Ho Kun-Che, Xu Rui-Feng, Wu Cheng-Xun, Liao Jia-Zheng
Department of Automation Engineering, National Formosa University, Yulin, Taiwan.
HardwareX. 2025 Apr 15;22:e00648. doi: 10.1016/j.ohx.2025.e00648. eCollection 2025 Jun.
Polymer Dispersed Liquid Crystal (PDLC) glass, with its controllable light transmittance enabling shading and energy savings, is widely used in green and smart buildings as a key technology for smart windows and privacy glass. However, traditional PDLC drivers are bulky, consume high energy, and offer limited functionality, restricting their application in multi-panel glass control and space-constrained scenarios. This study proposes a low-power, adjustable mini driver that utilizes Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) signals and a full-bridge inverter architecture to generate AC square waves. By integrating simple analog and digital circuit designs, digital resistors, and specialized adjustable power modules, remote voltage and frequency modulation control is achieved, enabling efficient and flexible PDLC driver development. Compared to traditional transformer designs, the developed driver not only offers the advantages of miniaturization and high efficiency but also can flexibly adapt to diverse application scenarios such as office privacy glass, smart buildings, and multi-zone linkage control. This research provides an effective solution for the widespread application of PDLC technology and the advancement of smart buildings. Finally, the functionality of the proposed design is verified through hardware circuit implementation and experimental validation.
聚合物分散液晶(PDLC)玻璃具有可控的透光率,可实现遮阳和节能,作为智能窗户和隐私玻璃的关键技术,在绿色和智能建筑中得到广泛应用。然而,传统的PDLC驱动器体积庞大、能耗高且功能有限,限制了它们在多面板玻璃控制和空间受限场景中的应用。本研究提出了一种低功耗、可调节的微型驱动器,该驱动器利用脉宽调制(PWM)信号和全桥逆变器架构来生成交流方波。通过集成简单的模拟和数字电路设计、数字电阻器和专门的可调节功率模块,实现了远程电压和频率调制控制,从而能够高效、灵活地开发PDLC驱动器。与传统的变压器设计相比,所开发的驱动器不仅具有小型化和高效率的优点,还能灵活适应各种应用场景,如办公室隐私玻璃、智能建筑和多区域联动控制。本研究为PDLC技术的广泛应用和智能建筑的发展提供了有效的解决方案。最后,通过硬件电路实现和实验验证,验证了所提出设计的功能。