It is difficult for the employees of the world's top display manufacturer to find solutions to problems all on their own. But at the same time, they can't help but be concerned about discovering definite solutions faster than their competitors. How can you be victorious in such a fierce environment? Also, what is the secret to starting later than your competitor but still managing to deliver superior technology?
Belated Glory
The research for the Active Bending project, which began in 2013, took only 2 years and 3 months. When research for the project began, the original goal for the technology was a 10mmR curvature and the project was even named 10mmR. But the ultimately the challenge became an even more ambitious 5mmR.
When asked about her impression of the success at CES 2015, PO Mechanics Team researcher Daoon Jung, who was involved in the project from the start, commented saying, "From the very beginning, it was our goal to commercialize the technology very quickly. In actuality, we developed our technology before our competitors could. So we want to commercialize the products first as well. While I'm excited about the great response Active Bending technology has received, I still think it is a bit of a shame that it took so long to receive this sort of attention."
When asked if there was a particularly critical moment in the development process, the team gave this very direct answer, "The entire process was critical. A main focus of the project was to make it so the product wouldn't work while maintaining conviction that it would work and keeping us the spirit of experimentation to overcome the crisis."
Active Bending product development team in LG display
Saejun Cho of the PO Mechanics Design Team, which manufactured the prototype set, reveals the know-how that went into making the prototype set close to that of a mass production product model and the manufacturing process, "The sample that you see here at CES actually is a set that was remade just a month before the exhibition due to some errors that were occurring."
"We made the entire design of the glass printing set. We had to consider the location of the battery and the board that drives the panel when designing the machines in order to assemble the set. Through a series of design checks, we had to figure out what components would be places in what position in order to make the product you see here. It was a difficult task but I feel great that this product that was developed through a project that I was a part of from the start is receiving so much attention from the press. I don't think I've felt this great about anything before [laughs]."
"The first prototype that we made a year ago was quite unsightly," said Tae-Jun Ahn. "It wasn't as though we simply decided to make a product and then went straight out and made it, we had to do extensive research and compile know-how in order to make the complete product. We improved on our failures and made the second prototype we have now."
Expanding Potential while Focusing on the Commercialization of 5mmR
After the nearly two and a half year project, what do the Active Bending Product Development Team members think?
"In actuality, we're quite exhausted because set manufacturers kept changing their minds on whether or not they would make our active bonding display," said Taejun Ahn in an honest admission.
"But this is such an interesting research item and if we can improve on the 5mmR curvature, it may be possible to produce a more innovative product with an improved form factor."
"While we say we would like to achieve a more sheer curvature, the display cannot be bent to that degree at this point. As I said before, Component development must be done so that the TFT and OLED components don't break at that extreme of a curvature and under that pressure. These ideal components take time to develop and product development takes time as well. All of these conditions go into our work so I think we must master the 'art of patience'."
Active Bending product development team in LG display2
"Research for the realization of the true ideal curvature should be transferred to 'foldable' development. We will likely concentrate on the commercialization of the 5mmR bended display through the collaboration of different technologies such as new touch screen methods," TaeJun Ahn explained. "We are hardware makers, so we can assert that a 5mmR curvature display is possible through the proof of this Active Bending prototype. Our biggest asset is that we can say 'it is possible to make a 5mmR curvature bended display'."
"Our 5mmR curvature display is not only available for smartphones, but we can of course also provide the display for other products such as wristbands, rings and necklaces. The final goal of our research is to commercialize the plastic OLED display in diverse ways through selecting the most viable options from a wide spectrum of possibilities."
'You can do it if you try!' enlightenment
When the project began in 2013, the Active Bending Product Development Team was able to advance the technology from 30mmR to 20mmR and over the next 2 years, they achieved a 5mmR curvature on their own.
"In truth, our competitor began research on plastic OLED technology at 5 years before us. Some people might say that we were copying them. Our competitor was able to achieve a 7mmR curvature but we did not thing that that was the technological limit. Actually, a steeper curvature was possible but the curvature had to be compromised after considering the manufacturing of the display. But in a short amount of time, we were not looking to merely catch up to the standard of our competitor's technology."
An interview with the Active Bending Product Development Team 21
By studying papers and related academic information and gaining inspiration from the idea of 'creating something out of nothing', the Active Bending Product Development Team began 2015 with the acknowledgement of their efforts. You can really see the faith in the future when you see the 7 members of this team.
The day will soon come when active bending technology will be realized and make our dailies lives more convenient. 5mmR plastic OLED with flexible characteristics will be applied to more products than can even be counted. Just as with the watch that has been introduced into the market, it will also be possible to implement this technology to a diverse range of products such as rings and necklaces. We look forward to this technology opening up the future to our imaginations.
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