Remote window control

You leave home to work, to the office it rains. Sometimes, due to absent-mindedness, you wonder if you have closed the windows at home yet? With modern technology, no need to return you can still remotely via internet to monitor if the window is equipped with touch sensor.

This new window monitoring system was developed by the Fraunhofer Institute (Germany), which operates without wires and uses energy from the surrounding environment.

The system combines a three-dimensional magnetic sensor with the size of a single stamp, based on the existing analogue product, HallinOne, which controls the washing machine. When embedded within the window frame, the sensor can be controlled, detecting the angle and position of the slide bar located at the bottom, moving the magnet to close as needed.

The window is also equipped with an embedded RF button that broadcasts radio and microcontrollers to transmit control signals to other windows in the 20-30m range. Fraunhofer said that with this feature, a building's security officer can check the status of all windows without having to step out of the way.

Beside the sensor, slide magnet and RF, each window frame is equipped with a generator and a solar cell on the outside of the door. Generators will exploit the ambient temperature to operate, which is powered by energy-sensitive cells, despite the weak sunlight, even with the light available inside the building. enough.

According to Gizmag, although the window control system is still in its prototype phase, Fraunhofer and its production partner Seuffler hope to start production later this year.