News

LOPE-C Conference in Frankfurt from June 28th to June 30th. The flashlights are a result of the cooperation between the scientists at Risø DTU and production experts at Mekoprint

From June 28th to June 30th, 2011, OE-A (Organic and printed Electronics Association) reveals its 4th roadmap for organic and printed electronics at the LOPE-C, Large-area Organic and Printed Electronics Convention in Frankfurt.

LOPE-C also initiates a campaign to document the impressive results obtained by Risø DTU in conjunction with the manufacturing company, Mekoprint, in practical R2R (reel-to-reel) production of organic (polymer) photovoltaic cells. In the near future, polymer solar cells will become a significantly cheaper alternative to today’s silicon solar cells.

As tangible proof of the practical results obtained within the Danish industry regarding a groundbreaking manufacturing of organic photovoltaic cells, the campaign takes off with the hand-out out 10.000 flashlights all powered by OPV-cells (Organic PhotoVoltaic).

”Much better than any sales talk, we find that by giving all the participants in the conference a practical and fully functional product, they’ll get a hands-on proof of the capability of the technology. The convention attracts around 1.000 scientists and industrialists, but together with Risø DTU, we have manufactured ten times as many flashlights.

On a wider scale, this means that many key people within the industry will receive samples of the flashlights to document the efficiency of the technology in a real application”, explains project manager at Mekoprint, Rasmus Brinkmann Andersen.

The flashlights are mass-produced using Risø DTU’s organic photovoltaic cells. Mekoprint has teamed up with Risø DTU developing the design and Mekoprint has manufactured the flexible PCBs and done the EMS- and boxbuilding work on the flashlights. The work has been funded by the EUDP Program from the Ministry of Energy, Denmark though the project Industrialization of polymer solar cells.

Light comes from a white LED, powered by a lithium-polymer battery which in itself is charged by the OPV and charging circuitry. The physical outline of the flashlight is the size of a credit card.

Rasmus Brinkmann Andersen points out that Mekoprint continues to manufacture the OPV-powered flashlight for companies with an interest in buying larger quantities with the company’s own logo or other print as give-aways on a B2B-level. For further information about the fascinating new demonstrator product range, visit www.mekoprint.dk/solar.

About OE-A and the 4’th roadmap

The OPV-powered flashlight is an important product at the LOPE-C convention proving that the path towards a low-cost mass production of organic and printed electronics is indeed feasible – which is also the purpose of the so called 4th roadmap.

The OE-A (Organic and Printed Electronics Association) is a working group within the German Engineering Federation (VDMA) and was founded in December 2004.  The OE-A is the leading international industry association for organic and printed electronics and represents the entire value chain of this emerging industry.  The members are world-class global companies and institutions, ranging from R&D institutes, component and material suppliers to producers and end-users.  

More than 180 companies from Europe, North America, Asia and Australia are working together to promote the establishment of a competitive production infrastructure for organic electronics. The vision of the OE-A is to build a bridge between science, technology and application.  More than 3,000 member companies from the engineering industry make VDMA the largest industry association in Europe.

For further information please visit: www.oe-a.org and www.lope-c.com.

For more information about Mekoprint’s products and technologies, please contact:

Division Manager, Karsten Ries
Tel.: +45 25 59 08 40
e-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.