In case you missed it, low-power panel maker E Ink Holdings highlighted it’s large format (2′ x 4′) single- segment solar powered wireless display technology at Display Week in Los Angeles last week.
The group is calling this “e tile” a technology that can bring together up to 96 independent segments, fully addressable using an 802.xx wireless protocol. The single segment displays are an improvement on the “Dazzle” technology, and shown for the first time at the Display Week confab at the LA Convention Center.
On the show floor, E Ink was giving demo’s of a 5-tile panel outdoor display, using a smart-phone to control the content scrolling across the top side of its booth. Each panel was powered by solar panels from the ambient light in the convention center, and we were told it require less than one per-cent of the total display space.
E Ink large format single segmented solar powered display, Source: Sechrist
E tile is part of the Dazzle technology introduced by E Ink as “The world’s largest ePaper media façade featuring 2,100 color-changing tiles of E Ink’s Prism technology.” E Tile is an improvement on Dazzle where each tile is one segment.
E Ink’s Dazzle panels, based on the company’s Prism technology, serve as the precursor to E Tile single segment displays shown here installed on this San Diego airport parking structure as a “media facade,” Source: E Ink
At Display Week, the company featured new additions to its color epaper (ACeP short for advanced color epaper) technology along with traditional ereader applications that include flexible display solutions. The group is highlighting retail, design architecture and other DOOH solutions. The group is aiming at “… revolutionizing the architecture, healthcare and retail industries,” with technology that “..enables custom, dynamic images and patterns in traditionally static designs.” Booth space was also dedicated to its electronic shelf labels that are said to “respond to customer traffic patterns,” and E Ink panels integrated into medical devices, “…that empower better medical adherence.”
The ACeP (short for advanced color ePaper) is a “full color” reflective display at every pixel, without the use of a color filter. The technology was shown in a 32- and 13.3-inch diagonal, with 13.3-inch slated for commercial availability later this year or early 2019.
Demonstration of Organic TFT (OTFT) backplane – E Ink and Flexterra have been collaborating on the development of OTFTs to enable mass production of flexible ePaper displays. E Ink showed this flexible ePaper display with the OTFT backplane in 6.8” for the first time, highlighting the durability of the OTFT during the demonstration.
Also shown were wireless new shelf labels used for pricing (ESL modules) built in collaboration with Toshiba (Tx and RX integrated circuits) that could “…harvest energy without the use of a battery” –cool! The 1.54-inch electronic shelf labels can also be tiled up to 11-inches and offer updated electronics that reduce the size of the printed circuit board and other electronics required, that helps improve ease of installation.
So from single segmented e-Tiling DOOH applications to flexible e-readers, E Ink’s electrophoretic technology continues to iterate in both small and large display applications. The company is continuing its history of collaboration with partners that are now enabling wireless interconnectivity, battery free power options and flexible display devices, medical applications and ID tags, just to name a few–all in new and compelling ways. –Stephen Sechrist
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