Appliance Design - May 2008 - (Page 19)

DISPLAYS & INDICATORS such as a curved wristwatch. (See photo.) The research and development of electronic paper has been pursued for a long time. One of the more prominent e-paper technologies is electrophoresis, which has been under development for about 40 years. Xerox developed electrophoretic technology in 1969, about the same time that LCDs were being developed. While LCDs have become commonplace, e-paper has experienced a slower march to market. One reason that electrophoretic technology took so long to enter the market is because at that time the voltages that were required to move the particles in the fluids were in the hundreds of volts. Only recently, with new material advances and improved manufacturing techniques, have voltage requirements dropped to the point where commercially available integrated circuits can be used to drive this technology, says Bryan Chan, director of marketing for SiPix Imaging Inc. of Fremont, Calif. SiPix is an e-paper manufacturer that uses electrophoretic technology. In spite of e-paper’s many other advantages, the ability to display video remains a weak spot for the display technology. Boosting switching speeds and other advancements must be made in order for it to catch up to LCD technology in terms of video. Currently, e-paper cannot switch from image to image fast enough to be used for video-type broadcasts. The ability to display color was another traditional weak spot for e-paper, but that now is changing as the differences between LCD and e-paper are shrinking. Some e-paper technologies are now demonstrating full color and grayscale capabilities. The most widely touted advantage for e-paper is readability, which is considered better than traditional display technologies. E-paper can be read at any angle and reflects light like ordinary paper. Unlike conventional reflective displays that need a backlight to Ambient Devices’ Weather Wizard uses a segmented electronic paper display from E Ink to continuously display 5-day weather forecasts. Photo: Ambient Devices. illuminate the material, e-paper can be read in ambient light. Another key advantage of e-paper technologies is that they are bistable, which means they only consume power when the image is changed or updated. An unchanging image can be held indefinitely without drawing power. For applications where the display is infrequently refreshed, bistability can significantly cut power consumption. The advantage of bistability can be observed clearly in a retail shelf pricing display application where the battery-operated display would only use power when the price is changed. Shelf pricing and marketing displays often feature e-paper because it combines the ability to display text for long periods of time while being easy to change the text without having to manually change the price. Wristwatches represent another growing market for e-paper, but work best for devices without a second hand. This is opposed to a watch that ticks off every second that passes and would require constant updating. The electronic paper can be rigid, such as with the e-books that use glass backplanes. Or, they can be flexible; Eye-catching, curved Seiko watch design is made possible by using E Ink electronic paper technology. flexible to the point where they can be rolled up or folded, adding durability and design flexibility. For designers, e-paper isn’t just relegated to 2-D displays, they can be curved, contorted or conformed to another 3D surface such as on a curved wrist watch that fits better to a wrist. “The flexible displays not only offer conformability and ruggedness,” says Sriram Peruvemba, vice president – marketing, E Ink Corp. of Cambridge, Mass., “They offer appliance designers the freedom to think outside the rectangular format they were restricted to with conventional displays.” As the technology has improved, the num- www.applianceDESIGN.com applianceDESIGN May 2008 19 http://www.appliancedesign.com

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Appliance Design - May 2008 Contents Editorial Shipments/Forecasts News Watch New and Notable Displays & Indicators Elastomers Quality & Standards Indoor Air Quality IHHS Highlights New Products Classifieds Design Marts Advertiser’s Index Association Report: PSMA

Appliance Design - May 2008

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