3-D OLED Taillights Produced

Large-area, 3-D OLED taillights have been incorporated into an automobile for the first time under an “OLED 3D” research consortium supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research.

The 3 ½-year, €5.7 million (about $7.4 million) project, aimed at analyzing and improving the technology and application of 3-D OLEDs in automotive applications throughout the entire supply chain, was led by Philips of Aachen, in collaboration with researchers from Audi of Ingolstadt, Automotive Lighting of Reutlingen, Merck KGaA, the Technical University of Darmstadt and the University of Cologne.

Large-area, 3-D OLED taillights have been developed and incorporated into an automobile for the first time by a consortium of researchers in Europe under a German Federal Ministry of Education and Research project. Courtesy of Merck KGaA.

Merck and Technical University worked together to develop cross-linkable red OLED materials, which can be produced in multiple layers on formed glass using wet chemistry. The University of Cologne conducted research on the manufacturing process and demonstrated it on 3-D samples.

Automotive Lighting developed and tested the 3-D-supported concepts for the application, mounting and control of large-area, curved OLED components in rear lights, which had to be adapted from 2-D glass substrate manufacturing. Audi developed the OLED-specific design, which was produced by Philips, and Audi integrated the lighting into its TT model.

The result creates new design possibilities for innovative OLED lighting applications in automotive engineering, the investigators say.

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