Control method for tintable windows
AssigneeView, Inc.
InventorsStephen C. Brown, Deepika Khowal, Namrata Vora, Santosh V. Phillip
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method of controlling tint of a tintable window to account for occupant comfort in a room of a building. The tintable window is between the interior and exterior of the building. The method predicts a tint level for the tintable window at a future time based on a penetration depth of direct sunlight through the tintable window into the room at the future time and space type in the room. The method also provides instructions over a network to transition tint of the tintable window to the tint level.
Claims36
A method of controlling tint of a tintable window to account for occupant comfort in a room of a building, wherein the tintable window is located between the interior and exterior of the building, the method comprising:
- (a) predicting a tint level for the tintable window at a future time based on a penetration depth of direct sunlight through the tintable window into the room at the future time and space type in the room;
- and
- (b) providing instructions over a network to transition tint of the tintable window to the tint level determined in (a).
A controller for controlling tint of a tintable window to account for occupant comfort in a room of a building, wherein the tintable window is located between the interior and exterior of the building, the controller comprising:
- a processor configured to determine a tint level for the tintable window based on a penetration depth of direct sunlight through the tintable window into a room and space type in the room;
- and
- a power width modulator in communication with the processor and with the tintable window over a network, the power width modulator configured to receiving the tint level from the processor and send a signal with tint instructions over the network to transition the tint of the tintable window to the determined tint level.
A master controller for controlling tint of a tintable window to account for occupant comfort in a building, wherein the tintable window is located between the interior and exterior of the building, the master controller comprising:
- a computer readable medium having a configuration file with an space type associated with the tintable window;
- and
- a processor in communication with the computer readable medium and in communication with a local window controller for the tintable window, wherein the processor is configured to:
- receive the space type from the computer readable medium,
- determine a tint level for the tintable window based on a penetration depth of direct sunlight through the tintable window into a room and the space type, and
- send tint instructions over a network to the local window controller to transition tint of the tintable window to the determined tint level.
A method of controlling tint of one or more tintable windows in a zone of a building to account for occupant comfort, the method comprising:
- calculating a future time based on a current time and based on a predicted transition time of a representative window of the zone;
- predicting a solar position at the future time;
- determining a program designated by a user in a schedule, the program including logic for determining a tint level based on one or more independent variables;
- employing the determined program to determining the tint level based on the predicted solar position at the future time and occupant comfort;
- and
- communicating instructions to the one or more tintable windows to transition tint to the determined tint level.
A window controller for controlling tint of one or more tintable windows in a zone of a building to account for occupant comfort, the window controller comprising:
- a computer readable medium having predictive control logic, and site data and zone/group data associated with the zone;
- and
- a processor in communication with the computer readable medium and in communication with the tintable window, wherein the processor is configured to:
- calculate a future time based on a current time and a predicted transition time of a representative window of the zone;
- predict a solar position at the future time;
- determine a program designated by a user in a schedule the program including logic for determining a tint level based on one or more independent variables;
- employ the determined program to determine a tint level using the predicted solar position at the future time and based on occupant comfort;
- and
- communicate instructions to the one or more tintable windows in the zone to transition tint to the determined tint level.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.