Driving thin film switchable optical devices
First Claim
1. A controller for controlling the optical state of a thin film electrochromic device, the controller comprising:
- circuitry for applying voltage or providing instructions to apply voltage between bus bars on the thin film electrochromic device;
a processing component designed or configured to perform the following operations;
(i) determine that the thin film electrochromic device should transition from a first optical state to a second optical state; and
(ii) hold a first applied voltage between the bus bars of the thin film electrochromic device in response to determining that the thin film electrochromic device should transition from the first optical state to the second optical state,wherein the first applied voltage has a magnitude sufficient to ensure that at all locations on the thin film electrochromic device experience an effective voltage between a maximum effective voltage identified as safely avoiding damage to the thin film electrochromic device and a minimum effective voltage identified as sufficient to drive the transition from the first optical state to the second optical state, andwherein the first applied voltage is significantly greater than the maximum effective voltage.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Controllers and control methods apply a drive voltage to bus bars of a thin film optically switchable device. The applied drive voltage is provided at a level that drives a transition over the entire surface of the optically switchable device but does not damage or degrade the device. This applied voltage produces an effective voltage at all locations on the face of the device that is within a bracketed range. The upper bound of this range is associated with a voltage safely below the level at which the device may experience damage or degradation impacting its performance in the short term or the long term. At the lower boundary of this range is an effective voltage at which the transition between optical states of the device occurs relatively rapidly. The level of voltage applied between the bus bars is significantly greater than the maximum value of the effective voltage within the bracketed range.
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Citations
25 Claims
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1. A controller for controlling the optical state of a thin film electrochromic device, the controller comprising:
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circuitry for applying voltage or providing instructions to apply voltage between bus bars on the thin film electrochromic device; a processing component designed or configured to perform the following operations; (i) determine that the thin film electrochromic device should transition from a first optical state to a second optical state; and (ii) hold a first applied voltage between the bus bars of the thin film electrochromic device in response to determining that the thin film electrochromic device should transition from the first optical state to the second optical state, wherein the first applied voltage has a magnitude sufficient to ensure that at all locations on the thin film electrochromic device experience an effective voltage between a maximum effective voltage identified as safely avoiding damage to the thin film electrochromic device and a minimum effective voltage identified as sufficient to drive the transition from the first optical state to the second optical state, and wherein the first applied voltage is significantly greater than the maximum effective voltage. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 21, 22)
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12. A controller for controlling the optical state of a thin film electrochromic device, the controller comprising:
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circuitry for applying voltage or providing instructions to apply voltage between bus bars on the thin film electrochromic device; a non-transitory medium storing instructions for controlling the circuitry, the instructions comprising (i) code for determining that the thin film electrochromic device should transition from a first optical state to a second optical state; and (ii) code for holding a first applied voltage between the bus bars of the thin film electrochromic device in response to determining that the thin film electrochromic device should transition from the first optical state to the second optical state, wherein the first applied voltage is chosen to ensure that at all locations on the thin film electrochromic device experience an effective voltage between a maximum effective voltage identified as safely avoiding damage to the thin film electrochromic device and a minimum effective voltage identified as sufficient to drive the transition from the first optical state to the second optical state, and wherein the first applied voltage is significantly greater than the maximum effective voltage. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 23, 24, 25)
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Specification