Design and development of motorised louvre systems.

We live indoors most of the time and yet we yearn for the situation where we can easily allow breezes to transition from outside to inside.

This project concerned the high demand for louvres but the then lack of available technology to motorize glass louvres, unless an unsightly bulky frame surrounded them. Upon completion of this project a system for use with domestic, commercial, industrial, residential, roofing and outside of windows and balconies was envisaged to be available to consumers.

The technical aim included the incorporation of the arm mechanism into the frame so that it sat inside and therefore becomes less obvious than other handles or motorised devices.

There was also an aim to design a motor small enough to go inside a louvre window frame. The client was unaware of any other organisation, which produced such a solution at that time. The detailed technical objectives included:

1. Design and develop range of motorised louvre systems that are a substantial improvement over the systems currently available.
2. Design and develop:

• 100mm glass louvre internal motorisation,
• 200mm opening roof louvre system and
• 200mm opening roof motorization actuator.

1. Develop the systems for use with:

• Domestic,
• Commercial,
• Industrial,
• Residential
• Roofing
• Windows and balconies.

1. Incorporate the arm mechanism into the frame so that it sits inside and therefore becomes less obvious than other handles or motorised devices.
2. Develop a kit form to enable customisation for special requests to allow for DIY installation.



Technical difficulty was clearly identified from the tests and related to issues with the motors themselves. As the motors were originally bulky units, frames were needed externally to house the motor, however this was not ideal and therefore a smaller, slimline motor and gearbox had to be designed to fit in a louvre section of 50 x 20.

Trials were needed to ensure the smaller motors were strong enough and worked correctly.