Low Emissivity Building Material Aperture Design
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Building materials with low emissivity surfaces, commonly used in modern construction for thermal insulation, significantly attenuate electromagnetic signals used in wireless communication, such as mobile phones and IoT devices, due to their conductive coatings and materials like aluminum-coated thermal insulation boards, making it difficult to maintain reliable communication inside buildings.
Innovation Solution
The introduction of a building material with an electrically conductive low emissivity surface featuring a narrow aperture design that creates a virtual aperture with a larger effective area, utilizing a winding edge curve to enhance impedance matching and bandwidth, and incorporating focused radiation sources to improve signal transmission through the material.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of energy
If a conductive low emissivity surface is used for thermal insulation, then thermal insulation performance is improved, but electromagnetic signal transmission is attenuated
Solution Approach 1:
The conductive surface is segmented by introducing apertures (openings) at specific locations. These apertures break the continuity of the conductive coating, allowing electromagnetic signals to pass through while maintaining thermal insulation in the covered areas. The segmentation creates a balance between thermal protection and signal transmission.
Solution Approach 2:
The surface is designed with non-uniform properties: most areas maintain high conductivity for thermal insulation, while specific localized regions (apertures) have low conductivity to allow signal passage. This local variation in electrical properties enables simultaneous achievement of thermal insulation and signal transmission functions.
2Reliability
If the aperture area is increased to improve signal transmission, then electromagnetic signal transmission is improved, but thermal insulation performance deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of creating large apertures that would compromise thermal insulation, the invention uses multiple small apertures distributed across the surface. The cumulative effect of many small openings provides sufficient signal transmission while minimizing the total area lost for thermal insulation.
Solution Approach 2:
The aperture configuration extends in multiple dimensions and patterns across the surface rather than using single large openings. This dimensional distribution allows optimization of both signal transmission paths and thermal insulation coverage by arranging apertures in specific geometric patterns.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This solution enhances the transmission of electromagnetic signals by compensating for the inefficiencies caused by low conductivity surfaces and thermal dissipation, providing broader coverage and improved indoor communication networks by creating a coherent wave front that can effectively transmit signals through insulating glass units.
Implementation Method 1
The building material comprises at least an electrically conductive low emissivity surface (103) provided with an aperture (201) for transmitting radio signals
Implementation Method 2
utilizing a winding edge curve to enhance impedance matching and bandwidth
Implementation Method 3
Building materials with low emissivity surfaces, commonly used in modern construction for thermal insulation, significantly attenuate electromagnetic signals
Implementation Method 4
thermal insulation strongly suppresses signals of mobile phones and other wireless systems
Implementation Method 5
incorporating focused radiation sources to improve signal transmission through the material
Implementation Method 6
providing broader coverage and improved indoor communication networks by creating a coherent wave front
Data Source
Figure 1a~1b
Figure 2a~2b
Figure 2c~2d
AI summary
The present invention relates to a building material (110) comprising at least one electrically conductive low emissivity surface (103) provided with an opening (203) for boosting the transmission of an electromagnetic signal through the building material, the opening having a substantially lower electrical conductivity than the low emissivity surface (103). The edge of the opening (203) provided in said low emissivity surface (103) constitutes at least one closed edge curve (223), and said opening (203) defines a closed envelope curve (224) so that said opening (203) is within the closed envelope curve (224), and the surface defined by the closed envelope curve (224) has an area substantially larger than the area of the opening (203) within the closed envelope curve (224) and a length substantially smaller than the length of the closed envelope curve (224), whereby at least one such low emissivity surface (103) area (231) is formed within the area defined by the closed envelope curve (224), at which the closed envelope curve (224) is not congruent with the edge curve (223).