Jack Kenny, Editor07.21.09
With the perfection of its Durel illuminated advertising substrate, Rogers Corporation is taking printed electronics to the street – literally. The flexible backlit signs are being actively promoted for use in point-of-purchase displays, as banners and posters, as automotive wraps and street furniture, and for promotional displays on buses, taxis, trucks and trains.
To achieve this, Rogers has developed what it calls its Finishing Center model, which allows graphic printers to produce thin, flexible and animated signs for a wide range of advertising needs, thereby expanding its offerings to customers. The Finishing Center solution consists of the Durel Electroluminescent (EL) substrate, thermal transfer ribbon and programmable inverter. Graphics printers, say the Rogers people, can go from design to sign in minutes.
“There are two ways to light up a poster: with static lighting, with EL or LEDs. Some use traditional fluorescent lighting. These offer no animation,” says Lisa Ritchie, market development manager for Rogers Durel division. “What we do is provide custom and animated selective lighting, which attracts more attention and gets more impression from the viewer. Traditionally, when an advertising company or a brand owner wants to light up a poster, they would order it from Asia, because it was cheaper. Delivery would take six to eight weeks. That kind of time delay doesn’t fit into the business model for the brand owner.
“We came in with a new model,” Ritchie says. “We developed a new patented technology using the thermal transfer process. This will allow a finishing center to turn around the sign in a day.”
Rogers manufactures a coated EL substrate, a PET film that contains a front electrode, then phosphor and dielectric layers. The substrate is available in roll widths of 15” and 30”, but these can be assembled into much larger areas using simple lamination and assembly techniques.
The final step is the one that results in the animated sign. “We use a conductive thermal transfer ribbon to deposit the rear electrode via thermal transfer printing,” says Bill Scholz, R&D manager for the Durel division. “We can also use screen printing. Traditionally, you would need to screen print many hundreds of panels to make this type of sign cost effective because of the set-up costs. Using our patented approach, graphics companies can make a single lamp cost effectively since the rear electrode is digitally applied at the last minute.
“Our approach is to provide an EL substrate in a roll that contains every layer required to make an EL lamp except the rear electrode,” he adds. “We add the rear electrode using a conductive thermal transfer ribbon. Areas of the sign with the rear electrode will light, areas without the rear electrode will not. This allows us to selectively print just the areas we want lit. Using our drivers and sequencers we can light up to 13 independent segments that can be individually addressed. This provides the animation in the sign we were looking to achieve.”
The drivers, he adds, are operated using a simple Excel program. “They’re very easy to use. They’ll program sequences up to a minute long and as short as a few seconds.” The Durel substrate produces a white color. “On top of that we put a graphic film that provides whatever color is required.”
Rogers animated signs can be ultrathin – as low as 0.5mm and flexible enough to be wrapped around a column. Because the EL substrate is provided in a roll form, single signs can be made up to 30” wide, and as long as desired. “Usually up to about 25 feet in length is most practical, says Scholz. “With tilting, even larger signs can be made.”
“The Finishing Center approach allows graphics printers to produce a custom sign within minutes, and if it’s a complex project, a couple hours,” says Ritchie. “The application for this technology can be used for billboards as well, but our main focus is on POP, taxis, car wraps and banners.
“For printers without the necessary processing equipment, we will produce the signs. For graphic companies with equipment, we are licensing the technology to them, and providing training,” Ritchie adds. Licensing involves supplying the substrates and specific materials to go with them. The POP program, she says, was launched in March, and the transit program in June. Rogers has trained several finishing centers already.
Rogers continues to work on developments in printed electronics.
“Historically, Durel is an EL manufacturer,” says Scholz. “Our products are in cell phone key pads. We also have products in automotive applications, such as instrument clusters. We also have other applications, however, that are not lit, such as capacitor sensors. We are looking at energy related products and at medical applications.
“We are working in collaboration with others on projects that would utilize the products of some of our other divisions. For example, Rogers has a foam division. Using foams with our conductive materials to make medical electrodes results in the provision of better diagnostic information. Historically, that has been difficult; people have used thicker gauge Mylar that doesn’t conform to the body. Foam does. We have developed substrates along the way that are 1 mil thick but still rugged, difficult to tear or break. Not too many have access to those types of substrates. We learned that our knowledge from the keypad industry is also of use to medical and sensor projects.”
“Another technology that Rogers offers is LGF – Light Guide Films,” says Ritchie. “With these, an LED shines into a film and the light gets reflected in the film and gets extracted out where we want it to get extracted out. LGF is a lower cost option with limited animation, and is used mainly in direct mailings and product packaging.”
“There are two ways to light up a poster: with static lighting, with EL or LEDs. Some use traditional fluorescent lighting. These offer no animation,” says Lisa Ritchie, market development manager for Rogers Durel division. “What we do is provide custom and animated selective lighting, which attracts more attention and gets more impression from the viewer. Traditionally, when an advertising company or a brand owner wants to light up a poster, they would order it from Asia, because it was cheaper. Delivery would take six to eight weeks. That kind of time delay doesn’t fit into the business model for the brand owner.
“We came in with a new model,” Ritchie says. “We developed a new patented technology using the thermal transfer process. This will allow a finishing center to turn around the sign in a day.”
Rogers manufactures a coated EL substrate, a PET film that contains a front electrode, then phosphor and dielectric layers. The substrate is available in roll widths of 15” and 30”, but these can be assembled into much larger areas using simple lamination and assembly techniques.
The final step is the one that results in the animated sign. “We use a conductive thermal transfer ribbon to deposit the rear electrode via thermal transfer printing,” says Bill Scholz, R&D manager for the Durel division. “We can also use screen printing. Traditionally, you would need to screen print many hundreds of panels to make this type of sign cost effective because of the set-up costs. Using our patented approach, graphics companies can make a single lamp cost effectively since the rear electrode is digitally applied at the last minute.
“Our approach is to provide an EL substrate in a roll that contains every layer required to make an EL lamp except the rear electrode,” he adds. “We add the rear electrode using a conductive thermal transfer ribbon. Areas of the sign with the rear electrode will light, areas without the rear electrode will not. This allows us to selectively print just the areas we want lit. Using our drivers and sequencers we can light up to 13 independent segments that can be individually addressed. This provides the animation in the sign we were looking to achieve.”
The drivers, he adds, are operated using a simple Excel program. “They’re very easy to use. They’ll program sequences up to a minute long and as short as a few seconds.” The Durel substrate produces a white color. “On top of that we put a graphic film that provides whatever color is required.”
“The Finishing Center approach allows graphics printers to produce a custom sign within minutes, and if it’s a complex project, a couple hours,” says Ritchie. “The application for this technology can be used for billboards as well, but our main focus is on POP, taxis, car wraps and banners.
“For printers without the necessary processing equipment, we will produce the signs. For graphic companies with equipment, we are licensing the technology to them, and providing training,” Ritchie adds. Licensing involves supplying the substrates and specific materials to go with them. The POP program, she says, was launched in March, and the transit program in June. Rogers has trained several finishing centers already.
Rogers continues to work on developments in printed electronics.
“Historically, Durel is an EL manufacturer,” says Scholz. “Our products are in cell phone key pads. We also have products in automotive applications, such as instrument clusters. We also have other applications, however, that are not lit, such as capacitor sensors. We are looking at energy related products and at medical applications.
“We are working in collaboration with others on projects that would utilize the products of some of our other divisions. For example, Rogers has a foam division. Using foams with our conductive materials to make medical electrodes results in the provision of better diagnostic information. Historically, that has been difficult; people have used thicker gauge Mylar that doesn’t conform to the body. Foam does. We have developed substrates along the way that are 1 mil thick but still rugged, difficult to tear or break. Not too many have access to those types of substrates. We learned that our knowledge from the keypad industry is also of use to medical and sensor projects.”
“Another technology that Rogers offers is LGF – Light Guide Films,” says Ritchie. “With these, an LED shines into a film and the light gets reflected in the film and gets extracted out where we want it to get extracted out. LGF is a lower cost option with limited animation, and is used mainly in direct mailings and product packaging.”