Automotive OLEDs: introduction and industry news - Page 36

Winstar is showing new graphic monochrome (yellow) PMOLED displays for automobiles. We do not have a lot of information yet (we're not sure if these are in production at all) besides this photo:

The company has also released 3 new monochrome yellow 128x64 PMOLED modules. Two modules are 2.4" in size (but one is with a bezel, and the other is without). The third module is 2.7" in size. All three modules have built-in SSD1305 driver IC and offer parallel (6800 or 8080), Serial SPI and I2C interfaces.

Update: We just got word from Philips, who confirmed that the showroom uses 800 of their white lumiblade panels.

Aston Martin is starting to sell their new One-77 supercar, and are using 800 white Philips' Lumiblade OLED panels to illuminate it in the showroom. The art installation was done by Jason Bruges Studio.

The One-77 has an aluminum body and carbon-fiber structure, a 7.3-liters engine capable of 740hp. It costs £1.2million in the UK (plus taxes).

We had the good chance to talk with Gerd Guenther, Novaled's Chief Marketing Officer. He was kind enough to answer a few of our questions, and give us some information and updates from Novaled.

Gerd, thanks for your time. Can you explain Novaled's business model to us?

When Novaled started as a spin-off from Fraunhofer and Technical University of Dresden in 2001 with just 3 people, the idea was to market its doping technology Novaled PIN OLED^®) along with its proprietary materials. Today, quite an impressive number of well known display and lighting makers are customers of Novaled. That means we offer IP, licensing and technology transfer packages but also R&D contracting as well as trainings.

Novaled 15x15 cm white OLED

Kia is showing a new car concept called POP. It's an electric car that has a transparent OLED panel behind the steering wheel. The OLED displays the speed, battery charge and more information.

It's not really a 'heads-up-display' as it's rather low, but it still enables the driver eyes to be closer to the road when he views information compared to regular dashboard displays.

Astron Fiamm has created a new car concept (called Car.Bones) that uses OLED Lighting: headlights, inside-lighting, turn indicators, and more. Alessandro Dolcetta, Astron FIAMM's co-found says that "OLED opens up a new era of by Astron Fiamm products lighting ‘signatures’, and this light-modeling capacity enables us to help our clients and especially car manufacturers to create a endless variety of visual product offers."

Car.bones can be visited from the 2nd October to the 17th October at the Paris Auto show Mondial de l’Auto 2010. More photos of this OLED-Car concept be be seen below:

Researchers from the University of Florida has developed a new night-vision technology using OLEDs. They are using thin-film OLED panels to convert infrared light to the visible spectrum. The design has 7 separate OLED layers - each one amplifying the signal and converting it to the visible spectrum.

They say that a full-scale night vision can weight less than 125 grams and be very efficient. This can revolutionize night vision as we know it. They have currently made a prototype that's only 1 square cm in size, but in 18 months they hope to scale it up to a cell-phone display size, or even a car windshield. This research is funded by DARPA.

NeoView Kolon is showing some new transparent OLED prototypes. They say that one of the promising uses of these displays is in the automotive industry (to embed those in the front windshield). They are mostly focusing on PM-OLED displays.

One of the displays on show is a 2.4" QVGA AMOLED panel. It supports 16M colors and has a maximum 62% transmittance. The brightness is 1000cd/m2.

Novaled is working with a European car maker to develop OLED Lighting - which will be used as interior lighting in cars, and also as backlight. A car that uses these new panels is likely to enter the market in the next 2 years. They are already beyond the concept phase, and are now now planning to start production.

Novaled 15x15 cm white OLED

Remember Samsung 14" transparent OLED laptop? PlusPlasticElectronics says that Samsung actually plans to release this laptop as a real product within 12 months. They also reveal that the IceTouch MP3 player will sell for around $330 and will be released in the US in the first half of 2010.

Samsung 14-inch transparent OLED laptop

Samsung wants to dominate the transparent display market, and plans to introduce a range of new products with such displays within the next year. They will even consider products not normally produced at Samsung - such as a transparent automobile navigation system that can be placed on a windscreen. Now how about a transparent OLED TV?

Cadillac has unveiled their latest concept car, the XTS Platinum concept, a replacement for the STS/DTC. The hybrid car uses an AWD powertrain, backup up by a 3.6L V-6 engine and an electric motor. The car can move under the electric power only.

The Cadillac XTS uses OLEDs in place of both the gauges and the center stack controls and infotainment system. Rear seat passengers also get a pair of slim LED screens that rise out of the front seat backs.