782 results about "Micro spheres" patented technology

A method of identifying nucleic acid samples comprising: providing a mircoarray including a substrate coated with a composition including a population of micro-spheres dispersed in a fluid containing a gelling agent or a precursor to a gelling agent and immobilized at random positions on the substrate, at least one sub-population of said population micro-spheres containing an optical barcode generated from at least one colorant associated with the micro-spheres and including a nucleic acid probe sequence; contacting said array with a target nucleic acid sequence; and detecting the color barcode of said sub-population of micro-spheres due to the interaction of said probe nucleic acid sequence and said target nucleic acid sequence.

A composition for a Coating System (paint) which forms an insulating material being designed to both reflect infrared radiation and have reduced thermal conductivity. The coating system may be either a single Thermal Coating or may be a Thermal Coating used in combination with a Thermal Primer. The Thermal Coating is formulated using conventional techniques and a resin used in paint manufacture, but utilizes primary pigments and extender mineral pigments which preferentially reflect in the infra red area of the solar spectrum. A method of characterizing particulate materials for their infra red reflectivity is described, which provides a means for preferential selection of particulate additives based on their relative visible light and infrared reflectivity. Additionally the incorporation of hollow micro-spheres is desired to reduce thermal conductivity. The Thermal Primer is designed to provide adhesion between the Thermal Coating and the substrate on which it is applied and uses conventional techniques to achieve those properties. However it has been found advantageous to incorporate hollow micro-spheres with low thermal conductivity, such as glass, ceramic or polymeric micro-spheres and / or an extender pigment with low thermal conductivity such as calcined clay to further reduce heat flow through the Coating System.

The present invention relates to an improved controlled release system that can be incorporated into anhydrous cosmetic formulations and can encapsulate different types of fragrances, flavors, active ingredients, or combinations of fragrances, flavors, and various active ingredients. The controlled delivery system of the present invention is substantially free-flowing powder formed of solid hydrophobic nano-spheres that are encapsulated in a moisture sensitive micro-spheres. The fragrances, flavors, and active ingredients encapsulated in the nano-spheres can be the same or different from those encapsulated in the micro-sphere. The encapsulation of one or more fragrances, flavors or active agents in the various components of the system, such as nano-spheres and micro-spheres, provides odor or flavor transition (change in odor character or change in flavor character) during the use of the product, in response to moisture, such as wetting the lips, perspiration, and the like. The incorporation of the controlled release system of the present invention into anhydrous cosmetic formulations was found to provide moisture triggered release, as well as prolonged release of the fragrances, flavors, and active ingredients that are encapsulated in the solid hydrophobic nano-spheres over an extended period of time.

The invention belongs to the surface patterning microstructure construction technique, which relates to a method for constructing a microstructure with anti-reflection performance on a foundation base by combining the self-assembly technique with the reactive ion beam etching technique. The method is to take monolayer polymeric micro-spheres, silicon dioxide micro-spheres and nano-particles of metal or metal oxides as a barrier layer and implement the RIE etching to the foundation base, then an approximate cone-shaped microstructure is constructed on the foundation base, and the structure has extreme high anti-reflection performance, thereby effectively improving the light energy utilization rate, reducing the interference of veiling glare in an optical system, increasing the optical transmittance, and further improving the sensitivity and stability of the optical system, and the method can be used for constructing large-area anti-reflection structures. The method of the invention has advantages of simple operation, changeable foundation base, strong applicability, good repeatability, low cost, high efficiency, adjustable anti-reflective applied wavelength and conformity to industrialized standards, and can be used for making photoelectric devices such as solar batteries and white light sensors.

The invention relates to heat insulating and energy saving coating used for the vehicle, and the preparation method thereof. The invention takes organic resin film forming material as the main material, the coating at least includes infrared reflection pigment, hollow ceramic micro-spheres and silicon dioxide aerogel, an organic resin film having low sunlight absorption rate is formed in the coating through the organic resin film forming material with high transparency, the visible light and the near infrared ray in the sunlight are reflected through the infrared reflection pigment, the rutile type titanium dioxide and the hollow ceramic micro-spheres, and simultaneously a compact vacuum layer and an inert gas layer are formed on the surface of a coated object through the hollow ceramic micro-spheres and the silicon dioxide aerogel, so as to effectively isolate the radiant heat of the sun, and to reduce the heat conduction of air, and finally the heat insulating and energy saving coating used for the vehicle is formed, which not only can effectively reflect the energy in the sunlight, but also can effectively isolate the radiant heat of the sun and reduce the heat conduction of air, and simultaneously has good weather resistant performance, chemicals resistant performance, mechanical property and decorative property.

An emulsion composition for skin application comprises an aqueous component, one or more water-insoluble organic components totaling at least about 15 percent by weight of the composition, and about 2 to about 10 percent by weight of a solid component consisting of porous silica microspheres having an average particle size between about 5 μm and about 20 μm.

A core-shell composition for gas storage, comprising a hollow or porous core and a shell comprising a nanocomposite. The nanocomposite is composed of an exfoliated layered filler dispersed in a matrix material, which provides high mechanical strength to hold a high pressure gas such as hydrogen and high resistance to gas permeation. Alternatively, the porous core may contain a plurality of cavities selected from the group consisting of shell-hollow core micro-spheres, shell-porous core micro-spheres, and combinations thereof. These core-shell compositions, each capable of containing a great amount of hydrogen gas, can be used to store and feed hydrogen to fuel cells that supply electricity to apparatus such as portable electronic devices, automobiles, and unmanned aerial vehicles where mass is a major concern. A related method of storing and releasing hydrogen gas in or out of a plurality of core-shell compositions is also disclosed.

The present invention relates to a novel controlled release carrier system for pH or salt triggered release and targeted delivery of fragrances and other active ingredients onto fabric, hair, skin, and other biological surfaces and which provides prolonged release of fragrances and other active ingredients over an extended period of time, or yields a high impact fragrance “burst” upon treating the target surface with heat (blow drying the hair, ironing the fabric). The controlled delivery system of the present invention is substantially a free-flowing powder formed of solid hydrophobic nano-spheres comprising the fragrance and other active ingredients that are encapsulated in a pH or salt sensitive micro-spheres. Also described are processes for preparing such compositions and processes for using same. Furthermore, certain components of the aforementioned compositions in combination with one another are novel, and other components have novel uses in increasing fragrance substantivity, particularly in fabric, hair, and skin care preparations. The invention further pertains to consumer and diversified products comprising the controlled release system of the present invention.

The invention belongs to the technical field of micro fluid control, particularly disclosing a micro fluid control chip and a preparation method and application thereof. One side of the chip is provided with a plurality of sample introduction holes, each sample introduction hole is communicated with a sample introduction runner; after meeting, each sample introduction runner is communicated with a main runner; the main runner is provided with a narrow runner; a micro-sphere of which the size is 0.5-1.5 mm is filled in front of the inlet of the narrow runner; the outlet of the main runner is communicated to a waste liquid tank arranged at the other side of the chip. The preparation method mainly comprises: firstly preparing a PDMS substrate; then, preparing a PDMS cover plate with an upper groove; sticking the substrate onto the cover plate to obtain a semi-finished product of the chip; carrying out modified treatment on each runner in the semi-finished product of the chip; finally, putting the micro-sphere in, controlling the charge quantity, and finishing production. The micro fluid control chip of the invention has high solution mixing efficiency, stable solution flow rate, small volume, convenient carrying and relatively simple manufacturing; when being used for detecting the density of triphosadenine, the micro fluid control chip has the advantages of high sensitivity, favourable detection effect and the like and can not be affected by environment humidity.

The invention discloses a medlin foam original position filling honeycomb composite material, which is characterized by the following: comprising (1) foaming medlin forerunner body powder or micro sphere, (2) functional filling, (3) coupling agent or surface active agent and (4) honeycomb; making up 5% wt-89% wt of the total weight of the composite material with the (1); counting 0. 01% wt-70% wt of the total weight of the composite material with the (2); making up 1% wt-3% wt of the total weight of the composite material with the (3); counting 10% wt-94% wt of the total weight of the composite material with the (4). The material possesses good fire resistant, low temperature resistance and mechanics property.

The invention provides a method for preparing drug sustained release nanofibers. The method is characterized by including the specific steps that (1) drug-carried micro-spheres are arranged in an organic solvent to be evenly stirred and vibrated to obtain core layer spinning solutions; (2) degradable solutes and volatile solvents are evenly mixed to prepare surface-layer spinning solutions; (3) the surface-layer spinning solutions and the core layer spinning solutions are injected into a surface-layer liquid storage tank and a core layer liquid storage tank of a coaxial spinning jet respectively, coaxial electrostatic spinning is carried out at the room temperature, and the volatile solvents in the surface-layer spinning solutions volatilize to form through holes in the spinning process to obtain the drug sustained release nanofibers with the porous surface layer and the drug-carried micro-sphere wrapped core layer. By means of the method, the obvious multi-stage drug release system is achieved, and the drug-carried micro-spheres are released in the core layer firstly to enter a hole channel in the surface layer and finally enter damaged target components of the nanofibers to give play to drug effects. The method is simple in operation and gentle in reaction condition. A drug sustained release curve is well controlled, and the drug using efficiency is improved.

Abrasive articles possessing a highly open (porous) structure and uniform abrasive grit distribution are disclosed. The abrasive articles are fabricated using a metal matrix (e.g., fine nickel, tin, bronze and abrasives). The open structure is controlled with a porosity scheme, including interconnected porosity (e.g., formed by leaching of dispersoid), closed porosity (e.g., induced by adding a hollow micro-spheres and / or sacrificial pore-forming additives), and / or intrinsic porosity (e.g., controlled via matrix component selection to provide desired densification). In some cases, manufacturing process temperatures for achieving near full density of metal bond with fillers and abrasives, are below the melting point of the filler used, although sacrificial fillers may be used as well. The resulting abrasive articles are useful in high performance cutting and grinding operations, such as back-grinding silicon, alumina titanium carbide, and silicon carbide wafers to very fine surface finish values. Techniques of use and manufacture are also disclosed.

The present invention relates to a novel pH triggered, targeted controlled release system. The controlled delivery system of the present invention is substantially a free-flowing powder formed of solid hydrophobic nano-spheres comprising pharmaceutical active ingredients that are encapsulated in a pH sensitive micro-spheres. The invention also relates to the processes for preparing the compositions and processes for using same. The controlled release system can be used to target and control the release of pharmaceutical active ingredients onto certain regions of the gastrointestinal tract including the stomach and the small intestine. The invention further pertains to pharmaceutical products comprising the controlled release system of the present invention.

The invention relates to a method of molecular sieve catalyst synthesis using the kaolin for the synthesis of silicon aluminum phosphate molecular sieve, belonging to the technical field of the preparation of the catalyst materials. The invention is characterized in utilizing the low-cost kaolin as materials. Through (1) roasting the kaolin in the high temperature to gain the crystal aluminum sources and silicon sources; (2) mixing the kaolin with the phosphorus sources and the template agent with the deionized water, processing hydro-thermal crystallization, and roasting and activating the products after washing and drying, the catalyst of the silicon aluminum phosphate molecular sieve can be gained. The structure of the silicon aluminum phosphate molecular sieve is CHA or the intergrowth of CHA and AEI. The invention has the advantages of smaller or lamellar structure molecular sieve gains of the prepared catalyst, which can be used for the process of making olefin from the oxygenic compounds like the limited diffuse alcohol ether to gain the good activity of reaction and the product selectivity, and further the directly application of the catalyst carried by the kaolin micro sphere into fluidized bed reactor.

The invention belongs to the technical filed of water paint, which particularly relates to nanometer hollow silica sphere / polyurethane compound water paint and the process for preparation thereof. The water compound paint is chemically compounded by hollow SiO2 sphere, whose dimension is 50-250 nanometers, isocyanate terminated polyurethane prepolymer, catalyst and other auxiliary agents. Indoor temperature storage stability of the compound water paint is excellent, nanometer hollow SiO2 sphere and water polyurethane have excellent compatibility, hardness and compatibility of the water compound coating layer are greatly improved, and fire-resisting property and ultraviolet resistant performance are excellent. The process for preparation of the invention has the advantages of convenient and simple technique, high film coating quality, low production cost and extensive application prospect and the like, which has no pollution to environment, the water paint is a new generation environmental-friendly high-performance chemical product, which can be applied in the fields such as automobile coating, wood coating, construction, office furniture, leather, textile finishing, pigment printing and mechanical equipment.

A silica cement blend having an insulating, fire retarding and high temperature characteristic capable of withstanding temperatures ranging from ambient to greater than 40000 F without degradation of the concrete structure. In addition to its high temperature capabilities the blend can be produced as ultra light weight to heavy weight concrete. The silica based mixture when added to cementitious materials such as Portland cement, Class C Fly Ash, silica fume and other cementitious materials. Presented also are methods for reducing fire damage by coating interior / exterior walls, ceiling, and roofs of a building with a water based latex coating containing a fire retardant material and low heat conductivity silicas. Methods for painting internal / external walls, ceilings, and roof are also presented. This coating retains thermal blocking properties comprised of processed, expanded and / or finely milled, pyrogenic silicas and micro spheres in combination of but not limited to, one, two or more component water based polymer / copolymer latex binders and a water born fluoropolymer emulsion. The combined properties of these elements create a coating similar to paint with a high level of thermatic resistance which slows the composition break-down from fire, extreme temperatures, and restricts the thermal conductivity which helps to preserve the integrity of the substructure or underlying materials. The properties of this coating reduce or slow the potential of catastrophic fire by retarding flashover and protecting the under structure; which in turn assist fire fighters and rescue personnel by helping to retard the potential of a catastrophic fire.

A heat-peelable pressure-sensitive adhesive sheet which, even when used for temporarily fixing electronic parts having poor resistance to static electricity, such as magnetic heads, is effective in preventing the yield of such electronic parts from being reduced by electrostatic breakage, while ensuring its functions of adhesiveness before heating and peelability after heating. The heat-peelable pressure-sensitive adhesive sheet comprises a substrate and formed on at least one side thereof a heat-expandable pressure-sensitive adhesive layer containing heat-expandable microspheres, wherein the heat-expandable pressure-sensitive adhesive layer has a surface resistivity of 1012 Ω / □ or lower. In this heat-peelable pressure-sensitive adhesive sheet, the heat-expandable pressure-sensitive adhesive layer before heating may have a center line average surface roughness of 2 μm or less and a maximum surface roughness of 5 μm or less. The adhesive sheet may have a rubber-like organic elastic layer interposed between the substrate and the heat-expandable pressure-sensitive adhesive layer.

A silica cement blend having an insulating, fire retarding and high temperature characteristic capable of withstanding temperatures ranging from ambient to greater than 40000 F without degradation of the concrete structure. In addition to its high temperature capabilities the blend can be produced as ultra light weight to heavy weight concrete. The silica based mixture when added to cementitious materials such as Portland cement, Class C Fly Ash, silica fume and other cementitious materials. Presented also are methods for reducing fire damage by coating interior / exterior walls, ceiling, and roofs of a building with a water based latex coating containing a fire retardant material and low heat conductivity silicas. Methods for painting internal / external walls, ceilings, and roof are also presented. This coating retains thermal blocking properties comprised of processed, expanded and / or finely milled, pyrogenic silicas and micro spheres in combination of but not limited to, one, two or more component water based polymer / copolymer latex binders and a water born fluoropolymer emulsion. The combined properties of these elements create a coating similar to paint with a high level of thermatic resistance which slows the composition break-down from fire, extreme temperatures, and restricts the thermal conductivity which helps to preserve the integrity of the substructure or underlying materials. The properties of this coating reduce or slow the potential of catastrophic fire by retarding flashover and protecting the under structure; which in turn assist fire fighters and rescue personnel by helping to retard the potential of a catastrophic fire.

The present invention discloses a topical scalp and transdermal preparation with excellent penetration to the skin and follicle, containing a [γ-hydroxy-N-methyl-L-leucine4] cylosporin derivative which is a non-immunosuppressive component with hair growth stimulating ability. The topical scalp and transdermal preparation is prepared by incorporating the cyclosporin derivative into a liposome, microcapsule, micro-sphere, composite particle or emulsion, capable of being employed as a hair growth stimulating agent and applied for the prevention of hair loss.

The invention provides expanded hollow micro sphere composite beads and a process for producing the beads. According to the invention, finely divided calcium carbonate can be uniformly deposited on expanded hollow thermoplastic polymer micro spheres by a simple procedure without incurring breakage of the expanded micro spheres so that the scattering of beads can be effectively inhibited. The preferred production process comprises admixing expanded hollow thermoplastic polymer micro spheres (A), with colloidal calcium carbonate (B) which has been surface-activated with a surface-treating agent or dispersing agent, e.g. a fatty acid series or polymer acid series compound. The admixing can be typically effected by dry-blending, preferably at a temperature of about 50-100° C.

The invention provides an activated carbon micro-sphere adsorption material. The material consists of activated carbon micro-sphere power and the adhesive, which are prepared according to the weight ratio of 100-150: 8-15, the specific surface area of the material is 2000-2800m2 / g, the pore volume of the material is 1.8-2.6cm3 / g and the medium pore content is 50-70 percent. The invention also provides a preparation method of the activated carbon micro-sphere adsorption material. The method is as follows: the activated carbon micro-sphere power and the adhesive are molded after uniform mixing, and the mixture is processed through heat treatment to obtain the activated carbon micro-sphere adsorption material. The activated carbon micro-sphere adsorption material of the invention has good adsorption performance and convenient application.

The invention discloses a nano-TiO2 loaded chitosan compound and a preparation method thereof. The preparation method comprises the following steps: mixing chitosan and a nano-TiO2 solution into water to obtain an aqueous phase mixture; taking petroleum ether / liquid petrolatum as an oil phase mixture; preparing nano-TiO2 loaded chitosan anti-bacterial micro-spheres according to the suspension-cross-linking technology. As the natural antibacterial agent chitosan is taken as a wall material, a metal ion-type antibacterial agent TiO2 is taken as a core material, and the compound antibacterial agent is prepared according to the suspension-cross-linking technology, the performance and the application range of the antibacterial agent can be greatly improved through the synergistic effect and advantage complementation of chitosan and TiO2. Furthermore, after being compounded, the novel antibacterial agent is high in performance, relatively wide in anti-bacterial range, and high in stability.

The invention provides a cTn I (cardiac troponin I) hypersensitive detection kit and a preparation method thereof. The kit comprises at least one strain of a first anti-cTn I antibody marked with a tracing marker and at least one strain of a second anti-cTn I antibody coated with magnetic micro-spheres, wherein a binding site between the first anti-cTn I antibody and cTn I is different from a binding site between the second anti-cTn I antibody and cTn I; and the kit can preferably further comprise a diluent, and by adopting the diluent, the non-specific binding in a detection process can be significantly reduced, and the detection accuracy and sensitivity can be further improved. The invention also provides a method for detecting cTn I by using the kit, and the method provided by the invention has very high sensitivity, can be used for sensitively and accurately detecting the cTn I content in a sample, and can provide more timely and reliable information for early diagnosis and treatment of AMI.

The invention provides a liquid drop whispering gallery mode laser and a manufacturing method thereof. According to the liquid drop whispering gallery mode laser, a first single-mode optical fiber with the middle being provided with a cone area is connected with a pump light source and a spectrograph, a second single-mode optical fiber is connected to a trapping light source and an annular core optical fiber, the front end of the annular core optical fiber is processed into a cone frustum shaped optical fiber tip, a laser beam emitted by the trapping light source is injected into a fiber core of the annular core optical fiber through the second single-mode optical fiber, total reflection and refraction occur in light at an inclined plane of the cone frustum shaped optical fiber tip of the annular core optical fiber, an annular convergence optical field is formed near the cone frustum shaped optical fiber tip so as to realize an optical tweezers function, the optical tweezers stably capture a micro liquid drop, the captured liquid crystal micro liquid drop is enabled to be close to the cone area of the first single-mode optical fiber, the pump light source injects from the front end of the first single-mode optical fiber, and the spectrograph detects excited laser light at the rear end of the first single-mode optical fiber. According to the invention, a high Q-value liquid drop micro spherical cavity with a perfect surface is formed by surface tension, and the optical tweezers stably control the liquid drop micro-sphere. The liquid drop whispering gallery mode laser provided by the invention has an extremely low threshold.

The invention discloses a high-alumina structure heat-insulation integrated composite brick and a preparation method. The high-alumina structure heat-insulation integrated composite brick comprises a heavy working layer adopting compact bauxite chamotte as main raw material and a high-strength light heat-insulation layer adopting alumina hollow ball, aluminum-magnesium hollow ball, corundum hollow ball, hollow micro-sphere, light ceramic particle or the mixture of the above materials as a skeleton material, and is formed by compounding the heavy working layer and the light heat-insulation layer in a vibration pressurizing way or a mechanical formation way, and the length ratio of the heavy working layer and the light heat-insulation layer is 1 to 5: 2 to 1. The high-alumina structure heat-insulation integrated composite brick overcomes the weakness that the high-alumina brick for rotary kiln has large heat conduction coefficient or overcomes the weakness that the heat-insulation layer of the present high-alumina composite brick has low strength and is easy to break. The invention provides the structure heat-insulation integrated composite brick with good abrasion resistance, high refractoriness, good structural strength and good heat-preserving and heat-insulation performance.

The invention relates to a preparation method of a magnetic polymer inorganic composite micro-sphere and is technically characterized in that a suitable template agent is added and a magnetic polymer micro-sphere is obtained with a suspension polymerization method after porous magnetic particles with a sol-gal process are prepared. As the template agent is added in the processes of the sol-gal or hydro-thermal synthesis and is removed after the high-temperature calcinations, the magnetic particles are caused to have the porous structure, thus reducing the density of the magnetic particles and simplifying the preparation process of the magnetic micro-sphere. Magnetic composite micro-spheres with multiple function groups on the surfaces are prepared according to needs. The magnetic substance is porous and the density of the magnetic substance is effectively decreased, thus being beneficial to suspension polymerization. The porous magnetic particles with lower density simplify the process of suspension polymerization. The magnetic micro-spheres or porous magnetic composite micro-spheres with magnetic responsiveness can be prepared when small quantities of magnetic substances(less than 20 percent of usage of monomer) are added.

A hydrogen gas storage and supply method including: (a) providing a chamber and, contained therein, a plurality of shell-core micro-spheres, each comprising a shell and a hollow or porous core, filled with pressurized hydrogen gas at an internal pressure P; and (b) heating the micro-spheres to a temperature T to reduce the shell tensile strength σt to an extent that a tensile stress σ experienced by a shell of the micro-spheres meets the condition of σ≧ασt, causing hydrogen to diffuse out of the micro-spheres to provide hydrogen fuel from the chamber to a hydrogen-consuming device, where the material-specific parameter α has a value between 0.3 and 0.7. The shell stress scales with the internal hydrogen gas pressure and the tensile strength σt decreases with increasing micro-sphere temperature. For instance, this condition is met when the micro-spheres are heated to a temperature within the range of [Tg−25° C.] to [Tg+25° C.] for an amorphous polymer (Tg=glass transition temperature or softening point) or withing the range of [Tm−25° C.] to [Tm+10° C.] for a crystalline polymer (Tm=melting point). This method is useful for feeding hydrogen to a fuel cell used in a portable microelectronic device, automobile, and unmanned aerial vehicle where light weight is an important factor.

The invention discloses a preparation method of mono-disperse silicon dioxide micro-spheres, which comprises the following steps of: (1) synthesizing mono-disperse silicon dioxide micro-sphere seeds by using a Stober method, namely at a reaction temperature of 10 to 60 DEG C, and in a solvent system of alcohol, water and ammonia, adding tetraethoxysilane alcoholic solution of which the concentration is 0.1 to 0.5 mol / L to react so as to obtain the mono-disperse silicon dioxide micro-sphere seeds; and (2) preparing the silicon dioxide micro-spheres from the silicon dioxide micro-sphere seeds by using a seed growth method, namely preparing silicon dioxide seed solution of which the concentration is 1,015 to 1,017 seeds / L by using the silicon dioxide micro-sphere seeds, the ammonia and the alcohol, and at the reaction temperature of 10 to 60 DEG C, adding ammonia-alcohol solution of which the concentration is 0.5 to 5.0 mol / L and tetraethoxy-silicane alkanol solution of which the concentration is 0.1 to 5.0 mol / L to react so as to obtain a suspension of the mono-disperse silicon dioxide micro-spheres.

A method is disclosed wherein engineered particles are used as obscurants and taggants for vehicles. In some embodiments, the engineered particles are nano-crystals or micro-spheres (doped or un-doped). In some embodiments, the particles are engineered to re-radiate the energy that they receive at either the same wavelength or a different wavelength than that of the incident photons. Particles that scatter light at the same wavelength as the interrogating beam are advantageously used as taggants. Particles that scatter light at a different wavelength as the interrogating beam are advantageously used as obscurants. In some embodiments, the method comprises storing a quantity of particles in a first vehicle, and releasing a portion of the particles in an ambient environment of the first vehicle.

Due to an ever growing shortage of conventional energy sources, there is an increasingly intense interest in harnessing solar energy. The instant invention can contribute to the goal of achieving environmentally clean solar energy to be competitive with conventional energy sources. A novel method is described for manufacturing a transparent sheet with an embedded array of mirrored spheroidal micro-balls for use in a solar energy concentrator, and analogous applications such as optical switches and solar rocket assist. The micro-balls are covered with a thin spherical shell of lubricating liquid so that they are free to rotate in an almost frictionless encapsulation in the sheet. Novel method and apparatus are presented for producing the preferred embodiment of a close-packed monolayer of the array of mirrored micro-balls.