IntelliBlind™

Turns any Blind into the Smartest Smart Blind

Wand-operated horizontal blinds are the easiest of all window coverings to motorize, and there are over 400 million of them in U.S. buildings—but 95 percent of those blinds are still manually operated. So, it’s no wonder that retrofit automation devices for wand-operated blinds are emerging as the hottest products in the automated shading market.

However, while the latest products offer wireless connectivity, they actually aren’t very “smart” on their own. They can be remote-controlled by smartphone, but setting up any kind of truly useful automation requires integration with a home-automation platform, as well significant thought and effort to program the desired behavior.

IntelliBlind™ is a completely new kind of blind-automation device. Like today’s hottest products, it’s inexpensive (less than $100 per window) and offers wireless connectivity with all major automation platforms—but unlike any other blind-automation product, its proprietary sensors and control algorithms give it a high degree of automation intelligence on its own, without any wireless connectivity or special set-up:

Advanced, Around-the-Clock Shading Automation

Out of the box, IntelliBlind™ is set-up to operate fully autonomously using its integrated sensors and algorithms. It automatically selects between four operating modes depending on whether it’s daytime or nighttime, the status of the lighting system, and room occupancy:

These autonomous modes include two advanced capabilities that even the most sophisticated and expensive conventional automated shading systems can’t match:

• Responsive daylight control automatically adjusts the shading to maintain the desired amount of glare-free daylight. This typically doubles the average amount of useful natural illumination, providing a more pleasant, more productive, and healthier visual environment while doubling the energy savings achievable through daylighting. Responsive daylight control the most valuable form of automated shading, but also the hardest to implement. In fact, no off-the-shelf automated shading device provides a responsive daylight control capability, and only a few custom-programmed integrated systems in high-profile office buildings even attempt it. IntelliBlind™ not only provides responsive daylight control at just a fraction of the cost of expensive integrated systems, it also does it more effectively.
• Responsive thermal control automatically adjusts the shading to minimize HVAC energy consumption. With conventional technology, this requires integration between the automated shading and HVAC systems. IntelliBlind™ not only does it without the need for integration, it’s also more effective than conventional systems because it responds to the actual energy flow through the window.

This enables IntelliBlind™ to maximize occupant comfort, energy savings, and privacy without the need for integration with other systems, setting-up a programmed schedule, or defining if-then rules.

Here’s an example of this fully autonomous, around-the-clock shading automation in action:

Achieving anything like this with conventional technology would require integration between separate shading, lighting, and sensor subsystems, as well as significant effort to program and test the desired behavior. IntelliBlind™ does it all by itself, right out-of-the-box—and it does it better than expensive integrated systems.

Can be Operated with Just a Single Intuitive Control

IntelliBlind™ needs no attention from the user when it’s operating autonomously as shown above. However, the user can change its behavior at any time by simply adjusting the slat tilt as desired using either the control wand (as shown below), the smartphone app, or a voice assistant:

Simple, Inexpensive Design

While its capabilities exceed those of even the most expensive integrated automated shading systems, IntelliBlind™ costs no more than the least expensive smart blind products thanks to our patented and patent-pending IP:

Multiple Power Options

To exploit their full market potential, automated shading products need to offer users the option to use hardwired, battery, or solar power to best suit their needs. Many existing products offer such flexibility, but IntelliBlind™ goes further:

• Instead of integrating a battery holder, IntelliBlind™ uses an optional separate battery module. This minimizes the size and weight of the main unit, and the battery module snaps on and off the headrail instantly thanks to its magnetic mount and self-aligning magnetic connectors.
• The patent-pending rear-facing photovoltaic panel and blind-control algorithm eliminates the need for a separate window-mounted PV panel (and associated wiring) when solar power is used.

The Only Automated Shading Product Capable of Penetrating the Mainstream Market

After remaining stuck at less than 5% for decades, the market penetration of automated shading is finally showing signs of life, thanks to the emergence of a new breed of products with lower cost and better wireless connectivity.  However, our market analysis shows that lower cost and better connectivity alone won’t be enough to boost penetration beyond 10%.

There are only two potential benefits of automated shading that could drive penetration of the mainstream market: energy savings for non-residential buildings, and enhanced health and wellness for residential buildings—and the only way to deliver those benefits cost-effectively is by integrating advanced sensors and algorithms to provide autonomous daylight and thermal control capabilities. That’s exactly what we’ve done with IntelliBlind™.

Cost-Effective Energy-Saving Retrofits for Office Buildings

It’s long been recognized that automated window shading offers the potential to significantly reduce the energy consumed in office buildings. Automated shading can save energy in three ways:

• Responsive daylight control can boost the average level of glare-free natural illumination relative to manually operated shading, enabling the lamps to be dimmed to reduce lighting energy consumption.
• Responsive daylight control can ensure that the shading is fully closed under high-irradiance conditions, reducing solar heating loads on the HVAC system.
• Responsive thermal control can optimize the shading settings at nighttime or in unoccupied spaces to reduce heat transfer across the window, reducing both cooling and heating loads on the HVAC system.

Unfortunately, while the achievable savings are substantial, so too are the costs associated with achieving those savings with conventional technology. The net result is that conventional automated shading technology can’t offer a commercially attractive payback period purely on the basis of energy savings. Specifically, while a payback period of about 10 years is the upper limit for an energy saving technology to be considered cost-effective, conventional automated shading technology has a median payback of at least 40 years in U.S. office buildings.

On the other hand, in office buildings already equipped with wand-operated blinds, IntelliBlind™ provides the same energy savings as conventional automated shading technology, but at only about one-tenth the retrofit cost—yielding a median payback of just 4 years. Energy-saving technologies with paybacks of just four years achieve deep market penetrations—and there are 150 million wand-operated blinds currently installed in U.S. office buildings, covering a floor area of about 12 billion square feet.

Another huge advantage for the non-residential market segment is that—thanks to its onboard sensors and control wand—IntelliBlind™ can operate without any wireless connectivity at all (it doesn’t even need Bluetooth® since it can be set-up without a smartphone app). This allows its multi-protocol (Matter-ready WiFi and Bluetooth® Low Energy) RF transceiver to be disabled to minimize power consumption, IT support costs, and vulnerability to cyberattack.

Affordable Automated Shading for Enhanced Health and Wellness in Residential Buildings

While interest in responsive daylight control has traditionally been driven by its potential to save energy in non-residential buildings, numerous studies have shown that its positive impact on the activities of building occupants can represent far greater economic value. Unfortunately, non-energy benefits currently take a back seat to building operating costs when it comes to purchasing decisions regarding non-residential building technologies.

That’s not the case in the residential market: our market surveys show that non-energy benefits of responsive daylight control will resonate more strongly with potential residential purchasers than energy savings.

Specifically, potential purchasers are well aware of the link between insufficient exposure to glare-free daylight and health-and-wellness issues such as Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), Circadian Rhythm Sleep Disorders, and subclinical depression. While there have yet been no studies assessing the impact of responsive daylight control on these issues, potential purchasers are very receptive to the idea that increased glare-free daylight does indeed provide health and wellness benefits (in addition to a more pleasant visual environment).

This health-and-wellness-benefit is potentially far more compelling to residential purchasers than the traditional automated shading benefits of convenience and energy savings (which IntelliBlind™ also provides more cost-effectively than conventional products), and represents the only path for automated shading products to penetrate the mainstream residential market.