27 January 2007

First Look at the Smallest Projector in the World

Projector technology has improved considerably in the last few years, but although brightness, contrast, and color are better than ever, size still remains an issue for those looking for a truly portable device. Explay has developed the world's smallest projector, a revolutionary nano-projector engine small enough to fit inside your pocket or be embedded in your mobile device, allowing you to truly enjoy the big picture wherever you are.

ExPlay’s revolutionary laser based projection technology enables high-resolution images 20 times larger than the mobile device itself. Its unique battery-operated, nano-projector ensures an eye-safe, always focused superior quality, powerful projected image, elements essential for frequent usage by mobile product consumers.

With an experienced multi-disciplinary team of experts in electro-optics, polymer optics, beam shaping, opto-mechanics and analog and digital ASIC design Explay is changing this industry picture by providing projection solutions that can harvest the full potential of mobile devices.

Using the combined power of an innovative light source, an enhanced image modulator and a proprietary ASIC, Explay provides a complete optic and electronic projector engine solution for simple and glueless integration into third party products.

Guys from the TFOT took a close look at the upcoming device and here are the details.

Five years ago the Israeli company Explay set out to develop the first nano-sized laser-based projector. When TFOT visited Explay's Herzliya headquarters in June 2006, we were given the opportunity to see for the first time a few of the prototypes developed by the company. The first was only a projector engine (no battery), about the size of a matchbox. The other prototype, which we later saw in action, was a full projector with a flat battery and was a bit larger then a cigarette box. The final product will be around 20 cc and approximately 5 cm in length.

How a nanoprojector works

There are two types of conventional projectors: digital light processing (DLP) projectors and liquid crystal display (LCD) projectors. DLP projectors use a special optical semiconductor called a digital micro-mirror device (DMD). This chip, which was invented in 1987 by Texas Instruments, is a precise light switch that enables light to be modulated digitally via millions of microscopic mirrors. The mirrors are capable of switching on and off thousands of times per second and are used to create a picture comprised of millions of pixels.

LCD projectors use a number of small LCD panels (the same technology used for displays) through which light is passed. As the light passes through the LCD panels, individual pixels can be opened or closed to control the passage of light. This activity modulates the light and produces the image that is projected onto the screen. Both DLP and LCD types use a conventional light source (a special, usually expensive light bulb). To make the projector more powerful, more energy is required, translating to a larger device that produces more heat and thus requires active cooling (which again takes up space, requires energy, and has a tendency to break down). Although some improvements have been made in recent years, these problems put lower limits on the size of projectors based on conventional DLP/LCD technology.

It became apparent in recent years that there is a growing market base for a small, light, and relatively inexpensive projector that could be carried along with a laptop, cellphone, or pocket PC to easily present pictures, movie clips, and presentations. Since, as mentioned above, heat and power consumption limitations plague existing DLP/LCD technology, a new technology was needed. Enter Explay, with a radically different way of projecting an image. Instead of using a conventional light source to produce a picture, it set out to develop a laser-based light source for its device. In a conventional projector, only about 15% of the energy is ultimately transferred to the projected image. (Most of the energy is lost as heat, which is why projectors are usually so hot to the touch and require active cooling.) Laser light is much more focused, allowing for a much more efficient way of producing an image. It also requires less energy and thus produces far less heat, eliminating the need for active cooling and so dramatically reducing the size of the projector.

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