Flexible Illuminated EL Coatings and Micro Manufacturing Cells to Apply Them

电致发光（EL）涂料是一种令人难以置信的新技术，它是对传统EL背光背后的技术进行了改造，使我的丝网印刷。从字面上看，它们是一种在开关轻弹时就会发光的涂料，一种像其他涂料一样可以应用于几乎任何2D或3D表面的涂料。从自行车车架到消防员或自行车头盔，汽车内饰或外部车身，车辆包装，服装，空中救护车到紧急照明走道，EL涂层可以做到这一切。到目前为止，Bandgap已经在广泛的项目中应用了这些涂层，其中一些亮点是日产Formula E赛车，作为空中客车A350-1000上的乙烯基包装，在私人飞机内部零件，甚至电影/电视服装上。由于涂料，到目前为止，只能用喷枪手工喷涂，应用仅限于高端，一个生产或小批量生产。Bandgap打算开发下一代电致发光涂层，并在健康和医疗领域大规模采用。安全/个人防护设备、自行车安全、广告/品牌、航空、汽车和赛车行业。现有的EL材料（丝网印刷或喷涂）大多数是不可弯曲的，并且如果拉伸则会破裂或撕裂。虽然我们现有的EL涂料比传统的EL更灵活，并且已经可以应用于乙烯基，以制作仅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，我们将重新发明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，并且通常是为了制造非常特定的产品而建立的，重新装备以生产其他产品的成本非常高。Bandgap等公司正在开创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（容易根据需求扩大或缩小），并且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，但每个人都可能不同。

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.