NISKAYUNA, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 8, 2003--GE Global Research, the centralized research organization of General Electric (NYSE: GE) announced a major breakthrough in a new lighting technology that has the potential to be more energy efficient and revolutionize lighting design, while producing the same high quality white light as traditional light sources.
GE's new technology is based on Organic Light-Emitting Diodes (OLEDs), which are thin sheets of plastic-like material that emit light when powered by electricity. While the technology is still five to ten years away from commercialization, the GE research team recently overcame one of the significant technical hurdles -- fault tolerance for large area devices -- the details of which were published in the April 21, 2003 issue of Applied Physics magazine. The latest development, which was partially funded by a research contract from the Department of Energy, is a major step forward in creating this new form of solid-state lighting.
OLEDs are a form of solid-state lighting, an alternative to traditional LEDs composed of inorganic materials. OLEDs have the potential to be made in an inexpensive, roll-to-roll manufacturing process. The vision of the GE program is to create sheets of paper-thin lighting devices that can be applied to surfaces similar to wallpapering.
One of the major technological challenges is fault tolerance, the short-circuiting of the unit in large area devices. In this latest development, GE's researchers divided the large surface area into separate smaller sections, with criss-cross connections between anodes and cathodes. In the resulting serial circuit, if a short circuit occurs in a section it won't affect the rest of the device. By contrast, earlier approaches to OLEDs featured a design more like a parallel circuit, in which a short-circuit at any point would cause the whole device to fail or "black-out." The increase in fault tolerance is an important proof-of-concept, which can lead to large-scale OLED devices.
"The vision of this research project is to create sheets of plastic which would be used to form thin, mechanically flexible, flat lighting panels," said Anil Duggal, manager of GE's light energy conversion program, "In only three or four years, OLEDs could be used for specialty applications, such as lights within a car, and, in about 10 years, it could compete with fluorescent lighting."
Although the incandescent light bulb has been in use for more than a century, OLED technology is only about a decade old, and, to date, most development has concentrated on flat panel displays such as LCD laptop screens, car radio displays or cell phones. However, OLED devices could potentially outperform conventional lighting technologies. Serious scientific challenges remain though, such as increasing the overall surface area, energy efficiency, flexibility of the material, developing a roll-to-roll manufacturing process, as well as extending the operative lifespan of OLED devices.
This project is cosponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy's Building Technologies Program (DOE/BT) and the National Energy Technology Laboratory through its competitive research and development program. The goal of the DOE/BT's Lighting R&D Program is to develop viable technologies having the technical potential to conserve 50% of lighting consumption by 2010. The Program partners with industry, utilities, universities, and research institutions to create energy efficient lighting technologies in pursuit of this goal. Duggal said, "A highly efficient, mechanically flexible OLED lighting product that can be wrapped around objects would save energy and could revolutionize the way that we think about lighting."
About GE Global Research:
GE Global Research is one of the world's most diversified industrial research labs, providing innovative technology for all of GE's businesses. Global Research has been the cornerstone of GE technology for more than 100 years, developing breakthrough innovations in areas such as medical imaging, energy generation technology, jet engines and lighting. GE Global Research is headquartered in Niskayuna, New York and has facilities in Bangalore, India, Shanghai, China and Munich, Germany. Visit GE Global Research at www.research.ge.com.
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