LCD is the fastest growing display technology worldwide and requires a backlight unit to illuminate the images on the screen.
Large screen LCDs traditionally use Cold Cathode Fluorescent Lamps (CCFL) for illumination. CCFLs contain harmful mercury and lead, and have poor color and contrast when compared with other backlight technologies. Small screen LCDs used in cell phones, PDAs and MP3 players use LEDs in an edge-lighting configuration for backlighting, allowing manufacturers to design cost-effective products with attractive, very thin form factors.
LEDs are emerging as a preferred light source for backlight units for large screen TVs. LED-based backlight units typically use hundreds to thousands of conventional white LEDs, or a combination of conventional red, green and blue LEDs across the unit. The cost and complexity of this approach is high, however, and has throttled market success.
The edge-lighting approach is easier and less expensive to implement, but has not been successful because conventional LEDs are simply not bright enough to edge-light large LCD screens.
Luminus, in partnership with Global Lighting Technologies (GLT), has developed a breakthrough edge-lighting solution for large screen LCD TVs. The PhlatLight™ Back-Light Unit (BLU) uses a small number of RGB PhlatLight LEDs and GLT’s MicroLens-based light guides to illuminate very large LCD TVs, with screen sizes 42 inches and larger.
The PhlatLight BLU system enables the easy implementation of advanced features such as active color management, progressive scanning and local dimming, in a manner that allows for simpler design, higher efficiency and lower cost.
The BLU design is exceptionally thin and easily scales from 42 inches to 65 inches and larger, enabling Luminus to bring the superior benefits of LED technology to large screen LCD television.
