High-tech optics provider Vision Systems is showcasing at NBAA 2018 its new electronically dimmable shading system, Nuance V2, introduced this year, which offers increased optical quality and lower cost compared with previous systems. The dimmable windows are made using a new industrial lamination process, creating an interlayer combining UV infrared and hydrophobic barriers, which “greatly improves product reliability,” said Eric Sorrell, sales account manager for aeronautics and marine at the French company’s North American headquarters in Melbourne, Florida. “You also have the ‘wow’ factor, because it’s new technology,” he added.
Passengers can program the Nuance V2 to automatically dim based on the sun’s position, adjusting for the aircraft’s movement. In addition, the system features multi-zone shading capability. “With this you can have full customization of the view out the window: where the darkness is, where the tint is,” said Sorrell.
In addition to Nuance V2, Vision Systems (Booth 1964) is displaying its high-end motorized roller and pleated shades, and the Eclipse dimmable cabin divider, which goes from clear to opaque through light-scattering technology. The same technology can be incorporated in everything “from outboard windows to the shower stall,” Sorrell said.
The new Info-Vision technology, made possible by the layered laminate technology, is also on display. It allows textural data—from flight information to customized graphics—to be displayed on the window via “electro illuminescence” through embedded electronics and touchscreen panels. Vision Systems invested $4.7 million for a new clean room facility and machinery at its French plant, and the production capability “is expected to migrate to the U.S.,” said Sorrel, adding, “Down the road, we will see new technologies where we could have very intricate graphics on the window.”
Vision Systems recently reached an agreement with PPG to collaborate on developing new applications for Nuance V2 and Info Vision.
Many air travelers are familiar with the electro-chromatic dimmable windows on the Boeing 787, but that’s “an older technology,” said Sorrell. Nuance V2 uses suspended particle display (SPD) technology, which has a faster dimming response time, reacting within five seconds and going from clear to full dark “within 15 to 30 seconds.” SPD also allows shades to be made in either glass or polycarbonate, and shaped into a flat panel, two-dimensional curve, or 3D compound curves. Moreover, the windows can be made in sizes “that can be one meter in width and unlimited length,” Sorrell said.
With its window products already established in Europe’s VIP airliner completion market, the company wants “to expand commercial agreements with other BBJ completion centers and distribution networks on the U.S. side,” Sorrell said.
Vision Systems opened its Melbourne facility four years ago, and this year opened a new trade office in Canada, focused on the land transportation market, complemented by sales offices in Dubai and Singapore.
Looking ahead, the company plans to move motorized shade production from France to the U.S. and introduce a dimmable helicopter window, which will be jettisonable as required for rotorcraft.
