Global Lighting Technologies and Luminus Devices Introduce Modular LED-Based Edge-Lighting for Large Screen LCD TVs
Brecksville, OH, June 5, 2006 - Global Lighting Technologies (GLT) Inc. has formed a partnership with Luminus Devices, Inc., Woburn, MA, to produce modular LED-based edge-lighting assemblies for large-screen LCD TVs. Luminus' PhlatLight(TM) technology, combined with GLT's patented MicroLens(TM) light guides, enable large-size LCD panels to be edge-lit, as opposed to direct backlighting. The result is dramatically reduced LED count, and simplified color and thermal management compared to conventional LED-based backlighting solutions.
A 32-in. LCD TV that formerly required hundreds or even thousands of LEDs to backlight can now be edge-lit with less than 12 PhlatLight(TM) chipsets - each containing a single red, green and blue die - for optimal brightness, color, and significantly reduced thickness. Future developments are expected to reduce the number of chipsets even further. GLT will be demonstrating a 24-in working prototype of a MicroLens/PhlatLight edge-lit LCD TV backlight at the 2006 Society for Information Display (SID) Conference & Exhibition, June 6-8, Moscone Center, San Francisco, in Booth 626. The benefits of the new edge-lighting assemblies increase with panel size, and GLT's and Luminus' strategy will be to concentrate on edge-lighting of LCD TVs 40" diagonal and larger.
GLT, founded in 2000 and an innovator in LCD backlighting technology with 90+ patents issued or pending and 2,000 employees worldwide, developed MicroLens(TM) pixel-based light extraction technology. In this proprietary, patented process, micro-optical elements are molded directly into a light guide, and are optimized to deliver more collimated light, which increases the efficiency of the optical system. By using 3-D optical design, proprietary MicroLens(TM) pattern development software, precision manufacturing equipment and in-house tooling design and fabrication, GLT is able to develop and produce the world's most efficient LCD backlights.
PhlatLight(TM) (Photonic Lattice) technology, developed by Luminus Devices based on research done at MIT, enables an entirely new type of solid state light source based on patented photonic lattice structures. It is the world's first solid state light source powerful enough to illuminate large screen televisions and other high definition displays.
"Previously, Luminus' focus has been on micro display projection applications," said David DeAgazio, Director of Sales Worldwide at GLT. "But, the light extraction features of our MicroLens(TM) light guides allow the benefits of their PhlatLight(TM) technology to extend to large LCD flat panel displays."
This combination results in LCD TVs with outstanding brightness (8500 cd/m2 + at the backlight surface), exceptional thinness (<15mm in production units), passive thermal management, and significantly lower production costs.
"The breakthrough for this application is that we're using the PhlatLight(TM) chipsets to edge-light, not backlight, the panels," noted DeAgazio. "These edge-lit units are modular and scalable to screen sizes 50-in. and larger. We are using a handful of PhlatLight chipsets instead of hundreds or thousands of LEDs. This is not possible with any other type of LED."
"The combination of our PhlatLight technology and GLT's MicroLens technology enables edge lighting for large LCD-TVs," said John Langevin, vice president of sales and marketing at Luminus. "LEDs have obvious benefits for backlighting, including superior image quality and color, longer lifetimes, instant on, and RoHS compliance. But our edge-lighting approach, enabled by PhlatLight and MicroLens, provides scalability to large screen sizes in an ultra-thin form factor."
GLT's proprietary optoelectronics technology, combined with its U.S.-based prototyping and in-house tooling fabrication, and low-cost production at its plants in China and Taiwan, is gearing up for prototyping of larger screens and production of the LED TV edge-lighting assemblies in Q4 2006.
For more information, contact
Global Lighting Technologies, Inc.,
525 Andrews Circle, Brecksville, OH 44141.
Tel: 440-922-4584;
Toll-Free: 866-922-4584;
Fax: 440-922-4585.
E-mail: info@glthome.com; Web: www.glthome.com.
Or contact Luminus Devices, Inc.,
175 New Boston Street, Woburn, MA 01801.
Tel: 781-932-7831;
E-mail: info@luminus.com.
Web: www.luminus.com.
Editorial Contact:
Charles Birkhead
Macrovision, Inc.
(215) 348-1010
