Liquid Crystal Research using a Peltier Stage aids in the Development of Smart Energy Windows

Linkam Scientific Instruments report on the use of their PE120 stage and Imaging Station in the development of smart energy windows at RavenBrick LLC in the USA.

RavenBrick has been working on various processes to take them to the forefront of the booming solar technology market through helping builders and architects respond to the energy challenges of the future with green building materials. The company manufactures smart windows which use thermochromatic filter technology to help regulate the temperature of a building by saving energy costs and reducing glare from sunlight.

RavenBrick’s R&D Manager, Dr Wilder Iglesias, has been using a Linkam PE120 system including an Imaging Station and Linksys 32 software to help with the manufacture and advancement of products. With this simple-to-use thermoelectrically cooled stage, he is able to study the quality and refine the composition of the liquid crystals that are used in their windows. Speaking of his work, Dr Iglesias said: “My company, RavenBrick LLC, manufactures smart windows based on liquid crystal (LC) technology. The window tints if the temperature is too hot, blocking solar energy from penetrating the building/house and clears when the temperature is low, allowing the sun energy to heat up the building. The tinting of our windows depends on the LC phase sequence, thus we use the Linkam stage for two purposes: one is to qualify incoming liquid crystal material and two, for finding the right mix of LC to have the appropriate phase transitions depending on the weather profile of the place of installation and/or comfort factor from the customer.”

Aside from the stage, Dr Iglesias and his team have also found the Linksys32 software to be invaluable to their research. “I love the Linksys32 software and the way it presents the information for past runs. Being a software developer for this type of instruments, I really appreciate the simplicity and how powerful the Linksys32 software is.”

He added: “In some sense we use the Linkam system as a visual differential scanning calorimeter (DSC), by monitoring the intensity changes on the Real Time Chart of the Linksys32 software, where a large intensity variation implies a phase transition on the material.”