Ultra-thin, heat dissipation and flexibility: the new direction of LED screen design

The domestic LED screen industry has been at the forefront of the international market, which is a very significant achievement. However, this also brings some questions: Where is the next innovation direction? In the past, we followed international trends, with the low-cost nature of trial and error and a clear direction. Now, the domestic LED screen industry must "explore unknown new areas on its own."

Starting from demand, ultra-thin and flexible direction

Ultra-thin and flexible display products, this is the most fashionable concept in the color TV and mobile phone circles, and it is also the development direction of OLED display. So, for technologies such as large engineering screens and LED screens, is ultra-thinness and flexibility also necessary? The answer is yes.

The ultra-thin screen means it can be used in more compact and delicate environments, and can be integrated into more complex and creative decoration effects. At the same time, it also means "saving space and saving costs" - most application fields of LED screens are "high housing price areas".

In addition, for ultra-thin design LED screen products, a greater significance is that those ancient buildings can also host LED screens. Some buildings, perhaps due to structural and lifespan issues, cannot support the external load required by traditional, overly heavy screens, but the lightweight of thin screens can solve this problem; in other buildings, mainly for indoor use, lack of space is a big problem, and thin and light LED screens can break this bottleneck.

The benefits of flexible LED screen design are even more obvious: it can meet the viewing angle requirements of corner applications and is conducive to creating "differentiated special-shaped displays". Although these display requirements can also be achieved using general rigid units, flexible products can achieve a better level of detail and a wider product application space - that is, a standardized flexible unit can be spliced ​​into special-shaped structures with completely different effects. This is almost "large-scale standardized manufacturing" for special-shaped displays.

For LED screen design, ultra-thinness is the prerequisite for flexibility. Only thin enough units can achieve greater flexibility in arc changes and even fold directly within the structural capacity range. At the same time, ultra-thin and flexible design all mean the use of new material technologies: including PCB boards, chassis, lamp beads, etc., all require new systems. These products will drive changes in the entire LED screen industry chain.

Starting from engineering, thermal design is the core

It has always been an industry trend to make LED units, whether they are small-pitch products or traditional outdoor products, more compact. However, the development of ultra-thin products is not very smooth because "heat" is the core problem.

For outdoor screens, heat dissipation design not only considers internal heating issues, but also needs to consider external "sunlight" heating issues. Since LED screens mostly adopt high-contrast designs and have low surface reflectivity, most sunlight exposure will be converted into heat and accumulated.

For indoor small spacing screens, there is no threat from sunlight. However, small-pitch screens have a higher density of lamp beads, which means a higher density of heat sources, higher requirements for thinness and lightness of the product, and limited available space for heat dissipation and convection around the product. These factors make the heat dissipation design of small-pitch LED screens not simple.

There are three main aspects to the "thermal" design of LED screens: The first is to reduce heat sources. This includes the use of more efficient lamp bead products and the use of more efficient unit power supply and driving equipment. The second is to enhance heat resistance. Including thermal aging and thermal stability design of lamp beads, electronic components and glued components, material selection, etc.

The third aspect is the design of active and passive heat dissipation structures. From the perspective of passive heat dissipation, it includes the heat dissipation efficiency and air convection resistance on the front side of the screen; the heat conduction structure on the back of the screen lamp bead layer, the heat conduction uniformity in cooperation with ventilation equipment, and the heat convection dead corners inside the box, etc. Active cooling design is mainly about active air convection and noise control inside the box.

In addition, the thermal design of LED screens also includes thermal safety. That is, self-protection in the event of overheating or local overheating. These include reducing brightness, accelerating forced heat dissipation, active shutdown protection, and half-resolution working methods that can be used for small-pitch products. This involves two parts: sensor and heat dissipation control.

From the above analysis, it can be seen that the "thermal design" of LED screens is a very comprehensive field. However, thermal design is indeed the basis for LED screen application innovation. Thermal stability is related to practical application indicators such as the lifespan, defect rate, and operation and maintenance costs of LED screens. It also limits the application environments of LED screens.

More importantly, both thin and flexible LED screens must be based on highly redundant thermal design. Thin and light products have the characteristics of small internal space, insufficient air convection, and more serious internal heat accumulation problems; flexible units may face more serious thermal aging of materials and more complex internal convection structures.

In other words, the relationship between demand-oriented ultra-thin and flexible innovation and engineering-oriented heat dissipation design is largely related to "effect" and "basis". Without good thermal technology and thermal material research, there would be no soil for the development of ultra-thin and flexible LED screens.

Industry-oriented innovative exchanges

Whether it is ultra-thin, flexible or thermal design, LED screen products cannot avoid the technological progress of LED lamp beads. The domestic LED screen industry and lamp bead companies are in completely different industrial units, and the lack of necessary communication between the two has become the key to hindering LED screen product innovation.

The basic structure of the domestic LED screen industry has the characteristics of a "native workshop". That is to say, the antagonism between enterprises in the industry is very strong, the competitive hostility between enterprises is clear, and there is a lack of common topics and "sit down" discussions between enterprises. There are three reasons for this situation:

Historically, the domestic LED screen industry is a typical industry that follows the pace of foreign products and achieves entrepreneurial development by replacing imports. In this development process, strategic decision-making is not required. Following the strategy is enough to complete the direction choice. At the same time, this development process can easily fall into price-based competition, which can lead to hostility and distrust among enterprises.

From the perspective of industrial spatial structure, the scale of the domestic LED screen market is regional and industrialized. Combined with the large scale and relatively rapid growth of the overall domestic market, this can easily lead to the phenomenon that many companies can survive and develop on their own and achieve very good results. This is the unique feature of the late-moving explosive market.

From the current technical point of view, homogeneity is a serious problem. Therefore, the basis for communication between manufacturers is not strong. In the product market, the dominance of “project driving force” is becoming increasingly clear. Especially large enterprises, which tend to dominate the high-end market, are particularly affected by "project drivers". This increases competition within the industry.

As a result of the above three factors, although the domestic LED industry is relatively large in scale, it does not have systematic industry self-discipline and communication strength.

However, the core component of the LED screen, the lamp bead industry, reflects the characteristics of large investment, high capital and technology intensity, and high production capacity. The strategy of a single LED screen company is not enough to affect the R&D and innovation direction of any company in the lamp bead industry. The "reflection on innovation" in lamp bead products is actually the biggest "structural resistance" to the progress and development of the LED screen industry.

Whether it is ultra-thin or flexible LED screen, or thermal structure design, it is inseparable from the innovation of lamp bead products. Flexible screens require small and bright lamp bead design; ultra-thin products require the lamp bead itself to be thin and light; thermal design requires the lamp bead itself to have higher luminous efficiency, better thermal flat structure, better heat resistance and reliable working indicators in different thermal environments. In addition, the LED screen industry is also facing "cost considerations" of domestic substitution of lamp bead components.

In fact, not only lamp bead products, but also emerging PCB materials, electronic copper materials and technologies, LED process equipment, etc., all require the LED screen industry to have a unified development direction and strategic expression, and require communication and interaction between upstream and downstream industries. From this perspective, the LED screen industry not only needs product innovation, but also needs "industrial structure" innovation in the entire industry.

Exploring the unknown, the only choice for the LED screen industry

At present, the domestic LED screen industry, represented by small-pitch LED screen technology, has stood at the forefront of global LED displays. In many areas, leadership trends are even shown. However, it will take a certain amount of time for local LED industries and companies to truly become world leaders. Including developing overseas markets and exporting brand image, it is not something that can be accomplished overnight.

First of all, the gap between China and foreign countries in small-pitch LED screens is that the industrialization process of local enterprises is 3 years better than that of foreign countries, and the technical reserves are about 2 years better than that of foreign countries. This isn't a huge difference. At the same time, this gap is characterized by market dislocation. That is to say, for the international market, Chinese companies have just stepped out, and technological leadership is not enough to immediately translate into market leadership - in fact, more shares of the international market are still in the hands of European, American, Japanese and Korean companies. The leadership of Chinese companies, from a market perspective, is more reflected in “almost squeezing foreign brands out of China’s territory.”

Second, at the international market level, foreign brand giants also have the advantages of channels, traditional reputation and service systems. These advantages are the result of time accumulation and cannot be replaced by the existing technological leadership of domestic enterprises. At the same time, international giants are also developing small-pitch products and will begin to put them on the market around 2017. This may cause local small-pitch LED screen companies to frustrate their internationalization route by leveraging their technological advantages.

Therefore, for the domestic LED screen industry to truly realize the transformation from "China strong" to "Globally strong", it must be based on continuous "transcendence".

On the one hand, domestic enterprises and industries must continue to innovate products, continue to lead new trends in the industry, continue to maintain leadership in technology and marketization, and not give international giants a chance to breathe. That is to say, "It is better to use your courage to chase the poor bandits, and not to use your reputation as an academic overlord."

On the other hand, domestic companies must realize the shortcomings of internationalization: talents, channels, and brands. We should increase the intensity of international cooperation, mobilize more resources at home and abroad by bundling multiple interests, and accelerate the pace of going global.

These two aspects of development are brand-new topics and unknown areas for the domestic LED large-screen industry. However, for the further sublimation of the LED screen industry, internationalization, facing international giants, and defeating them are unavoidable issues. Although the domestic market is still developing rapidly, which is enough to support the temporary growth of the domestic LED screen industry, in the long run, only the international market is the real blue ocean for domestic LED screen companies.

From technology, products to industry and market, the innovation path of the domestic LED screen industry has just begun. There are more mountains to climb ahead. As local companies technically occupy the international commanding heights, industry innovation will inevitably enter deep water areas. This requires a brave spirit, firm will and lofty ambitions to achieve the next leap. This is the historical destiny of LED screen people today.