Patent ID: 11966066
Assignee: FACE INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION
Field: Optics (Instruments)
Classification: CPC G  C  B | IPC B  C  G

Claim 0:
1. A method for delivering a transparent particle suspension to develop an energy transmissive layer on an object, comprising:
defining, for a multi-layer substantially transparent particle comprising a spherical core and a plurality of material layers disposed radially outwardly from the spherical core, wherein said spherical core comprises a first transparent dielectric material, a desired core diameter as being equal to one-half the wavelength of a first selected color of light component to be reflected by the particle modified by a refractive index of the first transparent dielectric material;
defining, for said multi-layer substantially transparent particle, wherein each layer of the plurality of layers comprises at least a second transparent dielectric material, a desired physical thickness for each of the plurality of layers as being equal to a quarter wavelength of at least a second selected color of light component to be reflected by the particle modified by a refractive index of the at least the second transparent dielectric material;
supplying a material composition of a liquid transparent binder material and transparent particulate material in a material reservoir, the transparent particulate material comprising a plurality of the multi-layer substantially transparent particles:
wherein the spherical core of each multi-layer substantially transparent particle has a value of a physical diameter equal to said desired core diameter; and
wherein each of the plurality of material layers of each multi-layer substantially transparent particle has a value of a physical thickness equal to said desired physical thickness; and
wherein each multi-layer substantially transparent particle comprises a spherical outer coating comprised of another transparent dielectric material having a selected index of refraction of 2 or less, the spherical outer coating having a thickness controlled so as to ensure that a proper interstitial spacing is maintained between colorant component layers of adjacent substantially transparent particles in order to substantially eliminate optical interaction between the layers of the adjacent substantially transparent particles, said thickness of said spherical outer coating greater than the thickness of each layer of the plurality of layers;
wherein a metallic layer is sandwiched between each material layer and the next outermost material layer of said plurality of material layers, said metallic layer having a thickness between 0.01 nm and 10 nm;

generating an airstream with an air source;
entraining, via a delivery unit, the material composition in the airstream;
directing the airstream, via a nozzle, at a surface of an object to deliver the entrained material composition to the surface of the object; and
forming an energy transmissive layer on said object, said energy transmissive layer having an energy incident side, wherein at least 50% of light energy impinging on the energy transmissive layer is transmitted through the energy transmissive layer while the first selected color of light and second selected color of light are reflected, so as to make the energy transmissive layer appear selectively opaque.