LEARNING SYSTEM FOR EFFICIENT SUN-BLINDS CONTROL
A sun blinds system for light conditions control in a room or space. The space or room with one or more windows may have a set of sun blinds that have a position to cover the whole or part of the window to prevent to an extent, as desired by an occupant or occupants, sunlight from entering the space. Parameters such as space light level, glare, weather conditions, time of year and day, cloud cover, space temperature and occupancy may be entered in a database. A learning supervisor may determine the position of the sun blinds in view of the parameters and previous manual sun blinds' settings by occupants, and provide the position to a sun blinds controller.
1 . A blinds position control system comprising:
sun blinds;
an actuator connected to the sun blinds;
a blinds controller connected to the actuator;
a human interface connected to the blinds controller;
a learning supervisor connected to the blinds controller; and
a database of human decisions, connected to the learning supervisor; and
wherein:
the sun blinds comprise a plurality of blades;
the plurality of blades has an adjustable blade angle which can be changed by the actuator; and
the sun blinds have an adjustable area for at least partially blocking light determined by a position of the sun blinds, which can be changed by the actuator.
2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of blades has a dynamic adjustment of the blade angle to alter an amount direct sunlight passing through the sun blinds.
3 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the sun blinds have a dynamic adjustment of area to alter an amount of blockage of light as effected by the actuator as determined by a signal from the sun blinds controller.
4 . The system of claim 1 , further comprising:
one or more devices connected to the learning supervisor; and
wherein the one or more devices are selected from a group comprising an indoor thermometer, a calendar and time indicator, an indoor occupancy detector, a cloud cover sensor, a severe weather conditions sensor, an indoor ambient light level sensor, a sun blinds position sensor, and a glare detector.
5 . The system of claim 4 , wherein parameters from the one or more devices play a role in a decision by an occupant on a position of the sun blinds.
6 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the database comprises a control signal, derived from past records incorporating past positions in particular conditions, which goes from the learning supervisor to the blinds controller.
7 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the human interface comprises a manual sun blinds position input mechanism connected to the blinds controller.
8 . The system of claim 7 , wherein:
the human interface is selected from a group comprising smartphones, pads, notebooks, laptops, computers, and various wired and wireless controllers; and
the interface is used to manually control the sun blinds.
9 . The system of claim 1 , wherein human decisions relative to sun blinds settings of positions by one or more humans are stored in the database of human decisions.
10 . The system of claim 1 , wherein:
a human can manually provide an adjustment of the sun blinds, incorporating the blade angle and an amount of coverage over a window by the sun blinds as indicated by a position of the sun blinds, to remove one or more discomforts caused by sunlight; and
the manual adjustment, together with conditions in the occupied space represented by data from sensors at inputs of the learning supervisor, is automatically recorded in the database of human decisions and repeated under similar conditions, incorporating sun positions in the sky, on subsequent days.
11 . A method of blinds control in a space, comprising:
making a decision on a position of blinds in terms of coverage over a window and an angle of slats of the blinds relative to a geometrical plane that the blinds lie in, to achieve a desirable amount of sun light entering the space at a given sun angle;
entering the position of the blinds and the angle of the slats into a database containing occupants' decisions for the given sun angle; and
setting the blinds for the given sun angle according to an entry in the database according to occupants' decisions.
12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the setting of blinds for the given sun angle according to an entry in the database of occupants' decisions is automatic.
13 . The method of claim 12 , wherein an automatic setting of the blinds for the given sun angle according to an entry in the database of occupants' decisions can be overridden by an occupant with a manual adjusting of the blinds.
14 . The method of claim 11 , wherein information is provided to the database from one or more devices selected from a group comprising an indoor thermometer, a calendar and time indicator, an indoor occupancy detector, a cloud cover sensor, a severe weather conditions sensor, an indoor ambient light level sensor, a blinds position sensor, a glare detector, and a sun ray angle detector.
15 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the manual setting the blinds is effected remotely by a smartphone, pad, notebook, laptop, computer, or wired or wireless controller.
16 . A blinds operating mechanism comprising:
an actuator;
a supervisor connected to the actuator;
one or more sensors connected to the supervisor; and
sun blinds covering one or more windows in a space connected to the actuator; and
wherein the actuator adjusts the sun blinds according to control signals directly from the supervisor.
17 . The mechanism of claim 16 , wherein the supervisor is connected to a room automation system.
18 . The mechanism of claim 16 , further comprising:
a database of occupant decisions; and
wherein:
occupant decisions are recorded in the database, which are actions or adjustments pertaining to the sun blinds effected by one or more occupants in the space;
a reset updates the database of occupant decisions; and
the occupant decisions depend on one or more items selected from a group comprising glare amounts, light levels, visual privacy from an exterior of the space, visual contact with the exterior of the space, and solar heat gains in the space.
19 . The mechanism of claim 16 , wherein:
occupant decisions are stored uniquely for each occupant;
a sun blinds position is selected from the occupant decisions that satisfy a largest number of occupants or irritate a least number of occupants;
each of the occupant decisions is assigned a weight to establish a weighted occupant decision; and
weighted occupant decisions are considered in a decision process for selection of a sun blinds position.
20 . The mechanism of claim 18 , wherein an input to the supervisor and the database has or receives one or more signals from one or more components providing information selected from a group comprising sun angle, position of the sun as known by a calendar day and a time of the calendar day, indoor temperature, occupancy of the space, cloud cover, severe weather, indoor light level, glare, a percentage of a window in the space covered by the sun blinds, and an angle of the slats of the sun blinds relative to a planar surface of the window.