Its brightness level is usually 1,000cd/m² with power input of less than a watt. In ideal operating conditions it has a lifespan of [...]]]> OSRAM Opto Semiconductors have started selling what appears to be the first OLED lighting product.
The warm white, 80 mm diameter ORBEOS panel with an efficiency of 25 lm/W is now available for purchase.

Its brightness level is usually 1,000cd/m² with power input of less than a watt. In ideal operating conditions it has a lifespan of around 5,000 hours.

The company today announced a construction of a new roll-to-roll pilot coating line to manufacture OLED lighting within its Hino facility in Tokyo. The pilot line is dedicated to establish production technology toward mass-production and to sell the product on the limited [...]]]> Konica Minolta is planning a new roll-to-roll pilot manufacturing line for OLED lighting panels.

The company today announced a construction of a new roll-to-roll pilot coating line to manufacture OLED lighting within its Hino facility in Tokyo. The pilot line is dedicated to establish production technology toward mass-production and to sell the product on the limited basis. Spending 3.5 billion yen, the line will be completed in the autumn of 2010 and the product will be commercialized within the fiscal year 2010.

Such technologies as material, coating, multi-layer design, and optical design technologies, nurtured through the development of photographic film and optical lens, have been fully adopted in the development of the OLED lighting. For the pilot line, Konica Minolta designed and developed its own roll-to-roll coating method to manufacture flexible plastic-base OLED lighting. This method will serve as the key to accomplishing cost advantage when the OLED lighting flourishes in the future.

[Via Printed Electronics World]

[CEO Richard] Kirk is in “advanced talks” towards a £3m funding round which will pay for the [...]]]> UK start-up PolyPhotonix are to set up a production line for large-area OLED lighting at the Printable Electronics Technology Centre (PETEC, part of NETPark in County Durham, UK).
They will be using PLED (polymer OLED) materials under license from CDT.

[CEO Richard] Kirk is in “advanced talks” towards a £3m funding round which will pay for the production line and 30 months of operations.
The firm already has some funding through the Government’s Technology Strategy Board through a project called Manufacturing Emissive Nanotechnology Devices in Polymers (MENDIPs). [...]
PolyPhotonix’ intended main markets are automotive and architectural lighting, but Kirk also expects some interest from makers of general lighting products.
The production line will initially make its OLED emitters on 200×200mm glass substrates. “We are taking the best materials as they are today,” said Kirk.
Flexible plastic substrates are also on the cards once glass-based emitters are in production.

___________________________
Update 2009-02-18: According to IDTechEx’s Printed Electronics World, PolyPhotonix have now raised GBP 4.5 million.

a strategic alliance agreement to accelerate the development and commercialization of OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) devices for lighting applications. The goal is to bring OLED lighting to market within the next 3 years. [...]

On June 30, 2006, KM announced that it had successfully developed a white OLED [...]]]> Konica Minolta (KM) and General Electric (GE) announced

a strategic alliance agreement to accelerate the development and commercialization of OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) devices for lighting applications. The goal is to bring OLED lighting to market within the next 3 years. [...]

On June 30, 2006, KM announced that it had successfully developed a white OLED with a world record power efficiency of 64 lumens per watt at 1,000 candela per square meter — a brightness which is appropriate for lighting applications. Prior to this development, KM developed its own highly efficient and long-life blue phosphorescent materials. Applying these material technologies, along with multi-layer design technology and innovative optical design technology, KM succeeded in developing an OLED having a practical light emission level of approximately 10,000 hours.

In addition to material technology and optical design technology, KM has been developing the ultra-high barrier film fabrication technology to enable high productivity. Superb coating technology nurtured through the development of photographic film and display materials also plays an important role in the development of highly productive OLEDs. Currently, research and development for its commercialization is under way.

GE, as part of its ecomagination initiative, has made substantial investments in OLED research that has resulted in world records for OLED lighting device size and efficiency. In 2004, researchers were able to demonstrate an OLED device that was fully functional as a 24 inch by 24-inch panel, which produced 1,200 lumens of light with an efficiency on par with today’s incandescent bulb technology. This was the first demonstration that OLED technology could potentially be used for lighting applications. Since then, GE has more than doubled the level of OLED efficiency using device architectures that are scalable to a large area and can be produced cost-effectively.

In addition to increasing efficiency, GE has focused on developing all the requirements – ranging from plastic film substrates, ultra-high barrier coatings, and fabrication processes and equipment to enable the high speed, cost-effective “roll-to-roll” manufacturing — required to produce large-area OLED lighting.

the market for OLEDs used in displays and lighting applications is expected to reach $10.9 billion ($US) by 2012 and grow to $15.5 billion by the year 2014.

The report discusses the use of OLEDs for mobile devices, flexible/rollable displays, and lighting applications. [via CNET news]

In conventional white-light LEDs, a semiconductor emits blue light. The blue light passes through the phosphor and becomes white light. The phosphor is thin film on a substrate; the substrate has to be placed in intricate proximity to [...]]]> According to CNET, Cyberlux are developing white LEDs combining an inorganic semiconductor with an organic phosphorescent layer:

In conventional white-light LEDs, a semiconductor emits blue light. The blue light passes through the phosphor and becomes white light. The phosphor is thin film on a substrate; the substrate has to be placed in intricate proximity to the semiconductor. Positioning the phosphor is one of the more expensive steps in creating an LED, Schmidt said.
In the coming prototype, the conventional phosphor is replaced with a sheet of polymer, which sort of applies itself to the LED, almost like a layer of shrink wrap. The technology was invented by UC Santa Barbara’s Steven DenBaars, who has been a big advocate of LED lighting as a way to increase energy efficiency and reduce greenhouse gases, and Nobel Prize winner Alan Heeger. Heeger also helped found solar-technology company Konarka Technologies.