clear zones can reduce the perception of blue color that the occupant might otherwise perceive.
In another implementation, a diffusing light source such as a diffusing or scattering film adhered to tintable window may reduce the perception of blue color in the tinted zone. For example, a diffusing or scattering film may be disposed on a mate lite to an electrochromic lite of an IGU. In another example, a diffusing or scattering film may be disposed on a surface of the lite without the optically switchable device such as an electrochromic device.
D. Light Harvesting Tinting Configurations
Other multi-zone tinting configurations may involve maximizing light harvesting. Light harvesting is a concept by which solar radiation from outside the window is converted into electrical energy for use by the window, by the building, or for another purpose. Light harvesting can be accomplished using a photovoltaic film, other photovoltaic structure, or other light harvesting structure on an appropriate portion of a window such as on the mate lite of an IGU. In one example, light harvesting is accomplished with a photovoltaic cell provided in or on the window containing the multi-zone electrochromic device.
One consideration is that photovoltaic cells or other light harvesting structures may be most efficient when incident light being collected comes at a normal or nearly normal direction. This can be facilitated by having a structure in the window that redirects incident light on the window to strike the photovoltaic cell at a normal or nearly normal direction to maximize energy generation. In some cases, a light diffuser or a horizontally directing structure such as described above with reference to
Another consideration is that it may be desired in normal situations for photovoltaic films on a mate lite to be as transparent as possible. However, photovoltaic films made to be transparent are often relatively inefficient at converting sunlight to electrical energy in comparison to more opaque films or not just opaque films but rather films that perhaps scatter light more. Recognizing that there may be certain zones in a region of a window that are normally responsible for preventing a glare scenario in the room, and therefore normally must be tinted and/or that there may be certain zones outside this region where an occupant would normally be able to view the outside environment. In one implementation, the tinting zones in this region are provided with more efficient for light harvesting, but more scattering or opaque photovoltaic films, than the zones outside this region. In another implementation, the tinting zones in this region are provided with photovoltaic films and the zones outside this region do not have photovoltaic films.
As with the scenario described with respect to
—Locations of Photovoltaic Cell on IGU Lite Faces
In certain implementations, a tintable window includes a photovoltaic (PV) cell/panel. The PV panel may be positioned anywhere on the window as long as it is able to absorb solar energy. For instance, the PV panel may be positioned wholly or partially in the viewable area of a window, and/or wholly or partially in/on the frame of a window. Details of examples of electrochromic windows with a PV cell/panel can be found in U.S. Provisional Patent Application 62/247,719, titled “PHOTOVOLTAIC-ELECTROCHROMIC WINDOWS” and filed on Mar. 25, 2016, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
The PV cell/panel may be implemented as a thin film that coats one or more surfaces of a lite of a tintable widow. In certain implementations, the tintable window is in the form of an IGU with two individual lites (panes), each having two surfaces (not counting the edges). Counting from the outside of the building inwards, the first surface (i.e., the outside-facing surface of the outer pane) may be referred to as surface 1 (S1), the next surface (i.e., the inside-facing surface of the outer pane) may be referred to as surface 2 (S2), the next surface (i.e., the outside-facing surface of the inner pane) may be referred to as surface 3 (S3), and the remaining surface (i.e., the inside-facing surface of the inner pane) may be referred to as surface 4 (S4). The PV thin film may be implemented on any one or more of surfaces 1-4.
In certain examples, a PV film is applied to at least one of the lite surfaces in an IGU or other multi-lite window assembly. Examples of suitable PV films are available from Next Energy Technologies Inc. of Santa Barbara, Calif. PV films may be organic semiconducting inks, and may be printed/coated onto a surface in some cases.
Conventionally, where a PV cell is contemplated for use in combination with a multi-zone electrochromic window, the EC device is positioned toward the building interior relative to the PV cell/panel such that the EC device does not reduce the energy gathered by the PV cell/panel when the EC device is in a tinted state. As such, the PV cell/panel may implemented on the outside-facing surface of the outer pane (lite) e.g., on surface 1 of an IGU. However, certain sensitive PV cells cannot be exposed to external environmental conditions and therefore cannot reliably be implemented outside-facing surface. For example, the PV cell may be sensitive to oxygen and humidity.
To address air and water sensitivity of such PV films, a film may be positioned on surface 2 or 3, which helps protect the film from exposure to oxygen and humidity. In some cases, the stack of electrochromic materials is positioned on surface 3 and the PV thin film is positioned on surface 2. In another example, the stack of electrochromic materials is positioned on surface 2 and the PV film is positioned on surface 3.
In one aspect, a PV film is positioned on S3 and the multi-zone window has the EC device with multiple tinting zones on S2. In this case, one or more zones may be held in a bleached tint state such as in a daylighting tinting zone (e.g., in a transom window configuration) that allows natural light into the room at a high level. In this case, the sunlight is fed to the PV film on S3 while the other zones (e.g., lower zones in transom window configuration) can remain tinted, for example, for glare control. In this case, the PV film receives sunlight and is not starved for light.
E. Resistive Zones
In certain implementations, resistive zones are configured along an area at the between adjacent tinting zones of the monolithic EC device of a multi-zone window. These resistive zones may allow for more uniform tinting fronts, e.g., when used in combination with bus bar powering mechanisms. In certain embodiments, the resistive zones may be narrow, e.g. between about 1 mm and 1000 mm wide, or may be wider, e.g. between about 1 mm and about 10 mm wide. The EC materials in resistive zones tint, they do not leave a bright line contrast effect typical of conventional laser isolation scribes. Thus, in other embodiments, a resistive zone may be, for example, wider than 1 mm, wider than 10 mm, wider than 15 mm, etc.
The reason a resistive zone tints is because it is not a physical bifurcation of the EC device into two devices, but rather a physical modification of the single EC device and/or its associated transparent conductors within a resistive zone. The resistive zone is an area of the EC device where the activity of the device, specifically the electrical resistivity and/or resistance to ion movement is greater than for the remainder of the EC device. Thus one or both of the transparent conductors may be modified to have increased electrical resistivity in the resistive zone, and/or the EC device stack may be modified so that ion movement is slower in the resistive zone relative to the EC device stack in the adjacent tinting zones. The EC device still functions, tints and bleaches, in this resistive zone, but at a slower rate and/or with less intensity of tint than the remaining portions of the EC device. For example, the resistive zone may tint as fully as the remainder of EC device in the adjacent tinting zones, but the resistive zone tints more slowly than the adjacent tinting zones. In another example, the resistive zone may tint less fully than the adjacent tinting zones or at a tint gradient.
As used herein, a “resistive zone” is an area in the EC device where one or more layers of the EC device have their function impaired, either partially or completely, but device function is not cut off across the tinting zone. For example, one or both of the TCOs shown in
In one aspect, a resistive zone may be fabricated, for example, by exposure of the area at the resistive zone to irradiation, e.g. laser or heat source, in order to modify but not destroy the function at resistive zone. For example, one or both of the TCO layers may be heated sufficiently to change the morphology while retaining the function, albeit impaired relative to the remainder of the TCO layers in the tinting zones. In certain embodiments, it is advantageous to impair the function of only one TCO in a resistive zone. Resistive zones may also be created by impairing the function of one or more layers of the EC device (or one or both TCOs) by chemical doping. For example, in one embodiment the lower TCO is treated along a line (at resistive zone, e.g.) with heat and oxygen to create a more resistive TCO at the resistive zone. In another embodiment, one or both TCOs are fabricated thinner along the resistive zone than the rest of the TCOs, e.g. TCO material may be removed, but not cut through, along the resistive zone.
F. Glare Reduction Using Multi-Zone Window with Many Tinting Zones
Recognizing that it might be desirable to tint the smallest amount of area possible to reduce glare, a multi-zone window may be designed with many tinting zones. In some aspects, individual tinting zones might have a width/length as small as a millimeter or even a few micrometers. In one aspect, one or more tinting zones of a window have a width/length of about a millimeter. In one aspect, one or more tinting zones of a window have a width/length in the range of about 2-5 micrometers. In one aspect, one or more tinting zones of a window have a width/length in the range of about 3-5 micrometers. Bus bars or other contacts to the tinting zones can be made very thin to be almost imperceptible.
The cross section, X-X, spans the tinting zones 715 of the multi-zone electrochromic window 700 as well as the resistive zones 710 (only the bus bars on the top TCO are depicted in cross section X-X, they are orthogonal to resistive zones in this example). Cross section X-X (lower portion) is not to scale, but rather a schematic representation of the structure of the multi-zone electrochromic window 700. Although the resistive zones 710 are depicted as located through the entire EC device, these resistive zones 710 may be located through a portion of the EC device such as through one or both of the TCO layers according to other aspects. On the glass substrate is an EC device including a first transparent conducting oxide layer, TCO 1, a second transparent conductive oxide layer, TCO 2, and sandwiched in between the TCOs is an EC device stack which contains one or more electrochromic materials, e.g., the transitions of which are driven by intercalation/de-intercalation of ions, such as lithium ions.
—Many Horizontally-Oriented or Vertically-Oriented Tinting Zones
In one aspect, a multi-zone window comprises many horizontally-oriented tinting zones where each zone has a pair of bus bars. This configuration allows for a large number of tinting options. This configuration provides for “tunable” zoning in the window since a much greater variety of zones are available to tint and these many zones can provide an improved curtaining effect when tinting. In one example, the hardware needed to control tinting of such a multi-zone window is essentially a series of voltage regulators, one for each zone, and collectively all the VRs being controlled by a single window controller via a communication bus. Thus, a window controller includes these multiple VRs for multi-zone use. A good application of such a window is, e.g., where there is an overhang over the window. As the sun's angle changes, the shadow on the window will grow or shrink. Having more granular zone “strips” can be used to automatically track where the shadow is, and/or where the glare is too high, tinting corresponding to where the sun is actually hitting the glass in real time. In some cases, input from sensors (e.g., illuminance sensors) can be used to determine where the sunlight is striking the window.
F. Other Examples of Window Configurations
—Room with Multi-Zone Windows Having Different Configurations
In another implementation, multiple horizontally and/or vertically separated multi-zone windows may be located in a room. In one example, one or more of the center or interior windows in the room have horizontally oriented tinting zones, while the left and right windows and perhaps some other adjacent peripheral windows have vertically oriented zones.
—Vertically Oriented Tinting Zones
Keeping with the concept of minimizing the window area used to reduce glare, one implementation includes an assembly of vertically-arranged tintable windows and/or window(s) with vertically-oriented tinting zones. In this implementation, the tinting of the windows/zones can be controlled to adjust for glare at different azimuthal variations in solar angle.
—Both Vertically-Oriented and Horizontally-Oriented Tinting Zones of a Multi-Zone Window
In one tinting configuration, a single large window includes both vertically-oriented and horizontally-oriented zones. For example, the horizontally-oriented tinting zones may be in a center region of the window and the vertically-oriented tinting zones may be in the left and right outer peripheral regions of the window. In this example, the electrical leads may be routed into the interior regions of the window to control the interior horizontally oriented zones. In some cases, transparent leads may be used.
—Multi-Zone Windows with Non-EC Films
In certain implementations, a multi-zone window includes an electrochromic device or other optically switchable device. In other implementations, a multi-zone window includes an optically switchable device and/or a PV film. In another implementation, a multi-zone window includes an optically switchable device and/or a thermochromic or photochromic material layer. Some description of windows having a tinting zone with thermochromic or photochromic material can be found in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/145,892, titled “MULTI-PANE DYNAMIC WINDOW AND METHOD FOR MAKING SAME” and filed on Jun. 25, 2008, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
III. Controller Designs and Hardware for Implementing Multi-Zone Configurations
A. Window Controller for Independent Control of Multiple Tinting Zones
In certain aspects, a single window controller or multiple window controllers are used to independently control multiple zones of a single electrochromic device of a multi-zone tintable window. In a first design, a single window controller is electrically communicating with multiple voltage regulators. In a second design, a main window controller is electrically communicating with multiple subcontrollers. In some cases, each multi-zone tintable window includes a memory, chip or card that stores information about the window, including physical characteristics, production information (date, location, fabrication parameters, lot number, etc.), and the like. The memory, chip or card may be part of an onboard window controller or not, e.g. in a wiring harness, pigtail and/or connector to which the window controller connects. Window controllers, whether on or part of the window or not, that control multi-zone tintable windows are described herein. Other information that may be included in the memory are described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/049,756, titled “MULTIPURPOSE CONTROLLER FOR MULTISTATE WINDOWS” and filed on Mar. 16, 2011 and in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/951,410, titled “SELF-CONTAINED EC IGU” and filed on Nov. 24, 2015, both of which are incorporated by reference herein for all purposes.
—Controller Design 1
As mentioned above, a window controller according to the first design is connected to multiple voltage regulators, which it controls. Each voltage regulator is in electrical communication with one of the tinting zones. In one embodiment, the voltage regulators are onboard, i.e. part of the window assembly, e.g. in the secondary seal of an insulated glass unit. They maybe be physically separate from the controller, or part of the controller, whether the controller is onboard or separate from the window. The window controller is in electrically communication with each voltage regulator to be able to independently instruct each voltage regulator to deliver voltage to its own tinting zone. Each voltage regulator delivers current to only one of two bus bars in a particular tinting zone. This design involves multiple voltage regulators, one for each tinting zone, and collectively all the voltage regulators being controlled by a single window controller via a communication bus (not depicted).
Another structural feature of this first design is that each of the voltage regulators is directed or connected to only one of the bus bars in the respective zone of the multi-zone electrochromic device. The bus bars of the zones that oppose the voltage-regulated bus bars all receive the same voltage from the window controller. This presents a challenge if one of the tinting zones needs to be driven in an opposite direction from that of the other zones because the polarity on the two bus bars cannot be reversed if the voltage applied to the other zones is inconsistent with such reversed polarity.
In this design, each voltage regulator is a simple design that has logic (e.g., instructions stored on memory and retrieved for execution by a processor) for applying a voltage as instructed by the window controller. A local window controller includes logic with instructions for implementing roles comprising: 1) communicating with higher level window controllers, 2) to step down power if necessary, 3) and determining the actual voltage that should be applied to each of the individual tinting zones. As an example of communication with higher level window controllers, the local window controller may receive instructions to place each of the individual zones in respective tint states. The window controller may then interpret this information and decide how to best accomplish this result by driving transitions by applying appropriate drive voltages, hold times, ramp profiles, hold voltages, etc. Details of control instructions for driving transitions in optically switchable windows are described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/449,248, filed on Apr. 17, 2012 and titled “CONTROLLER FOR OPTICALLY-SWITCHABLE WINDOWS,” and in in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/449,251, filed on Apr. 17, 2012 and titled “CONTROLLER FOR OPTICALLY-SWITCHABLE WINDOWS,” both of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties.
—Controller Design 2
In a second design, a separate subcontroller is used to control each of the tinting zones. In this design, the subcontrollers receive general tint instructions from a main window controller. For example, the main (upper-level) window controller may send a signal to the subcontroller with tint instructions to drive a transition of a particular tinting zone to a new tint state. The subcontroller comprises memory that includes control instructions for driving transitions including instructions that determine the appropriate drive voltage, hold time, ramp profile, etc. necessary to drive transitions. The main window controller for the multi-zone window is in communication with higher level control entities on the control network main window controller also functions to step the power from the power source to an appropriate level for the subcontrollers to perform their functions.
In this design, each subcontroller has leads going to each bus bar of the respective tinting zone for which it is responsible. In this way, the polarity across the pair of bus bars for each zone can be independently controlled. If one of the tinting zones needs to be driven in an opposite polarity from that of the other zones, the polarity on the two bus bars can be reversed with this design. This is an advantage over the first design, because each zone can be independently tinted or cleared.
B. Photovoltaic Power
In certain implementations, a multi-zone window comprises a PV film or other light harvesting device, which can harvest energy converting the solar energy to provide electrical power to the window controller and other window devices. Some examples of multi-zone tintable windows with a PV film are described above.
C. Onboard Window Controller
In some aspects, a multi-zone window may have a window controller that is an onboard controller. Details of examples of onboard controllers are described in U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/085,179, filed on Nov. 26, 2014, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
D. Wireless Powering
According to one aspect, a multi-zone window may be powered wirelessly, for example through RF, magnetic induction, or lasers or microwave energy, etc. Details regarding the components of a wireless powered window can be found in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/971,576 titled “WIRELESS POWERED ELECTROCHROMIC DEVICES,” filed on Jun. 23, 2011, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
In one aspect, a multi-zone tintable window comprises an RF antenna that converts RF power into an electrical potential used to power the transition of one or more tinting zones in the multi-zone tintable window. The RF antenna may be located in the frame of the multi-zone window or in another structure (e.g., spacer of an IGU). For example, the RF antenna may be located in the spacer of an IGU having multiple lites with at least one lite comprising a multi-zone electrochromic device. The RF antenna receives RF signals from a RF transmitter. In one case, the RF transmitter provides RF signals to multiple RF antennas. Details regarding examples of antennas are described in PCT application PCT/US15/62387, titled “WINDOW ANTENNAS” and filed on Nov. 24, 2015, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
IV. Control Logic for Controlling Functions of Multi-Zone Windows
In certain implementations, control logic used to determine tint decisions for groups of windows can operate similarly to control logic used to determine tint decisions for multiple tinting zones in a window or individual windows of a group of windows. That is, the control logic for multiple windows determines a tint state for each window according the location and direction of the window. The control logic for multiple zones of a window would determine a tint state for each zone of the window according to the location and direction of the zone. An example of control logic for determining tint decisions for multiple windows and transitioning the windows to the determined tint states can be found in PCT application PCT/US15/29675, filed on May 5, 2015 and titled “CONTROL METHOD FOR TINTABLE WINDOWS,” which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. In certain aspects, certain operations of this control logic may be adapted to determine tinting decisions for multiple tinting zones and powering transitions according to the tinting decisions as described herein.
In some aspects, control logic may be adapted to address the visual transition in tinting within a particular tinting zone and/or between adjacent tinting zones. For example, the control logic may include logic that determines tint states that create a sharp contrast between different tint states in different zones or to create diffuse blending of color from zone to zone, e.g. using resistive zone technology. As discussed above, a resistive zone (rather than a physical bifurcation) between adjacent tinting zones can be used to generate a tinting gradient between adjacent zones. The tinting gradient is generally present across the width of the resistive zone and thus, the visual transition is more gradual, the greater the width of the resistive zone. The control logic may be adapted to account for the tinting gradient in the resistive zone and/or may be adapted to apply a gradient voltage along the length of the bus bars of a tinting zone to generate a tinting gradient within the tinting zone (or a monolithic EC device film). In one example, a bus bar may be tapered to apply a gradient voltage along the length and generate a length-wise tinting gradient. In another aspect, control logic may be adapted to control windows with many tinting zones to determine tint states that will blend the color through the many zones. In one aspect, control logic may be adapted to control the tint state of a series of adjacent zones such that there is not too abrupt of a transition from a zone that needs to be particularly dark to the zone that needs to be particularly clear.
Another modification to control logic may involve a separate routine (e.g., a module beyond Modules A-D of the PCT application PCT/US15/29675 which describes aspects of Intelligence® as described above) for applying considerations associated with the additional features of a multi-zone window beyond the usual considerations of glare control, view, natural lighting, occupant thermal comfort, building energy management, etc. For example, where light harvesting is a motivation, then an additional module may have to be built on the control logic to address the additional consideration. The order in which the functionality for addressing that additional feature or function of the tinting zone sits in a processing pipeline for the usual considerations may be irrelevant in some cases. For example, the Intelligence® modules do not necessarily need to operate in the following order: A→B→C→D in one case. It would be understood that it is possible that the order of execution of the modules does matter in other cases.
The control logic may also be adjusted to account for highly localized glare control across multiple zones. For example, this can be addressed with a modification to module A of the control logic described in detail in PCT application PCT/US15/29675.
Different designs of window controllers that can power tinting transitions of multiple tinting zones of one or more multi-zone tintable windows are described above. In some aspects, a tinting zone may have two tint states: a first bleached tint state and a second darkened tint state. In other aspects, a tinting zone may have four tint states. In other aspects, a tinting zone may have more than four tint states.
At operation 2910, the position of the sun is calculated at the latitude and longitude coordinates of the window(s) and the date and time of day of a particular instant in time, ti. The latitude and longitude coordinates may be input from a configuration file. The date and time of day may be based on the current time provided by a timer.
At operation 2920, the amount of direct sunlight transmitted into the room through each of the zones/windows is calculated at the particular instant in time used in operation 2910. The amount of sunlight (e.g., penetration depth) is calculated based on the position of the sun calculated in operation 2910 and the configuration of each zone/window. The zone/window configuration includes information such as the position of the window, dimensions of the window, orientation of the window (i.e. direction facing), and the details of any exterior shading. The zone/window configuration information is input from the configuration file associated with the zone/window.
At operation 2930, the level of irradiance in the room is determined. In some cases, the level of irradiance is calculated based on clear sky conditions to determine clear sky irradiance. A level of clear sky irradiance is determined based on window orientation from the configuration file and based on latitude and longitude of the building. These calculations may also be based on a time of day and date at the particular instant in time used in operation 2910. Publicly available software such as the RADIANCE program, which is an open-source program, can provide the calculations for determining clear sky irradiance. In addition, the level of irradiance may be based on one or more sensor readings. For example, a photosensor in the room may take periodic readings that determine the actual irradiance in the room.
At operation 2940, the control logic determines whether the room is occupied. The control logic may make its determination based on one or more types of information including, for example, scheduling information, occupancy sensor data, asset tracking information, activation data from a user via a remote control or a wall unit such as shown in
If it is determined at operation 2940 that the room is unoccupied, the control logic selects a tint level for each zone/window prioritizing energy control to heat/cool the building (operation 2950). In some cases, other factors may be weighed in the selection of the tint level such as security or other safety concerns. The tint level determined at operation 2940 is used to transition the zone/window. The control logic then returns to operations 2910, 2920, and 2930, which are typically conducted on a periodic basis.
If it is determined at operation 2940 that the room is in occupied, the control logic determines whether a mode has been selected by a user (operation 2960) or for a particular occupant based on an occupancy profile. For example, a user (e.g. occupant or building operator) may select a mode at a user interface on a remote control or a wall unit such as shown in
If it is determined at operation 2960 that a mode has been selected by the user, then the control logic selects a tint level for each zone/window based on the mode (operation 2970). For example, if a “daylighting mode” has been turned on, then the tint level may determine the tint level based on the following factors in order of priority: avoiding glare and allowing natural light into the room through daylighting regions. The tint level selected at operation 2960 is used to transition the zone/window. The control logic then returns to operations 2910, 2920, and 2930, which are typically conducted on a periodic basis.
In some cases, three-dimensional projections of sunlight through each zone/window are calculated to the amount of direct sunlight transmitted into the room and to determine whether a glare condition exists in the room with the zone/window. A discussion of light projections and determining a glare condition based on light projections is discussed below with respect to
If it is determined at operation 2960 that a mode has not been selected by the user, then the control logic selects a tint level for each zone/window based on factors in the following order of priority: 1) glare control, 2) energy control, and 3) daylighting (operation 2980). In some cases, other secondary factors may also be weighted into the selection of the tint level including one or more of: a time delay to prevent rapid transitioning, color rendering, tinting gradient, feedback based on historical data, occupant's view of the external environment, and light harvesting. For example, when an occupant is in their typical location in the room, it may be desirable for them to see out the window, for example, to view weather patterns. If occupant's view of the external environment is taken under consideration in making the tinting decision, the control logic may determine that although a darkened tint state of a particular tinting zone/window would avoid glare, a lower tint level will be used to provide a more clear view of the external environment.
In one embodiment, three-dimensional projections of sunlight through each zone/window are calculated to the amount of direct sunlight transmitted into the room and to determine whether a glare condition exists in the room with the zone/window. A discussion of light projections and determining a glare condition based on light projections is discussed below with respect to
At operation 2980, to determine a tint level appropriate for the amount of glare determined in operation 2920, the control logic may use an occupancy lookup table to select an appropriate tint level for the zone/window based on the space type associated with the zone/window, glare amount calculated at operation 2920, and the acceptance angle of the zone/window. The space type and occupancy lookup table are provided as input from the configuration file for the particular window. Examples of an occupancy lookup table have different tint levels for different combinations of amount of glare and space type. For example, an occupancy lookup table may have eight (8) tint levels including 0 (lightest), 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, and 35 (lightest). The lightest tint level of 0 corresponds to an SHGC value of 0.80, the tint level of 5 corresponds to an SHGC value of 0.70, the tint level of 10 corresponds to an SHGC value of 0.60, the tint level of 15 corresponds to an SHGC value of 0.50, the tint level of 20 corresponds to an SHGC value of 0.40, the tint level of 25 corresponds to an SHGC value of 0.30, the tint level of 30 corresponds to an SHGC value of 0.20, and the tint level of 35 (darkest) corresponds to an SHGC value of 0.10. In this example, the occupancy lookup table has three space types: Desk 1, Desk 2, and Lobby and six amounts of glare (e.g., penetration depths of sunlight into the room through the zone/window). The tint levels for Desk 1 close to the window are higher than the tint levels for Desk 2 far from window to prevent glare when the desk is closer to the window. An illustrated example of such an occupancy lookup table can be found in PCT/US15/29675, filed on May 5, 2015 and titled “CONTROL METHOD FOR TINTABLE WINDOWS.”
In one embodiment, the control logic may decrease the tint level determined based on the amount of glare determined in operation 2920 based on irradiance levels determined at operation 2930. For example, the control logic may receive sensor readings of irradiance which indicates that a cloudy condition exists. In this case, the control logic may decrease the tint level of the zone/window that was determined to be associated with a glare condition.
At operation 2980, the control logic then determines whether to change, based on the second priority of energy control in the building, the tint level selected as appropriate for the amount of glare. For example, if the outside temperature is extremely high such that the cooling load is high, the control logic may increase the tint level in one or more zones/windows to reduce the cooling load. As another example, if the outside temperature is extremely cold, the control logic may decrease the tint level in one or more zones/windows while maintaining a darkened tint state in a zone/window that would otherwise cause glare on the occupancy region. The control logic then determines whether to change the tint level based on the third level of priority daylighting while accounting for energy control in the building and maintaining a darkened tint state in a zone/window that would otherwise cause glare on the occupancy region. The tint level determined at operation 2980 is used to transition the zone/window. The control logic then returns to operations 2910, 2920, and 2930, which are typically conducted on a periodic basis.
A. Tinting Configurations with Factors Designed to Improve Occupant Wellness
According to some aspects, control logic is designed to use tinting configurations that improve occupant wellness. For example, certain tinting configurations discussed herein address factors such as avoiding glare on the occupant's position or likely position, increasing natural lighting in the room, and/or the color of the windows and associated color of light in the room. In addition, control logic may control the rate of transition between tint states. Also, certain tinting configurations may control the tinting gradient between adjacent tinting zones in different tint states and/or the tinting gradient within a particular tinting. Some configurations for controlling the tinting gradient between adjacent zones and within a particular zone are discussed above. Some configurations that address avoiding glare on the occupant's position or likely position, increasing natural lighting in the room, and/or the color of the windows and associated color of light in the room are also discussed above.
1. Passive or Active Manipulation of Light
In certain implementations, a multi-zone window includes one or more techniques for passive or active manipulation of light passing through the window to ensure there is no glare on the occupancy region and controls heat load while allowing for continuous daylighting into the room. These techniques can function along with controlling the tinting of the multi-zone window.
In one aspect, the window may have active or passive control over the direction of the light going into the room. Some examples of such techniques include micro shades, hexcells, light tubes, IR mirrors or IR reflectors, a film that absorbs IR or reflects IR. In one example, a window is designed to ensure that light is directed to be parallel when coming into a room by using micro shades, or hexcells, or thin film coatings. These techniques can be used to allow natural light into the building while avoiding glare, controls heat and allow for manipulation of the light, provides beneficial color rendering using natural daylight. In an illustrated example,
In another aspect, a multi-zone window in the form of an IGU includes one or more IR mirrors or IR reflectors in the region between the two lites of the IGU. In one example, the mirrors/reflectors are located in region aligned with one or more tinting zones that can be held in the clear state to allow continuous daylighting into the room when sunlight is incident the outer surface at that region.
In yet another aspect, a multi-zone window with an electrochromic device that comprises a film that absorbs IR or reflects IR to control the heat that is coming into a building and has active or passive control over the direction of the light going into the room.
—Microshades
In implementations with microshades, the micro shades or the window could be articulated to adjust the direction of the light that is going into the room. For example, the microshades can be articulated to orient them to direct light to bounce off the ceiling and/or to be kept parallel. In one example, a multi-zone window is round and can be (at least) rotated in the plane of the wall in which it is installed in order to harvest the light as the sun position and azimuth changes, for example, to direct light in the same direction as the position of the sun changes. The round window could additionally have controllably articulating microshades to change their orientation to ensure proper non-glare daylighting throughout the day. Some details of microshades and MEMS devices are described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/443,353, titled “MULTI-PANE WINDOWS INCLUDING ELECTROCHROMIC DEVICES AND ELECTROMECHANICAL SYSTEMS DEVICES” and filed on May 15, 2015, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
A multi-zone window with microshades would typically be installed above a tintable window/zone without microshades, and above the height of the occupant to help ensure that there will never be any glare on the occupant. If the window has active or passive aiming of the incoming light, the angle of the microshades can be adjusted to modify the angle to ensure there is no glare even if they were placed below the height of the occupant.
In some cases, multi-zone window with techniques for passive or active manipulation of light can be controlled based on input from a camera in the room or a sensor such as an occupancy sensor. When coupled with a camera in the room or a sensor, this configuration can use active aiming to optimally heat up the room when that is desired. In addition, coupling with interior active or passive reflective surfaces, the system could harvest the light and direct it to other areas of the building. For example, the light can be channeled to other areas using light tubes or directed to other areas by simply cutting holes in walls to allow the light to penetrate deeper into a building.
2. Color Rendering and Modified Color Temperature
The tint of a window can change the amount of light transmitted through a tintable window and the wavelength spectrum and associated color of the interior light transmitted into the room. Some tinting configurations described herein have techniques that provide preferential spectral selection of the incoming light. These techniques can augment lighting to balance both the interior rendered color and the amount of natural light in the appropriate wavelength to improve visual comfort, circadian rhythm regulation, and associated psychological effect. For example, a tintable window may include a filter layer that controls the transmission of natural daylight through the window. These techniques can improve the color and spectrum of the incoming daylight into the room and the comfort, visual perception, mood and wellbeing of the occupant. Some techniques can change the CCT (correlated color temperature) and CRI (color rendering index) of the light in a room to have incoming light-color closer to natural light.
One tinting configuration provides both natural lighting as well as filtered light. These configurations may also use artificial lighting to augment and/or adjust CCT and/or CRI. Other methods provide only filtered light and artificial lighting to augment and/or adjust CCT and/or CRI.
—Creating Preferred Lighting for Occupant Using Color Balancing
As outlined above, described methods call for tinting in certain areas while not tinting in other areas, e.g. certain zones of a multi-zone tintable window or certain windows in a group of tintable windows, to reduce glare for the occupant while allowing ambient light to enter, so called “daylighting,” that uses natural light to satisfy illumination requirements and color offset (color balance) e.g. from a tintable window's unwanted blue hue imparted to the occupant's space. Generally speaking, an occupant prefers natural sunlight over artificial lighting from, for example, incandescent, light-emitting diode (LED), or fluorescent lighting. However, with advancements in LED lighting technology, a much greater range of lighting possibilities, wavelengths, frequencies, colors, intensity ranges, and the like are possible. Specific embodiments use LED lighting technology to offset the blueness or other unwanted hue in the occupant's space due to the transmitted light from tintable windows. In certain embodiments, control of tintable windows includes control over LED lighting to correct this perceived and rendered color to produce an ambient lighting condition that the occupant would prefer. These methods can improve the color and spectrum of the incoming daylight into the room and the comfort, visual perception, mood and wellbeing of the occupant. Some methods change the CCT (correlated color temperature) and CRI (color rendering index) of the light in a room to have incoming light-color closer to natural light.
In some embodiments, LED lighting is used to augment daylighting from natural light sources, e.g. when the amount, angle of natural light entering the room or other factors make the natural lighting insufficient to offset coloration from the light filtered through tintable windows. For example, electrochromic windows may change the spectrum bandwidth, color and the amount of natural light that enters the room. By providing a preferred spectral selection to the incoming light one can provide augmented lighting to balance both the interior rendered color and the amount of natural light required in the appropriate frequency to ensure visual comfort, and, e.g., circadian regulation and improved psychological effect
In certain embodiments, LED lighting is used as an alternative to natural light in order to achieve daylighting; that is, when only light filtered through tinted windows is available, LED lighting is adjusted to compensate for the unwanted color imparted by the tintable windows. For example, it may be the case that certain occupants desire a uniform window façade in terms of tinting, i.e. multi-zone windows or tinting some windows while not tinting others is undesirable from an aesthetics standpoint. In one embodiment, filtered light from a uniformly tinted window or group of windows, i.e. not using certain windows or zones to allow daylighting in to offset color, is measured for its color and light characteristics or calculated based on known filtering characteristics of the tintable windows. Based on the value obtained, LED lighting is used to offset unwanted color hue or other light characteristics in order to improve occupant comfort. Some methods change the CCT (correlated color temperature) and CRI (color rendering index) of the light in a room to have ambient light-color closer to that of natural light.
In these embodiments, the incoming light, with or without natural light, is either modeled through a predictive algorithm or directly measured with an in-room sensor, e.g. on the wall, e.g. in a wall unit such as described in relation to
—Circadian Rhythm Regulation
In certain tinting configurations, the tinting is controlled, e.g., with filter(s), to change the wavelength spectrum of the incoming light to the appropriate light-wavelength to regulate the circadian rhythm and hence benefit the occupant.
In one technique, the tinting is controlled, e.g., with filter(s), to change the wavelength spectrum of the incoming light to a rendered color that the occupant would prefer. This technique allows for control over LED lighting or other lighting to correct this perceived and rendered color to a preferred lighting condition for the occupant. By controlling the transmission of a certain amount of natural daylighting at the appropriate wavelength/wavelengths, the circadian rhythm can be regulated which can be of benefit to the health and wellbeing of the occupant.
In these configurations, control logic can have operations that predict the amount and direction of the solar radiation or a sensor or sensors in the room can measure the amount and direction of the solar radiation. For example, an irradiance sensor in the room located on the wall or the window can send signals to the window controller with periodic measurements. In one case, this sensor may be certified, as in a health care setting, to be properly sensitive/tested and calibrated to guarantee the correct outcome. Alternatively we can get this information from the lighting system.
To provide circadian smart lighting, the window can have a specific sensor with a band gap filter and a time tracker to guarantee the window has provided the correct spectrum of natural light required for a specific time of day. This may be provided by the daylight coming through the window and/or by the augmented interior lighting that has been requested to provide the correct amount of appropriate wavelength of lighting.
3. “Wellbeing Mode”
Moreover, the color of the interior light could have influence on the occupant's behavior in different spaces based on the function of the space. The control logic may have a separate logic module for control of the filtered natural light or augmented interior lighting to benefit the occupant's mood and behavior. The operations of this module may function differently depending on the function of the occupant's space in the room. In some cases, the user may be able to select a “wellbeing mode” on a user control panel to have the light in the room controlled according to this module designed to improve the occupant's mood and behavior.
In some cases, the control logic can be adapted to predict the wavelength and intensity of the exterior lighting and then combine it with the current tint-level spectral characteristics and predict the spectral distribution of incoming daylight into the room. The wavelength and intensity of the exterior lighting could be predicted, for example, using a weather service and a calculated sun angle based on a solar calculator.
Including an occupancy sensor in the room either through a system like BLE working with a device on the occupant or with an occupancy sensor, the control logic can choose whether to control the daylighting and the windows with respect to the occupancy profile.
Alternatively if the room has a camera capable to record luminance and light-spectrum in the room, the camera images can be used to determine both whether there is an occupant, where the occupant is located, and what offset or change in the interior light would be needed to correct the EC filtered light. This camera could also be calibrated to ensure the occupant with respect to time-of-day and specific location is getting the appropriate amount of appropriate light spectrum to benefit their circadian rhythm. Alternatively by using a plethora of sensors in the ceiling or in each light, the sensor data can be used to verify an occupant, whether there is occupancy in a particular location and the color rendering of the lighting needed as well as the appropriate amount of light spectrum to benefit occupant's circadian rhythm.
Tinting decisions based on wellbeing considerations are based on one or more factors including: (1) lighting in the room with the appropriate wavelength spectrum to regulate occupant's circadian rhythm; (2) determining of occupancy location to verify the lighting and exposure time for that occupant is met; (3) providing appropriate color rendering index of the interior light in the room to correct the EC IGU's filtered light color based on a predefined color rendering; (4) Correlated color temperature of the interior light in the room to correct the EC IGU's filtered light color based on a predefined CCT amount, which can be applied to improve psychological effect of light in specified interior spaces; (5) account for unique sensors that are certified to support the appropriate spectral distribution of lighting to benefit occupant's circadian rhythm; and (6) lighting objectives that change based on if there is an occupant being effected by the lighting that is being controlled by either the interior lighting or the EC IGU's filtered light.
4. Daylighting Tinting Configurations
Certain aspects are related to tinting configurations with a multi-zone window that has at least one tinting zone (or window) that is held in the bleached tint state (daylighting tinting zone(s)). A daylighting tinting zone allows natural light to pass into the room while controlling glare/temperature in the room by tinting other tinting zones of the multi-zone window. These aspects are directed to motivations from the occupant/building. First, a daylight tinting zone (or window) can increase room illumination. That is, darker tint states can make a room look too dark to the occupant. The occupant may want to let in more light into the room while still controlling glare when the sun shines on a façade. Second, a daylight tinting zone can improve room light color. That is, darker tint states can make light in the room look colored (e.g., blue). Occupant may want to maintain a more natural room color while tinting to control glare. Third, a daylight tinting zone can improve the view through the window and the occupant's connection to outdoors. Occupant may want to identify current weather or other outdoor conditions when the window is in darker tint states. Fourth, a daylight tinting zone can maintain glare/heat control. That is, other tinting zones will be tinted to protect occupants from glare and prevent heat from solar radiation.
In certain aspects, the daylighting tinting zone has a width that is sufficient to allow enough natural light into the room to reduce the color of light (e.g., blue hue) in the room while still providing glare/heating control. In one aspect, the width of the daylighting tinting zone is about 5″. In another aspect, the width of the daylighting tinting zone is less than 22″. In another aspect, the width of the daylighting tinting zone is between about 10″ and 21″. In one aspect, the width of the daylighting tinting zone is about 15″.
Some examples of daylighting tinting configurations are shown in
5. Tinting Gradient Between Tinting Zones
Some occupants may prefer to not see a sharp contrast between different tint states of adjacent tinting zones. In order to minimize this contrast, a tinting gradient can be used to transition between the different tint states in a gradient portion (area) between the tinting zones. In certain aspects, this gradient portion is a resistive zone. Examples of resistive zones can be found described in detail in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/137,644, titled “Multi-Zone EC Windows,” filed on Mar. 13, 2013, which is incorporated herein by reference.
In some aspects, a multi-zone window comprises a gradient portion (also called herein a gradient region) between adjacent tinting zones to reduce the contrast between different tint states in the adjacent tinting zones. This gradient portion has a length that runs along the intersection of the adjacent tinting zones and a width. Generally, the width is selected to be large enough so that when the gradient portion is viewed from across the room, it does not appear as a sharp line between the tinting zones. In one aspect, the width of the gradient portion is about 10″. In another aspect, the width of the gradient portion is the range of 2″ to 15″. In one aspect, the width of the gradient portion is about 5″. In one aspect, the width of the gradient portion is about 2″. In one aspect, the width of the gradient portion is about 15″. In one aspect, the width of the gradient portion is about 20″. In one aspect, the width of the gradient portion is about 20″. In one aspect, the width of the gradient portion is at least about 10″. In one aspect, the width of the gradient portion is at least about 16″.
Illustrated examples of multi-zone windows with gradient regions having different widths are shown in
Taking various user feedback on the various gradient region widths, it has been found that a minimum of 5″ of gradient are required before users begin to ignore the contrast between bleached or lightly tinted zones and adjacent darkly tinted zones (e.g. zones tinted to levels that block between 95% and 99% of the solar spectrum). Larger tint gradient widths may accomplish the same goal, though 5″ width is sufficient in most cases.
6. Occupancy Input, Dynamic Awareness of Occupancy Locations
In certain implementations, control logic is used to control the tint state of each of the tinting zones of a multi-zone tintable window, individual windows of a group (or zone) of windows, or combinations thereof. In some cases, the control logic first determines whether the room with the window is occupied or unoccupied. The control logic may make its determination based on one or more data such as, for example, one or more of scheduling information, occupancy sensor data, asset tracking information, activation data from a user via a remote control or a wall unit such as shown in
If the room is occupied, the control logic determines whether a glare condition exists in the area that is occupied or is likely occupied.
The control method determines the tint states for the tinting zones based on the locations of the occupant(s) in the room. For example, the tint states can be determined to avoid glare on a desk or other area that may be likely or is occupied. In some cases, the current location of the occupant(s) is based on the information retrieved from an occupancy lookup table. In other cases, the current location of occupants is based on the data in a signal from a sensor (e.g., occupancy sensor). The sensor may generate the signal with the location of an occupant in the room. The window controller may receive the signal. As another example, a user may provide data regarding the location of an occupant in the room, for example, via a control panel in the room.
In certain aspects, a control method determines tint states for tinting zones in a multi-zone tintable window having a daylighting tinting zone. In these cases, the control method determines tint states that maximize daylight while controlling glare and/or heat load from solar radiation entering the room. In certain aspects, the user can use a control panel (e.g., manual control panel in room or computer interface) to select a “daylighting mode” or a “uniform mode,” another predetermined mode, or a mode customized by the user. For example, the user may be able to customize different tint states for the zones of the windows in the room e.g., “user 1-mode 1.” In the “daylighting mode,” the control method determines a clear or lighter tinting state for the daylighting tinting zone than for other tinting zones of the window. In the “uniform mode,” the control method determines tint states for the zones based on criteria other than for purpose of daylighting.
7. Feedback Learning Multi-Zone Preferences/Occupancy Patterns
In certain aspects, the control logic used to control the tint states of the tinting zones/windows is based on feedback learning of preferences and occupancy patterns. For example, the locations of an occupant at different times/dates as determined by sensors, from user input, etc. may be stored as occupancy patterns. These locations of occupancy at different times/dates may be used to predict the locations of the occupant at a future time. The control method may then control the tint states based on the predicted locations of the occupant.
As another example, user input selecting certain tint states at certain times for different tinting zones may be stored. These tinting selections of the user may be used to predict the tint states that may be desired in the room. The control method may then control the tint states according to these predicted tint states desired by the user.
8. Light Projections into Room Used to Determine Glare Condition
In certain implementations, control logic includes instructions that determine whether direct sunlight through a tinting zone generates a glare condition in an occupancy region by calculating a three-dimensional projection of light from the tinting zone through the room. The three-dimensional projection of light may be considered to be a volume of light in a room where the outside light directly penetrates into the room. For example, the three dimensional projection may be defined by parallel light rays from the sun through a tinting zone of the multi-zone window. The direction of the three-dimensional projection into the room is based on Sun azimuth and/or sun altitude that can be calculated with a solar calculator based on the time of day and the longitudinal and latitudinal coordinates of the window. The three-dimensional projection of light can be used to determine intersections with occupancy regions in the room. The control logic determines the light projection at a particular plane and determines the amount that the light projection or a glare area associated with the light projection overlaps with the occupancy region. If the light projection is outside of the occupancy region, a glare scenario is determined to not exist. Details of control logic that uses three-dimensional projection of light to determine glare scenarios is described in PCT application PCT/US15/29675, filed on May 5, 2015 and titled “CONTROL METHOD FOR TINTABLE WINDOWS,” which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
In the first scenario shown in
In the second scenario shown in
In the third scenario shown in
Although the illustrated example in
Although certain embodiments are described herein with respect to independently controlling multiple tinting zones of a multi-zone tintable window, it would be understood that similar techniques could apply to controlling multiple tintable windows (multi-zone or single-zone) of set of tintable windows. For example, a building could have an assembly of tintable windows on a facade of a building or in a room. The techniques described herein could be used to independently control the tintable windows of the assembly. That is, each tintable window may have one or more tinting zones and the techniques independently control the tinting zones of the tintable windows in the assembly.
It should be understood that the present invention as described above can be implemented in the form of control logic using computer software in a modular or integrated manner. Based on the disclosure and teachings provided herein, a person of ordinary skill in the art will know and appreciate other ways and/or methods to implement the present invention using hardware and a combination of hardware and software.
Any of the software components or functions described in this application, may be implemented as software code to be executed by a processor using any suitable computer language such as, for example, Java, C++ or Python using, for example, conventional or object-oriented techniques. The software code may be stored as a series of instructions, or commands on a computer readable medium, such as a random access memory (RAM), a read only memory (ROM), a magnetic medium such as a hard-drive or a floppy disk, or an optical medium such as a CD-ROM. Any such computer readable medium may reside on or within a single computational apparatus, and may be present on or within different computational apparatuses within a system or network.
Although the foregoing disclosed embodiments have been described in some detail to facilitate understanding, the described embodiments are to be considered illustrative and not limiting. It will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that certain changes and modifications can be practiced within the scope of the appended claims.
One or more features from any embodiment may be combined with one or more features of any other embodiment without departing from the scope of the disclosure. Further, modifications, additions, or omissions may be made to any embodiment without departing from the scope of the disclosure. The components of any embodiment may be integrated or separated according to particular needs without departing from the scope of the disclosure.
This is a national stage application under 35 U.S.C. § 371 to International PCT Application No. PCT/US16/55005 (designating the United States), titled “METHODS OF CONTROLLING MULTI-ZONE TINTABLE WINDOWS,” filed on Sep. 30, 2016, which claims benefit of and priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/236,032, titled “METHODS OF CONTROLLING MULTI-ZONE TINTABLE WINDOWS” and filed on Oct. 1, 2015; International PCT Application No. PCT/US16/55005 is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/094,897 (issued as U.S. Pat. No. 10,301,871), titled “MULTI-ZONE EC WINDOWS” and filed on Apr. 8, 2016, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/137,644 (issued as U.S. Pat. No. 9,341,912), titled “MULTI-ZONE EC WINDOWS” and filed on Mar. 13, 2013; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/137,644 is also a continuation-in-part of International PCT application No. PCT/US13/69913 (designating the United States), filed on Nov. 13, 2013 and titled “MULTI-ZONE EC WINDOWS,” which claims benefit of and priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/725,980, titled “MULTI-ZONE EC WINDOWS” and filed on Nov. 13, 2012 and U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/740,651, titled “MULTI-ZONE EC WINDOWS” and filed on Dec. 21, 2012; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/137,644 is also a continuation-in-part of International PCT application No. PCT/US13/31098, filed on Mar. 13, 2013 and titled “PINHOLE MITIGATION FOR OPTICAL DEVICES,” which claims benefit of and priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/610,241, titled “PINHOLE MITIGATION FOR OPTICAL DEVICES” and filed on Mar. 13, 2012; each of these applications is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety and for all purposes.
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/US2016/055005 | 9/30/2016 | WO |
| Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| WO2017/059362 | 4/6/2017 | WO | A |
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| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20180284555 A1 | Oct 2018 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62236032 | Oct 2015 | US | |
| 61725980 | Nov 2012 | US | |
| 61740651 | Dec 2012 | US | |
| 61610241 | Mar 2012 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 14137644 | Dec 2013 | US |
| Child | 15762077 | US | |
| Parent | PCT/US2013/069913 | Nov 2013 | US |
| Child | 14137644 | US | |
| Parent | PCT/US2013/031098 | Mar 2013 | US |
| Child | 14137644 | Dec 2013 | US |
