Bird friendly electrochromic devices

Abstract

Various embodiments herein relate to electrochromic windows that are bird friendly, as well as methods and apparatus for forming such windows. Bird friendly windows include one or more elements that make the window visible to birds so that the birds recognize that they cannot fly through the window. An electrochromic window includes one or more transparent substrates, wherein at least one of the substrates is an electrochromic (EC) lite including an electrochromic device and a pattern formed on at least one of the substrates by a laser, the pattern including a first feature configured to provide a set of optical properties different than optical properties of the transparent substrate. The set of optical properties includes one or more characteristics of refractivity, reflectivity and diffraction.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An electrochromic window comprising:
 one or more transparent substrates, wherein at least one of the substrates is an electrochromic (EC) lite including an electrochromic device; and   a pattern formed on or in at least one of the substrates by a laser, the pattern including a first feature configured to provide a set of optical properties different than optical properties of the transparent substrate; wherein
 the set of optical properties includes one or more characteristics of refractivity, reflectivity and diffraction. 
   
     
     
         2 . The electrochromic window of  claim 1 , wherein the pattern is formed on the EC lite. 
     
     
         3 . The electrochromic window of  claim 2 , wherein the pattern is formed on a surface of the EC lite opposite to the electrochromic device. 
     
     
         4 . The electrochromic window of  claim 2 , wherein the pattern is formed on the EC light by operating the laser in a regime selected to form the pattern without damaging the electrochromic device. 
     
     
         5 . The electrochromic window of  claim 4 , wherein the pattern includes a sequence of microcracks formed on a surface or in an interior of the EC light by operating the laser. 
     
     
         6 . The electrochromic window of  claim 4 , wherein the laser operating regime includes a train of micro-pulses, each micro-pulse being less than 10 nanoseconds duration. 
     
     
         7 . The electrochromic window of  claim 6 , the train of micro-pulses integrates into a laser exposure period of about 100-1000 microsecond. 
     
     
         8 . The electrochromic window of  claim 1 , wherein the pattern is formed on the EC light by operating the laser in a regime selected to form the pattern elements by inducing local changes to a refraction index of the EC light. 
     
     
         9 . The electrochromic window of  claim 8 , wherein the laser-induced local change to the refraction index is configured to result in the pattern being visible to birds and invisible to humans. 
     
     
         10 . The electrochromic window of  claim 8 , wherein the laser operating regime results in a pulse fluence that creates local densification of the EC light that locally increases the refractive index of the EC light and is below a microcracking threshold of the EC light. 
     
     
         11 . The electrochromic window of  claim 10 , wherein the laser operating regime includes a train of micro-pulses, each micro-pulse being less than 20 nanoseconds duration. 
     
     
         12 . The electrochromic window of  claim 11 , the train of micro-pulses includes less than 100 micropulses. 
     
     
         13 . The electrochromic window of  claim 11 , the train of micro-pulses includes less than 20 micropulses. 
     
     
         14 . The electrochromic window of  claim 1 , wherein the pattern includes a diffraction grating on a surface of the EC light opposite to the electrochromic device. 
     
     
         15 . The electrochromic window of  claim 14 , wherein the diffraction grating is formed on the EC light by operating the laser in a regime selected to locally ablate micro-spots, each micro-spot having a dimension in the range of 1 to 50 μm. 
     
     
         16 . The electrochromic window of  claim 15 , wherein the micro-spots have a diameter to depth ratio greater than 20. 
     
     
         17 . The electrochromic window of  claim 1 , wherein the electrochromic window is configured such that the pattern is positioned outboard of the electrochromic device. 
     
     
         18 . The electrochromic window of  claim 1 , wherein the pattern is formed on the window after the EC lite and at least one additional transparent substrate are formed into an insulated glass unit (IGU). 
     
     
         19 . The electrochromic window of  claim 1 , wherein a first pattern is formed on a first of the one or more substrates and a second pattern is formed on a second of the one or more substrates. 
     
     
         20 . The electrochromic window of  claim 1 , wherein the pattern comprises elements including one or more intersecting or non-intersecting stripes or bars and/or a plurality of dots. 
     
     
         21 . The electrochromic window of  claim 1 , wherein at least some of the elements have a cross sectional dimension of smaller than 0.5 mm. 
     
     
         22 . The electrochromic window of  claim 1 , wherein at least some of the elements have a cross sectional dimension of smaller than 0.2 mm. 
     
     
         23 . An integrated glass unit (IGU) comprising:
 at least two transparent substrates, wherein at least one of the substrates is an electrochromic (EC) lite having an electrochromic device disposed thereon; and   a pattern formed on or in at least one of the substrates by a laser, the pattern including a first feature configured to provide a set of optical properties different than optical properties of the transparent substrate; wherein
 the set of optical properties includes one or more characteristics of refractivity, reflectivity and diffraction. 
   
     
     
         24 . The IGU of  claim 23 , wherein the pattern is formed on the EC lite by operating the laser in a regime selected to form the pattern without damaging electrochromic device. 
     
     
         25 . The IGU of  claim 23 , wherein the pattern comprises elements including one or more intersecting or non-intersecting stripes or bars and/or a plurality of dots.