Sensors, Haptics & Displays

This short video will focus on the expectations of printed electronics technologies in the automotive industry over the next decade.

$1.2 billion of electrically conductive adhesives (ECAs) are already selling each year, and they are becoming increasingly common to replace solders in a variety of functions, applications and industries.

The state of the industry in terms of market size by component type is summarized.

The conductive inks and paste business will generate a demand of 1800 tonnes. IDTechEx Research forecasts that this will grow to 2200 by 2026. This business has come alive again and is now a business where literally everything is changing.

LG Display is currently the only manufacturer of large OLED panels. But it is not just the rivalry with LG that will drive Samsung to invest in OLED production capacity.

The battery market has suddenly become alive again in recent years. On the one hand, batteries are assuming new form factors, becoming ultra-thin, flexible, rollable, stretchable, etc. On the other hand, manufacturing are scrambling to offer large batteries aimed at addressing the large-sized electric vehicle and grid applications.

The third Future Powertrain conference was a great event with about 400 delegates and a total of 35 table exhibitors. The summary of the presentations given during the FPC2016 are discussed here.

2015 has been a year to report very disparate progress in advancing different energy harvesting technologies: advances in thermoelectrics, new and higher power output photovoltaics, capacitive harvesting as well as steady development of markets for electrodynamics along with new applications have created an array of devices serving a diverse number of industries; with applications for wireless sensors, switches and actuators all the way to high power industrial waste heat and vibration harvesting, the technology landscape is developing at a steady pace, with many interesting applications being realized.

Microsoft has tested a prototype of a self-contained data center that can operate hundreds of feet below the surface of the ocean, in efforts to reducing the need for expensive air-conditioning.

The automotive sector has always been a multi-faceted industry to understand; it has driven and adopted societal and technological change since its inception, and is probably a great example of a market that constantly evolves and re-defines itself, always innovating to meet consumer expectations.