Window for reducing bird collisions
10871600 ยท 2020-12-22
Assignee
Inventors
Cpc classification
C03C17/3681
CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
E06B3/66
FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
C03C17/3657
CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
G02B5/208
PHYSICS
A01M29/08
HUMAN NECESSITIES
C03C17/3639
CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
C03C17/3652
CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
International classification
A01M29/08
HUMAN NECESSITIES
Abstract
A window is designed to prevent or reduce bird collisions therewith. In certain example embodiments, the window may be an insulating glass (IG) window unit, or alternatively a monolithic window. In IG window unit embodiments, the IG window unit includes first and second substrates (e.g., glass substrates) spaced apart from one another, wherein at least one of the substrates supports both a patterned ultraviolet (UV) absorbing coating for absorbing UV radiation, and a UV reflecting coating for reflecting UV radiation, so that a more contrasting UV image is emitted/seen and birds are capable of more easily seeing the window and avoiding collisions therewith. By making the window more visible to birds, bird collisions therewith and bird deaths can be reduced.
Claims
1. An IG window unit comprising: a first glass substrate; a second glass substrate spaced apart from the first glass substrate with a gap provided therebetween, wherein the first glass substrate is adapted to be located farther from a building interior than is the second glass substrate; an ultraviolet (UV) absorbing coating provided in a pattern and located on an interior surface of the first glass substrate so that the UV absorbing coating is located between at least the first and second glass substrates; a UV reflecting coating located on the interior surface of the first glass substrate, so that the UV absorbing coating is located between at least the first glass substrate and the UV reflecting coating, wherein the UV reflecting coating reflects at least 5% more incident UV radiation than does the UV absorbing coating in at least a majority of a range of from 360-390 nm; wherein the UV absorbing coating and the UV reflecting coating are each provided on the interior surface of the first glass substrate, so that the gap is located between the second glass substrate and the UV reflecting coating.
2. The IG window unit of claim 1, wherein the IG window unit has a visible transmission of at least 40%.
3. The IG window unit of claim 1, wherein the IG window unit has a visible transmission of at least 50%.
4. The IG window unit of claim 1, wherein the UV absorbing coating comprises frit.
5. The IG window unit of claim 1, wherein the UV reflecting coating comprises a low-E coating including at least one layer comprising silver.
6. The IG window unit of claim 1, wherein the UV reflecting coating comprises a low-E coating including at least two layers comprising silver.
7. The IG window unit of claim 1, wherein the UV reflecting coating comprises a low-E coating including at least three layers comprising silver.
8. The IG window unit of claim 1, wherein the UV reflecting coating comprises a low-E coating having a sheet resistance of no greater than 8 ohms/square.
9. The IG window unit of claim 1, wherein the UV reflecting coating directly contacts the UV absorbing coating.
10. The IG window unit of claim 1, wherein the UV reflecting coating consists essentially of titanium oxide.
11. The IG window unit of claim 1, wherein the UV reflecting coating is transmissive of at least 40% of visible light.
12. The IG window unit of claim 1, wherein the UV reflecting coating comprises a low-E coating having a sheet resistance of no greater than 8 ohms/square, wherein the UV reflecting coating reflects at least 20% of UV radiation in a majority of the range of from 360-390 nm, and wherein a glass side (outside) reflectance curve of the UV reflecting coating has a hump in a UV range compared to a visible range of 440-680 nm, so that the UV reflecting coating has a higher glass side reflectance in the UV range than in the visible range.
13. The IG window unit of claim 1, wherein the pattern comprises a grid pattern.
14. The IG window unit of claim 1, wherein the UV reflecting coating is provided across a majority of the entire viewing area of the window whereas the UV absorbing pattern is provided in the pattern so as to be provided in less than half of the viewing area of the window.
15. The IG window unit of claim 1, wherein a glass side (outside) reflectance curve of the UV reflecting coating has a hump in a UV range compared to a visible range of 440-680 nm, so that the UV reflecting coating has a higher glass side reflectance in the UV range than in the visible range.
16. The IG window unit of claim 1, wherein the UV reflecting coating reflects at least 20% of UV radiation in a majority of the range of from 360-390 nm.
17. The IG window unit of claim 1, wherein the UV reflecting coating reflects at least 30% of UV radiation in a majority of the range of from 360-390 nm.
18. The IG window unit of claim 1, wherein the UV reflecting coating comprises first and second infrared (IR) reflecting layers comprising silver, and at least one dielectric layer provided between the first and second layers comprising silver.
19. The IG window unit of claim 1, wherein the space between the substrates is filled with a gas and/or is evacuated to a pressure less than atmospheric.
20. The IG window unit of claim 1, wherein the UV absorbing coating contains only a single layer.
21. A window unit comprising: a glass substrate; an ultraviolet (UV) absorbing coating provided in a pattern and located on the glass substrate; a UV reflecting coating located on the glass substrate so as to directly contact the UV absorbing coating, so that the UV absorbing coating is to be located closer to an exterior of a building in which the window is to be installed than is the UV reflecting coating, wherein the UV reflecting coating is transmissive of at least 40% of visible light and reflects at least 20% of UV radiation in a majority of a range of from 360-390 nm.
22. The IG window unit of claim 1, wherein the UV reflecting coating reflects at least 10% more UV radiation than does the UV absorbing coating in at least a majority of a range of from 360-390 nm.
23. The IG window unit of claim 1, wherein the UV reflecting coating reflects at least 15% more UV radiation than does the UV absorbing coating in at least a majority of a range of from 360-390 nm.
Description
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
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DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXAMPLE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION
(8) Referring now more particularly to the accompanying drawings in which like reference numerals indicate like parts throughout the several views.
(9) In certain example embodiments of this invention, referring to
(10) Research has indicated that birds can see in the near UV range, whereas humans typically cannot. The UV absorbing pattern 2 (e.g., gray and/or black fit material) may be applied to any surface of a monolithic window or IG window unit, and a UV reflective coating 5 may be applied on the inside surface of the UV absorbing coating 2 so that the UV absorbing coating 2 is located between the window exterior/sun and the UV reflecting coating 5, possibly so that the two coatings directly contact each other. Locating the UV absorbing coating 2 between the sun and the UV reflecting coating 5 produces a more contrasting UV image that enables birds to more easily see the window and prevent or reduce bird collisions with the window 10. In certain example embodiments, UV reflecting coating 5 is substantially transparent to visible light (e.g., transmissive of at least about 40% of visible light, more preferably transmissive of at least about 50% of visible light, and most preferably transmissive of at least about 60% of visible light), and is substantially transparent to humans but not to birds because of significant UV reflections. Unlike humans, birds are capable of seeing into the UV range. To help birds further recognize and see a window including UV reflecting coating 5, a pattern of UV absorbing material 2 is located in front (on the sun side) of the UV reflecting coating 5 to create a pattern that birds can even more easily recognize. The pattern, which contrasts between (i) UV reflection off of coating 5 in areas T where the UV absorbing material 2 is not present, and (ii) UV absorption in areas where pattern 2 of UV absorbing material is present, is more easily seen by birds and further deters birds from flying into facades/windows. Moreover, in certain example embodiments, if both the non-continuous UV absorbing pattern 2 (e.g., applied via silk-screen) and UV reflective coating 5 (e.g., applied via sputtering) are applied without heating the underlying glass substrate 1 to over 350 degrees C., the coated article including the substrate 1 and the coatings can be cut to desired size(s).
(11) In certain example embodiments, the UV reflecting coating 5 may be, or include, a low-emissivity (low-E) coating (e.g., examples best illustrated in
(12) In certain example embodiments, in at least areas (e.g., see areas T in
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(14) Example UV reflecting coatings (e.g., low-E coatings) 5 which may be provided on substrate 1 in any embodiment herein are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,173,263, 8,142,622, 8,124,237, 8,101,278, 8,017,243, 7,998,320, 7,964,284, 7,897,260, 7,879,448, 7,858,191, 7,267,879, 6,576,349, 7,217,461, 7,153,579, 5,800,933, 5,837,108, 5,557,462, 6,014,872, 5,514,476, 5,935,702, 4,965,121, 5,563,734, 6,030,671, 4,898,790, 5,902,505, 3,682,528, and U.S. Ser. No. 13/064,066, all of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference. In the context of low-E coatings 5, in addition to reflecting certain amounts of UV radiation, the coatings also block certain amounts of IR radiation from reaching the building interior due to one, two, or three IR reflecting layers (e.g., silver based layers) in the coating 5. Locating the UV absorbing coating 2 between the sun and the UV reflecting coating 5 produces a more contrasting UV image (compared to use of only coating 2, or only coating 5) that enables birds to more easily see the window and prevent or reduce bird collisions with the window 10. Thus, to help birds further recognize and see the window including a UV reflecting coating 5, the pattern of UV absorbing material 2 is located in front (on the sun side) of the UV reflecting coating 5 to create a pattern that birds can even more easily recognize. Alternatively, the UV reflecting coating 5 in any embodiment herein need not be a low-E coating and instead could be a single layer of or including titanium oxide (e.g., TiO.sub.2) which may be deposited on substrate 1 via sputtering or the like, or a single layer of or including vanadium oxide which may be deposited on substrate 1 via sputtering or the like.
(15) As shown in
(16) It is noted that on as used herein covers both directly and indirectly on. For instance, in
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(22) Still referring to
Example Thicknesses
(23) TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 Example Materials/Thicknesses; Fig, 7 Layers Layer Preferred Range Most Preferred Ex. Glass (1-10 mm thick) ({acute over ()}) ({acute over ()}) () Si.sub.xN.sub.y (layer 103) 70-1200 200-350 294 TiO.sub.x (layer 105) 10-300 100-140 116 ZnO.sub.x (layer 107) 10-110 40-80 60 Ag (layer 11) 10-200 {acute over ()} 100-160 {acute over ()} 120 Ni.sub.xTi.sub.yO.sub.z (layer 111) 10-100 {acute over ()} 15-40 {acute over ()} 25 TiO.sub.x (layer 112) 10-150 {acute over ()} 40-60 {acute over ()} 50 SnO.sub.x (layer 113) 70-1200 200-700 270 Si.sub.xN.sub.y (layer 114) 10-300 100-140 110 SnO.sub.x (layer 115) 70 to 1200 100-200 163 ZnO.sub.x (layer 117) 15-115 50-150 130 Ag (layer 11) 10-300 100-145 130 NiTiOx (layer 121) 10-150 {acute over ()} 20-50 {acute over ()} 25 SnOx (layer 123) 70-1200 300-700 501 SixNy (layer 124) 10-300 60-140 100 SnOx (layer 126) 10-300 100-200 150 ZnOx (layer 127) 10-110 40-80 60 Ag (layer 11) 10-300 120-180 161 NiTiOx (layer 131) 10-150 {acute over ()} 15-50 {acute over ()} 25 SnOx (layer 132) 10-300 100-210 155 SixNy (layer 134) 70-1200 200-300 256
(24) In certain example embodiments, the top Ag-based layer 11 is the thickest silver based layer in the layer stack. This arrangement has been found to help improve (lower) emissivity of the coating. Also, in certain example embodiments, the middle Ag-based layer 11 is thinner than the top Ag-based layer 11, which has been found to help maintain the improved emissivity, while also itself improving off-axis color stability and helping to provide high visible transmission. Moreover, in certain example laminated embodiments, coated articles have been optionally heat treated to an extent sufficient for heat strengthening or tempering, and that have been coupled to another glass substrate to form an IG unit. It is noted that the
(25) In view of the presence of IR blocking/reflecting coating (i.e., solar management coating) 5 which also functions as a UV reflecting coating, IG window units according to certain example embodiments of this invention as shown in
(26) TABLE-US-00002 TABLE 2 IG Unit Solar Characteristics Characteristic General Preferred More Preferred T.sub.vis (or TY)(Ill. C, 2 deg.): >=40% >=50% >=60% R.sub.gY (Ill. C, 2 deg.): 5 to 17% 7 to 13% 9 to 11% R.sub.fY (Ill. C, 2 deg.): 5 to 20% 7 to 14% 10 to 12% U-value: 0.10 to 0.40 0.20 to 0.30 0.22 to 0.25
(27) In certain example embodiments of this invention, there is provided an IG window unit comprising: a first glass substrate; a second glass substrate spaced apart from the first glass substrate, wherein the first glass substrate is adapted to be located farther from a building interior than is the second glass substrate; an ultraviolet (UV) absorbing coating provided in a pattern and located on an interior surface of the first glass substrate so that the UV absorbing coating is located between at least the first and second glass substrates; a UV reflecting coating located on the interior surface of the first glass substrate, so that the UV absorbing coating is located between at least the first glass substrate and the UV reflecting coating, wherein the UV reflecting coating reflects at least about 5% more UV radiation than does the UV absorbing coating in at least a majority of a range of from 360-390 nm.
(28) In the IG window unit of the immediately preceding paragraph, the IG window unit may have a visible transmission of at least about 40%, more preferably of at least about 50%.
(29) In the IG window unit of any of the preceding two paragraphs, the UV absorbing coating may comprise frit.
(30) In the IG window unit of any of the preceding three paragraphs, the UV reflecting coating may comprise or consist essentially of a low-E coating including at least one layer comprising silver, or alternatively the UV reflecting coating may consist essentially of a layer of or including titanium oxide.
(31) In the IG window unit of any of the preceding four paragraphs, the UV reflecting coating may comprise or consist essentially of a low-E coating including at least two layers comprising silver.
(32) In the IG window unit of any of the preceding five paragraphs, the UV reflecting coating may comprise or consist essentially of a low-E coating including at least three layers comprising silver.
(33) In the IG window unit of any of the preceding six paragraphs, the UV reflecting coating may be a low-E coating having a sheet resistance of no greater than 10 ohms/square, more preferably no greater than 8 ohms/square, and most preferably no greater than 6 ohms/square.
(34) In the IG window unit of any of the preceding seven paragraphs, the UV reflecting coating may directly contact the UV absorbing coating.
(35) In the IG window unit of any of the preceding eight paragraphs, the UV reflecting coating may be substantially transparent to visible light.
(36) In the IG window unit of any of the preceding nine paragraphs, the UV absorbing coating may be substantially transparent to visible light.
(37) In the IG window unit of any of the preceding ten paragraphs, the pattern may be a grid pattern.
(38) In the IG window unit of any of the preceding eleven paragraphs, the UV reflecting coating may be provided across substantially the entire viewing area of the window whereas the UV absorbing pattern may be provided in the pattern so as to be provided in less than about half of the viewing area of the window.
(39) In the IG window unit of any of the preceding twelve paragraphs, a glass side (outside) reflectance curve of the UV reflecting coating may have a hump in a UV range compared to a visible range of 440-680 nm, so that the UV reflecting coating may have a higher glass side reflectance in the UV range than in the visible range.
(40) In the IG window unit of any of the preceding thirteen paragraphs, the UV reflecting coating may reflect at least 20% of UV radiation in a majority of the range of from 360-390 nm.
(41) In the IG window unit of any of the preceding fourteen paragraphs, the UV reflecting coating may reflects at least 30% of UV radiation in a majority of the range of from 360-390 nm.
(42) In the IG window unit of any of the preceding fifteen paragraphs, the UV reflecting coating may comprise first and second substantially transparent layers comprising silver, and at least one dielectric layer provided between the first and second layers comprising silver.
(43) In the IG window unit of any of the preceding sixteen paragraphs, the space between the substrates may be filled with a gas and/or may be evacuated to a pressure less than atmospheric.
(44) In the IG window unit of any of the preceding seventeen paragraphs, the UV absorbing coating may consists essentially of a single layer.
(45) It is noted that certain parameters can be tuned by adjusting layer thicknesses. For example, sheet resistance can be decreased and visible transmission decreased by increasing the thickness of the silver based layer(s) 11 and/or by providing the coating with additional silver based layer(s) such as 11 and 11. In certain example embodiments, the coating 5 may have a sheet resistance (R.sub.s) of no greater than 10 ohms/square, more preferably no greater than 8 ohms/square, and most preferably no greater than 6 ohms/square.
(46) While the invention has been described in connection with what is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that the invention is not to be limited to the disclosed embodiment, but on the contrary, is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.