Segmented Coated Substrates for Solar and Visual Light Trade-offs
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current window coatings that enhance solar performance often restrict visible light transmission, requiring separate windows for high solar and visual light transmission, which reduces the glass-to-wall ratio and increases installation costs.
Innovation Solution
A coated substrate with different coatings applied to distinct surface segments, allowing for a single window to achieve both high solar performance and high visual light transmission by varying the properties of the coatings across the surface, such as using low-emissivity coatings with different layer configurations on separate segments of the glass.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of energy
If high solar performance coatings are applied to windows, then solar heat gain is reduced, but visible light transmission is restricted
Solution Approach 1:
The window surface is divided into multiple segments, each with different coating properties. Some segments have coatings optimized for solar heat rejection while other segments have coatings optimized for visible light transmission, allowing both functions to coexist in a single window assembly.
Solution Approach 2:
Different regions of the window surface are assigned different coating characteristics tailored to their specific functional requirements. This local differentiation enables high solar performance in areas where heat rejection is critical while maintaining high visible light transmission in areas where illumination is prioritized.
2Loss of energy
If separate windows are used to achieve both high solar performance and high visual light transmission, then both performance characteristics are achieved, but glass-to-wall ratio is reduced and installation costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple functional coatings with different properties are combined into a single integrated window assembly through multi-layer coating structures. This merging eliminates the need for separate windows while maintaining both solar performance and visible light transmission characteristics.
Solution Approach 2:
The coating system is designed to perform multiple functions simultaneously - rejecting solar heat, transmitting visible light, and providing structural integrity - within a single window assembly, making the window universally applicable to both thermal and optical performance requirements.
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 approach enables a single window to maximize visual light transmission and solar performance, optimizing the glass-to-wall ratio and reducing installation costs by eliminating the need for separate windows.
Implementation Method 1
Low-emissivity ('low-e') coatings are known. These coatings commonly include one or more reflective metal layers and two or more transparent dielectric layers. Low-e coatings generally have a high reflectance in the thermal infrared
Implementation Method 2
the films selected to achieve the higher solar performance have the effect of restricting the amount of visible light that is transmitted through the window
Data Source
AI summary
A coated substrate. The coated substrate includes a unitary substrate having a major surface. A first coating is applied to a first surface segment of the major surface. A second coating applied to a second surface segment of the major surface. The first coating is different than the second coating.