The use of sunlight has always been a major goal in the design and operation of commercial buildings to minimize electrical consumption of artificial lighting systems. Glazing systems designed to allow optimal visible light transmission also allow significant unwanted direct solar heat gain caused by infrared light. Conversely, glazing systems that are designed to reflect unwanted direct solar heat gain significantly reduce the transmittance of visible light through windows. The goal of this research was to characterize the performance of water as gap-fill for double-glazing units in eliminating the compromises that exist in current glazing systems with respect to light and heat transmittance. An in situ test approach and computer simulations were conducted to measure the performance of water-filled glazing units against air-filled glazing units. The thermal transmittance and solar heat gain coefficient values obtained from both the field experiments and computer simulations, glazing units with air-fill proved better than the glazing units with non-flowing water-fill. However, the high convective coefficient and the high thermal mass of the water can be used to its advantage when it is allowed to flow at peak temperatures, thus, maintaining lower temperature swings indoor. This can lead to a reduction of about 50-70% direct solar heat and still maintain high visibility.

This paper describes approaches to retrieve important aerosol results from the strong lidar return signals that are received by the space-borne CALIPSO lidar system after reflecting off-ocean surfaces. Relations, from which the theoretically expected values of area under ocean surface returns can be computed, are presented. A detailed description of the lidar system response to the ocean surface returns and the processes of sampling and averaging of lidar return signals are provided. An effective technique that reconstructs the lidar response to surface returnsstarting from down-linked samplesand calculates the area under it, has been developed and described. The calculated area values are validated after comparing them to their theoretically predicted counterpart values. Methods to retrieve aerosol optical depths (AODs) from these calculated areas are described and retrieval results are presented, including retrieval comparison with independent AOD measurements made by an airborne High Spectral Resolution Lidar (HSRL) that yielded quite good agreement. Techniques and results are also presented on using the spectral ratios of the surface response areas to determine spectral ratios of aerosol round-trip transmission and AOD spectral difference, without need of a specific/accurate ocean-surface reflectance model.

This thesis studies networks of silver nanowires as a transparent conducting electrode material and presents an investigation into the relationship between electrical and optical properties in the networks. The work focusses on two main aspects: the production of networks via different deposition methods; and the development of a predictive model based on theory that relates the sheet resistance to the optical transmittance. The deposition methods of drop-casting, bar-coating and spray-coating are used to create networks and the randomness of these networks is compared using image analysis in ImageJ, a public domain image processing program, and Wolfram Mathematica, a computer algebra program. It is determined that spray-coating results in the most random networks, therefore all subsequent experiments are carried out using this as the deposition method. Annealing condition tests are carried out on the nanowire networks to determine the optimal annealing conditions required to burn off poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP) remaining from the nanowire synthesis process and sinter the nanowire junctions to improve network conductivity. The sheet resistances and optical transmittances of the networks are measured and compared to networks created by other research groups. It is found that the networks created in this study exhibited similar optical and electrical properties to those in the literature, obtaining Rs = 100 Ω/sq for T = 81%.The developed model is based on theory and relates the sheet resistance to the optical transmittance using only the length and width of the nanowires used in the network and the mean network coverage as variables. The model can be used to predict the properties of a network if these factors are known. The model is compared with experimental data both from this study and from the literature, along with simulated data from the literature that was obtained by Monte Carlo methods. It is shown that there is an excellent fit between the model and all data that it is compared with. It is demonstrated that < 1% of the network coverage is greater than 2 for typical nanowire networks, proving that the networks are two-dimensional and therefore do not require a bulk regime to describe the relationship, as has been suggested in prior work.

Electrospinning has been recognized as an efficient technique for the fabrication of polymer fibers. These electrospun fibers have many applications across a broad range of industries. In this research, optical transparent composites were successfully fabricated by embedding polyacrylonitrile (PAN) hollow nanofibers into poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) matrix. The hollow PAN nanofibers were prepared by coaxial electrospinning. The PAN was used as the shell solution, and the mineral oil was used as the core solution. The resulting fibers were then etched with octane to remove the mineral oil from the core. The hollow PAN fibers were then homogeneously distributed in PMMA resins to fabricate the composite. The morphology, transmittance and mechanical properties of the PAN/PMMA composite were then characterized with an ESEM, TEM, tensile testing machine, UV-vis spectrometer and KD2 Pro Decagon device. The results indicated that the hollow nanofibers have relatively uniform size with one-dimensional texture at the walls. The embedded PAN hollow nanofibers significantly enhanced the tensile stress and the Young's modulus of the composite (increased by 58.3% and 50.4%, respectively), while having little influence on the light transmittance of the composite. The KD2 Pro device indicated that the thermal conductivity of the PMMA was marginally greater than the PAN/PMMA composite by 2%. This novel transparent composite could be used for transparent armor protection, window panes in vehicles and buildings, and airplane windshield etc.

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No description available.

No description available.

A classificação por categoria de 0 a 4 para óculos de sol determina quão claras ou escuras são suas lentes. A norma brasileira, ABNT NBR ISO 12312-1, exige, entre outros requisitos, testes de transmitância da luz visível em óculos de sol (categoria), para que estes sejam classificados como adequados ou não para direção de automóveis. Medidas do grau de escurecimento das lentes de um par de óculos de sol e da atenuação luminosa das luzes de sinais semafóricos são testes propostos para este item da norma. Porém, o público, em geral, não possui meios de testar seus próprios óculos. Um teste padrão de transmitância é trabalhoso, demorado e requer um espectrofotômetro e um profissional treinado. O objetivo deste trabalho é desenvolver um dispositivo portátil capaz de realizar testes de transmitância luminosa e semafórica de acordo com a norma brasileira sendo rápido, preciso e intuitivo, realizando os testes de forma automática sem exigir do usuário qualquer treinamento prévio. Diferentemente dos dois sistemas anteriormente desenvolvidos no Laboratório de Instrumentação Oftálmica (LIO), para testes de transmitância, este dispositivo é embarcado e atende à norma atual lançada em 2015, que não estava em vigor na época em que os demais foram desenvolvidos. O desafio para se construir um sistema embarcado é a combinação de fontes luminosas e sensores necessária para se obter padrões espectrais similares aos da norma. Foi desenvolvido e construído um protótipo microcontrolado usando a combinação de um LED branco com o sensor TCS3472. Esta combinação gera quatro funções de ponderação distintas, que foram combinadas linearmente resultando em funções de ponderação próximas às da norma para as medições desejadas. Foram medidos transmitância luminosa e quocientes de atenuação visual para luzes semafóricas de 128 lentes de óculos de sol com o protótipo e com um padrão-ouro, o espectrofotômetro Cary 5000 da VARIAN. O método de Bland-Altman foi usado para análise de concordância entre ambos os métodos de medição. Para valores de transmitância luminosa, foram adotados 0,5 % e 6 % como valores a partir dos quais o valor absoluto do viés é significativo e a amplitude do intervalo de confiança, grande, respectivamente. Para valores dos quocientes de atenuação, 0,1 e 0,4; respectivamente. O viés não foi significativo para nenhuma das medições. O intervalo dos limites de concordância de 95% foi amplo para medição de transmitância luminosa e do quociente para luz azul e estreito para as demais, considerando-se os valores-limites previamente definidos para vieses e para limites de concordância. Assim, dentro da tolerância definida, medições com o protótipo e com o padrão-ouro são equivalentes para quociente de atenuação para as luzes vermelha, amarela e verde. Apesar de nem todas as medições do protótipo serem equivalentes às do padrão-ouro, os resultados apresentaram boa exatidão, com apenas 5 das 128 lentes classificadas erroneamente quanto à adequação para direção (2 por transmitância luminosa, 1 por luz vermelha e 2 por luz azul). O protótipo proporciona ao público uma forma de obter informações sobre seus próprios óculos de sol e sobre a importância do uso de óculos adequados durante a direção de veículos. / Category rating ranging from 0 to 4 determines how light or dark sunglasses lenses are. Category measurements and how much traffic signal colors are attenuated are required tests by brazilian standard ABNT NBR ISO 12312-1 and are known as transmittance tests. Brazilian standard also establishes requirements for sunglasses to be suitable for driving. However, people often do not have means to measure their own sunglasses. A standard transmittance test is laborious, time-consuming and it requires a spectrophotometer and a skilled technician. The goal of this study was to develop not only a single device capable to perform luminous and traffic light transmittance tests according to brazilian standard, but also an easy-to-use, quick, accurate and portable device, which runs the tests by itself in a way anyone can operate it without any training. Unlike the two systems previously developed in the Ophthalmic Instrumentation Laboratory (LIO) for transmittance tests, that one does not contain a computer, but a microcontroller. Also, it complies with current standard, which has been released in 2015, and previous systems are based on 2013 standard version. A microcontrolled prototype was developed and built using a white LED and TCS3472 sensor combination. This combination generates four different weighting functions that were linearly combined resulting in weighting functions similar to the standard ones for luminous and traffic light transmittances. Using our prototype and a gold standard (VARIAN Cary 5000 spectrophotometer), luminous transmittance and relative attenuation quotients for traffic lights were measured in 128 sunglasses lenses. Bland-Altman method was used to assess concordance between both measurement methods. The bias was insignificant for all measurement and the limits of agreement were broad for luminous transmittance and for relative attenuation quotient for blue light detection, and narrow for all the others. Thus, within the predefined tolerance, prototype measurements are equivalent to gold standard ones for relative attenuation quotients for red, yellow and green light detection. Despite not all prototype measurements being equivalent to gold standard ones, results were accurate; only 5 from 128 lenses were incorrectly classified as to suitability for driving (2 for luminous transmittance, 1 for red light quotient and 2 for blue light quotient). Our device aims to provide to general public a mean to obtain information about their own sunglasses and the importance to use suitable sunglasses while driving.

A classificação por categoria de 0 a 4 para óculos de sol determina quão claras ou escuras são suas lentes. A norma brasileira, ABNT NBR ISO 12312-1, exige, entre outros requisitos, testes de transmitância da luz visível em óculos de sol (categoria), para que estes sejam classificados como adequados ou não para direção de automóveis. Medidas do grau de escurecimento das lentes de um par de óculos de sol e da atenuação luminosa das luzes de sinais semafóricos são testes propostos para este item da norma. Porém, o público, em geral, não possui meios de testar seus próprios óculos. Um teste padrão de transmitância é trabalhoso, demorado e requer um espectrofotômetro e um profissional treinado. O objetivo deste trabalho é desenvolver um dispositivo portátil capaz de realizar testes de transmitância luminosa e semafórica de acordo com a norma brasileira sendo rápido, preciso e intuitivo, realizando os testes de forma automática sem exigir do usuário qualquer treinamento prévio. Diferentemente dos dois sistemas anteriormente desenvolvidos no Laboratório de Instrumentação Oftálmica (LIO), para testes de transmitância, este dispositivo é embarcado e atende à norma atual lançada em 2015, que não estava em vigor na época em que os demais foram desenvolvidos. O desafio para se construir um sistema embarcado é a combinação de fontes luminosas e sensores necessária para se obter padrões espectrais similares aos da norma. Foi desenvolvido e construído um protótipo microcontrolado usando a combinação de um LED branco com o sensor TCS3472. Esta combinação gera quatro funções de ponderação distintas, que foram combinadas linearmente resultando em funções de ponderação próximas às da norma para as medições desejadas. Foram medidos transmitância luminosa e quocientes de atenuação visual para luzes semafóricas de 128 lentes de óculos de sol com o protótipo e com um padrão-ouro, o espectrofotômetro Cary 5000 da VARIAN. O método de Bland-Altman foi usado para análise de concordância entre ambos os métodos de medição. Para valores de transmitância luminosa, foram adotados 0,5 % e 6 % como valores a partir dos quais o valor absoluto do viés é significativo e a amplitude do intervalo de confiança, grande, respectivamente. Para valores dos quocientes de atenuação, 0,1 e 0,4; respectivamente. O viés não foi significativo para nenhuma das medições. O intervalo dos limites de concordância de 95% foi amplo para medição de transmitância luminosa e do quociente para luz azul e estreito para as demais, considerando-se os valores-limites previamente definidos para vieses e para limites de concordância. Assim, dentro da tolerância definida, medições com o protótipo e com o padrão-ouro são equivalentes para quociente de atenuação para as luzes vermelha, amarela e verde. Apesar de nem todas as medições do protótipo serem equivalentes às do padrão-ouro, os resultados apresentaram boa exatidão, com apenas 5 das 128 lentes classificadas erroneamente quanto à adequação para direção (2 por transmitância luminosa, 1 por luz vermelha e 2 por luz azul). O protótipo proporciona ao público uma forma de obter informações sobre seus próprios óculos de sol e sobre a importância do uso de óculos adequados durante a direção de veículos. / Category rating ranging from 0 to 4 determines how light or dark sunglasses lenses are. Category measurements and how much traffic signal colors are attenuated are required tests by brazilian standard ABNT NBR ISO 12312-1 and are known as transmittance tests. Brazilian standard also establishes requirements for sunglasses to be suitable for driving. However, people often do not have means to measure their own sunglasses. A standard transmittance test is laborious, time-consuming and it requires a spectrophotometer and a skilled technician. The goal of this study was to develop not only a single device capable to perform luminous and traffic light transmittance tests according to brazilian standard, but also an easy-to-use, quick, accurate and portable device, which runs the tests by itself in a way anyone can operate it without any training. Unlike the two systems previously developed in the Ophthalmic Instrumentation Laboratory (LIO) for transmittance tests, that one does not contain a computer, but a microcontroller. Also, it complies with current standard, which has been released in 2015, and previous systems are based on 2013 standard version. A microcontrolled prototype was developed and built using a white LED and TCS3472 sensor combination. This combination generates four different weighting functions that were linearly combined resulting in weighting functions similar to the standard ones for luminous and traffic light transmittances. Using our prototype and a gold standard (VARIAN Cary 5000 spectrophotometer), luminous transmittance and relative attenuation quotients for traffic lights were measured in 128 sunglasses lenses. Bland-Altman method was used to assess concordance between both measurement methods. The bias was insignificant for all measurement and the limits of agreement were broad for luminous transmittance and for relative attenuation quotient for blue light detection, and narrow for all the others. Thus, within the predefined tolerance, prototype measurements are equivalent to gold standard ones for relative attenuation quotients for red, yellow and green light detection. Despite not all prototype measurements being equivalent to gold standard ones, results were accurate; only 5 from 128 lenses were incorrectly classified as to suitability for driving (2 for luminous transmittance, 1 for red light quotient and 2 for blue light quotient). Our device aims to provide to general public a mean to obtain information about their own sunglasses and the importance to use suitable sunglasses while driving.

Le rayonnement infrarouge thermique (7.5-14 μm) permet de mesurer à distance la température de surfaces géologiques. Les capteurs de type “microbolomètre”, de bas prix et d’utilisation facile, sont de plus en plus utilisés pour cartographier sur le terrain des anomalies de température. Cependant, des phénomènes tels que l’opacité de l’atmosphère et les réflexions de la surface viennent modifier le signal. De plus, les images doivent être ajustées géométriquement pour être cartographiées. Après avoir proposé un protocole de correction géométrique et radiométrique des mesures, et quantifié les incertitudes résiduelles, quelques exemples sont étudiés pour définir les potentiels et les limites de l’infrarouge thermique en sciences de la Terre. Son potentiel pour la détection de la ligne de rivage a été utilisé lors d’une marée montante pour reconstituer le modèle numérique de terrain (MNT) d’une plage de l’Aber Benoît (Bretagne). D’autre part, un modèle informatique a été développé pour mesurer l’influence de la rugosité sur la température de la surface des planètes. Il a été appliqué au calcul de l’inertie thermique de Mars et de l’astéroïde (2867) Šteins. Enfin, les images infrarouges sont utilisées pour quantifier le flux de chaleur d’une zone sub-fumerollienne de la Soufrière. Ainsi, l’imagerie thermique infrarouge montre un fort potentiel, partiellement inexploité par les études actuelles, notamment pour la cartographie quantitative des contrastes de température à haute résolution. A haute fréquence, elle permet d’étudier la dynamique des phénomènes géologiques. / Thermal infrared (7.5-14 μm) enables the measurement of temperature far fromgeological surfaces. Microbolometers devices are increasingly used in the field in order to mapthermal anomalies. However, phenomena such as atmospheric opacity and surface reflections disturb the electromagnetic signal. In addition, images have to be geometrically adjusted to fit with geographical models. A processing chain is here suggested in order to correct the radiometry and the geometry of images, and the uncertainties are computed. Then, its potential and limitations are considered, through a few examples. First, it has been used in order to detect the waterline evolution of a mud shore during a rising tide, which enables to reconstruct a digital elevation model. Then, a computer model has been developed to study the roughness effects on the surface temperature and on the thermal inertial calculation on Mars and on the (2867) Šteins asteroid. Finally the heat flux of a sub-fumarolian zone has been computed in La Soufrière volcano (Guadeloupe, Lesser Antilles).Thus, thermal infrared remote sensing is very useful in quantitatively mapping the temperatures anomalies with a high resolution. High frequency studies should enable the survey of geological phenomena.