Power consumption

During this SSL Product Development Project, Universal Display and its subcontractor, Armstrong, will develop and deliver an integrated ceiling illumination system that is targeted to exceed the DOE’s 2010 performance goals. The white OLED lighting panels will be designed and fabricated by Universal Display using its high-efficiency phosphorescent OLED technology. The panels will then be integrated by Armstrong into its innovative TechZone™ open-architecture ceiling system. In addition, the team will deliver a white OLED lighting panel fabricated on a thin metallic foil substrate using Universal Display’s UniversalPHOLED and other OLED technologies, to demonstrate the commercial product potential of white OLEDs with a flexible form factor.

White OLEDs are already producing more light per watt than incandescent bulbs, according to engineering professor Stephen Forrest from Michigen University, but it is trapped inside the device. By fabricating a tandem system of grids and micro lenses on a white OLED, the device can achieve a brightness of over 70 lumens per watt, compared with 15 lumens for incandescent bulbs--almost as much as fluorescent tube lights (90 lumens).

The Japanese government will team up with several Japanese companies to develop key-technologies for producing large-size OLED panels. The aim is to cut the development cost for the Japanese companies, to be better able to compete against Samsung and LG, and the Japanese government will pitch in around 32$M. 

I recently had the chance to interview Mr. Corey Hewitt and Dr. James Buntaine from Kodak OLED Systems. Kodak is where OLEDs were first discovered, and they are still in the fore-front of the technology. This is going to be a long article - these guys have given me a lot of background info, even before answering my questions. But first let's introduce Corey and James:

The companies behind the OLLA project (Philips, OSRAM, Siemens, Novaled and Franhofer IPMS) agreed to fund another OLED lighting project - the OLED100.eu, a follow-up project.

OSRAM Opto Semiconductors is spearheading the effort to develop cost-effective volume production methods for organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) under the CombOLED project, a European funded research and development project that was conceived to combine new device structures, advantageous manufacturing approaches and less complex materials with the aim to achieve cost effective OLED lighting solutions.

At their yearly share holder meeting, UDC reviewed their company's and the OLED industry's progress. UDC also highlights continued adoption of its energy-efficient PHOLED technology in commercial displays and advances in its flexible OLED, white OLED lighting, and printable, phosphorescent P(2)OLED(TM) technologies.

Just last month at the Society for Information Display Symposium, Universal Display announced a new record of 72 lm/W. Since then, Universal Display has continued to make significant advances in this area – achieving yet another major milestone toward commercialization. The milestone also demonstrates the potential of white OLEDs to offer significant energy savings and environmental benefits to end users around the world. For the first time, white OLEDs have surpassed the power efficacy of the two incumbent indoor lighting technologies - incandescent bulbs are less than 15 lm/W and most fluorescent lamps are 60 - 90 lm/W.

Merck KGaA announced today that it is launching several new OLED materials, including a blue singlet emitter (SEB series) that features ultra deep blue color coordinates. Measured in solvent, this dopant shows a color as deep as CIE(x;y) 0.15/ 0.09 with a full width half maximum (FWHM) of only 54 nm.