Protect Your Car From Sunlight
Posted by bensto in CAR on 04 7th, 2008
After pay out $150,000 on a car, you don’t be expecting the lightweight carbon-fiber trim to turn yellow and peel in the sun. But that’s the downside for carbon fiber with clear-coat (instead of colored) paint, as GM found when testing materials for the 2004 Corvette Z06 Commemorative Edition. So the company redesigned the clear coat and the epoxy resin binding the carbon fibers in the roof and trim of the 2009 Corvette ZR1.
With Standard clear-coat paint lets ultraviolet light reach the epoxy, causing it to discolor. GM engineers put in a benzene-based powder to the paint to block the lower-frequency part of the UV range, and they created an epoxy that won’t degrade under the higher frequencies. Unluckily, the new clear coat has its own yellow tinge, but GM developed what it calls an “offset additive” to shift it back to a neutral hue.
While the technology isn’t cheap—the half-gallon of paint on the ZR1 costs nearly $1,000—GM is patenting it for other uses. So even if you can’t drop 100 grand on a car, you may see the benefits in somewhat less expensive products such as golf equipments.
read comments (0)Sunglasses for Driving at Night
Posted by bensto in Sunglasses on 03 18th, 2008
Darkness not only take away light from the scene when you’re driving, it also takes out contrast, leaving a night driver with the bright spotlight cast by the car’s headlights, and any other place where light is cast by streetlights, a full moon, billboard lights, etc. It’s a light/dark world with no degree of shade or contrast. High-end sports watch maker Tag Heuer has recognized that the ability to see varying degrees of light and dark can add that contrast and have created a pair of Night Vision glasses to help drivers to see – even when no light is cast.
Initially designed to help drivers in the 24 Hours of LeMans auto race, the Tag Hauer glasses amp up contrast by correcting the low-light short-sightedness of the human eye, which only sees about 10% at night. The pale yellow lenses offer constant clear, sharp vision with a very high light transmission rate in order to contrast dark blue and green surroundings without changing color perception. In addition, the lenses are anti-reflective to reduces glare and increase sharpness, taking added strain off the eyes.
The titanium frames come Wide and Panorama, and have anti-slip elastomere arms to keep them on your head. Extra designs include infra red glasses to see better in the harsh light environment of snow or beaches where ultra violet rays and infra read heat are reflected in the eyes up to 80%.
