Swedish startup beats E Ink on low-power
Because the entire display stack can be screen printed on a flexible plastic substrate, the 100 to 200µm-thin displays can be produced cheaply, either on a sheet-to-sheet process for small-scale and rapid prototype manufacturing or via a roll-to-roll process for large volumes.
Unlike electrophoretic displays based on e-Ink, which are truly bistable, rdot’s displays are semi-stable, based on reversible redox reactions responsible for the colour changes of the electrochromic materials. After a while, the turn-on colour fades away until a short voltage pulse is applied to turn the segment to maximum contrast again. But since rdot are using proprietary material recipes and printing processes, the company is able to tune a display’s bi-stability period from minutes to days for custom applications.
在此过程中，它可以使其显示更快的切换（稳定较低）或较慢的更新速率应用程序，因此可以自定义显示器的颜色，形状和透明度。
但是，缺乏真正的双重稳定性，这种显示如何与现有的epaper解决方案竞争，例如E Ink提供的解决方案？eeNews Europecandidly asked rdot’s CEO Felix Karlsson.
毕竟，使用分段的单元格成为需要非重新工程（NRE）费用的自定义解决方案，使用完整的活动矩阵epaper是否会更简单吗？
卡尔森（Karlsson）渴望强调的一个竞争优势是较低的成本。“因为我们以几个打印步骤来完成所有操作，所以制造成本肯定低于任何墨水解决方案。他们需要一个主动的矩阵背板，我们不这样做，这增加了费用。我们的解决方案是不含ITO的，环保的，可以用100％有机材料制成。” Karlsson说。
Now tackling NRE costs, the CEO noted that even with an active matrix, you still need to customize your displays. Often, the NRE costs for designing a custom solution with E Ink are way above those for customizing rdot’s segmented displays, Karlsson said referring to customers who approached rdot to find alternative solutions for their wearables and accessory designs.
On power consumption, Karlsson doesn’t want to generalize as every application has specific requirements and refresh rates that directly impact power consumption.
首席执行官解释说：“我们可以根据应用需求来调整双稳定性时间，因此我们可以设计一个只需要每两个小时或更频繁地刷新一次的显示屏。”根据公司自己的计算，并将其解决方案与不同的显示技术进行比较，如果显示器每天需要超过6个更新或更多更新，则电染色显示显示器是最节能的。
“我们为全球展示制造商提供了一些样本，以便他们可以进行自己的测试和测量，并报告说，从每天两次更新开始，我们的解决方案比E墨水更节能。这是因为每个E墨水开关的能量最多要比我们的溶液多20倍，具体取决于所用的墨水。” Karlsson说。
When they start to fade-out, rdot’s displays only need a very small 3V refresh pulse to remain active. According to the company’s technical documentation, a 21 (3×7) segments display (capable of displaying three digits) with a total segment area of 2.1cm2仅绘制1.26mj的能量，以3V驱动电压切换其所有元件。凭借如此低的功能功能，该初创公司预计其显示器可以打开新类型的应用程序，包括用于一次性医疗电子产品，例如智能补丁。但是，它们也可以进入其他类型的一次性/消耗品产品，通常不包括电子或显示器，例如包装和标签。
RDOT与NorrköpingSweden的Rise Institute Rise Acreo一起，还使用有机透明导体开发了其显示器的完全印刷的被动矩阵版本，希望在2019年中期准备就绪。作为第一步。矩阵以驱动分段显示器，以减少微控制器所需的驾驶引脚数量（通常会增加成本）。然后，该创业公司希望在像素级别上解决薄薄的显示。
它可能是几年前rdot显示意图ch the consumer market though, the company’s products are in a qualification phase, with samples being tested by various partners. Founded in 2016, the company has managed to fund itself through grants, EU programs and government support. “We’ve closed quite some good deals with joint-development partners and we’ll try to avoid having to raise capital if we don’t need to, to favour an organic growth” Karlsson said discussing the company’s finances. “We may need some capital in a year or so to scale up our company, but we want to be more established before and find our right market. The startup also wants to collaborate with other printed and flexible electronics companies to design full flexible products.
rdot -www.rdotdisplays.com
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