The folks over at Philips and BASF have been working on a cool new OLED technology which can be used for car roofs. While the transparent glass produced out of this collaboration readily delivers a proper view of the outside world when deactivated, it turns opaque and offers light only within the vehicle upon being switched on.
Now looking at the sky through the roof should be as simple as switching off the light. And when the occupants of the car do not wish to be disturbed by the surroundings, the opaque glass roof serves the purpose just as well. Moreover, the see-through sandwich structure can be used in combination with solar cells that are equally transparent. This concept is a result of a long term partnership between the two aforesaid companies.
“This combination allows the driver to enjoy a unique open-space feeling while it generates electricity during the day and pleasantly suffuses the interior with the warm light of the transparent, highly efficient OLEDs at night,†quoted Dr. Felix Görth, head of Organic Light-Emitting Diodes and Organic Photovoltaics at BASF Future Business GmbH.
The lighting system exploits Philips’ Lumiblade OLED technology to make those long drives all the more interesting. This project also unravels new avenues and scopes for OLEDs. It essentially revolves around a solar-powered light source that is transparent when in the off mode and non-transparent when it is switched on.
The BASF and Philips transparent OLED lighting is part of Germany’s Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) OLED 2015 initiative. The price and availability details have not received a mention yet, as the project is still a bit far from being ready for the production lines.
