GE manages to create printed OLEDs, new horizons for efficient lighting

In a similar manner that we can now print solar cells or 3D models, GE has created a printing method to produce OLED lights. If GE researchers and engineers manage to bring the cost down, in a few years printing might well be the conventional production method. OLEDs are in effect thin organic materials sandwiched between electrodes that provide the excitation for light emission. Their form and layered nature are ideal for continuous production from a roll -much like paper printing- and GE is attacking the problem in a very logical way. If things go well, we will have OLED lights in the market by 2010.

Samsung 31 inch OLED at CES 2008

We have written about the 31 inch Samsung OLED here. You can now see some photos from the show. Apart from the immensely attractive thickness and picture performance, lower consumption is the major leap forward. LCDs have roughly half the energy consumption of CRTs, now OLEDs turn the heat on by cutting that by a further 40%! Imagine all the people that have the TV on all day when they cook or do unrelated things at home… Energy savings will be huge and since people are so careless in their energy consumption habits luckily technology comes with some convincing answers indeed. Now let’s hope that the whole thing swiftly evolves in full scale new product ranges and commercial war to get prices down and allow us simple humans put an OLED at our home :-)

Link: Inhabitat

Samsung 31-inch OLED display to be revealed in CES 2008

As if the LCD alliance news of Hitachi, Canon & Matsushita wasn’t enough, now Samsung comes up with more dynamite news. It announced that it has a fully functioning 31-inch OLED display, larger than the 27-inch OLED that Sony has previously shown. OLED displays are an upcoming technology that has the following advantages over LCDs:

• Extremely thin. The Samsung display is only 4.3 mm thick, an order of magnitude less than current LCDs.
• Low power consumption. With roughly half the consumption of LCDs, OLEDs have a critical advantage in our efforts to limit energy consumption.
• Picture quality. Definition, colours, contrast, all are at pretty high quality.

Samsung’s display is going to be revealed at CES 2008 and will likely be the star of the company’s stand. Now that consumers have developed an insatiable appetite for large panel sizes, it is unlikely that anything smaller than 37 inches will be a success. And here is the catch, OLEDs are an upcoming display star technology, but are for the time being very difficult and expensive to manufacture. Whichever supplier comes up with reasonably priced models will have a serious head start. Samsung is the world’s largest LCD manufacturer so it is no wonder it is working on OLEDs really hard as it wants things to stay the same in future…

Link: Reuters

Hitachi, Canon, Matsushita alliance for LCD displays

Hitachi, Canon and Matsushita are teaming up on the LCD display front. Each of Canon and Matsushita are buying 24.9% of Hitachi Displays Co Ltd, while Hitachi will keep the remaining 50.2%. Global demand for LCD displays might be increasing, LCD TVs and PC monitors might be selling like hot cakes, but increased competition and low profit margins are forcing once independently acting multi-billion dollar manufacturers to form alliances.

The deal encompasses all display sizes, from large TV screens to small screens for mobile devices. Each partner will have access to high quality displays and the key here is Hitachi’s IPS (In-Plane Switching) technology. Canon needs small and medium size displays for wide product range encompassing cameras and printers. Both Hitachi and Panasonic (Matsushita) are well placed in the plasma TV market but recently LCDs are successfully challenging plasmas in black levels and transition fluency where the later are traditionally stronger. The implications are far reaching as IPS technology could be the stepping stone to OLED screens. Sony and Samsung are ahead in the OLED game and of course the three alliance partners definitely want a piece of the market that is going to be opened up.

Link: Businesswire

It’s the end for Sony rear-projection TVs

Rear-projection TVs were major show off tools back in the days of CRT TVs. They could offer large sizes at affordable cost. Personally I never liked their picture quality so never went anywhere near them and do not feel much sorrow now that Sony has decided to pull the plug in all related production sites. Combined with a similar move by all other rear-projection TV manufacturers, it means that now this technology is more or less display history.

Since SED displays by Canon and Toshiba don’t make it to the market, the game is LCD vs plasma vs OLED. For the time being OLED screens are too small and expensive to challenge LCD and plasma but with R&D funding from large names behind them the battle will be anything but boring. Now all that manufacturers and electronics chains have to do is unload older stock to unsuspecting and non-informed customers as we approach the 2008 Olympic Games to make room on the shelves for the new LED backlight stuff for Christmas 2008… :-)

Link 1: Engadget

Link 2: Reuters