Flexible Illuminated EL Coatings and Micro Manufacturing Cells to Apply Them

电致发光（EL）涂层是一种令人难以置信的新适应技术背后的传统EL背光使我的丝网印刷。从字面上讲，它们是一种颜料，一按开关就会发光，一种颜料，像其他颜料一样，可以应用于几乎任何2D或3D表面。从自行车框架到消防员或自行车头盔，汽车内饰或外部车身，车辆包裹，服装，空中救护车到紧急照明人行道，EL涂料可以做到这一切。到目前为止，Bandgap已经将这些涂层应用于广泛的项目，其中一些亮点是日产E级方程式赛车，空客A350-1000的乙烯膜，私人飞机内部部件甚至电影/电视服装。到目前为止，由于该涂层仅通过喷枪手工喷涂，因此应用仅限于高端，一次性或小批量制造。Bandgap打算开发下一代电致发光涂料，并在健康和安全/PPE、自行车安全、广告/品牌、航空、汽车和赛车运动行业大规模采用。现有的EL材料（丝网印刷或喷涂）大多不灵活，如果拉伸就会开裂或撕裂。虽然我们现有的EL涂层比传统的EL更灵活，并且已经可以应用于乙烯基，制作只有几百微米薄的发光贴花，但通过使用新的分散技术和最先进的粘合剂树脂，我们将重新创造EL的可能性。目前，大多数电子产品制造都是在大型工厂中完成的，这些工厂高度相互依赖，供应链脆弱，通常是为了生产非常特定的产品而设置的，需要花费巨大的成本来重新装备以生产其他产品。像Bandgap这样的公司正在开拓的一种新方法是使用微型制造单元，这些单元是独立的、模块化的、参数化的（很容易按要求放大或缩小），可以快速、廉价地部署。这种（工业4.0）方法，通过机器直接应用材料，将允许大规模定制，即产品可以大规模涂覆，但每个产品都可能不同。

Electroluminescent (EL) coatings are an incredible new adaptation of the technology behind traditional EL backlights made my screen-printing.They are, literally, a paint that lights up at the flick of a switch, a paint, that like other paints, can be applied onto almost any 2D or 3D surface. From bicycle frames to fireman's or cycle helmets, car interior trim or exterior bodywork, vehicle wraps, clothing, air ambulances to emergency illuminated walkways, EL coatings can do it all.So far, Bandgap have applied these coatings on a wide range of projects, some highlights being a Nissan Formula E race car, as a vinyl wrap on an Airbus A350-1000, on private jet interior parts and even film/tv costumes.As the coatings have, up until now, only been hand-applied by spray gun, applications have been limited to high-end, one-off or small batch manufacturing.Bandgap intend to develop the next generation of electroluminescent coatings and bring about mass adoption across the health and safety/PPE, cycling safety, advertising/branding, aviation, automotive and motorsport industries. Existing EL materials (screen printed or sprayed) are by majority inflexible and crack or tear if stretched. While our EL existing EL coatings are more flexible than traditional EL and can already be applied to vinyl to make illuminated decals just a few hundred microns thin, by using new dispersion technologies and the most state-of-the-art binder resins we will be reinventing what is possible with EL. Currently, most electronics manufacturing is done in huge factories, highly interdependent, fragile supply chains and often set up to manufacture very specific products, with enormous cost to retool to produce something else.A new approach that companies like Bandgap are pioneering is to use micro manufacturing cells which are self-contained, modular, parametric (easily scaled up or down to requirements) and can be deployed quickly and cheaply. This (industry 4.0) approach, with direct application of materials by a machine, will allow mass-customisation i.e. where products can be coated at scale, but every individual one could be different.