# F.I.P.E.L based lights ? anyone got the scoop!



## Top Shelf (Dec 3, 2012)

Just heard on the news about Field Induced Polymer Electroluminescent Lighting. They just came up with a bit ago , sounds interesting. Anyone else hear about it ?


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## AnAppleSnail (Dec 3, 2012)

I'm skeptical. It sounds an awful lot like electroluminescence. The state of the art EL wire fades after a few thousand hours. I can't tell from their press release in Physorg whether or not they have a real product. There's a previous post about it somewhere around here.


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## EZO (Dec 3, 2012)

BBC has a good article about the technology and its inventor, Dr. David Carrol, professor of physics and director of the Center for Nanotechnology and Molecular Materials at Wake Forest University.

This is a fascinating, potentially breakthrough technology. It is not "electroluminescence" in the traditional sense as we have come to know it as it uses multi-walled carbon nanotubes as its source of light emission. (Abstract)

"He says the new plastic lighting source can be made into any shape, and it produces a better quality of light than compact fluorescent bulbs. 'They have a bluish, harsh tint to them,' he told BBC News, "it is not really accommodating to the human eye; people complain of headaches and the reason is the spectral content of that light doesn't match the Sun - our device can match the solar spectrum perfectly. I'm saying we are brighter than one of these curly cube bulbs and I can give you any tint to that white light that you want."

"What we've found is a way of creating light rather than heat. Our devices contain no mercury, they contain no caustic chemicals and they don't break as they are not made of glass. He believes the first production runs will take place in 2013. He also has great faith in the ability of the new bulbs to last. He says he has one in his lab that has been working for about a decade."

Edit: Here is the Phys.org article.


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## AnAppleSnail (Dec 3, 2012)

I'm pretty sure that using high-frequency alternating electrical current to stimulate electroluminescence in a polymer blend is EL. It does seem to be more durable than existing ones though.

The abstract (Don't care to shell out $50 for the paper) describes band gap modification being done by the multi-walled carbon nanotubes. Without knowing the relative size of the average polymer and MWCNT I won't have much better understanding of exactly what they claim.

Short version: electroluminescent lights improved by changing the band-gap needed to generate (visible?) photons from shifting electrons.


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## EZO (Dec 3, 2012)

AnAppleSnail said:


> I'm pretty sure that using high-frequency alternating electrical current to stimulate electroluminescence in a polymer blend is EL. It does seem to be more durable than existing ones though.
> 
> The abstract (Don't care to shell out $50 for the paper) describes band gap modification being done by the multi-walled carbon nanotubes. Without knowing the relative size of the average polymer and MWCNT I won't have much better understanding of exactly what they claim.
> 
> Short version: electroluminescent lights improved by changing the band-gap needed to generate (visible?) photons from shifting electrons.



I guess it would have to be EL as the technology is indeed called Field Induced Polymer _*Electroluminescent*_ Lighting.

What intrigues me is the ability to make a lighting device in _any_ shape and with _any_ tint with sufficient brightness and efficiency.......and Prof Carroll says his new bulb is cheap to make. The quote, "What we've found is a way of creating light rather than heat" is interesting as well. Also interesting is the notion that this technology could be brought into an initial production run in 2013. So often, announcements of new technologies such as this are projected for production off in some vague and distant future. Then again, 2013 is just around the corner and we've all heard claims like this before for other technologies that we are still waiting for, so time will tell.


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## DaMeatMan (Dec 4, 2012)

Looks like you beat me to it, was just going to post this article that i read on Popular Science yesterday. 

http://www.popsci.com/science/artic...luorescents-cfls-and-leds-light-source-future


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## Ken_McE (Dec 9, 2012)

My take on Fipel:

There's a place in North Carolina called Wake Forest University.

Wake Forest has a place called the Center for Nanotechnology and Molecular Materials. 

there is a guy called Dr David Carroll, professor of physics at Wakefield, director of the nano lab and he gets into biology and green tech too.

Professor Caroll has come up with something that sounds like the latest wrinkle in EL tech. It requires carbon nanotubes to work.

Back in 2006 the Ceelite *people came out with their EL wrinkle which they call "Light emitting capacitors" (The Ceelite people themselves don't consider their product EL technology, I don't know why) The November 2006 Time magazine called the Ceelight one of the best inventions of 2006. Ceelite is still around but they seem to be a minor niche product, and certainly haven't taken over lighting.

The Fipel tech currently exists as a few laboratory samples. They think they are ready for production and the college press release ( the only source for most of the current articles) praises it as being better than anything anyone else has. This is of course what PR people do.

I'd be happy to try this fipel stuff, but I'm not going to get worked up about it just yet. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to check if there's any other kids on my damn lawn.

*CPF Ceelite discussion


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## AnAppleSnail (Jan 22, 2013)

Onwards to this thread:

January press release

I am trying a personal project to lump together lighting threads I participate in so that there is more of a narrative in related topics. Suggestions? Comments? Concerns? PMs and assistance are appreciated.

The January press release has a few more details and promises.


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