A Portable System for Visible Light Curing of Anticorrosion Coatings

To address OSD interest in a safe and portable visible light cure (VLC) system to cure anticorrosion VLC coatings, Physical Optics Corporation (POC) proposes to develop a new portable visible-light-cure (PVLC) system, based on high-efficiency spectral matching of commercially available high-power, narrowband light emitting diodes (LEDs), the peak-emission wavelength of which matches the maximum absorption of coating formulations, with the whole emission bandwidth within the coating's strong absorption (average 90%) range. Because it is based on low-self-heating and energy-saving LEDs, this system is compatible with plastic collimating optics and simple battery-powered, electronics/circuits with low voltage and power consumption. Maximum illumination uniformity will be ensured by POC's patented holographic Light Shaping Diffusers. The final PVLC system prototype, packaged as a backpack and a wired handheld unit, will be lightweight, compact, and rigid. In Phase I POC will demonstrate the feasibility of fast, convenient, efficient, and safe curing of VLC rust-resistant coatings by a preliminary prototype PVLC system. In Phase II, POC plans to optimize the PVLC technology and produce a fieldable system. We will also conduct a full series of laboratory tests to demonstrate required cure/performance of the VLC formulations in actual applications.