A very clear explanation from JH--my question below:
Hi . Thanks for the question. I think its important to understand that PDLC is not an optically sensitive product. You can have irregularities in the PET-ITO substrate and you won't notice it because of the high haze levels, etc. that are generally inherent with PDLC.
When we use ITO-PET we want it to have optical clarity (no haze) and high light transmission, while also having a good uniform coating of the ITO transparent conductor. Haze is an easy concept to understand. If you focus also on light transmission, consider that a high quality sheet of PET-ITO with high light transmission (eg 90%) actually without adding anything to the stack, will result in 81% light transmission (0.9 x 0.9=0.81) because there are two sheets of PET-ITO (one on each side).
Also for every square meter of SPD, there are two square meters of PET-ITO
Being able to forward commit to large quantities of PET-ITO can reduce the costs considerably. The issue that we and our licensees often face however is that even in full serial production, the licensee typically only gets 4-5 month production callouts from the OEM. So you need multiple models and multiple OEMs to be able to sufficiently predict needed PET-ITO quantities.
Joe
Joseph M. Harary, President and CEO
Research Frontiers Incorporated
240 Crossways Park Drive
Woodbury, New York 11797-2033
Tel: 516-364-1902 ext. 220 or 888-SPD-REFR ext.220
Fax: 516-364-3798
Email: Harary@SmartGlass.com
Internet: smartglass.com
"Can Your Glass Do This?"
Hi Joe,
I'll post your reply, if any, on a public SI board.
A recent research report asserts that the single biggest cost issue holding mass spd adoption back is the lack of scale pricing for PET-ITO film. Is the inability to get volume pricing for PET-ITO the only obstacle to mass SPD adoption?
I note that PDLC also uses the exact same amount of PET-ITO for the same smart sunroof and so I remain very skeptical of this assertion given the starting point for both (slk in 2011) had more SPD sunroofs than PDLC and so scale advantage should have been on SPD's side.
Thank you, |
