On March 22, LOPEC 2019, organized by the OE-A and held at Messe Munich, ended with numerous looks at the future of flexible and printed electronics. The conference  set new attendance records, and with a total of 163 exhibitors on hand, booths spilled over into the foyer.
 
“With more than 2,700 participants from 44 countries attending the trade show, we set a new record,” said Falk Senger, managing director of Messe München. Overall, attendance increased 15% from last year.With more than 200 presentations by speakers from 25 countries, the LOPEC Conference also set a new record this year. 

“It’s been a great show,” said Klaus Hecker, managing director of OE-A. “We received great feedback from exhibitors and attendees. Customers are looking for answers. There are a lot of automotive end users here, as well as medical, sporting goods and packaging companies.”
 
“This show has a lot of energy this year,” added Stan Farnsworth, OE-A chairman and chief marketing officer for NovaCentrix. “We are seeing interest from automotive industry due to increased use of sensors and lighting. We see a lot of companies coming to LOPEC and the OE-A to identify who they can partner with.”
 
“The show was excellent with really good attendance,” Thomas Kolbusch, VP of Coatema Coating Machinery GmbH, noted. “We were surprised that both days had the same amount of visitors, more people walking around with projects and looking for processes.”

Meanwhile, speakers turned their attention once again to the possibilities and realities of flexible and printed electronics. The March 21 Plenary Session began with LOPEC general chair Wolfgang Mildner, founder and CEO of MSW, who offered his insights into the state of the market.
 
“There are a lot of markets that are appearing and products coming to the market,” Mildner noted. “Printed electronics elements can vanish in the product. It is important to bring design and technology together.”
 
Prof. Korina Molla, international project manager, AITEX, followed with “Worth Partnership Project: An Opportunity to Bring Your Ideas to the Market.” Prof. Molla focused on the interconnection of electronics and textiles and E-Textile systems.
 
“We have 1,600 partners registered in the gallery and have funded 65 projects to be funded,” Molla said. “We are looking for designers, self-employed professionals, design labs and start-ups involved in fashion/textile, footwear, furniture, home decoration, leather, jewelry and accessories. Among the projects are safety, such as an SIS button real time emergency tracking and heating system.” 

Dennis Hahn, project leader, Airbus and Dr. Max Seißlerof Altran, then gave a joint presentation on “Applications for Printed Electronics in the Aviation Industry.”
 
“How can printing affect our way of making our aircraft,” asked Hahn. “We have 100km of wiring in an aircraft, and it is only to be expected that more wiring will be necessary. No plane has the same wiring harness. It takes all the way from eight weeks to 12 months to get the wiring harness to the assembly line, and then changes come up. You need three to five guys to carry it into the plane. You can imagine that this is a very expensive process.
 
“We came up with a concept to work with customers on modules,” Hahn added. “We can significantly reduce lead time all the way down to six hours. It also allows us to do a higher degree of automation and include new functionalities. We also reduce the number of parts and weight – carrying 1kg for five years takes 20 tons of kerosene to fly around.”
 
Another area of note is signage in the airplane.
 
“We came up with a solution for then exit panel and whether the lavatory is occupied,” Hahn reported. “Currently we are that close to start our first prototype serialization process then reliability testing. We need to get confident with the technology so we can have further applications. The exit and lavatory info panel has 128 separate parts and takes a trained professional 4.5 hours to assemble. We designed it for a plastic foil  with 10 parts, and built a machine that can automatically build the foil system. It cuts down the amount of suppliers significantly. The current system weighed 1.7 kg and we reduced it by 400 grams.”
 
Windows and the environment are tremendous opportunities for flexible and printed electronics.
 
“In the future, windows are, from a weight and manufacturing point of view a nightmare,” Hahn noted. “In order to make it safe, we have reinforcements around them, which adds weight. We built a future sidewall with RFID antenna, OLED lighting, temperature, sensor and humidity sensors and Wi-Fi antennas. With 250 temperature and humidity sensors, you can regulate the environment.”
 
“It is a very harsh environment for any technology. It has to be proven that it meets our requirements,” added Dr. Seißler.

Dr. Jyrki Schroderus, director, Polar Electro, offered a look into “Evolution and Latest Developments of Biosensing Wearables in Sports.” He noted that in 1983, the first wearable looked like a wristwatch, and also in the 1980s, there were chest straps for swimming. By the 2000s, Polar started making apparel and web services, and in the 2010s, mobile connectivity was included.
 
“In the past, sports testing was done with huge equipment,” Dr. Schroderus said. “We found that we could get freedom with wearables – biosensors, wireless connectivity, and wearable user interface. Future wearables include printed sensors, optical spectroscopy, sensor fusion and sensor AI, implants and more.”

Prof. Steve Beeby, University of Southampton, closed the Plenary Session with “Printed and Flexible Electronics for Electronic Textile Applications,” from printed electroluminescent fabrics to electrodes and E-textiles.
 
“Printed electrodes for medical applications can be used for any bio-potential monitoring,” Prof. Beeby said. “Research is underpinned by novel ink development, and the inks have to be low temperature or UV curable. This is done by screen or inkjet printing. E-textiles must survive daily use and washing with a target of 30 washes; 50 washes have been achieved so far with no damage. Our E-textiles also survives 150,000 +180° bending.
 
“We have made a lot of progress in functionality,” added Prof. Beeby. “Right now, there is no getting away from batteries – they certainly can’t be washed and aren’t flexible. We are looking at ways to harvest energy from the environment through mechanical energy, with a screenprinted piece of piezoelectric material. We also have looked at inductive power transfer with textile coils.”

Novares innovation director Christophe Cazes discussed “Designing an Intuitive HMI for the Car Interior of the Future.”He noted that that there are new user experiences, including ADAS, ride hailing and sharing, robotaxis, self-driving cars, car sharing, AI and more, and people are using their cars for rest, comfort and wellness.
 
“Plastic is a cornerstone to intelligent surfaces,” Cazes pointed out. “Printed electronics is a key enabler for smart HMI surfaces such as curved and 3D shaped touch controls.”
 
Quad Industries R&D director Dr. Wim Christiaens covered “Printed Electronics - Key Enabler for Smart HMI Surfaces.”He noted that Quad has screen printing, pick and place, adhesive bonding and cutting capabilities in-house.
 
“It allows direct integration on thin flexible materials by using screnprinting, as it is stretchable,” Dr. Christiaens said. “Key functionalities include membrane switches, touch controls like buttons and sliders, proximity sensing and gesture control. There are sensors that are capacitive and resistive. It is a very broad range.

“There is a lot of innovation that is ongoing,” Dr. Christiaens added. Printed heaters, stretchable electronics, pressure sensing, and in mold electroncis are getting interest.”

LOPEC 2020 will take place from March 24-26, 2020.