Staggered driving electrical control of a plurality of electrically controllable privacy glazing structures

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12339532-B2
Application number	US-202318318781-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 17, 2023
Priority date	Apr 29, 2019
Publication date	Jun 24, 2025
Grant date	Jun 24, 2025

Abstract

An electrical driver can be used to provide electrical drive signals to a first and second electrically controllable optical privacy glazing structures. A first electrical drive signal can be applied to the first privacy glazing structure and a second electrical drive signal can be applied to the second privacy glazing structure. Applying the first and second electrical drive signal can comprise temporally staggering delivery of the first and second electrical drive signals such that a peak power draw and/or a peak current draw from the first privacy glazing structure is temporally offset from a peak power draw and/or a peak current draw from the second privacy glazing structure. Staggering can include delaying the application of one electrical drive signal relative to the other, phase shifting one electrical drive signal relative to the other, or a combination thereof.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An electrical driver for electrically controllable optical privacy glazing structures, the driver comprising a first drive channel and a second drive channel and being configured to:
establish a first electrical drive signal for a first electrically controllable optical privacy glazing structure, the first electrical drive signal including one or more drive parameters;
establish a second electrical drive signal for a second electrically controllable optical privacy glazing structure, the second electrical drive signal including one or more drive parameters;
determine an amount of stagger between the first electrical drive signal and the second electrical drive signal;
apply the first electrical drive signal to the first electrically controllable optical privacy glazing structure via the first drive channel;
apply the second electrical drive signal to the second electrically controllable optical privacy glazing structure via the second drive channel; and
stagger the application of the first electrical drive signal and the second electrical drive signal based on the determined amount of stagger between the first electrical drive signal and the second electrical drive signal.

2. The electrical driver of claim 1 , wherein staggering the application of the first electrical drive signal and the second electrical drive signal comprises delaying the application of the second electrical drive signal with respect to the application of the first electrical drive signal.

3. The electrical driver of claim 1 , wherein staggering the application of the first electrical drive signal and the second electrical drive signal comprises applying the first and second electrical drive signals substantially simultaneously while phase-shifting the second electrical drive signal relative to the first electrical drive signal.

4. The electrical driver of claim 3 , wherein the driver is configured to determine an amount of phase shift between the first electrical drive signal and the second electrical drive signal based on one or more parameters of each of the first electrical drive signal and the second electrical drive signal.

5. The electrical driver of claim 4 , wherein the first and second electrical drive signals are square wave signals, and wherein determining the amount of phase shift between the first electrical drive signal and the second electrical drive signal based on at least the frequency of the first and second electrical drive signals reduces or eliminates superposition of one or more transitions between states in the square wave signals.

6. The electrical driver of claim 1 , wherein the second first electrical drive signal has approximately the same frequency as the second electrical drive signal.

7. The electrical driver of claim 1 , wherein the driver is configured to establish a plurality of electrical drive signals, the plurality of electrical drive signals comprising the first electrical drive signal and the second electrical drive signal; and wherein the driver is configured to determine which of the plurality of electrical drive signals, when applied simultaneously, cause one or more system parameters to exceed a predetermined threshold.

8. The electrical driver of claim 1 , wherein the driver is configured to establish a plurality of electrical drive signals, the plurality of electrical drive signals comprising the first electrical drive signal and the second electrical drive signal; and wherein the driver is configured to determine which electrical drive signals, when combined, do not cause one or more system parameters to exceed a predetermined threshold.

9. The electrical driver of claim 8 , wherein the driver is configured to:
apply each of the electrical drive signals that, when combined, do not cause the one or more system parameters to exceed the predetermined threshold to a corresponding electrically controllable optical privacy glazing structure simultaneously and in-phase.

10. The electrical driver of claim 1 , wherein the driver is configured to analyze one or more parameters of each of the first electrical drive signal and the second electrical drive signal to determine the amount of stagger between the first electrical drive signal and the second electrical drive signal.

11. A method for electrically driving a plurality of electrically controllable optical privacy glazing structures using a single electrical driver comprising:
establishing a first electrical drive signal for a first electrically controllable optical privacy glazing structure, the first electrical drive signal including one or more drive parameters;
establishing a second electrical drive signal for a second electrically controllable optical privacy glazing structure, the second electrical drive signal including one or more drive parameters;
determining an amount of stagger between the first electrical drive signal and the second electrical drive signal;
applying the first electrical drive signal to the first electrically controllable optical privacy glazing structure; and
applying the second electrical drive signal to the second electrically controllable optical privacy glazing structure;
wherein applying the first electrical drive signal and the second electrical drive signal comprises staggering delivery of the first and second electrical drive signals based on the determined amount of stagger such that at least one of a peak power draw and a peak current draw from the first electrically controllable optical privacy glazing structure is temporally offset from a peak power draw and/or a peak current draw from the second electrically controllable optical privacy glazing structure.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein:
the first electrical drive signal comprises a first square wave and the second electrical drive signal comprises a second square wave; and
staggering delivery of the first and second electrical drive signals comprises offsetting the timing of the changing between high and low states of the first and second square waves to offset current spikes associated with the electrical drive signals.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein determining the amount of stagger is based on a frequency parameter of the first electrical drive signal and a frequency parameter of the second electrical drive signal.

14. The method of claim 11 , wherein staggering the first electrical drive signal and the second electrical drive signal comprises incorporating a phase shift between the first electrical drive signal applied to the first electrically controllable optical privacy glazing structure and the second electrical drive signal applied to the second electrically controllable optical privacy glazing structure in the plurality of electrically controllable optical privacy glazing structures.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the first electrical drive signal is applied to the first electrically controllable optical privacy glazing structure and the second electrical drive signal is applied to the second electrically controllable optical privacy glazing structure simultaneously but out of phase.

16. The method of claim 11 , wherein:
applying the first electrical drive signal to the first electrically controllable optical privacy glazing structure causes an inrush current spike from the driver to the first electrically controllable optical privacy glazing structure;
applying the second electrical drive signal to the second electrically controllable optical privacy glazing structure causes an inrush current spike from the driver to the second electrically controllable optical privacy glazing struct

Assignees

• Cardinal Ig Co

Inventors

• Schleder Nicholas
• Whaley Peter
• Berner Eric

Classifications

• G09G3/3696

  Generation of voltages supplied to electrode drivers · CPC title

• Y02B80/22

  Glazing, e.g. vaccum glazing · CPC title

• Y02A30/249

  Glazing, e.g. vacuum glazing · CPC title

• E06B3/6612

  Evacuated glazing units · CPC title

• E06B3/6722

  with adjustable passage of light · CPC title