Smart glasses

 In the area of light control, there are three main technologies: Electro chromic,
liquid crystal, suspended particle device(SPD)
 LC smart glass – It is kind of laminated glass where two glass or plastic interlayers with polymer
dispersed liquid crystal in between that include  a thin layer of a transparent, conductive
material. This structure is in effect a capacitor.
Principle of working - Electrodes from a power supply are attached to the transparent electrodes.
With no applied voltage, the liquid crystals are randomly arranged in the droplets, resulting in
scattering of light as it passes through the smart window assembly. This results in the translucent,
"milky white" appearance. When a voltage is applied to the electrodes, the electric field formed
between the two transparent electrodes on the glass causes the liquid crystals to align, allowing
light to pass through the droplets with very little scattering and resulting in a transparent state.
The degree of transparency can be controlled by the applied voltage.
 
It is also possible to control the amount of light and heat passing through, when tints and special
inner layers are used.

PDLCs operate on the principle of

electrically controlled light scattering. In the scattering (opaque) state, the
glass diffuses direct sunlight and eliminates 99% of the UV rays that fade
carpet and furniture.
Application - This technology has been used in interior and exterior settings for privacy control
( for example conference rooms, intensive-care areas, bathroom/shower doors) and as a
temporary projection screen.  Liquid crystal glazing is designed for internal applications, including
partitions, display cases, bank screens. 

Disadvantages - As there is little change in performance properties and because it requires constant
energy to maintain its clear state, this liquid crystal window provides no energy saving benefits.

Advantages -  The switch between the two states is nearly instantaneous.

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  SPD smart glass - In suspended particle devices (SPDs), a thin film laminate of rod-like
particles suspended in a fluid is placed between two glass or plastic layers, or attached to one
layer OR two panes of glass separated by thin conductive film with suspended, light absorbing
microscopic particles.
Principle of working - . When no voltage is applied, the suspended particles are arranged in
random orientations and tend to absorb light, so that the glass panel looks dark (or opaque), blue
or, in more recent developments, grey or black colour. When voltage is applied, the suspended
particles align and let light pass.
Advantage -  this type of smart window is capable of changing at the turn of a button. SPDs can
be manually or automatically “tuned” to precisely control the amount of light, glare and heat
passing through, reducing the need for air conditioning during the summer months and heating
during winter. Other advantages include reduction of buildings' carbon emissions.
There are some advantages of this type of smart window over the other two types.
Electrochromic glass responds slowly, has limited cycle lifetime, and has an “iris effect” where
color change begins at the outer edges of the window and trickles its way toward the center.
Liquid-crystal glass is either clear or opaque with no in-between states, and merely scatters light
rather than blocking it, which limits it to certain interior privacy applications. 

Disadvantage-  one disadvantage is that electricity is required to keep the window transparent.

 Electrochromic smart glass -  the electrochromic material changes its opacity: it changes

between a colored, translucent state (usually blue) and a transparent state with the application of
voltage.
Principle of working -  Electrochromic windows consist of two glass panes with several layers
sandwiched in between. It works by passing low-voltage electrical charges across a
microscopically-thin coating on the glass surface, activating an electrochromic layer which
changes color from clear to dark. The electric current can be activated manually or by sensors
which react to light intensity.
The single substrate display structure consists of several stacked porous layers printed on top of
each other on a substrate modified with a transparent conductor (such as ITO or PEDOT:PSS).
Each printed layer has a specific set of functions. A working electrode consists of a positive
porous semiconductor (say Titanium Dioxide, TiO2) with adsorbed chromogens (different
chromogens for different colors). These chromogens change color by reduction or oxidation. A
passivator is used as the negative of the image to improve electrical performance. The insulator
layer serves the purpose of increasing the contrast ratio and separating the working electrode
electrically from the counter electrode. The counter electrode provides a high capacitance to
counterbalances the charge inserted/extracted on the SEG electrode (and maintain overall device
charge neutrality). Carbon is an example of charge reservoir film. A conducting carbon layer is
typically used as the conductive back contact for the counter electrode. In the last printing step,
the porous monolith structure is overprinted with a liquid or polymer-gel electrolyte, dried, and
then may be incorporated into various encapsulation or enclosures, depending on the application
requirements. Displays are very thin, typically 30 micrometer, or about 1/3 of a human hair. The
device can be switched on by applying a electrical potential to the transparent conducting
substrate relative to the conductive carbon layer. This causes a reduction of viologen molecules
(coloration) to occur inside the working electrode. By reversing the applied potential or providing a
discharge path, the device bleaches. A unique feature of the electrochromic monolith is the

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 relatively low voltage (around 1 Volt) needed to color or bleach the viologens. This can be
explained by the small over- potentials needed to drive the electrochemical reduction of the
surface adsorbed viologens/chromogens.

Recent advances in electrochromic materials pertaining to transition-metal hydride

electrochromics have led to the development of reflective hydrides, which become reflective
rather than absorbing, and thus switch states between transparent and mirror-like.

Advantage - One advantage of the electrochromic smart window is that it only requires electricity
to change its opacity, but not to maintain a particular shade.

Disadvantage -  Electrochromic glass responds slowly, has limited cycle lifetime, and has an “iris
effect” where color change begins at the outer edges of the window and trickles its way toward
the center. 

 Liquid Crystals: This familiar technology was commercialized for window use
and later discontinued. Liquid crystal windows switch quickly from  a
transparent state to a diffuse white state.  The primary function is to provide
privacy and control glare as a substitute for conventional shading devices. In
the diffuse state liquid crystals are primarily forward scattering so there is little
control over solar heat gain.
 Hydrides: These materials can be classified as electrochromics, but they are
different in several ways from conventional oxide electrochromics. Originally
deposited as a metal, they can be converted to a partially transparent hydride
by injection of hydrogen from the gas or solid phase. Thus, they switch to a
reflective state which has several potential advantages in terms of energy
performance and durability
 Photochromics: As the name implies, these materials darken under the direct
action of sunlight. They are not considered as versatile as electrochromics
becuase they cannot be manually controlled and because optimum energy
performance requires consideration of temperature conditions as well as solar
radiation. For example, a photochromic window may darken on a cold sunny
day when more solar heat gain is desireable. They are used widely for
automatically darkeningsunglasses.
 Thermotropics - As photochromics respond primarily to light, thermotropics
respond to heat. Again this is not as versatile a response as electrochromics.
Daylight or view may have a higher priority for the occupant, at least
temporarily, than reduction in solar gain.

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  Smart glass blocks infrared when heat is on - At most room temperatures the glass lets both
visible and infrared light pass through. But above 29°C, a substance coating the glass undergoes
a chemical change causing it to block infrared light. This will prevent room from overheating in
bright sunshine or if temperatures outside start to soar.

Transition temperature

The glass is coated the chemical vanadium dioxide. This material transmits both visible and infrared
wavelengths of light, and normally undergoes a change at about 70°C.

Above this transition temperature, the electrons in the material alter their arrangement. This turns it
from a semiconductor into a metal( ???????), and makes it block infrared light(?????).
Parkin and Manning lowered the transition temperature to 29°C by doping the material with the metal
tungsten.

They also found a way to incorporate deposition of the coating into a conventional glass
manufacturing process. This should make it relatively cheap to mass produce, they claim, with a
commercial version of the glass ready within three years.

However, a number of issues still need to be overcome. Firstly, the substance is not permanently
fixed to the glass. Also, the coating itself currently has a strong yellow tint.

But Manning believes it should be possible to overcome these issues. "You could add another
substance, like titanium dioxide, to fix it to the glass," he told New Scientist. "And you could use a
dye that would cancel out the yellow."

 Tinted glass????/
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 http://www.cs.ubbcluj.ro/~moltean/switchable_glass_evolvable_hardware.htm
Suspended Particle Device refers to rod-like particles suspended in a fluid.
With no applied voltage, the particles are randomly oriented and block light
(dark state). When a voltage is applied, the particles align with the electric
field and let light though (light state). By varying the applied voltage, we can
continuously vary the amount of transmitted light.

Electrochromic glass becomes translucent when voltage is added and are

transparent when voltage is taken away. Like suspended particle devices,
electrochromic windows can be adjusted to allow varying levels of visibility.

Liquid crystal glasses become transparent when a voltage is added and have
an opaque behavior when there is no electrical power applied. However,

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 liquid crystal glass has only 2 states: opaque and transparent with no other
degrees of visibility.
 The liquid suspension or film is then enclosed between two glass or plastic
plates coated with a transparent conductive material. The mechanism behind
SPD is similar to that of the dielectric in a parallel-plate capacitor which means
that the atoms of the dielectric are polarized by the electric field
  Electrochromic basically describes materials that can change color when
energized by an electrical current. Electricity generates a chemical reaction in
this material. This reaction (like any chemical reaction) changes the properties
of the material. In this particular case, the reaction changes the way the
material reflects and absorbs light. In some other electrochromic materials,
the change is between different colors. In electrochromic windows, the
material changes between colored (reflecting light of some color) and
transparent (not reflecting any light).
 In the design of electrochromic device, the chemical reaction at work is an
oxidation reaction – a reaction in which molecules in a compound lose an
electron. Ions in the sandwiched electrochromic layer are what allow it to
change from translucent to transparent. It's these ions that allow it to absorb
es and voltage drives the ions from the ion storage layer, through the ion
conducting layer and into the electrochromic layer. This makes the glass
opaque. By shutting off the voltage, the ions are driven out of the
electrochromic layers and into the ion storage layer. When the ions leave the
electrochromic layer, the window regains its transparency. 
 Advantages and weaknesses - An important advantage of Suspended-
Particles Devices and Electrochromic Devices is their ability to continuously
vary the amount of transmitted light based on continuous variations of the
applied electrical power. This feature makes SPDs and ECDs very suitable for a
large number of problems whose parameters are real-valued. By contrast,
Liquid Crystal Devices are of ON-OFF type: they can have only 2 states.

A possible drawback is the speed of performing the changes. As a general

remark, the speed is directly connected to the glass surface. A bigger surface
requires more time to change its state than a smaller surface. However, for
EHW tasks the required surface can be microscopic, which requires less than 1

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 microsecond to perform a complete cycle (in the case of SPDs). 

Because ECDs depend on ion injection and chemical reactions, the process is
inherently slow. However, SPDs depend on a field effect, thus responding in
very short time. As the technology advances we can expect to have smart
glass which will respond faster to the applied electrical power.

According to [12] there are several characteristics that a material should have in order
to become a possible candidate for EHW tasks:

 the material should be configurable by applying some electrical power or any

other source of energy (such as light),
 the material should affect an incident signal (optical or electronic),
 the material should be able to be reset to its original state.

  Switchable glazing can change the light transmittance, transparency, or shading of windows in
response to an environmental signal such as sunlight, temperature or an electrical control. 
 BENEFITS -  "smart" windows can reduce a commercial building's energy use by 30 to 40 percent.
In the summer months, electrochromic windows can block ultraviolet rays and radiant heat from
direct sunlight from passing through windows and skylights to help lower cooling loads. They can
also help slow the fading of interior furnishings by blocking out the sun's ultraviolet rays.
Electrochromic windows offer the flexibility of control not available in photochromic or
thermochromic windows (windows that turn opaque when exposed to light or warm temperatures).
The cost of electrochromic glazing technologies, while currently high, continues to decline as the
technology and manufacturing process matures.
 Potential uses for electrochromic technology include daylighting control, glare control, solar heat
control, and fading protection in windows and skylights. By automatically controlling the amount of
light and solar energy that can pass through the window, electrochromic windows can help save
energy in residences.

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