Clear views thanks to smart glass: Jean-Christophe Giron named European Inventor Award 2015 finalist

• Electrochromic glass regulates solar radiation without blinds or shutters restricting views
• Dynamic windows: solar heat in winter - heat protection in summer
• Technological innovation cuts energy cost for heating and cooling systems by up to 20 percent
• EPO President Battistelli: "Giron's technology is a big step forward towards more eco-friendly building design."

Munich/Paris, 21 April 2015 - The sun is a source of energy and life: Daylight and open views make people more happy and productive. However, in many schools, hospitals and office buildings the opposite is the case because sun protection systems not only block sun radiation but also restrict views to the outdoors. A smart glass technology invented by French scientist Jean-Christophe Giron (48) resolves the dilemma: It permits uninterrupted views and also lets light stream in. Moreover, his invention controls solar glare and harmful radiation, the latter heating up rooms and causing interior fading.

Thanks to Giron's innovation the amount of light entering can be regulated depending on the situation, and the method is therefore a veritable milestone for ecological building design: In winter, the electrochromic glass makes use of the sun's energy to heat up rooms. In summer, it darkens in order to block heat radiation and to prevent rooms from overheating. Thus, electricity for lighting is saved and energy consumption for heating and cooling buildings
is cut.

For this achievement, the European Patent Office (EPO) has named Jean-Christophe Giron as one of three finalists for the European Inventor Award 2015 in the category "Industry".
The winners of the 10^th edition of the annual innovation prize will be announced at a ceremony in Paris on 11 June.

"Giron's technology enhances people's well-being while inside buildings and can considerably reduce a building's energy cost," said EPO President Benoît Battistelli upon announcing the European Inventor Award 2015 finalists. "On the way to a building of the future, this is a big step forward towards more eco-friendly building design and energy-efficient housing."

Voltage regulates intensity of light

The idea to darken windows is not a new one: Back in the 1980s, dimmable solar control glazing came on the market that works with thermochromic and photochromic glass and is able to change its colour because of embedded liquid crystals or photochemically active molecules which react to heat and light. However, this system has a disadvantage: The glass can't be controlled, but darkens automatically once exposed to a certain amount of sunlight.

In order to solve this problem, Giron and his team based their research on nanotechnology and electrochromism. The latter is a phenomenon encountered in some materials that can reversibly change their colour when placed in a different electronic state. Electrochromic glass can be dimmed or brightened electronically at the touch of a button. The amount of light flowing in is variable. This is made possible by a special glass coating consisting of five nano-layers. When a low voltage is applied, the glass darkens through a redox process taking place in the electrochromic stack. It behaves like a see-through Lithium battery, the transparency of which varies as the battery loads or unloads. The technology allows users to control light transmission by the touch of a button, and can also be integrated into a building automation system. Levels can be pre-set in intermediate phases between 1 per cent and
60 per cent visible light transmission.

Eco-friendly alternative to mechanical sun protection system

The innovation ushers in a new era of how to use light in building construction: Architects can now even integrate large glass panels in their designs without having to compromise on energy efficiency or comfort of living. Since the sun protection function is integrated in the glass, it is an elegant and powerful alternative to mechanical systems. Moreover, the expense for electrochromic systems is comparable upfront to that of traditional sun protection solutions. In addition, dynamic glass enables electricity, heating and air-conditioning savings of up to 20 per cent.

French scientist making a success of US company

Jean-Christophe Giron started his career at Saint-Gobain Recherche north of Paris as a Junior Research Engineer in the field of electrochromic thin films. Giron, who studied Physics and Chemistry at ESPCI ParisTech, received his PhD in Inorganic Chemistry from the University Pierre & Marie Curie in 1995 after spending three years at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory studying nickel oxide electrochromic thin films. In 2001, he moved to another Saint-Gobain R&D Centre located in Germany. There, he and his team set up the first electrochromic pilot line dedicated to manufacturing electrochromic sunroofs for the car industry, which earned them the 2005 Ferrari Technology Award for introducing the world's first electrochromic automotive sunroof onto the market.

In 2010, Saint-Gobain made a strategic investment in SAGE, a company founded in 1989, where Jean-Christophe Giron became Head of Technology at the company's headquarters in Minnesota, USA. He also moved there with his family. During the next four years, he and his colleagues scaled-up the technology and industrialised SageGlass. Today, Jean-Christophe Giron is Vice President of R&D and Product Development at SAGE, a wholly owned subsidiary of Saint-Gobain and a leading dynamic architectural glass company. He is listed as inventor on 500 different patents filed worldwide. Several third-party analysts estimate that revenue of the smart glass window market will exceed EUR 500 million by 2020.

Additional resources

• Read more about the inventor
• View the patents: EP0831360, EP1646909

Building of the future: Ecological design for new builds and home improvement thanks to smart glass

Thanks to dynamic glass, architects can integrate even large glass panels in their designs without having to compromise on energy efficiency or comfort of living. Thus, the technology opens up whole new design opportunities in civil engineering.

• Read more about green construction
• Ten years of the European Inventor Award: a retrospective look at the inventors and ideas that have changed our lives
• About the European Patent Office (EPO)
• Study on the economic impact of patents and other IP rights

Contacts:

Rainer Osterwalder
Director Media Relations
European Patent Office
Tel. +49 (0)89 2399 1820
rosterwalder@epo.org

Jeremy Philpott
Project Manager
European Patent Office
Tel. +49 (0)89 2399 1805
jphilpott@epo.org

Tristan d'Avezac de Moran
Shepard Fox Communications France
Tel. +33 (0)1 4288 1604
Mobile +33 6 03 99 88 01
tristan.davezac@shepard-fox.com