The Airbus company took advantage of the CES in Las Vegas to announce its partnership with the firm Gentex. This will provide the aeronautical company with new type of portholes, capable of darkening to prevent sunlight from passing through the window and waking up the passengers.
Called EDW for Electronically Dimmable Windows, the windows of the future by Gentex are based on electrochromatic technology. The windows incorporate an LCD film which becomes opaque when an electric current flows through them. It is even possible to vary the tint of the glass so that it is more or less opaque and thus, enjoy or not the view without having to squint.
Weight gain for aircraft
According to Gentex, the latest generation of its electrochromatic glass allows opacity 100 times greater than before and the transition to full opaque is twice as fast. It can also block light rays at 100% which will make it possible to dispense with curtains and therefore save weight for the aircraft.
Airbus has not yet specified which aircraft will be equipped with this technology. The European aircraft manufacturer may equip only a few of its aircraft. Airbus could also offer the windows of the future with Gentex to some of its customers.
Airbus is not the first aeronautical company to be interested in this kind of technology. The Boeing company had already announced last year that it wanted to integrate electrochromatic windows in its Boeing 777X. The latter should be commissioned in 2021.
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