This program effort is directed towards designing and building canopy prototype models that address the problem of surface heat, IR heating, incandescent flash protection, and surface hardness. Techniques to be employed to solve these problems include design and construction of a thermoelectric cooled circulating fluid system that contains ir absorbing dyes, utilizes a heat reflecting gold layer, and a command controlled dye reservoir and valve system to achieve rapid canopy opacification. A photochromic electrophoretic system will also be incorporated into the structure to achieve an ultrafast flash protection. This system will use photochromic dyes and a bilayer of conductive sesmitransparent film, one of which will be used to store the dye in the transparent mode and one for the opaque mode. Several outer hard coating materials will be tested. Model prototypes will be tested for transparency, thermal efficiency, and optical properties and rates for transparency and darkening. These models will provide the design and data essential for building a canopy-window product in a phase iii production effort.
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