Neutral Coating Chip Illumination for Color Matching
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Solution Overview
Problem
Matching the coarseness appearance of a coated article with effect pigments is challenging due to the difficulty in comparing chromatic articles with neutral coating chips under white light conditions, requiring a vast number of coating chips to account for various colors, which is expensive and burdensome to maintain.
Innovation Solution
A system and method using a coating chip with a neutral-colored chip coating layer and an illumination component that illuminates the chip with a light having a color similar to the target coating, allowing the chip to exhibit the correct coarseness and color, facilitating the matching of the target coating's appearance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If a vast number of coating chips with different colors and coarseness values are generated to match all colors utilized in the market, then the accuracy of color and coarseness matching is improved, but the cost and burden of maintaining the coating chips year after year increases
Solution Approach 1:
The invention segments the matching function into two independent parts: (1) a limited set of neutral-colored coating chips with different coarseness values, and (2) an illumination component that provides colored light. This segmentation allows the system to match both color and coarseness using far fewer physical chips while maintaining high accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The illumination component acts as an intermediary that bridges the gap between the neutral-colored chips and the chromatic target coating. By projecting colored light onto the neutral chips, the system enables the chips to exhibit the target color while maintaining their neutral base, thus allowing accurate color matching without requiring chips in every possible color.
2Ease of operation
If neutral-colored coating chips are used to match coarseness appearance, then the coarseness comparison is simplified, but the difficulty increases when comparing against chromatic coated articles under white light conditions due to large color differences
Solution Approach 1:
The illumination component changes the apparent color of the neutral coating chips by projecting colored light onto them. When colored light illuminates a neutral chip, the chip exhibits that color, allowing it to match the chromatic target coating. This dynamic color change enables accurate color matching while the neutral base of the chip maintains the coarseness comparison capability.
3Measurement precision
If coating chips are keyed to specific colors and coarseness appearances to match chromatic articles, then the matching accuracy is improved, but the device complexity and maintenance burden increases due to the vast number of chips required
Solution Approach 1:
The neutral-colored coating chips serve multiple functions: they provide the coarseness reference and simultaneously can exhibit any color when illuminated by the colored light from the illumination component. This multi-functionality eliminates the need for separate colored chips for each color and coarseness combination, dramatically reducing the total number of chips required while maintaining universal applicability across all color matches.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach enables effective and efficient matching of the coarseness appearance of a target coating by utilizing the chip's coarseness and illumination color, reducing the need for a large number of coating chips and improving the accuracy of color and coarseness matching.
Implementation Method 1
The chip coating layer exhibits the chip coarseness and the illumination color in the presence of the light having the illumination color
Data Source
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AI summary
Systems and method for matching appearance of a target coating on a substrate is provided herein. The system includes a coating chip including a chip coating layer. The chip coating layer has a chip coarseness. The system further includes an illumination component configured to illuminate the chip coating layer with a light having an illumination color. The chip coating layer exhibits the chip coarseness and the illumination color in the presence of the light having the illumination color. The chip coating layer exhibiting the chip coarseness and the illumination color is utilized for matching the appearance of the target coating.