1. A system for controlling environmental conditioning equipment for an enclosure or a set of enclosures, the system comprising:
a computer operable to calculate in an anticipated manner, by simulation, at least one parameter selected from among the temperature and the chemical composition of the enclosure or set of enclosures, the energy consumption of the environmental conditioning equipment and the cost price of the consumed energy, forecast over a given time period, according to an explicit calculation formula associated with at least one command sequence sent to the environmental conditioning equipment during this time period;
the computer operable to perform this calculation by simulation for a randomly large number of explicit calculation formulas over a given time period; and
the computer operable to select from among the simulated calculation formulas the calculation formula, called optimum calculation formula, which respects the predefined constraints of temperature and chemical composition, and corresponds to the minimisation of a cost function relating to the energy cost price.
2. The system according to claim 1, further comprising communication means for the acquisition of external data, for example but not necessarily, weather forecast data or data relating to energy availability conditions.
3. The system according to claim 1, further comprising a calculation subsystem implementing optimisation algorithms such as the simplex algorithm or other similar algorithms, that make it possible to speed up the process of simulating and selecting the optimum command sequence.
4. The system according to claim 1, further comprising instructions including functions that provide it with specific characteristics of tolerance to breakdowns and continuity of service.
5. The system according to claim 1, further comprising instructions including functions that enable it to control energy producing equipment.
6. The system according to claim 1, further comprising instructions including functions that enable it to calculate, in an anticipated manner, the amount of energy produced by the energy producing equipment and the cost price of producing this energy, according to an explicit calculation formula associated with at least one command sequence sent to this equipment and to external data.
7. The system according to claim 5, further comprising instructions including functions that enable it (i) to calculate in an anticipated manner, by simulation, at least one parameter selected from among the temperature and the chemical composition of the enclosure or set of enclosures, the energy consumption of the environmental conditioning equipment, the energy production of the energy producing equipment, and the cost price of the consumed energy and of the produced energy, forecast over a given time period, according to an explicit calculation formula associated with at least one command sequence sent to the environmental conditioning equipment and to the energy producing equipment during this time period, (ii) to perform this calculation by simulation for a randomly large number of explicit calculation formulas over a given time period, and (iii) to select from among the simulated calculation formulas the calculation formula, called optimum calculation formula, which respects the predefined constraints of temperature and chemical composition, and corresponds to the minimisation of a cost function relating to the energy cost price.
8. The system according to claim 1, further comprising calculation and communication means that enable it to implement automatic transactional sub-processes with external systems.
9. The system according to claim 1, further comprising a calculation subsystem and relay subsystems that enable it to relay the commands from the calculation subsystem to the controlled equipment; the calculation subsystem and the relay subsystems then comprise communication functions that enable them to exchange data.
10. The system according to claim 9, wherein the relay subsystems comprise calculation capacities that enable them to calculate the commands to be sent to the environmental conditioning equipment or to the energy producing equipment as the result of explicit calculation formulas applied to the measured values of a certain number of environmental variables.
11. The system according to claim 10, wherein the calculation subsystem and the relay subsystems comprise functions that automatically enable the calculation subsystem to load and modify in the relay subsystems the explicit calculation formulas used by these relay subsystems to calculate commands to be sent to the controlled equipment.
12. The system according to claim 10, wherein the calculation subsystem comprises functions that enable it (i) to calculate in an anticipated manner, by simulation, at least one parameter selected from among the temperature and the chemical composition of the enclosure or set of enclosures, the energy consumption of the environmental conditioning equipment, the energy production of the energy producing equipment, the cost price of the consumed energy and of the produced energy, forecast over a given time period, according to explicit calculation formulas sent to the relay subsystems at the start of this time period, (ii) to perform this calculation by simulation for a randomly large number of explicit calculation formulas, and (iii) to select the explicit calculation formulas, called optimum explicit calculation formulas, which respect the predefined constraints of temperature and chemical composition, and correspond to the minimisation of a cost function relating to the energy cost price.
13. The system according to claim 9, wherein the calculation subsystem is located remotely in relation to the controlled equipment.
14. The system according to claim 13, wherein the calculation subsystem comprises calculation functions that enable it to calculate the optimum explicit calculation formulas or command sequences for equipment located on different geographical sites.
15. The system according to claim 9, wherein the calculation subsystem or the relay subsystems comprise man-machine interfaces that enable them to describe the characteristics of the environmental conditioning equipment, the characteristics of the enclosure or set of enclosures, and the characteristics of the energy producing equipment, as well as other data.
16. The system according to claim 1, wherein the enclosure or set of enclosures are a building or a group of buildings, the environmental conditioning equipment is the environmental conditioning equipment of these buildings, the production equipment is made up of electricity generators, cogeneration plants, wind power stations, solar power stations or geothermal power stations, the calculation subsystem is a computer or a set of computers, the relay subsystems are electronic cards or sets of interconnected electronic cards, and the energy sources are electricity, gas, heating oil or biomass.
17. The system according to claim 1, wherein the enclosure or set of enclosures are a refrigerated warehouse or a cold room, or a set of refrigerated warehouses or cold rooms, and the environmental conditioning equipment consists of the cold production and distribution equipment.
18. A method of controlling environmental conditioning equipment for an enclosure or a set of enclosures, the method comprising:
calculating in an anticipated manner, by simulation, at least one parameter selected from among the temperature and the chemical composition of the enclosure or set of enclosures, the energy consumption of the environmental conditioning equipment and the cost price of the consumed energy, forecast over a given time period, according to explicit calculation formulas during this time period, the calculation being performed by simulation for a randomly large number of explicit calculation formulas over a given time period; and
selecting from among said explicit calculation formulas the explicit calculation formulas, called optimum explicit calculation formulas, which respect the predefined constraints of temperature and chemical composition, and correspond to the minimisation of a cost function related to the energy cost price.
19. The method of controlling environmental conditioning equipment for an enclosure or a set of enclosures according to claim 18, further comprising a data-call step corresponding to at least one parameter selected from among the temperature and the chemical composition of the enclosure or set of enclosures, the energy consumption of the environmental conditioning equipment, and the cost price of the energy consumed, forecast over a given time period.
20. The method of controlling environmental conditioning equipment for an enclosure or a set of enclosures according to claim 18, further comprising acquiring data associated with said enclosure or set of enclosures.
21. The method of controlling environmental conditioning equipment for an enclosure or a set of enclosures according to claim 18, further comprising anticipated calculation of the amount of energy produced by the energy producing equipment and the cost price of producing this energy, according to the commands sent to this equipment and external data.
22. The method of controlling environmental conditioning equipment for an enclosure or a set of enclosures according to claim 21, wherein the simulation step is also performed in relation to the energy production of the energy producing equipment and the cost price of the energy produced.
23. The method of controlling environmental conditioning equipment for an enclosure or a set of enclosures according to claim 18, wherein the explicit calculation formula corresponds to a set of arithmetic and logical operations applied to the environmental variables in order to obtain a command sequence.
24. The method of controlling environmental conditioning equipment for an enclosure or a set of enclosures according to claim 18, wherein the minimisation of the cost function corresponds to a minimisation of the cost price of the energy.
25. A computer program stored in memory, the program comprising:
a first set of instructions operable to obtain weather forecasts and energy prices;
a second set of instructions operable to acquire data relating to at least one enclosure;
a third set of instructions operable to determine energy consumption of environmental conditioning equipment associated with the enclosure;
a fourth set of instructions operable to calculate an anticipated amount of energy production needed; and
a fifth set of instructions optimizing, through automatic simulations, energy consumption for the environmental conditioning equipment.
26. The program of claim 25, further comprising:
a sixth set of instructions automatically purchasing energy based on the optimizing instructions; and
a seventh set of instructions controlling performance of the environmental conditioning equipment based at least in part on the optimizing instructions; and
the enclosure being at least one building.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A method of reducing the Yellowness Index of a wavefront aberrator that contains a sandwich configuration of two transparent plates having a cured polymer sandwiched in between said plates, said method comprising adding an effective Yellowness Index reducing amount of a violet or blue dye to said curable polymer prior to said polymer being cured whereby the Yellowness Index of the dyed polymer is less than the Yellowness Index of the polymer without the dye.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the dye is Solvent Blue 35.
3. The method of claim 2, wherein the dye is present in said cured polymer in an amount of between about 0.0007 wt % and about 0.0020 wt %.
4. The method of claim 3, wherein the dye concentration is about 0.0012 wt %.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein the cured polymer is a layer between said plates and said layer is less than about 1 mm thick.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein the Yellowness Index of the cured wavefront aberrator is under about 10.
7. A method of making a wavefront aberrator with a reduced Yellowness Index number which comprises:
a. providing two transparent plates;
b. depositing a layer of curable material between the two transparent plates wherein said curable material contains one or more monomers and an effective Yellowness Index reducing amount of a violet or blue dye; and
c. curing the curable material to form the wavefront aberrator having a reduced Yellowness Index number compared to a wavefront aberrator made with said curable material not having said dye.
8. The method of claim 7, wherein the transparent plates are ophthalmic lenses.
9. The method of claim 8, wherein the ophthalmic lenses comprise a base and a cap.
10. The method of claim 7, wherein the curing step produces a polymer layer having a variable index of refraction.
11. The method of claim 7, wherein the curing step produces a polymer layer having a constant index of refraction.
12. The method of claim 9, wherein the dye is Solvent Blue 35.
13. The method of claim 12, wherein the dye is present in said cured polymer in an amount of between about 0.0007 wt % and about 0.0020 wt %.
14. The method of claim 13, wherein the dye concentration is about 0.0012 wt %.
15. The method of claim 9, wherein the cured polymer is a layer between said base and cap and said layer is less than about 0.5 mm thick.
16. The method of claim 15, wherein the Yellowness Index of the cured wavefront aberrator is under about 10.
17. In a method of making a wavefront aberrator by forming a layer of curable material between two transparent plates and curing said curable material, the improvement which comprises:
adding an effective Yellowness Index reducing amount of a violet or blue dye to said curable material prior to curing.
18. The method of claim 17, wherein the dye is Solvent Blue 35.
19. The method of claim 18, wherein the dye is present in said cured polymer in an amount of between about 0.0007 wt % and about 0.0020 wt %.
20. The method of claim 19, wherein the dye concentration is about 0.0012 wt %.
21. An ophthalmic lens comprising:
a. a front lens having a constant index of refraction;
b. a back lens having a constant index of refraction; and
c. a curable material in between said front and back lenses wherein said curable material contains one or more monomers and an effective Yellowness Index reducing amount of a violet or blue dye.
22. The ophthalmic lens of claim 21, wherein the front lens is a cap and the back lens is a base lens.
23. The ophthalmic lens of claim 22, wherein the dye is Solvent Blue 35.
24. The ophthalmic lens of claim 23, wherein the dye is present in said cured polymer in an amount of between about 0.0007 wt % and about 0.0020 wt %.
25. The ophthalmic lens of claim 24, wherein the dye concentration is about 0.0012wt %.
26. An ophthalmic lens comprising:
a. a front lens having a constant index of refraction;
b. a back lens having a constant index of refraction; and
c. a cured polymer in between said front and back lenses wherein said cured polymer contains an effective Yellowness Index reducing amount of a violet or blue dye.
27. The ophthalmic lens of claim 26, wherein the front lens is a cap and the back lens is a base lens.
28. The ophthalmic lens of claim 27, wherein the dye is Solvent Blue 35.
29. The ophthalmic lens of claim 28, wherein the dye is present in said cured polymer in an amount of between about 0.0007 wt % and about 0.0020 wt %.
30. The ophthalmic lens of claim 29, wherein the dye concentration is about 0.0012 wt %.
31. A optical element which comprises a layer of programmable polymer wherein said programmable polymer layer is tinted with a dye wherein said refractive index of said polymer layer can be adjusted based on the extent of curing of said polymer.
32. The optical element of claim 31, wherein said programmable polymer layer is sandwiched between a ophthalmic cap lens and an ophthalmic base lens to form a tinted ophthalmic lens.
33. The optical element of claim 32, wherein the dye is a phtochromic dye or a permanent dye.
34. An ophthalmic sunglass lens comprising:
a. a front lens having a constant index of refraction;
b. a back lens having a constant index of refraction; and
c. a curable material in between said front and back lenses wherein said curable material contains one or more monomers and an effective amount of a dye to tint said lens.
35. The sunglass lens of claim 34, wherein the dye is a phtochromic dye or a permanent dye
36. An ophthalmic sunglass lens comprising:
a. a front lens having a constant index of refraction;
b. a back lens having a constant index of refraction; and
c. a cured polymer in between said front and back lenses wherein said cured polymer contains an effective amount of a dye to tint said lens.
37. The sunglass lens of claim 35, wherein the dye is a phtochromic dye or a permanent dye.
38. A method of tinting a wavefront aberrator that contains a sandwich configuration of two transparent plates having a cured polymer sandwiched in between said plates, said method comprising adding an effective amount of a dye to said curable polymer prior to said polymer being cured whereby the said wavefront aberrator is tinted.
39. The method of claim 38, wherein the dye is a photochromic dye or a permanent dye.
40. The method of claim 39, wherein the wavefront aberrator is a sunglass lens.
41. The method of claim 40, wherein the cured polymer is a layer having a thickness of less than about 1 mm.
42. A method of making a tinted wavefront aberrator which comprises:
a. providing two transparent plates;
b. depositing a layer of curable material between the two transparent plates wherein said curable material contains one or more monomers and an effective amount of a dye; and
c. curing the curable material to form the tinted wavefront aberrator.
43. The method of claim 42, wherein the transparent plates are ophthalmic lenses.
44. The method of claim 43, wherein the ophthalmic lenses comprise a base and a cap.
45. The method of claim 42, wherein the curing step produces a polymer layer having a variable index of refraction.
46. The method of claim 42, wherein the curing step produces a polymer layer having a constant index of refraction.
47. The method of claim 43, wherein the dye is Solvent Blue 35.
48. The method of claim 47, wherein the dye is present in said cured polymer in an amount of between about 0.0007 wt % and about 0.0020 wt %.
49. The method of claim 48, wherein the dye concentration is about 0.0012 wt %.
50. The method of claim 44, wherein the cured polymer is a layer between said base and cap and said layer is less than about 0.5 mm thick.
51. In a method of making a wavefront aberrator by forming a layer of curable material between two transparent plates and curing said curable material, the improvement which comprises:
adding an effective amount of a dye to said curable material prior to curing.