Lomox to bring OLED displays to market in 2012
The Carbon Trust, a United Kingdom-based nonprofit set up by the British government, has awarded $720,000 to fund new lighting technology that could lower your power bill and carbon footprint in the next few years.
The money is going to a company called Lomox, to seed further development of organic LED technology. OLEDs use about half the power of fluorescents for a given light output, or about 1/9th the power of a traditional light bulb.
Traditionally, the problem with OLEDs has been that they are short-lived. Lomox believes it has found a way to make OLEDs last longer than fluorescent bulbs, which are already a substantial improvement over standard light bulbs.
OLEDs can also be painted on to a surface, enabling an endless variety of forms. Those stick-on glow in the dark stars on the ceiling of your old dorm room could be replaced with a printed roll of the summer night’s sky, drawing a minuscule amount of power and providing enough light to find your slippers. The product could also find its way in to road signage and advertising.
In that application, small solar panel and battery combinations could provide power through the dark hours to light up signage more efficiently than flood lighting. Since the message itself would be illuminated, less light would be wasted on the space around the sign.
Alternately, or perhaps additionally, the technology promises fixture-free lighting in offices and homes — the ceiling itself becomes the light source. This would also increase efficiency by moving from a point source (light bulb) to a radiant source. With light coming from every direction, radiant lighting reduces or eliminates the need for redundant lighting to prevent shadowed sections in the room.
Lomox plans to have its first products to market in 2012. The OLED technology produces 150 lumens per watt, similar to high-end traditional LEDs.
OLED technology isn’t restricted to lighting products, either. OLEDs have demonstrated the ability to be used in flexible displays, TV screens and computer monitors. In 2008 Samsung built a 40″ demonstration TV with full HD resolution.
If Lomox has indeed found the cure for OLED’s usually-short lifespan and is able to keep the price low, the technology could be licensed for a new generation of thinner, lighter and more power-efficient home displays. Put in cell phones, OLED displays would yield longer battery life.
Other big names working on OLED tech include Canon, Dupont, Kodak, GE, LG… In fact, it seems like every big name electronics conglomerate we can think of is working on OLEDs. The trick with Lomox is that they seem to have broken the longevity barrier and are the first we’ve heard of to do so.
In short, Lomox received the grant from the Carbon Trust to develop its longer-lived OLEDs into commercial viability. Once released, the technology promises long-term energy savings and high performance in a highly versatile package. OLEDs could be the go-to lighting solution for the next generation.
[Photo credit: Newlaunches.com]
