The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 29, 2005
Filed:
Dec. 19, 2001
Satyabrata Raychaudhuri, Thousand Oaks, CA (US);
Trevor Merritt, West Hills, CA (US);
Zhibang Jim Duan, Thousand Oaks, CA (US);
Satyabrata Raychaudhuri, Thousand Oaks, CA (US);
Trevor Merritt, West Hills, CA (US);
Zhibang Jim Duan, Thousand Oaks, CA (US);
Yazaki Corporation, , JP;
Abstract
This invention resides in an apparatus and related method for rapidly curing thin film sol-gel coatings, particularly such coatings adhered to low melting temperature plastic substrates, whether rigid or flexible, without deforming the substrate. The curing is achieved using IR heating lamps and dry or humid hot gas flow. This curing densities the sol-gel coating and provides desired optical and mechanical properties. The use of IR lamps and hot-gas nozzles, either singularly or in combination, produces a rapid cure by effectively heating the thin film coating layer. In this manner, a sufficiently high temperature can be attained in the film layer, to densify the sol-gel coating, but for a sufficiently short time duration to avoid melting or otherwise deforming the substrate. The sol-gel coatings can be cured two to three orders of magnitude faster than with conventional oven curing, leading to significant cost reductions and manufacturing efficiency.