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A European Defence Action Plan and “Clean Energy for All
Europeans”
The Commission proposes a European Defence Fund as part of
today’s Defence Action Plan. The purpose of the “Clean Energy for
All Europeans” package is to put energy efficiency first, achieve
global leadership in renewable energies and provide a fair deal
for consumers.
The European Defence Action Plan adopted by the Commission
today is about creating the conditions for more defence cooperation
to maximise the output and the efficiency of defence spending,
and about fostering a strong, competitive and innovative defence
industrial base. Member States will remain in the driving
An innovative window system earns a European patent
Awindow-glazing systemdeveloped
by an EPFL team uses micro-
mirrors to improve the lighting and
visual comfort inside buildings and
could also make window blinds
obsolete one day. The European
Patent Office has just granted the
system patent protection.
Are window blinds about to become
a thing of the past? They just
might, thanks to a ground-breaking
window glazing system developed
by a team at EPFL's Solar Energy
and Building Physics Laboratory
(LESO-PB). The innovation’s quality
and potential have also now been recognized by the European
Patent Office, which has granted it patent protection.
“This patent shows that our approach is original and that our
system is unique and merits patent protection,” says Andreas
Schüler, a research associate at the LESO-PB. “It’s also reassuring
for industry, in the event manufacturers want to use this discovery
in the future.” Schüler designed the system together with PhD
student Jing Gong and André Kostro, a researcher currently based
in Basel.
Schüler’s team fitted their windows with a layer of micro-mirrors
whose thickness ranges from 0.15 to 0.2 millimeters. This
allows the windows to make better use of natural light in the
room and reduce both heating and cooling costs in the building.
In the summer, the micro-mirrors reflect light back outward,
which eliminates direct sunlight and overheating. In the winter,
the micro-mirrors redirect light into the building to improve the
occupants’ visual comfort.
A high-precision laser is used to cut the micro-mirrors, which
are then embedded in a polymer film that is placed between the
layers of double-glazed windows.
“The challenge was ensuring that
the windows remained transparent
despite the layer of micro-mirrors,”
says Schüler. These windows are
meant for building facades that
are highly exposed to the sun. The
design process took into account
the need to keep costs down and
enable large-scale production.
Improved visual comfort
This smart-glazing system offers
other advantages as well. Preliminary
hypotheses developed by the LESO-
PB suggest that the system could
reduce the thermal load (both heating and cooling) by 10%-20%
compared to traditional window glazing. It can improve visual
comfort as well by distributing light evenly throughout the room
and eliminating sharp contrasts and glare. It also brings in a
higher amount of light: up to 150% more light reaches the back
of the room and up to three times as much hits the ceiling. Finally,
the system was designed to last longer than traditional slatted
venetian blinds.
But will people get used to this new system? The answer will
come from the NEST in Dübendorf (Zurich Canton), a futuristic
house where the LESO-PB’s innovation will soon be put to the
test.
This project was developed with the support of the Swiss Federal
Office of Energy (SFOE).
Reference:
Jing Gong, André Kostro, Ali Motamed, Andreas Schüler, Potential
advantages of multifunctional complex fenestration system with
embedded micro-mirrors in daylighting, Solar Energy, 10 October
2016.
Jing Gong, Andreas Schüler and André Kostro with a
prototype of the window-glazing system. © Alain Herzog
- 2016 EPFL
14 l New-Tech Magazine Europe