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Portugal Fujitsu desenvolve nova tecnologia de Plasma

Tubos de vidro com 1 mm de diâmetro

December 13, 2003

A Fujitsu Laboratories, um dos primeiros centros de investigação do Mundo, desenvolveu um plasma revolucionário baseado em tubos de vidro extremamente finos, com 1 milímetro de diâmetro, cuja função é a de emissão de luz, usando a mesma estrutura de fósforo que um PDP convencional (painel de exposição do plasma).

Esta tecnologia utiliza eléctrodos que excitam os tubos colocados no meio, para fazer um painel de exposição que poderá ter qualquer tamanho.

Uma das vantagens destes novos plasmas será usufruir desta nova tecnologia em grandes écrans que meçam mais de 100 polegadas diagonalmente, já que irão pesar muito pouco, podendo ser configurados de diversas formas com um elevado grau de flexibilidade. O formato e o número de polegadas de cada plasma deixarão de ser vinculativos.

Esta nova tecnologia permite que se possam explorar grandes espaços in-door onde se pode recorrer a aplicações de realidade virtual, estádios virtuais e outros meios de banda larga.

Financiado pelo NEDO (New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization), este conceito foi demonstrado com uma exposição do protótipo que mede 15 centímetros diagonalmente.

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Notas aos Editores

Background

With broadband networking growing more advanced and widespread, very large video displays are expected to be vital adjuncts to the next generation of networking, connecting people together in a visual space that helps them share information directly and participate in a shared environment. Display technologies that enable life-size images of people and objects to be displayed, for example in a display that covers an entire wall of a room, are considered vital in linking people together through virtual shared environments. The advent of extremely large screen displays, therefore, can be considered indispensable to the widespread adoption of next-generation broadband media applications.

Technological Issues

For indoor screen displays measuring more than 100 inches, front projectors have conventionally been used, but this approach has a variety of drawbacks, chief among them the inability to produce a sharp picture except in a dark room. Because of these drawbacks, there was a desire for large-screen displays using an emissive-type display. Another approach, creating an array of light-emitting diodes (LEDs), is already available commercially, but creating a grid of millions of LEDs is difficult to do at a reasonable cost. Such a grid would require large-scale matrix drivers, which consume heavy amounts of electricity, making the power requirements of a 100-inch indoor display exceed 3000 watts.
Plasma display panels, based on emissive principle using discharge, actually have better luminous efficiency at larger sizes, so PDPs have a clear advantage over other types of displays in that the bigger they are, the more power efficient they are (in terms of power consumption per inch of screen size). Still, producing a 100-inch PDP would require glass substrates measuring more than two meters across, entailing large-scale facilities and considerable capital investment.

The plasma tube-related technologies have the following features:

  1. Extension of PDP technology

    A plasma tube array is a mass of plasma tubes, each measuring one-millimeter in diameter and one meter in length, and each of which contains the same phosphors as a conventional PDP. The tubes are laid out in an array and sandwiched between electrode plates (see Figure 1). The array uses three types of plasma tubes-consisting of red, green, and blue phosphors-and by pulsing voltages to the electrodes, it can generate specific colors. The same driver chips widely used in plasma display panels can also be used for plasma tube arrays. Because the electrode plates are manufactured separately from the plasma tubes, they are considerably simpler to produce.
  2. Ultra-lightweight, flexible screen size & shape

    The fact that no large sheets of glass are required means that plasma tube arrays can weigh as little as one-quarter or less of conventional PDPs. Development is underway to produce a display measuring 3 x 2 meters that will weigh 20 kilograms. And because the displays are simply modular assemblies of plasma tubes, display size can easily be increased simply by expanding the number of tubes used in the array. Development right now is focused on displays ranging from 3 x 2 meters to 6 x 3 meters. The display's shape can also be easily changed by arranging the tubes differently, with domed and cylindrical displays as possibilities.
  3. High luminous efficiency

    With PDP technology, luminous efficiency rises with larger cell sizes (dischargechambers). Since the elements in a plasma tube array are considerably larger than a conventional PDP's cell, they are expected to be more efficient. Fujitsu's goal is to make them four times as efficient as current PDPs, so that at a peak luminosity of 1000 candela per square meter (equivalent to a plasma TV), a 100-inch plasma tube array should consume only a few hundred watts. The current development goal for plasma tube arrays is to ultimately achieve a luminous efficiency of over five lumens per watt.
  4. Low-cost production

    Manufacturing large PDPs requires equipment that can handle enormous glass substrates. With the plasma tube array, by contrast, the basic unit of production is a single, narrow plasma tube, which can be produced with much smaller-scale equipment. Furthermore, whereas conventional PDPs require clean-room conditions to keep contaminants out of the display's interior, plasma tubes have an inherently contaminant-resistant design, making clean rooms unnecessary.

Future Development
The technology is currently being evaluated for luminance lifetime and other reliability factors, and production and assembly techniques are also being developed. Fujitsu expects to complete the reliability assurance process and the development of fabrication and assembly equipment within two years.

Sobre a Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd

Fundada em 1968, como uma subsidiária da Fujitsu Limited, a Fujitsu Laboratories Limited é um dos principais centros de pesquisa do mundo. Com uma rede global de laboratórios no Japão, China e Estados Unidos e Europa, a organização realiza uma vasta gama de pesquisa básica e aplicada em áreas como Multimédia, Sistemas Pessoais, Redes, Periféricos, Materiais Avançados e Dispositivos Electrónicos. Para mais informações, por favor consultar: http://www.labs.fujitsu.com/en/

Sobre a Fujitsu Services

A Fujitsu Services é uma das empresas de serviços de Tecnologia de Informação líder na Europa, Médio Oriente e África. O resultado anual é de €3.3 mil milhões, emprega 18.000 pessoas e opera em mais de 20 países. Desenha, desenvolve e opera sistemas de tecnologias de informação e serviços para clientes nos serviços financeiros, telecomunicações, retalho, utilities e mercados governamentais. As suas competências chave são o fornecimento de gestão de infra-estrutura de Tecnologias de Informação e outsourcing através de ambientes de desktop, redes e centros de dados, juntamente com uma gama completa de serviços relacionados, desde consultoria até à integração e desenvolvimento. Com sede em Londres, a Fujitsu Services é braço europeu de serviços de Tecnologias de Informação da Fujitsu. O Grupo Fujitsu, com receitas de €33.4 mil milhões, é líder em sistemas de Tecnologias de Informação orientados para o cliente e serviços para o mercado global. O site da Fujitsu Services: www.fujitsu.pt.

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Date: 13 December, 2003