Translucent Coating Color Matching for Absorbent Substrates
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing translucent coatings for absorbent substrates, such as wood stains, face challenges in matching the colorant mixture with the substrate type and maintaining visible texture, often resulting in opaque layers with inadequate contrast.
Innovation Solution
A method involving a three-stage process: calibration using a database of colorant mixtures applied to standard and absorbent substrates, calculating absorption and scattering values, and selecting recipes that match the desired color by adjusting concentrations of clear vehicles and colorants to achieve the right reflectance and contrast.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If the colorant-formulation algorithm is left unconstrained and asked for a match to the type of absorbent substrate, then the right 'average' reflectance is achieved, but the texture is not visible through the translucent coating
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies parameter changes by introducing constraints on the colorant formulation algorithm. Specifically, it modifies the optimization parameters to include both reflectance matching and texture visibility criteria. The algorithm is constrained to find colorant formulations that simultaneously achieve the target reflectance value and maintain sufficient texture contrast, rather than optimizing for reflectance alone. This resolves the contradiction by changing the optimization parameters from single-objective (reflectance) to multi-objective (reflectance + texture visibility).
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies local quality by differentiating between the average reflectance property and the local texture contrast property. Instead of treating the coating as having uniform properties, it recognizes that different regions serve different functions: the overall coating must provide the correct average reflectance, while local regions must maintain sufficient contrast to preserve texture visibility. The formulation algorithm is adjusted to account for this spatial differentiation in quality requirements.
2Measurement precision
If a translucent coating is applied to absorbent substrates, then the color can be matched, but the absorption and scattering values vary with the substrate type
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies parameter changes by dynamically adjusting the colorant formulation based on measured substrate properties. The algorithm uses absorption and scattering values specific to each substrate type as input parameters, and adjusts the colorant concentration and formulation accordingly. This allows the same coating system to adapt to different absorbent substrates (e.g., different wood types) while maintaining accurate color matching, resolving the contradiction between color match precision and substrate adaptability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements feedback by measuring the actual absorption and scattering values of the absorbent substrate and using these measurements to guide the colorant formulation. The system feeds back the substrate-specific optical properties into the formulation algorithm, which then adjusts the colorant concentrations to compensate for the substrate's specific absorption and scattering characteristics. This feedback loop enables accurate color matching across varying substrate types.
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 efficient matching of translucent coatings to absorbent substrates, ensuring the visibility of texture while achieving the desired color, thereby improving the quality and speed of the color-matching process.
Implementation Method 1
determining an absorption value and a scattering value for each of the recipes as applied to the absorbent substrates
Implementation Method 2
determining an absorption value and a scattering value for each of the recipes as applied to the absorbent substrates
Data Source
AI summary
In one embodiment, the present invention is a method and apparatus for matching translucent coatings of absorbent substrates. In one embodiment, a method for matching a color of a sample includes generating a plurality of recipes, each of the recipes representing a mixture of one colorant and a clear vehicle and defining a concentration of the one colorant and a concentration of the clear vehicle, applying each of the recipes to one or more absorbent substrates, determining an absorption value and a scattering value for each of the recipes as applied to the absorbent substrates, storing the recipes in a database, where each of the recipes is stored with an associated absorption value and an associated scattering value, selecting a first recipe from among the recipes stored in the database, and evaluating a quality of the first recipe as a match to the color of the sample.