A printed display does not have to look like a screen
A status symbol on a shipping label has a modest job. It might need to show that a parcel has been checked, a threshold has been crossed or an item has reached its destination. A rectangle of individually addressed pixels can be an elaborate way of providing that answer.
Luchrome is taking another route with Lusight, a fully printed display technology that can be shaped around the information it needs to show. The company describes the process as additive and metal-free, with design and printing carried out in-house. Its electronica programme places smart labels, medical devices and connected objects among the intended applications.
In a recent Startup Spotlight presentation, chief executive Romain Futsch described flexible segmented displays around 300µm thick, quoting average consumption of approximately 1µW per square centimetre. The displays use reflected ambient light rather than a continuously illuminated backlight.
Those characteristics change the mechanical starting point. An indicator can follow the outline of a label or occupy part of a curved surface. Its visible area need not bring a conventional display module, bezel and rectangular window along with it. Flexibility also creates a connection problem: the display, its contacts and the electronics driving it still have to tolerate the chosen assembly and handling conditions.
The power figure needs a similar degree of context. Average consumption depends on the way an indicator is driven and updated, while reflective operation depends on the available light. It would be premature to turn one quoted figure into a universal battery-life calculation or assume that every displayed state needs no holding power.
Luchrome’s manufacturer material includes an STM32 Nucleo shield for evaluating the technology. That offers a route into the electrical interface before a display becomes part of a custom label or enclosure. The company is also seeking partners able to scale production, a separate task from making an individual demonstration work.
An NFC-enabled badge and a printed-display magazine cover were among the examples discussed in the presentation. Both put the information on the object itself, where it can be read without opening an app. Luchrome is scheduled to present Lusight at electronica on 10 November, from noon to 12:30 in Hall B4.
