I have come across the following article as I was browsing. I am very curious to see what sort of implementation we might get from this sort of translucer. I have heard of SXT or a company like that that I remember was developed was it either with Celestion, for sure it was an English company that was into making flat panel speakers.
Will this driver be point source? How will sound pressure be produced, similar to electrostatic panel?
Paper-Thin Speakers to Revolutionize Industry
By Kim Sung-jin
Staff Reporter
An era in which people will no longer be able to see bulky individual speakers or the speaker components in audio and video devices is just around the corner with the commercialization of the paper-thin plastic film speaker technology.
Plasma and Ion Beam Corp. (P&I Corp.), a South Korean venture startup, recently succeeded in developing a technology to churn out the plastic film speakers after four years of research.
Back in 2001, the startup stunned the world by developing the durable paper-thin plastic film speaker technology that will undoubtedly revolutionize the global consumer electronics industry.
Apart from traditional speakers, which generally have a woofer, a tweeter and sometimes a mid-range mounted in some kind of cabinet, the plastic film speaker appears like a translucent or transparent microfiche film.
``There’s virtually no difference between our plastic film speaker and conventional speakers in both performance and durability,’’ Koh Seok-keun, president and CEO of P&I Corp., said.
``Even though the plastic film speaker cannot reproduce the lowest notes such as throbs of a big drum, there is no reason for us delay commercialization of the product because the speaker can be used in combination with existing woofers,’’ he added.
Koh, 47, said his speakers still have difficulty reproducing sound frequencies lower than 50 hertz, sounds such as that of a huge drum, but its sounds are virtually the same as those produced by conventional speakers for frequencies above 300 hertz.
Tenacity Pays Off
The plausibility of reproducing sound with plastic film has been discussed since the 1960s but none of the series of attempts to develop the technology worldwide succeeded until 2001, when Koh developed the first prototype with his team of scientists with Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST).
``I myself had tried to develop the plastic film speaker in the mid-1980s but the sound soon died out. There was a major problem in securing the durability of the speaker. Hundreds of scientists tried but they all failed, including myself,’’ Koh said.
More than a decade later, Koh has turned the arcane lab work into profitable real-world applications.
``I suspended the research and worked on some other projects. Then I resumed the plastic film speaker study with KIST in 1998, applying ion-assisted reaction (IAR) surface modification technology that my team of researchers developed in 1995,’’ he said.
Koh’s success stems partly from a diverse education and his tenacity; not giving up when others turned their back on the project. But it is Koh’s broad knowledge gained from earning degrees in physical chemistry, materials science, engineering and ion beam engineering that helped him hit the jackpot.
Koh and KIST sold the patent for IAR surface treatment technology _ the heat exchanger component that significantly improves the cooling efficiency and reduces noise of air conditioners _ to LG Electronics, the world’s biggest air conditioner supplier.
Secrets to Success
P&I Corp. uses piezoelectric film or polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) _ a clear plastic film _ that was developed in Japan in 1969 for its plastic film speaker.
However, it was difficult to use the PVDF as the material for the plastic film speaker since it was very tricky for scientists to attach metallic electrodes to the plastic substrate semi-permanently.
Instead of relying on adhesives, Koh’s crew turned their eyes on the surface treatment technology that can significantly improve the adhesion between electrodes and the PVDF.
Koh’s team placed sheets of PVDF in a special chamber, where plasma gas and ion beams swirl about the film amid temperatures exceeding 10,000 degrees Celsius.
Such a procedure alters the properties of the film’s surface so that the film can adhere to tiny platinum electrodes _ a previously impossible feat.
The IAR-treated surface of the plastic film makes the material hydrophilic thus enabling the platinum to uniformly conduct sound across the film by transforming the piezoelectricity into vibrations that produce sound, forming the basis for a speaker.
``Similar speakers that have been developed in the U.S. and Japan have existed for some time, but they use nickel and tin, which are less audio-friendly. And those products are still far from commercialization stage,’’ Koh said. Tin and nickel cannot produce the low notes or high volume that platinum can.
Commercialization Opportunities
Opportunities to commercialize the plastic film speaker are tremendous because of its space-saving nature and the fact it can be cut and molded into any shape.
The two most notable traits of the innovative product is its unmatched portability and durability. The ultra-light speaker can easily be carried around and there is no degradation of sound quality even when it gets folded or torn as long as the electrodes are connected to the amplifier of the audiovisual device.
Moreover, there’s virtually no size limit for plastic film speaker.
P&I Corp. has patented the adhesion improvement surface treatment technology applied to the plastic film speaker internationally _ including South Korea, the U.S., Japan and China.
Its business fields include research and development (R&D) in surface modification of materials and thin film deposition with application of plasma and ion beam process as well as commercialization of such technologies.
Koh established P&I Corp. in March 2000 with the help of KIST. Koh, wanting to concentrate on his business, resigned from the KIST faculty.
``Plastic film speakers will revolutionize the global speaker market,’’ Koh beamed.
His speakers will one day be placed on computer monitors and television sets. The sound will emanate from the screen itself and as a result the size of electronic products, home theater systems and toys will continue to decrease.
Plastic film speakers can also be produced as banners, flags and even kites as manufacturers can print paintings or photos on the surface of the speaker. The scope of application is infinite.
``The price of plastic film speakers will vary according to the size of the market demand but we project the price to hover below 10,000 won per A4 paper size sheet level,’’ Koh said.
P&I Corp.’s pilot plant produces daily production capacity of 10,000 A4 size plastic film speakers. Koh plans to soon build a fully automatic assembly line with production capacity of 300,000 sheets a day.
Koh said audio device, computer and consumer electronics makers are forecast to release commercial products with plastic film speakers sometime around July and August this year.
``Companies showed ample interest in the product. Major corporate investors and conglomerates in Korea, Japan, Canada and Israel have offered P&I Corp. to set up a plastic speaker production joint venture and we are considering the offer,’’ he said.
Presently, P&I Corp.’s revenue relies entirely on the royalty payments. Last year, the company chalked up 1.8 billion won in sales, a large chunk of which is recorded as profits.
``As all equipment used in production of the plastic film speaker has been designed and manufactured by our employees, we can also generate sales by selling equipment to manufacturers,’’ Koh said.
Koh plans to list his company on the bourse slowly, after 3-4 years.
``I want to win investors’ trust by obtaining unrivaled technical prowess and implementing just, transparent management practices. I do not want investors to treat P&I Corp. as a one-shot deal company,’’ Koh stressed.
P&I Corp., which initiated with initial capital of 3 billion won, is the first venture startup set up by KIST faculties. Koh owns 14 percent stake in P&I Corp., KIST 30 percent and a KIST alumni group retains a combined 28 percent.
The company has 21 employees, 17 of whom are researchers and engineers involved with the R&D activities.
sjkim@koreatimes.co.kr
05-25-2005 21:38
Paul
