Electrochromic Window Commissioning Using Location-Aware Smart Objects
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Solution Overview
Problem
Electrochromic windows and associated controllers face challenges in commissioning and user interface issues, hindering their widespread adoption due to complexities in installation, addressing network addresses, and manual control of tint states in buildings with multiple windows.
Innovation Solution
A computer program product and method for controlling a user interface to monitor, control, and provide information about optically switchable windows, using smart objects that depict their location, size, orientation, and tint state, with wireless communication for networked devices, enabling automated commissioning and intuitive graphical user interfaces.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If manual commissioning methods are used for electrochromic windows, then installation procedures are simple, but commissioning time and complexity increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs automated commissioning where the controller independently discovers windows on the network, retrieves their information, and configures themselves without manual intervention. The controller autonomously pairs with windows using their unique identifiers and automatically populates the database, eliminating the need for manual commissioning steps while reducing commissioning time.
Solution Approach 2:
Window information such as unique identifiers, location data, and configuration parameters are prepared and stored in the controller's database before actual commissioning occurs. This preliminary preparation allows the commissioning process to simply retrieve and use pre-formatted data, significantly reducing the time and complexity of the commissioning phase.
2Measurement precision
If detailed information about each window is manually tracked, then control precision is improved, but user interface complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system creates a digital representation or copy of each window's information stored in a database, which the user interface then accesses and displays. Instead of directly managing complex window data structures, the interface works with simplified copies or representations of the data, maintaining information accuracy while reducing interface complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
A database acts as an intermediary layer between the physical windows and the user interface. The database stores detailed window information and provides a standardized interface for accessing this data, allowing the user interface to display precise window information without directly handling the complexity of data management.
3Reliability
If network addresses are manually assigned to controllers, then network configuration control is improved, but installation time and labor increase
Solution Approach 1:
The controller automatically discovers windows on the network and assigns network addresses through autonomous processes. The controller scans for devices, retrieves their unique identifiers, and configures network addresses without manual intervention, maintaining reliable network configuration while dramatically increasing installation speed.
Solution Approach 2:
Network configuration parameters and address allocation schemes are prepared in advance in the controller's database. This preliminary setup allows the automated commissioning process to quickly assign addresses using pre-planned configurations, ensuring network reliability while accelerating the installation process.
Data Source
AI summary
In one aspect, a method, system, and/or computer program product is described for generating a graphical user interface for providing information and controlling optically switchable windows connected by a network. Windows are graphically represented using interactive smart objects that are placed within views of the graphical user interface in a manner corresponding to their physical location. In another aspect, a method, system, and/or computer program product is described for associating network IDs of optically switchable windows with the locations at which the windows are installed. Window locations are determined by analyzing received wireless transmissions that are sent from transmitters associated with each of the optically switchable windows. The determined locations are then compared with a representation of the building that provides the window locations. Upon comparison, the network ID of each window, which is communicated through eh window transmissions, is associated with the appropriate window location on the representation of the building.