Introduced a new technology of "smart" windows that will heat the house thanks to the magnetic fluid

German engineers from the Friedrich Schiller University of Jena have presented a new technology, with the help of which glass panes, under the influence of magnetic forces, will shade rooms or accumulate solar energy.

The idea of a smart window has not been revolutionary for a long time. German scientists proposed the LaWin technology, in which the change in the characteristics of glass is carried out by a magnetic fluid.

LaWin stands for Large Area Fluidic Windows. In the process of creating a window glass, liquid with iron nanoparticles bound by surfactants is poured into its special vertical channels, which prevent them from sticking together. Thus, a ferromagnetic liquid under the influence of a magnet is capable of performing specified functions, for example, a gradient darkening of glass or heat absorption.

Depending on the saturation of the solution with iron nanoparticles, the maximum degree of darkening of the glass can be made absolutely opaque, and then the windows are converted into efficient solar energy accumulators for heating the house.

The efficiency of such smart windows is comparable to traditional thermal solar systems. In addition, they can be used for building facades. The iron-containing particles are serviced in a separate tank, and the liquid itself can act as a heat carrier. Also, such windows do not need an electricity connection. An additional advantage is the ability to replace lighting and air conditioning systems with them, they can even become part of water heating systems.

The process of manufacturing a window with integrated nanoparticles is much more complicated than laminating solar cells on top of ordinary glass, but they have important advantages. The inventors pay attention to the durability of the useful characteristics of their solution, as well as to the fact that glass can be produced in large panels (the prototype has an area of 200 square meters) by cutting them according to the specified dimensions of the window frames.

It is planned to enter the market of a commercial product based on smart energy efficient windows already this year.

Source: ecotechnica.com.ua