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Advertisement displays manufactured by hybrid in-mould integration

Periodic Reporting for period 3 - Optintegral (Advertisement displays manufactured by hybrid in-mould integration)

Reporting period: 2017-02-01 to 2018-01-31

OptIntegral project will develop advanced LED advertising displays using in-mould hybrid integration of TOLAE (Thin, Organic and Large Area Electronics) and photonics components. The project will combine the intrinsic TOLAE benefits of thin lightweight bendable structures and in-mould integration with automated high reproducibility assembly, to produce a revolutionary optical design concept that brings better display resolution, lower costs and energy saving.

The aim of OptIntegral is to prove the viability of the technology, and demonstrate the flexibility, sustainability, and cost effectiveness of this revolutionary manufacturing process. This should enable a wide range of diverse LED display products to be manufactured competitively within the EU labour market.

OptIntegral will initially develop three different large area display prototypes - 3D glasses-free, lightpipe and backlit - for retail, transportation and hospitality sectors. These prototype displays will be manufactured and demonstrated by three European SME, and will be evaluated using recent developments in eye-tracking and EEG. We expect the superior performance difference identified across both communication and metacommunication to facilitate the introduction of TOLAE based products into what are highly competitive markets.

In addition, three current LED Display Manufacturers in the EU will enlarge their portfolio to set up pilot manufacturing lines and co-develop demonstrators adapted to their customers’ needs. The novel processes used in OptIntegral, combining Roll-to-Sheet and Roll-to-Roll manufacture of flexible electronics with In-mould hybrid integration of the optoelectronics within the optics, will open the way to a wide choice of materials and process designs. This, along with a program of social impact evaluation, will be achieved during the 3 year timescale of the project, with the goal to be on the market with a sound, fully-supported business case one year after the end of the project.

OptIntegral: a three year project which started on 1st February 2015, has secured secure € 5,675,337 of European funding . The consortium comprise nine European partners from 5 European countries including EURECAT Centre Tecnològic de Catalunya (EURECAT), Simulacions Optiques S.L.(SNELL) and Asociación Española de Normalización y Certificación (AENOR) from Spain, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT) and Neonelektro Oy (NEO) from Finland, LumyComp Design Ltd. (LUMY) and Megatex Commerce Ltd.(MEGATEX) from Bulgaria, Holografika Hologramelőállító Fejlesztő és Forgalmazó Kft.(HOLOGRAFIKA) from Hungary and University of Bath (UBATH) from the UK.
The technical work performed during the last 24 months of project have been focus on the Advertisement TOLAE displays development (WP1),Hybrid in-mould integration process development (WP2), Prototype testing and validation (WP3), Demonstration of advertisement displays (WP4), Pilot Manufacturing lines (WP5), and the Enviroment and innovation management (WP6).

Main results of this period are:

- Specifications and designs for the three displays.
- Detailed 3D design of the modules to be in-mould integrated, including the optical design, for the three displays.
- The design protocol for plastic optics has been defined for the three demonstrators.
- Prototypes of flexible electronics & novel desing of PVB integrating the photonic components, for the three display architectures
- Procedure developed for designing the plastic optics of the three displays
- Testing of the in-mould manufactuing process, according to final requirements of the demonstrators.
- Preliminary trials to identify recyclability procedure,functinal and energy performance of the different prototypes and the production process.
- Final molds for the manufactured of the 3 displays adapted to the overmoulding process
- Definition of Pilot manufacturing lines and demonstration platform development
The project main innovation is the hybrid in-mould integration of electronics and photonics components. The developed manufacturing procedure enables LED displays product innovation.

OptIntegral brings advances beyond the state of the art in the following areas:

• Novel hybrid in-mould integration procedure for TOLAE LED displays
• Novel LED encapsulation process with primary optics integration
• Novel advertisement displays

Furthermore, specific demonstration objectives providing evidences of the advantages of the novel in-mould hybrid integration for displays manufacturing, are:

• To show the flexibility of the OptIntegral embedding technology to manufacture a diversity of display concepts by developing three groups of different demonstrators.
• To proof a cost reduction for OptIntegral displays of at least 40% per sqm due to the use of un-packaged LEDs (10% savings), replacement of manual assembly by in-mold integration (15% savings) and the use of low cost flexible electronics substrates (15% savings).
• To demonstrate the TOLAE potential for thinner advertisement displays, with an average thickness reduction of 50%, which results in low-weight displays and reduced environmental footprint.
• To demonstrate the environmental efficiency of the OptIntegral manufacturing model for advertisement displays by a 50% of Green House Emissions reduction, due to the energy efficiency brought by the optimal optical design for LEDs usage and to the transport of lighter goods.
• To demonstrate a time-to-market reduction of 40% in the industrialisation stage of LED displays, since optics and the modules are manufactured in the same integration stage.
• To demonstrate that the in-mould integrated displays fulfil the re-use/recycle of heterogeneous components and close-loop materials requirements.
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