“Smart” windows already exist that can be electronically switched between letting in or blocking sunlight. However, the new multi-layered Several Energy-saving light filtering mode.
By adjusting the glass opacity of an existing photochromic window, users can control the amount of sunlight that enters the room through the window. In most cases, glass partially blocks the visible spectrum of sunlight, keeping the room from getting too bright and, along with the infrared spectrum, keeping the room from getting too warm.
However, hot summer days may require visible light brightness rather than infrared heat. In winter, you’ll probably need both. Additionally, you may want to soften the visible light so that you don’t have to squint all day long. That’s where the new ‘liquid window’ comes in.
Developed by a team of scientists led by Professor Ben Hutton of the University of Toronto, the product is inspired by the color-changing skin of squid, squid and krill. These animals are able to move pigments within the cells under their skin, alternating between transparent and opaque states.
Last year, researchers unveiled tintable windows inspired by this feature. A prototype liquid window takes the concept further by incorporating multiple stacked sheets of clear plastic. Each sheet is perforated with a millimeter-thick network of microchannels.
By injecting and ejecting liquids containing different pigments (or other molecules) into and out of each sheet’s channels, different combinations of optical properties across the window can be selected.
For example, by pumping a dye that blocks visible light out One sheet of into the Alternatively, you can set the window to pass visible light while blocking infrared light.In addition, the light diffusion pigment is put in and out another The sheet adjusts the softness/hardness of visible sunlight in the room.
Using computer models based on the performance of prototypes, the scientists found that even if the liquid windows were only used to modulate the transmission of infrared light, the energy a building would use for heating, cooling, and lighting over the course of a year would be reduced. We estimate a reduction of about 25%. If windows were also used to control visible light, that number jumps to about 50%.
“Buildings use large amounts of energy to heat, cool, and light their interior spaces,” says Raphael Kay, a recent University of Toronto graduate and lead author of a paper on the study. “If we can strategically control the amount, type and direction of solar energy entering a building, we can significantly reduce the amount of work required for heating, cooling and lighting.”
The paper was recently published in the journal PNAS.
Source: University of Toronto
