Electroluminescent Technology and its Eye-Catching Potential

In principal packaging serves product protection (conservation) and promotion. Organic and printed electronics could help manufacturers upgrade packaging plastics to active early warning systems or cardboard boxes to multi-media information carriers. Current trends and the latest developments in this area were on display last June at the LOPE-C, the Organic & Printed Electronics Convention, in Frankfurt, Germany.

In my post on my blog “Best In Packaging” I describe a protection innovation showcased during the Lope-C convention mentioned above using organic and printed electronics. In this post I like to highlight the promotion and marketing aspects using high-sophisticated printing technologies.

Electroluminescent technology is based upon the use of conducting, insulating and luminescent inks, which are suitable for manufacturing printed electroluminescent films. In a further advancement of this technology, all of the electronic components have been further miniaturized, encompassing the integration of the driver into the printed electroluminescent film.

This facilitates its incorporation in product packaging. One of the first applications of this technology was demonstrated by DuPont during the Luxe Pack 2006, where they showed a prototype compact case, made of Surlyn by the UK company Toly Products Ltd, in cooperation with Seribase in France. In the compact case, which was meant as a perfume packaging, a thin electroluminescent strip had been integrated to illuminate the brand name.

Karl Knauer KG, a Copaco company, based in Biberach, Germany and manufacturer of innovative packaging, presented during the recent Lope-C convention, its new “HiLight” folding carton with printed, illuminated areas on high-finish surfaces. Employing the latest process technologies, Karl Knauer succeeded in attaching an illuminated display across several sides of the packaging and even on curved surfaces on the basis of printed electronics.

This display functions with the optical phenomenon of electroluminescence to shine in different colours and to depict logos, images and texts, allowing for multi-coloured light effects and animations, such as flashing and fading. All parts of the packaging design can be “HiLighted” - the logos, images, parts of images and text. Moreover, this smart packaging can also be equipped with motion sensors activating the light effects at the P.O.S. when a consumer comes closer.

Bombarded with hundreds of commercial messages on a daily basis and faced with more choice than ever before, “HiLight”, thanks to its massive eye-catching potential, opens up a whole new range of opportunities, particularly for marketing.
*
Organic and printed electronics offer also new packaging functions as they could help manufacturers upgrade packaging plastics to active early warning systems.  At the Lope-C in Frankfurt researchers at the Centre for Printed Intelligence (CPI) of the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland showed an electronic spoilage sensor concept for poultry. …. read the full article