Light effect PDLC Film Clarity
Lighting has a big effect on the clarity of glass. Even regular, monolithic glass will exhibit some haze when exposed to extreme lighting conditions. The haze effect is magnified, especially in direct sunlight.
1. Worse lighting conditions: Lights that are only on the outside of the conference room will cause an imbalance in light intensity. This will increase the haze.
2. Better lighting conditions: Lights on the outside of the conference room are higher in intensity than on the inside. This will result in a slight haze.
3. Best lighting conditions: Lights on the inside of the conference room and outside are evenly balanced in intensity and sufficiently diffused at appropriate distances.
4. Low haze in dark state (all lights off): No lights on the inside or outside of the conference room will result in little haze.
PDLC glass is also a light diffuser and the clarity can be impacted based on an imbalance of light intensities in the surroundings. The image below shows the difference in clarity between using fluorescent lighting (diffusive, large area, public) and LED lighting (directional, focused, small area, more intimate).
Additional Haze Factor Considerations
As discussed, PDLC glass contains liquid crystal (LC) material, therefore it inherently possesses some level of “haziness” and would not exhibit the same level of clarity as regular float glass. In addition, the inherent haziness is increased at wider viewing angles and with big disparities in light intensities (see diagram below). This phenomenon is normal because typical PDLC film/glass is a light diffuser and will change in haze at varying viewing angles as well as lighting conditions, as previously noted.
