2011: The year of OLED lighting?
08 September 2008
Recent developments and announcements from developers of OLED technology seem to be pointing towards the conclusion that 2011 will be the year where the first commercial OLED lighting applications will appear on the market.
Prototypes have been demonstrated by companies such as NEC, OSRAM OS, Matsushita Electric Works and Koizumi Lighting technology. Some of the prototypes are similar to conventional lighting elements, such as desktop lamps, demonstrating the versatility of OLED technology. An example is the lamp designed by Makoto Tojiki, named Archimedes Dream; with Archimedes' constant π running along it.
General Electric have also demonstrated the ability to use printing technologies to manufacture OLED panels on a roll to roll process and its optimisation over the next few years will see the reductions in cost that are so inadvertently intertwined with the successful introduction of OLED products in the market. Konica Minolta is working closely with General Electric in the development of their lighting products.
Konica Minolta has also licensed UDC's proprietary phosphorescent OLED technology and is integrating it into their white OLED lighting products. The incorporation of the core competencies of the two companies into the final products will strengthen the competitiveness of the resulting products and lead to their accelerated commercialisation.
The design possibilities become more varied as flexible OLED technology is developed. Limitations due to low lifetime are a big challenge at the moment, and the issue is being addressed by companies and research institutes in order to be able to achieve lifetimes that would make a viable commercial product.
The RIOE (Research Institute for Organic Electronics) in Japan is aiming to help with the industrialisation and commercialisation of OLED technology by tackling issues such as higher efficiency (comparable to fluorescent lighting), and durability at high power input. According to the RIOE, in order for OLED lighting to be used as a main lighting source, it's luminance should reach 50000 cd/m2. Other issues are lower cost panel production, and the development of new applications, in which organic electroluminescence can maintain a competitive advantage against other technologies.
Examples of potential applications include illuminating room switches, desk drawers, staircases, toothbrushes, bags, underwater lighting, and interior lighting for vehicles.
With the development of OLEDs for displays, a drive largely supported by Samsung and Sony who already have OLED televisions on sale, the next few years will see companies overcoming barriers and issues that are currently inhibiting a faster growth. When that happens, OLEDs have the potential to penetrate many aspects of everyday life. Soon, glow-in-the-dark windows and illuminating ceilings will be a ubiquitous reality.
Harry Zervos is a Technical Consultant at IDTechEx
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