There’s More Than One Way to Roll a Display

Few display prospects are more tantalizing than a flexible display that you could roll up like a window shade. It would be like having a projector and retractable screen, except that you don’t need the projector. And while we see enticing demonstrations of displays on plastic films and other novel designs, the prospect of a commercial product always seem to recede just out of reach.

But you don’t need to have a display that is flexible in both directions in order to roll it up. Consider the SHiPLA from Shinoda Plasma of Japan. This is a product that is already commercially available, and it was on display in the I-Zone in the Exhibit Hall at Display Week. (In fact on Wednesday May 22 it won SID’s award for Best Prototype.)

How can you roll up a plasma screen? This would be difficult with a traditional flat panel design. The SHiPLA is actually made of tiny tubes of glass that are individual plasma displays. The module shown in the I-Zone has tubes that are just 1 mm in diameter, though a company representative indicated that 0.5 mm tubes are in development. The tubes are filled with red, green, or blue phosphor and grouped side-by side in threes to create white pixels.

The tubes are arranged horizontally. While the tubes cannot bend, the carrier on which they are mounted is flexible, so the entire mat of tubes can be rolled, just like a bamboo window shade.

This display runs counter to preconceived notions about plasma in other ways. Plasma panels are heavy, not that bright, and power hungry, right? Not this one. The screen weighs less than 2.2 pounds per square meter and is surprisingly bright. A portion equivalent to a 42-in. flat panel consumes only 100 watts of power.

Currently, the display is marketed for large commercial display installations, but the company’s road map includes plans for smaller roll-up models intended for consumer use in the home. -- Alfred Poor

Photo by Alfred Poor