Skylight Window With Lower-Mounted IGU for Insulation and Light
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing skylight windows face challenges in providing improved insulation properties and better illumination while maintaining a clean aesthetic appearance, often with high material and processing costs due to box-structured sashes that obstruct light and view.
Innovation Solution
The skylight window design features a lower-mounted Insulated Glazing Unit (IGU) with reduced sash and frame components, allowing for increased insulation through thicker glazing layers and less thermally conducting materials, and a compact, solid supporting leg that enhances light influx and view, while being mounted closer to the building interior.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If a box-structured sash is used to provide structural support and thermal insulation, then structural strength and insulation are improved, but the appearance becomes rough, the view is limited, and material costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the traditional box-structured sash with a thin-profile sash design that uses strategically positioned support elements rather than hollow cavities. This approach maintains structural integrity while achieving a sleek, modern appearance with minimal visual obstruction, directly resolving the contradiction between structural strength and aesthetic appearance.
2Device complexity
If the IGU is positioned higher in the window frame, then more space is available for frame and sash structures, but insulation properties deteriorate and light influx is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent repositions the IGU lower in the window frame, closer to the interior space, and compensates for the reduced frame space by optimizing the thickness and positioning of support elements in the horizontal dimension. This dimensional shift improves insulation properties and maximizes light influx while maintaining adequate structural support through refined element placement rather than increased vertical space.
3Loss of energy
If thicker glazing layers are used to improve insulation, then thermal energy exchange is improved, but the window structure becomes more complex and costly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent optimizes the thickness and configuration of glazing layers as specific parameters to achieve improved thermal energy exchange. By carefully selecting and adjusting these parameters within the lower-mounted IGU configuration, the patent achieves better insulation properties without unnecessarily increasing structural complexity or cost, balancing performance with simplicity.
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 design improves insulation properties, increases light influx, and maintains a clean aesthetic by minimizing obstructions, reducing material costs, and offering a more compact structure.
Implementation Method 1
The IGU typically has better insulation properties than other components of the skylight window. Therefore, increasing a relative proportion of this thermal energy exchange interface may improve the insulation properties of the skylight window as a whole.
Implementation Method 2
said first sash side member comprising a supporting leg extending beneath and supporting the exposed interior major surface of the IGU
Data Source
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AI summary
A skylight window for being installed in a roof of a building, the skylight window comprising a window frame having four frame side members, a window sash having four sash side members, a weather shield, and an IGU, a first sash side member having a total sash height, and said first frame side member having a total frame height, in the height direction, said first frame side member comprising an interior part, the interior part in the closed position of the skylight window extending below the exposed interior major surface of the IGU and being located within the periphery of the interior pane, said interior part of the first frame side member having a total height in the height direction, and said first sash side member comprising a supporting leg extending beneath and supporting the exposed interior major surface of the IGU, the supporting leg having a total height in the height direction.