A novel pneumatic dispenser fabrication technique for digitally printing electroluminescent lamps on fabric

A planar electroluminescent (EL) lamp has been printed using a novel pneumatic dispenser fabrication technique directly on to woven fabric to create a smart-fabric lamp. The fabrication technique relies on a pneumatic dispenser mounted on linear translation stages to deposit uniform m films of ink. In this work the process is referred to as `dispenser printing' and is a digital process, depositing ink in a pattern determined by a specific image on a PC. The EL lamp consists of five individually printed and cured layers, highlighting the complex structures achievable with dispenser printing. The lamps are printed with the aim of providing new possibilities in the application of architectural fabrics; examples include advertising, signage and decoration. Because the dispenser printer is a digital printer, the lamp developed in this work is only printed in the desired area on the fabric and the process does not affect the properties of the underlying fabric, such as the mechanical strength and flexibility. Distinct printed layers are produced with layer thickness ranging from 12μm to 100 μm depending on the dispenser print settings and the ink used. Pneumatic dispenser printed EL lamps have been achieved with a printed ink thickness of just 190μm on polyester woven architectural fabric of thickness 210μm. The lamps can be controlled individually or in an array using a Supertex driver combined with an Arduino controller for easy lighting sequence programming.