The invention describes an Organic Light Emitting Device (OLED) with distributed electrodes, a sensor and a power supply, a method of controlling the brightness distribution of such an OLED and a corresponding method of driving an OLED.
An organic light-emitting diode (OLED) device is manufactured by building up a series of layers, usually comprising an active or organic layer sandwiched between an anode and a cathode. A voltage is applied across the anode and cathode using contact pads arranged along one or more sides of the device, while the remainder of the device is encapsulated to protect the active layer from moisture, oxygen and other contaminations. An OLED device can be top-emitting and/or bottom-emitting, depending on whether one or both of the electrodes are transparent. For example, for a bottom-emitting device, a transparent anode can be applied onto a transparent carrier such as glass using a layer of a Transparent Conducting Oxide (TCO), for example indium tin oxide (ITO). The organic layer and the cathode are then applied onto the anode before the device is finally encapsulated. However, a transparent electrode is generally also associated with a poor lateral conductivity. As a result, the brightness over the light emitting area in such an OLED can noticeably drop off towards the center. For OLEDs used in illumination applications requiring a homogenous brightness over the light emitting area, this problem is usually circumvented by an additional structure of thin metal shunt lines applied onto the transparent electrode in order to enhance its conductivity. However, these shunt lines are inflexible and not suitable for large area OLEDs.
It is thus an object of the present invention to provide an OLED with improved brightness distribution, an improved method of controlling the brightness distribution of an OLED and an improved method of driving an OLED.
According to a first aspect an OLED is provided, the OLED comprises an active layer between a first electrode and a second electrode. The OLED further comprises electrical connectors for connecting the OLED panel to a power supply. The OLED further comprises a plurality of current distributors for electrically contacting the first and/or the second electrode to the power supply. The current distributors may comprise contact pads which may be provided in a regular pattern on the first and/or second electrode. It may be preferred to provide the contact pads only on one electrode in case the OLED emits only light in one direction. The size of the contact pads should be small such that they are invisible or nearly invisible for a viewer of a light emitting OLED. The current distributors may comprise a plurality of openings or vias, wherein an opening extends through the second electrode and the active layer to expose an area of the first electrode; and a plurality of selectively addressable current distribution lines, wherein a current distribution line is arranged to extend between an electrical connector and a contact pad on the first electrode such that an electrical connection can be established between the power supply and the first electrode to specifically regulate the brightness of the active layer in the vicinity of the contact pad by that current distribution line. The current distribution lines are electrically connected to each other by means of the first electrode. The power supply is electrically connected to the electrical connectors. The power supply comprises a controller which is adapted to control a current flow to the current distributors and thus the contact pads on the first electrode based on electrical parameters characterizing the brightness of an area of the OLED around the contact pads of the current distributors.
The electrical parameters may be determined by means of calibration of the OLED after manufacturing of the OLED. In a first calibration step the same current and voltage may be provided to the current distributors. In a second calibration step the current and/or voltage supplied to the different current distributors may be varied until a homogeneous or at least more homogeneous brightness distribution in comparison to supplying equal voltage and current to the current distributors is achieved. The electrical parameters for each current distributor determined by means of the calibration may be stored in a memory device of the controller such that the OLED can be driven by means of the power supply using the electrical parameters in order to improve the brightness distribution of the OLED. The brightness distribution may comprise a color point distribution. The measurements by means of the sensors may thus be used to adapt the electrical parameters in order to compensate inhomogeneities of the color point distribution.
The OLED further comprises at least one sensor. The sensor is adapted to measure data like temperature, electrical characteristics of the OLED, ambient light and the like which may be relevant for the brightness and/or brightness distribution of the OLED. The controller may use the measured data to adapt the electrical parameters such that a more homogeneous lighting distribution is achieved. The brightness may be influenced by the ambient temperature or aging of the OLED. The electrical parameters as current and/or voltage applied to the current distributors are corrected based on the data measured by the sensor. The correction may be based on a known functional dependency of the respective electrical parameter on the physical parameter measured by the sensor as, for example, a known temperature dependency. The functional dependency may be stored in the memory device of the controller. Alternatively or in addition the dependency may be determined during the calibration by measuring the electrical parameters depending on the ambient temperature and the like and store the results in a look up table in the memory device of the controller.
Especially large OLEDs may be confronted with the problem that different areas of the OLED may have different temperatures. Reasons may be external heat sources, varying heat transferring properties as air flow or different surface properties. Furthermore, the OLED itself may produce heat which is not evenly distributed across the OLED. Two, three, four or more sensors may thus be used to measure the temperature of different areas of the OLED. The electrical parameters can be adapted to the temperature data measured by the sensors such that visible brightness variations caused by the temperature variations can be minimized by means of the controller.
Beside temperature sensors it may be advantageous to provide two, three, four or a multitude of sensors measuring the ambient light at different areas of the OLED. The ambient light may cause unwanted brightness variations and the measurement data of the ambient light sensors may be used to correct the electrical parameters in order to improve or adapt the brightness distribution of OLED to the ambient light. The measurement data of the ambient light sensors may also be used to determine ambient light induced aging of the OLED and compensate the aging by means of adapting or correcting the electrical parameters based on the measurement data of the respective area of the OLED. Such adaption may, for example, be necessary if only a part of an OLED is exposed to direct sun light. The measurement of ambient light may be combined with temperature measurement.
The local electrical characteristics as impedances and the like of the current distributors may be an indicator of the brightness of the OLED in an area around the contact pad. It may thus be advantageous to measure such electrical characteristics of at least a part (e.g. checker board pattern) or all of the current distributors. Regular measurements of the electrical characteristics may be used to provide a feedback loop for correcting or adapting the electrical parameters. The electrical parameters may be adapted in accordance with a known functional dependency of the brightness on the electrical characteristics stored in the memory device of the controller. Alternatively or in addition the dependency may be determined by measuring the dependency of the electrical parameters on the electrical characteristics of a number of OLEDs. The results may be analyzed and average values may be calculated. The average values may be stored in a look up table in the memory device of the controller. The measurements may be combined with aging measurements such that aging induced brightness variations may be locally compensated by adapting or correcting the electrical parameters of the respective current distributors.
A part or all of the current distributors may comprise a temperature sensor such that the temperature of the OLED can be measured locally. The contact between the current distributor and the TCO of the first electrode may, for example, be used as thermocouple. The current distribution line may consist of silver, aluminum or the like. The first electrode may consist of a TCO like, for example, Indium Tin Oxide (ITO). The contact between, for example, silver and ITO may be used as thermocouple. The local temperatures may be used to adapt or control the electrical parameters based on the measurement data provided by the thermocouples. Local variations of the temperature within the layer structure of the OLED may be detected by means of such integrated thermocouples in order to provide a homogeneous brightness profile. The thermocouples may also be used to determine potential malfunctions of the OLED by detecting local heating of the OLED.
The controller of the power supply may control the power supply to drive the OLED in a lighting mode and a sensor mode. The OLED emits light in the lighting mode and sensor data is acquired in the sensor mode. The lighting mode may be characterized by high currents. In the sensor mode only limited power is supplied to the OLED in order to minimize disturbance of the measurement. The lighting and sensor mode may be arranged in a way that the sensor mode cannot be observed during light emission by the OLED. The sensor mode may thus comprise only short periods in between relatively long lighting periods of the lighting mode. The sensor mode may comprise an electrical characteristics determining mode for determining the electrical characteristics of at least a part of the current distributors. The sensor mode may alternatively or in addition comprise a measurement data mode for determining the measurement data of the thermocouple. The power supply may, for example, provide defined DC or AC voltage to the OLED panel in order to measure the impedance of the current distributors whereby in the measurement data mode no voltage or a defined DC offset voltage is provided in order to minimize the influence of the power supply. The sensor mode may be applied to all current distributors or only a sub group of current distributors in order to minimize the effect regarding light emission. The impedance of the current distributors may even be measured one after the other using a scanning scheme.
The OLED may further comprise an optical sensor like a CCD chip or optical MOS in order to measure the brightness distribution and/or color point distribution of the OLED. One or more optical sensors may be integrated, for example, in the edge or corner of the OLED. The controller may use the measured brightness and/or color point distribution to adapt the electrical parameters such that the homogeneity of the brightness and/or color point distribution is improved. The data provided by the optical sensor may be used in combination with data provided by temperature sensors, ambient light sensors or sensors measuring the electrical characteristics of the current distributors. A combination of all this measurement data may enable a full feedback control of the OLED.
Instead of integrating the optical sensor it may be possible integrate a receiver for receiving measurement data of an optical sensor for determining the brightness distribution and/or color point distribution of the OLED. A camera, mobile phone or a specific optical device comprising such an optical sensor may be used to measure the brightness and/or color point distribution of the OLED. The measurement data may be transferred to the OLED via the receiver such that the controller may adapt the electrical parameters based on the measured brightness distribution. The data provided by the measurement device comprising the optical sensor(s) has to be in a format which can be processed by the controller. The receiver may be a wireless or wired interface which can be connected to the measurement device. The receiver thus enables a calibration of the OLED. The OLED may even be enabled by means of a transceiver to request a calibration in case of irregular measurement data provided by one or more of the sensors described above. Measurement data provided by temperature, ambient light or electrical sensors may be used to support the calibration. Ambient light sensors may, for example, be used to enable a compensation of ambient light in the brightness distribution and/or color point distribution provided by the measurement device.
In accordance with a further aspect of the present invention a method of controlling the brightness distribution of an OLED described above is provided. The method comprises the steps of;
Data being relevant for the brightness and/or brightness distribution of the OLED may be, for example, the impedance of the individual OLED parts connected to each current distributor or the brightness distribution of the OLED. Variations of the brightness may be correlated with the electrical characteristics or the local temperature of the OLED. The electrical parameters may thus be adapted by means of the correlation between the measured brightness distribution and the measured impedance of the individual OLED parts connected to each current distributor or local temperature of the OLED.
In accordance with a further aspect of the present invention a method of driving an OLED described above is provided. The method comprises the steps of:
The sensor mode may be used between two lighting periods in order to determine the impedance of the current distributors and/or to measure the local temperature of the OLED panel by means of temperature sensors. Power supply to the OLED panel may be low in the sensor mode in order to minimize the influence with respect to the measurement data acquired by means of the sensor or sensors.
It shall be understood that the OLED of claim 1 and the methods of claim 11 or 15 have similar and/or identical embodiments, in particular, as defined in the dependent claims.
It shall be understood that a preferred embodiment of the invention can also be any combination of the dependent claims with the respective independent claim.
Further advantageous embodiments are defined below.
These and other aspects of the invention will be apparent from and elucidated with reference to the embodiments described hereinafter.
The invention will now be described, by way of example, based on embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings.
In the drawings:
In the Figures, like numbers refer to like objects throughout. Objects in the Figures are not necessarily drawn to scale.
Various embodiments of the invention will now be described by means of the Figures.
A very simplified plan view of an OLED panel being part of an OLED 1 is shown in
In
The invention enables to control the brightness distribution which may be caused by the poor electrical conductivity of the transparent electrode. The transparent electrode may be the top electrode not in contact with the substrate (top emitter) or the bottom electrode being in contact with the substrate (bottom emitter). The invention may also be used in combination with transparent OLEDs in combination with both electrodes.
While the invention has been illustrated and described in detail in the drawings and the foregoing description, such illustration and description are to be considered illustrative or exemplary and not restrictive.
From reading the present disclosure, other modifications will be apparent to persons skilled in the art. Such modifications may involve other features which are already known in the art and which may be used instead of or in addition to features already described herein.
Variations to the disclosed embodiments can be understood and effected by those skilled in the art, from a study of the drawings, the disclosure and the appended claims. In the claims, the word “comprising” does not exclude other elements or steps, and the indefinite article “a” or “an” does not exclude a plurality of elements or steps. The mere fact that certain measures are recited in mutually different dependent claims does not indicate that a combination of these measures cannot be used to advantage.
Any reference signs in the claims should not be construed as limiting the scope thereof.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
13177830.0 | Jul 2013 | EP | regional |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
Parent | PCT/EP2014/065758 | Jul 2014 | US |
Child | 15001462 | US |