A load control system for a building having a heating and cooling system and a window located in a space of the building uses a daylighting procedure to adjust the amount of power delivered to the lighting load in response to the amount of daylight entering the window, and controls amount of daylight entering the window in order to attempt to reduce the power consumption of the heating and cooling system if the daylighting procedure is not causing the heating and cooling system to save energy. If the lighting load is consuming more energy when the fabric of the motorized window treatment is at a position above the fully-closed position than the lighting load would consume if the fabric was at the fully-closed position, the motorized window treatment moves the fabric to the fully-closed position.

Load control system having an energy savings mode

A motorized window treatment provides a low-cost solution for controlling the amount of daylight entering a space through a window. The window treatment includes a covering material, a drive shaft, at least one lift cord rotatably received around the drive shaft and connected to the covering material, and a motor coupled to the drive shaft for raising and lowering the covering material. The window treatment also includes a spring assist unit for assisting the motor by providing a torque that equals the torque provided by the weight on the cords that lift the covering material at a position midway between fully-open and fully-closed positions, which helps to minimize motor usage and conserve battery life if a battery is used to power the motorized window treatment. The window treatment may comprise a photosensor for measuring the amount of daylight outside the window and temperature sensors for measuring the temperatures inside and outside of the window. The position of the covering material may be automatically controlled in response to the photosensor and the temperature sensors to save energy, or may also be controlled in response to an infrared or radio-frequency remote control.

Motorized window treatment

A motorized Venetian blind system (110) for covering a window of a space comprising a blind drive unit (118) having two motors (230, 240) to provide for independent control of a position of a bottom rail (116) via a lift cord (210) and a tilt angle of a plurality of slats (112) of the blind system. The blind drive unit has a headrail (114) with a side panel (216) and at least one of the motors is between between the side panel and the lift cord. The blind drive unit also has a spring -wrap brake. The blind drive unit is operable to adjust the position of the bottom rail to a preset position, and to adjust the tilt angle of the slats to a preset angle in response to receiving a single digital message (e.g., a preset command).

Motorized Venetian Blind System

A load control system for a building having a lighting load, a window, a heating and cooling system, and an electric vehicle charger for charging a vehicle (e.g., an electric or hybrid vehicle) operates in an energy-savings mode to reduce the total power consumption of the load control system when the vehicle charger is presently charging the vehicle. The load control system may comprise a lighting control device for controlling the intensity of the lighting load, a daylight control device for adjusting the amount of natural light admitted through the window, and a temperature control device for controlling a setpoint temperature of the heating and cooling system to thus control a present temperature in the building. When the vehicle charger is presently charging the vehicle, the load control system automatically controls the lighting control device, the daylight control device, and the temperature control device to decrease the total power consumption of the load control system.

Load control system that operates in an energy-savings mode when an electric vehicle charger is charging a vehicle

An assembly for covering a building opening that provides a shaft positioned at one end of the building opening, a curtain carried by the shaft, and a locking mechanism at the opposed end of the building opening from the shaft that selectively holds the curtain in a locked position to cover the building opening. The assembly also includes an input for selectively rotating the shaft, and a linking assembly adapted to transfer the input to the shaft to selectively rotate the shaft, wherein the linking assembly includes a failsafe portion designed to fail upon a predetermined impact force on the curtain. An operator is also provided to allow controllable movement of the curtain between the various positions.

Assembly to lock a storm curtain adjacent to an opening in a building

A quiet drapery pull system includes an elongated track that receives a master car and auxiliary cars. The track defines a pair of curved surfaces for nested receipt of roller members of the cars to facilitate linear tracking of the cars. The cars preferably include tires that are made from a resilient material to limit noises caused by rolling contact and by slipping and dragging of the tires upon contact with surface imperfections of the track. The drapery pull system preferably includes a drive belt connected to a reversible motor and to the master car for driving the master car in each of opposite directions. The drive belt is preferably made from a resilient material to limit noise associated with contact between the drive belt and drive pulley and between the belt and the track.

Stephen D. Dauerbach

Papers

Motorized drapery pull system