International. Eggplant has been the source of inspiration that has allowed PPG Aerospace to develop a coating technology whose purpose is to keep aircraft cooler.
Inside and out. The technology is based on a transparent infrared paint that allows heat from the sun to penetrate through the pigments to a layer of white primer that in turn reflects heat away from the plane. It is the same trick that eggplants use to prevent their dark skin from heating their white interior, something that, without a doubt, would cause them to cook without having to enter the oven.
Thus, in the same way, "the skin" of an airplane painted with this new PPG heat management system can remain almost 4ºC cooler (25º Fahrenheit), getting the cabin temperature to be reduced between 5 and 7 degrees. In addition to achieving great energy savings for airlines, which assume large costs in their air conditioning systems to keep their passengers comfortable, this technology allows airlines greater freedom when choosing the color of the planes.
"Airlines tend to use white or very light colors to paint most of the fuselage of airplanes," says Mark Cancilla, PPG's global director for aerospace coatings. "This technology increases the possibilities in the color palette for companies. In addition, temperature reduction is important even in coatings with relatively little pigmentation, so we see great market potential in this system."
