Appliance Design - May 2008 - (Page 21)

DISPLAYS & INDICATORS Nemoptic BiNem technology works on the principle of “surface anchoring breaking.” The BiNem cell has a conventional polyimide “strong anchor” layer at the top, but a proprietary “weak anchor” alignment material at the bottom. Changing states is accomplished by means of applying a specially shaped electrical pulse. The front end of the pulse will be steep and that will break the weak anchor, allowing the liquid crystals to be realigned. When the pulse has a steep falling edge, the liquid crystals will realign in a twisted state that allows the reflecting of light off the reflective polarizer at the cell bottom, rendering the cell into its light state. When the trailing edge of the electrical pulse is smooth, the liquid crystals will realign into a uniform state that blocks reflected light and places the cell into a dark state. The liquid crystal materials reanchor after the pulse and, therefore, maintain their new configuration until another pulse is applied. are introduced into a liquid “carrier medium” and when the electrical field is applied, the particles move. The liquid allows the particles to be printed using existing screen-printing processes onto virtually any surface, including glass, plastic, fabric or even paper. E Ink and SiPix use electrophoretic technology, although they both have their own methods. E Ink’s two-particle system features a microcapsule that contains white and black particles that are suspended in clear fluids. When a negative electric field is applied, the white particles move to the top of the microcapsule where they become visible to the user. This makes the surface appear white at that spot. At the same time, an opposite electric field pulls the black particles to the bottom of the microcapsules where they are hidden. By reversing this process, the black particles appear at the top of the capsule, which now makes the surface appear dark at that spot, says Peruvemba. SiPix’s electrophoretic technology is based off of a single particle method as opposed to E Ink’s two-particle method. SiPix creates the e-paper by inserting electrically charged white particles and dielectric fluids within a matrix of what the company calls Microcups. The Microcups can be filled with a variety of colored dyes. The electric field charges the particles and then they migrate through the dielectric fluid. If the white particles are at the surface, the pixel will appear white. Otherwise, the pixel will reflect the color of the fluid. Currently, SiPix displays can show a variety of monochromatic colors, which means each display can be black/white, red/ white, blue/white, and so on. The company is working on a product where each Microcup can change from white, black, and also a color (i.e. three colors per pixel), and this approach will eventually serve as the basis for its full color displays. While SiPix and E Ink use electrophoretic technology, other e-paper developers, such as Nemoptic, have achieved similar effects using variations of conventional LCD technology. Nemoptic, for example, utilizes standard nematic liquid crystal materials, but in unique fashion. Nemoptic BiNem technology works on the principle of “surface anchoring breaking.” The BiNem cell has a conventional polyimide “strong anchor” layer at the top, but a proprietary “weak anchor” alignment material at the bottom. Changing states is accomplished by means of applying a specially shaped electrical pulse. (See illustration above.) The front end of the pulse will be steep and that will break the weak anchor, allowing the liquid crystals to be realigned. When the pulse has a steep falling edge, the liquid crystals will realign in a twisted state that allows the reflecting of light off the reflective polarizer at the cell Demonstration of flexible display by Plastic Logic, Cambridge, U.K., using E Ink Imaging Film. www.applianceDESIGN.com A color display using Nemoptic liquid crystal display technology. applianceDESIGN May 2008 21 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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