Outdated?
Funai Electric Advanced Applied Technology Research Institute, a wholly owned subsidiary of Japanese electronics company Funai (Sylvania, Symphonic, Emerson) has developed a reflective display that, unlike existing reflective LCDs, doesn’t need a backlight.
The company claims their display uses 0.16MW of electricity per square centimeter, which translates back to just 1% of what conventional LCDs need. Reportedly, clarity can still be compared to that of characters printed on a piece of paper. The display uses dyes changing color when exposed to an electric current.
Funai even says their new display boasts 80% reflectivity, 30% more than reflective LCDs so that images can be seen in sunlight more easily. On top of that, Funai doesn’t use thin-film transistors in the production of the screens, resulting in costs that are two-thirds lower than that of existing LCDs.
Funai aims for a commercialization of the display sometime next year, initially rolling out versions ranging from seven to 14 inches in size.
I tried to get some pictures but as of now, neither Funai’s Japanese website nor the Japanese version of the research institute’s page is mentioning the technology.
Via Nikkei [registration required, paid subscription]
This is nice, but note that the quality is that of a e-paper, it will probably not be used for video, TV, etc – so not really competition for LCD, or OLEDs –
http://www.oled-info.com/oled-tv
Ron
0.16MW, or 160kW, or 160,000W, is insanely much energy to be spending on a cm*cm. How do they manage to keep such a beast cool?
Congratulations to Funai are in order. They bought Sylvania, Magnavox and Emerson, which bought DuMont. My 51 year old cutting-edge DuMont (bought by Emerson) still works well. All of these names were synonymous with quality and advanced technology. It’s nice to see someone strive to continue a legacy.
I would venture to guess .16 mW/sq.cm. Which, is very, very respectable. In fact, awesome. Back this baby up with some BiNb thermocouples and you’d have a fantastic all-climate display system you could use at a drive-in theater. Or, outside of a museum, etc. The possible applications are endless. We can finally get rid of the worries of the High Voltage and its attendant problems that have been associated with display screens since the kinescope!
I cracked open a Funai TV a couple days ago. There LCD value is awesome. No problems there. I’d guess that 90% of the 53 Watts it draws are for illumination. The chassis had one “buffalo chip” that does all the grunt work. The whole freaking TV is on 2 boards, 20% of the real-estate dedicated to display illumination. The majority function on a SINGLE chip! A few regulators, I/O drivers and tah-dah: A nice lightweight TV. For about 18 months, worked perfectly.
The weak spot: The reason for my opening it. Illumination trouble. The power-hungry 20% of the real-estate, the CCFL HV inverter system, went Democrat. As far as lux/watt. CCFLs are pretty nice. But, they have a comparatively shorter useful lifetime, even if the inverters hold out. Not to prevaricate the prevailing paradigm, it’s about watts per lux, LEDs just don’t hold a candle (sic) to CCFL efficency. And, if there is a better way, they should go for it!