Lamp with multi-colored OLED elements

• US 20070126004A1
• Filed: 12/02/2005
• Published: 06/07/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 12/02/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Global OLED Technology LLC (LG Display Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Eastman Kodak Company
• Inventors: Cok, Ronald
• Granted Patent: US 7,638,941 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 257/59
• CPC Class Codes: F21S 6/002 Table lamps, e.g. for ambient lighting
• CPC Class Codes: F21S 8/04 intended only for mounting on a ceiling or the like overhead structures F21S8/02 takes precedence; details of ceiling bases F21V21/03
• CPC Class Codes: F21Y 2105/00 Planar light sources
• CPC Class Codes: F21Y 2115/15 Organic light-emitting diodes [OLED]
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/00 Indexing scheme for arrangements or methods for connecting or disconnecting semiconductor or solid-state bodies as covered by H01L24/00
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/0002 Not covered by any one of groups H01L24/00, H01L24/00 and H01L2224/00
• CPC Class Codes: H10K 50/85 Arrangements for extracting light from the devices
• CPC Class Codes: H10K 50/852 comprising a resonant cavity structure, e.g. Bragg reflector pair
• CPC Class Codes: H10K 59/90 Assemblies of multiple devices comprising at least one organic light-emitting element

Abstract

Solid-state area illumination stems and method for forming such systems are provided. The illumination system comprises: a plurality of OLED devices each device formed on a separate substrate and each device emitting light at a plurality of angles relative to the substrate, the emitted light having different ranges of frequencies at different ranges of the plurality of angles; and a support positioning each of the plurality of OLED devices at a plurality of orientations relative to an area of illumination, the positioning being defined so that any point on any surface within the area of illumination will receive a broadband combination of light from more than one of the OLED devices.

Claims

1. A solid-state area illumination system comprising:

a plurality of OLED devices each device formed on a separate substrate and each device emitting light at a plurality of angles relative to the substrate, said emitted light having different ranges of frequencies at different ranges of the plurality of angles; and

a support positioning each of the plurality of OLED devices at a plurality of orientations relative to an area of illumination, said positioning being defined so that any point on any surface within the area of illumination will receive a broadband combination of light from more than one of the OLED devices.

2. The solid-state area illumination system of claim 1, wherein each OLED device comprises:

a reflective electrode;

a semi-reflective electrode; and

one or more layers of light emitting organic material formed between the reflective and semi-reflective electrodes, said light emitting organic material region being operable to emit light at a plurality of angles relative to the normal of the one or more layers of organic material;

wherein the electrodes and the organic material region being arranged to cause emitted light to travel a distance from the organic material region to the at least partially reflective surface that varies based upon the angle of emission, said difference in distance causing the frequency of the light radiated by the OLED device to vary based upon the angular orientation of the substrate of the OLED device.

3. The solid-state area illumination system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the OLED devices has:

an electrode that is not fully opaque; and

opposing reflective electrode having a surface with a variable distance from the non-fully opaque electrode with an organic light emitting diode material therebetween.

4. The solid-state area illumination system of claim 3, wherein the variable distance from the reflective electrode to the transparent electrode forms a one-dimensional or a two-dimensional grating, a photonic crystal structures, and/or a surface plasmon structures.

5. The solid-state area illumination system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of OLED devices are not located in a common plane.

6. The solid-state area illumination system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of OLED devices are located in a common plane.

7. The solid-state area illumination system of claim 2, wherein the fixture is a chandelier, a table lamp, or a floor lamp.

8. The solid-state area illumination system of claim 1, wherein the illuminated surface is a floor, wall, ceiling, or item of furniture.

9. The solid-state area illumination system of claim 1, wherein at least one substrate is a rigid planar substrate.

10. The solid-state area illumination system of claim 1, wherein at least one substrate is flexible.

11. The solid-state area illumination system of claim 1, wherein at least one OLED device comprises a transparent substrate and transparent cover and light is emitted from both sides of the OLED device.

12. The solid-state area illumination system of claim 1, wherein the OLED devices emit broadband light.

13. The solid-state area illumination system of claim 1, wherein the OLED devices emit a single color of light in a direction normal to the surface of the substrate.

14. The solid-state area illumination system of claim 13, wherein the single color of light emitted in a direction normal to the surface of the substrate is red, green, blue, yellow or cyan.

15. The solid-state area illumination system of claim 13, wherein the OLED devices are microcavity devices.

16. The solid-state area illumination system of claim 13, wherein at least one OLED device is a top-emitting OLED device.

17. The solid-state area illumination system of claim 13, wherein at least one OLED device is a bottom-emitting OLED device.

18. The solid-state area illumination system of claim 1, wherein at least two of the OLED devices radiate light at a different range of frequencies.

19. A solid-state illumination system comprising:

a plurality of OLED devices each device formed on a separate substrate and each device emitting light at a plurality of angles relative to the substrate, said emitted light having different ranges of frequencies at different ranges of the plurality of angles;

with each OLED device including a first electrode formed over the substrate and a second electrode with at least one of the first electrode and second electrode having a surface that is at least partially reflective and having at least one layer of light emitting organic material formed between the first electrode and second electrode, said at least one light emitting organic material layer emitting light at a plurality of angles relative to the normal of at least one layer of organic material;

wherein the electrodes and the at least one layer of organic material are formed so that the distance that emitted light travels from the light emitting layer to the at least one partially reflective surface varies depending on the angle of emission so that the frequency of light emitted from the OLED device to an illuminated surface depends upon the emission angle; and

a support positioning the plurality of OLED devices at a plurality of orientations relative to an area of illumination, said positioning being defined so that any illuminated point on any surface within the area of illumination will receive a substantially common broadband combination of light from more than one of the plurality of OLED devices.

20. A method of forming a solid-state illumination system comprising the steps of:

forming a plurality of OLED devices on separate substrates, each device emitting light at a plurality of angles relative to the substrate, said emitted light having different ranges of frequencies at different ranges of the plurality of angles; and

providing a support for positioning the plurality of OLED devices at a plurality of orientations relative to an area of illumination, said positioning being defined so that any point on any surface within the area of illumination will receive a generally homogeneous broadband combination of light from more than one of the OLED devices.