DailyDirt: Looking Through Better Windows

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Wed, Jan 22nd 2014 5:00pm — Michael Ho

Glass is a material that has been known to people since before 2000 BC (and as far back as 3500 BC). It's everywhere now. We even carry around smartphones with glass touchscreens. But until we come up with "transparent aluminum" to replace glass (that's not just transparent to extreme UV light), we're still working with silica and certain polymers to make cool transparent materials. Here are just a few examples demonstrating the future of windows.

Imagine a window that stops sound but lets in a breeze -- you need to make that window out of material with a negative bulk modulus. It's been done with panes of acrylic drilled with holes that creates a resonance chamber that attenuates a range of sound frequencies. [url]
Solar panels are usually installed on rooftops, but Organic Photovoltaic (OPV) cells could turn windows into energy-generating fixtures. Unfortunately, only opaque solar cells can maximize the amount of light energy converted into electricity.... [url]
Smarter windows can be touchscreens or contain embedded wireless antennas. Yay! Can't wait until windows can display a translucent blue screen of death. [url]

If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post via StumbleUpon.

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Filed Under: energy, glass, organic photovoltaic cell, plastic, solar cell, soundproof, transparent aluminum, window

10 Comments

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Zonker, 22 Jan 2014 @ 5:43pm

Smarter windows can be touchscreens or contain embedded wireless antennas. Yay! Can't wait until windows can display a translucent blue screen of death.
So then you could say your windows crashed and actually mean your windows.
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Anonymous Coward, 22 Jan 2014 @ 7:11pm

"Unfortunately, only opaque solar cells can maximize the amount of light energy converted into electricity"

actually, the visible spectrum of light is very small, you can have very efficient PV's that are transparent to visible light and be highly efficient.
the problem with OPV's is their lifespan, far too short for effective manufacturing energy payback.
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Ninja (profile), 23 Jan 2014 @ 1:14am

Smarter windows can be touchscreens or contain embedded wireless antennas. Yay! Can't wait until windows can display a translucent blue screen of death.

You know, unless physics changed last time I looked at my window it was blue (blue skies *hint hint*). Which means I have had these for a looong time now. You are 30 years late for the party! HAH!
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Jan 2014 @ 2:59am

The insulation tech is interesting, it have applications beyond windows, if the only thing you need is 2 plates seperated 40 mm apart with some holes in it, you can put those almost everywhere like helmets, walls, cars and more.
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me@me.net, 23 Jan 2014 @ 5:01am

I need touchscreen windows
Like I need spam coming from my Fridge
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art guerrilla (profile), 23 Jan 2014 @ 6:06am

space age windows ? ? ?
so what ?
where's my flying car, damn it ! !!
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Jan 2014 @ 7:37am

Wood solarcells?

phys.org: Future solar cells may be made of wood
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Jan 2014 @ 7:45am

I saw visions of futures made of glass like the A Day Made of Glass 1 and 2 that have millions of views on youtube and the living tomorrow: house of the future.

Cool really.
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Anonymous, 23 Jan 2014 @ 7:56am

"A material's bulk modulus is essentially its resistance to compression...". Is there something wrong with saying "compression resistance"? Do people need to make up words and phrases like "bulk modulus" to pull out of their butts to make themselves sound smarter?
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Lawrence D'Oliveiro, 23 Jan 2014 @ 4:06pm

Re: Like I need spam coming from my Fridge
Where else would you keep your Spam after you�ve opened it?
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