Low Absorption Spectral Selective Solar Control Film for Fenestration

• US 20110014481A1
• Filed: 07/14/2009
• Published: 01/20/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 07/14/2009
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Bart Wilson, Seth Wilson, Stephen S. Wilson
• Original Assignee: Bart Wilson, Seth Wilson, Stephen S. Wilson
• Inventors: Wilson, Bart, Wilson, Seth, Wilson, Stephen S.
• Application Number:
  US12/502,878
• Publication Number:
  US 20110014481A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 428/426
• CPC Class Codes: B32B 17/10 of synthetic resin
• CPC Class Codes: B32B 7/06 permitting easy separation

Abstract

A building structure having a high efficiency solar control system is provided. The building structure may have a window defined by a sheet of glass and a film mounted to its exterior side. The film may reflect solar radiation in the near and mid infrared ranges yet allow high transmission of light in the visible range such that the occupants of the building structure may view his/her surroundings through the window. The film may have a layer of silver which reflects the solar radiation in the near and mid infrared ranges. Since the silver is susceptible to oxidation and turns the silver into a black body which absorbs the near and mid infrared radiation, the film may be designed to slow the rate of oxidation of the silver layer to an acceptable level. The silver layer may be sandwiched between the glass which does not allow oxygen to diffuse there through and reach the layer of silver and a stack of sacrificial layers having a certain thickness which slows down the rate of oxygen diffusion to an acceptable level.

Claims

1. A building structure for protecting people from an environment, the building structure comprising:

a glass window defining an interior side and an exterior side;

a film attached to the exterior side of the glass window for reflecting solar infrared radiation away from the glass window to the environment and reflecting thermal radiation back into the building structure, the film comprising;

an infrared reflecting layer defining an interior side and an exterior side, the interior side of the infrared reflecting layer attached to the exterior side of the glass window, the infrared reflecting layer having an embedded infrared reflecting core which comprises one or more layers of silver and one or more layers of dielectric for reflecting infrared radiation;

one or more protective layers removeably attached to the exterior side of the infrared reflecting layer for mitigating oxidation of the silver layer and for providing a sacrificial top layer which can be removed when damaged due to ultraviolet light exposure or oxidation.

2. The building structure of claim 1 further comprising an adhesive layer disposed between the infrared reflecting layer and the glass window for adhering the film to the glass window.

3. The building structure of claim 1 wherein the infrared reflecting layer is generally transparent to visible spectrum of light.

4. The building structure of claim 1 wherein the infrared reflecting layer is biaxially-oriented polyethelene terephthalate.

5. The building structure of claim 1 wherein the silver and dielectric layers alternate.

6. The building structure of claim 1 wherein the protective layers are peelably adhered to one another.

7. The building structure of claim 1 wherein an exterior side of each of the protective layers has an ultraviolet light absorbing hard coat.

8. The building structure of claim 2 wherein the adhesive is an ultraviolet light absorbing adhesive.

9. The building structure of claim 1 wherein the one or more protective layers is sufficiently thick to reduce the rate of oxidation of the silver layer to a level such that the film has a sufficiently useful long life.

10. The building structure of claim 1 wherein the one or more protective layers is fabricated from biaxially-oriented polyethelene terephthalate.

11. A method for reducing solar radiation load on a building structure or reducing a heating requirement, the method comprising the steps of:

providing a film for reflecting infrared radiation to an exterior of the building structure for reducing the solar radiation load or to an interior of the building structure to retain heat therewithin, the film comprising;

an infrared reflecting layer defining an interior side and an exterior side, the infrared reflecting layer having an embedded infrared reflecting core which comprises one or more layers of silver and one or more layers of dielectric for reflecting infrared radiation; and

one or more protective layers removeably attached to the exterior side of the infrared reflecting layer for mitigating oxidation of the silver layer and for providing a sacrificial top layer which can be removed when damaged due to ultraviolet light exposure or oxidation; and

attaching an interior side of the infrared reflecting layer to an exterior side of a glass window of the building structure.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the attaching step comprising the step of adhering the interior side of the infrared reflecting layer to the exterior side of the glass window.

13. The method of claim 11 further comprising the steps of providing a stack of sacrificial layers removeably attached to each other such that a top most sacrificial layer may be removed and discarded when the top most protective layer is damaged due to ultraviolet light exposure or oxidation;

and mounting the stack of sacrificial layers to the one or more protective layers.

17. The building structure of claim 12 wherein the first thickness is sufficiently thick to reduce the rate of oxidation of the silver layer to a level such that the film has a sufficiently long useful life.

14. A building structure comprising:

a glass window defining an interior side and an exterior side;

a film attached to the exterior side of the glass window for reflecting infrared radiation away from the glass window, the film comprising;

infrared reflecting core which comprises one or more layers of silver and one or more layers of dielectric for reflecting infrared radiation, the infrared reflecting core defining opposed first and second sides;

a first protective layers attached to the first side of the infrared reflecting layer, the first protective layer having a first thickness;

a second protective layer attached to the second side of the infrared reflecting layer and the glass window, the second protective layer having a second thickness, the first thickness being greater than the second thickness;

wherein the first and second protective layers provide structural support to the one or more silver layers, and the thicker first protective layer mitigates oxidation of the one or more silver layers caused by oxygen diffusion through the first protective layer.

15. The building structure of claim 14 further comprising a stack of sacrificial layers removeably attached to each other such that a top most sacrificial layer may be removed and discarded when the top most sacrificial layer is damaged due to ultraviolet light exposure or oxidation.

16. The building structure of claim 14 wherein the sacrificial layers are adhered to each other.