OLEDs are very versatile and can vary incredibly in color and brightness. What’s more, they can create homogeneous light surfaces in almost any shape, pattern, vibrancy and color. Thanks to this versatility, OLEDs can create a spectacular range of new and innovative lighting effects that can enhance the look and feel of almost any environment in fresh and innovative ways.
Create new scenes and features
Although the technology is still in development and very few products are currently available, lighting designers are already excited about the never-before-seen applications that OLEDs enable. They have an almost limitless scope to create new scenes and features. Renowned German lighting designer Ingo Maurer, one of the first to use OLEDs in the industrial arena, is fascinated by how different they are from traditional light sources. “OLEDs have a completely different look,” he says. “They are very light, allowing me to realize some long- standing visions of mine.”
Look and feel
Because of their small size, OLEDs have the potential to be embedded into objects and surfaces of almost any shape. The light-emitting part, like most lighting technologies, needs to be protected from the environment. For OLEDs, you need a protective substrate, and currently glass is the best option.
Looking ahead, plastic substrates are being developed that could potentially replace glass by providing the same level of protection against moisture and air but with less constraints. When these become available, OLEDs could become curved, moldable and even flexible. Users could reshape light sources to suit their mood – or fold them up and carry them in their pockets.
Green lighting
Not just OLEDs’ design possibilities excite potential users. OLEDs have the potential to be extremely energy efficient, they could be as much as ten times more efficient than standard incandescent bulbs and around three times more efficient than today’s energy-saving compact fluorescents (CFLs). OLEDs are clearly a globally important technology. In line with its goal to reduce CO2 emissions by 20% by 2020, the European Union has partially funded two public-private research projects focused on OLED technology through its Research Framework Programme.
Coming soon?
Philips Lighting’s Dietrich Bertram, believes it won’t be too long when we should OLEDs lighting up our homes and workplaces. “OLEDs will have an impact on the general lighting market within eight to ten years,” he predicts. “But we should see some of these new, breakthrough applications appearing within three to five years.”
More information:
+ OLED.eu
+ Read the Password article: Thinking outside the bulb
+ Video Euronews’ show Futuris Philips Research Aachen on YouTube
+ OLEDs