Monochrome unlighted (transparent) custom LCD screen

[Patrick Dorion]

Greetings,

My name is Patrick Dorion, executive assistant for Robert Lauzon, Designer, in
Montreal, QC, CA.

I have a background in customer care, technical support, systems administration,
multimedia integration, and design. I am currently an undergraduate student in
pure and applied mathematics at the University of Quebec in Montreal.

Many times, going to Radio Shack (The Source by Circuit City), I saw those
transparent LCD alarm clocks since I was a kid. To my current understanding,
the concept lies on polarized glass panes with a liquid crystal and a
transparent conducting layer. Upon circuit completion, the crystal, a 0° to 90°
helix straightens allowing light to pass through the polarized glass and the
uncharged crystal. It's a beautiful binary thing, brings a tear to my eye.

My problem resides in the fact that I would like to have a "transparent
monochrome screen" to monitor activity from various sources, and possibly even
receive input from an integrated control interface.

However I do not know of a manufacturer that would be able to provide me with a
custom size and resolution screen ready to be connected to some sort of control
device nor a company that would sell the required components separately in order
for me to assemble the screen myself, if that is possible. I imagine it
requires specialized equipment to make a screen like that, vacuuming or
whatever, and I imagine that companies out there do that sort of work. The best
I was able to find was companies selling LCD screens that are complete, with
colour filters and lighting and all, framed and ready to be integrated in a
normal setting (laptop, fridge, whatever), but no luck finding companies
underneath that distribution level.

I would appreciate any help, both technical in the realization of my project and
in letting me know of any companies dealing with such technologies or able to
provide me with a low-cost solution for my small scale project.


I thank you very much for your attention and hope to handle many replies.



Patrick Dorion

 

[[email protected]]

try these folks:

http://www.liquidcrystaltechnologies.com/

Here in Northeast Ohio (where the lcd was invented, and much research
still occurs) we have a few small producers who can do what you want,
only it wont be cheap. get a commecial device and lean how to drive
it, then rip the reflective layer off the back. . Note a one off in
the LCD world is 10 to 100 pieces.

BTW, your post was great for a business major, but would be passed
over by most engineers, too much personal details and not enough
specifications. I'm assuming you want a transmissive LCD to play
with, without the backlight or reflector for a transflector display.
These will be hard to read and have low contrast in many situations
and be nearly useless outdoors if the characters are small.

Steve Roberts

own opinions only,
not those of the university.

 

[mpm]

On Mar 28, 6:38?pm, Patrick Dorion <[email protected]>
wrote:

Patrick --
Sounds like what you want is NOT a character LCD display, but rather a
transparent teleprompter.

I don't know who makes them off hand, but I know where you can find
out.
Go search the NAB website at: www.nab.org

They have a big convention next month in Las Vegas (US), and if you
check the Exhibitor listings, I'm sure there will be a category for
teleprompters.

My guess is these take a video input too, and not just text from a
serial port.
You might peek around a bit to see if there are similar technologies
that would get the job done for you. Good luck.

-mpm