Sunlight Readable

Transflective LCD technology can be applied to certain selected regular TFT LCD to introduce the LCD with a reflective function. With the imposed reflective function, the modified LCD can reflect the ambient light passing the LCD cell and utilize the reflected light beams as its illumination. The stronger the ambient light is, the brighter the LCD will be. As a result, the modified LCD is viewable under lighting conditions including direct sunlight. The advantages of transflective LCD technology are as the comparison table below.

How does this technology work?

Transflective LCD modules hold both transmissive and reflective properties, and the method of image display depends upon the conditions of the ambient environment. The display uses a backlight with a transmissive property in dark environments and uses external light with a reflective property in bright environments. Our improved transflective method allows better color performance, which provides excellent color characteristics similar to the transmissive mode. The net Reflectance rate of our Transflective LCD solution is from 0.9% to 1.3% varied from panels selected. For example, with a 1.3% net reflectance rate and under 10,000 ambient sunlight conditions, the brightness gain is around 130 nits added to the original backlight brightness.

Technology / Function Diagrams

Limitation of Transflective LCD

The factors that influence outdoor readability:

1. LCD ITO glass coating: Those panels with a lower reflectance rate of ITO glass will have better results on the transflective enhancement. The low reflectance rate of the ITO glass will reduce the surface reflection, thus increasing the effective lights available for the inner transflective film to reflect out.
2. The contrast ratio is another factor that can influence readability. Both brightness and contrast ratios need to be in the proper range to be sunlight-readable.
3. Touch screen and protection glass selection:
   If you want a built-in touch screen or protection glass, you need to use the material whose Reflectance rate is less than 0.6%.

Touch screen type suggestion: ELO SAW or IR touch do have a better (lower) Reflectance rate. Generally, the reflectance rate of protection glass can be as high as 4~6%. Our transflective LCD needs to work with less than 1% Reflectance ratio glass to work well with sunlight readability performance.

Benefits

• Readable under all lighting conditions to include direct Sunlight
• Enhanced contrast ratio for both indoor and outdoor conditions
• Utmost indoor color saturation, brightness, and viewing angle
• Full mechanical and electrical compliance with the existent system
• Power saving and backlight life preserving in outdoor applications
• No extra heat generation even when viewed at higher brightness

Applications

The market demands for outdoor LCD applications are expanding, such as mobile navigator/video systems, table PC, KIOSK, POS, LCD TV. Transflective LCD truly offers a most convenient and affordable solution for your various outdoor LCD applications.