Electrical window control system and method thereof
First Claim
1. An electrical window control system comprising:
- a variable transmission window comprising;
a first substantially transparent substrate;
a second substantially transparent substrate, wherein said first and second substantially transparent substrates define an area; and
a variable transmittance material that occupies at least a portion of said area;
a power source that supplies an electrical power to said variable transmittance material, wherein an altering of a transmittance state of said variable transmittance material is based upon altering said supplied electrical power;
at least one light source that emits light towards said variable transmission window, such that said emitted light is adapted to substantially propagate through at least one of said first and second substantially transparent substrates based upon said transmittance state of said variable transmittance material;
at least one sensor in optical communication with said at least one of light source, wherein said at least one sensor receives at least a portion of said emitted light that propagates through at least one of said first and second substantially transparent substrates, and communicates a signal that corresponds to said received light; and
a controller in communication with said at least one sensor, wherein said controller receives and compares said signal communicated from said at least one sensor to a reference value, and said controller controls an electrical power supplied from said power source to said variable transmittance material based upon said comparison of said communicated signal and said reference value, such that said transmittance state of said variable transmittance material is altered with respect to said light received by said at least one sensor.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An electrical window control system and method thereof are provided, wherein the system includes a variable transmission window having first and second substantially transparent substrates that define an area, and a variable transmittance material that occupies at least a portion of the area. The system further includes a power source that supplies an electrical power, at least one light source that emits light towards the variable transmission window, and at least one sensor in optical communication with the light source, wherein the at least one sensor receives at least a portion of the light that propagates through at least one of the first and second substantially transparent substrates, and communicates a signal that corresponds to the received light. The system further includes a controller in communication with the at least one sensor, wherein the controller receives and compares the signal communicated from the at least one sensor to a reference value, and controls the electrical power supplied to the variable transmittance material, such that a transmittance of the variable transmission window is altered with respect to the light received by the at least one sensor.
-
Citations
60 Claims
-
1. An electrical window control system comprising:
-
a variable transmission window comprising; a first substantially transparent substrate; a second substantially transparent substrate, wherein said first and second substantially transparent substrates define an area; and a variable transmittance material that occupies at least a portion of said area; a power source that supplies an electrical power to said variable transmittance material, wherein an altering of a transmittance state of said variable transmittance material is based upon altering said supplied electrical power; at least one light source that emits light towards said variable transmission window, such that said emitted light is adapted to substantially propagate through at least one of said first and second substantially transparent substrates based upon said transmittance state of said variable transmittance material; at least one sensor in optical communication with said at least one of light source, wherein said at least one sensor receives at least a portion of said emitted light that propagates through at least one of said first and second substantially transparent substrates, and communicates a signal that corresponds to said received light; and a controller in communication with said at least one sensor, wherein said controller receives and compares said signal communicated from said at least one sensor to a reference value, and said controller controls an electrical power supplied from said power source to said variable transmittance material based upon said comparison of said communicated signal and said reference value, such that said transmittance state of said variable transmittance material is altered with respect to said light received by said at least one sensor. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
-
-
26. A method of electrically controlling a variable transmission window, said method comprising the steps of:
-
emitting light towards a variable transmission window; propagating at least a portion of said emitted light substantially through first and second substantially transparent substrates of said variable transmission window that define an area, wherein a variable transmittance material occupies at least a portion of said area; supplying an electrical power to said variable transmittance material to control a transmittance state of said variable transmittance material; detecting said emitted light that is adapted to propagate through said first and second substantially transparent substrates; communicating a signal representative of said detected light; receiving said communicated signal, such that said received signal is compared to a reference value; and altering said electrical power supplied to said variable transmittance material based upon said comparison of said received signal and said reference value, such that said transmittance state of said variable transmittance material is altered based upon said detected light. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46)
-
-
47. A feedback control system comprising:
-
a variable transmission window comprising; a first substantially transparent substrate; a second substantially transparent substrate, wherein said first and second substantially transparent substrates define an area; and a variable transmittance material that occupies at least a portion of said area; a power source that supplies an electrical power to said variable transmittance material, wherein an altering of a transmittance state of said variable transmittance material is based upon altering said supplied electrical power; at least one light source that emits light towards said variable transmission window, such that at least a portion of said emitted light propagates through at least one of said first and second substantially transparent substrates based upon said transmittance state of said variable transmittance material; at least one sensor in optical communication with said at least one light source, wherein said at least one sensor receives at least a portion of said emitted light that propagates through at least one of said first and second substantially transparent substrates, and communicates a feedback signal that corresponds to said received light; and a controller in communication with said at least one sensor to form a closed loop, wherein said controller receives said feedback signal, and controls said electrical power supplied from said at least one power source to said variable transmittance material based upon said feedback signal, such that said transmittance state of said variable transmittance material is altered with respect to said light received by said at least one sensor. - View Dependent Claims (48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60)
-
Specification