The Versatile Window is an effective solution to satisfy one's needs with the lighting conditions and ventilation concurrently in the room. There are times in a day where one wishes to have control over the dazzling flash of sun rays hitting all corners of the room. Some parts of the day one wishes to have a gentle wind pervading their space while turning a blind eye because of the intense glare of the sun. Well, this is where our model comes into play.

ABOUT

It has a combined arrangement for both lighting and ventilation, however, working separately. The window frame consists of three solar panels (2 on sides and 1 on bottom) thereby accounting for their incident angle detection drawback.

The bottom arrangement of glass employs a switchable glass whose opacity is controlled via input voltage. The material adopted here is to those of Electrochromic devices wherein power is saved when not in operation.

The upper arrangement consists of a panel that rotates through 90 degrees via servo motors thereby accounting for the inflow of air. The panel encompasses blades arranged internally in a manner to deflect the parallel airflow inside thereby increasing net inflow of air as shown in the figures.

Simulation is done to check the effectiveness of the ventilation panel which comprises several blades whose main purpose is to allow maximum air inside the room when the wind direction is parallel to that of the panel. We considered wind velocity 25m/s, the simulation results show that the velocity of the wind that enters the room through those blades is up to 34m/s. This clearly shows that whatever the direction of the wind our innovatively designed panel makes sure that max air enters the room.

The outputs from the sensors (i.e. voltage) are compared continuously for fixed intervals and the maximum of their value is fed to the microcontroller input. This O/P is then fed to the switchable glass which varies its opacity based on voltage received.

Another output regulates the motion of the panel through servos which receive its input from a variable switch operated by the user.

This innovative design goes hand in hand with comfort and allows one to have control over his/her environment with the push of a button. This overcomes most of the difficulties with window solutions like louvers, traditional windows, etc. wherein glare control seemed problematic. Moreover, the use of curtains is also eliminated in this method.

The production of the model is feasible enough and is cheaper due to fewer components involved. The smart glasses have already been adopted in certain buildings and homes and we wish to go a step further implementing them into windows.