Date: Jan 07, 2011 Author: Malia Spencer Source: bizjournals (
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With the items around us getting smarter — from phones to appliances to the power grid — researchers at Mount Lebanon-based Dynamic Eye want to add one more product to the list: Sunglasses.
The company is taking its research, developed through military contracts, and working on a way to apply it to the consumer sunglasses market with a product that will use liquid crystal display technology to block the blinding glare encountered while driving or otherwise looking into the sun.
"With LCD, what they do is they modulate the intensity of the light going through them. And it doesn't take much power," making it conceivable for use in sunglasses, said Dynamic Eye CEO Chris Mullin.
Using his background in physics — Mullin has a doctorate from the University of California Berkeley and has conducted background research in table top optics and how light interacts with materials — he knew he could do it. "Our concept is when there is no glare, it's just a pair of sunglasses," he said.
Dynamic Eye has worked through four prototypes of its technology, which replaces regular polarized sunglass lenses with polarized LCD lenses. The system includes a small pinhole camera and an even smaller chip to drive the liquid crystal, which will activate when glare is detected and block just the areas of glare while leaving the rest of the display clear. The prototypes use traditional glass LCD, but the company is developing an LCD that uses plastic instead of glass to enclose the liquid crystal, since plastic is a more flexible material.
"We are not changing the function," he said, of why he thought LCD would be able to solve the problem of glare. "But electronics are so cheap and flexible that it can do things that couldn't be done before.
"A little circuits, a little battery power and you can really fight the sun," Mullin added while holding the latest prototype.
The glasses aren't quite fashion-ready yet, Mullin acknowledged — the current prototype resembles extra thick Buddy Holly glasses, but they are not out of the realm of hipster chic — and he is not done shrinking the technology. He sees great potential in possibly partnering with existing sunglasses companies to incorporate his technology into their design.
Thus far, the company has been funded by friends and family, and research is being conducted with military SBIR research grants, which means the company is developing the consumer model on the side. But Mullin is working on that by trying to raise $20,000 to dedicate to the commercialization of the research. He is currently running a Kickstarter campaign — companies use Kickstarter's website to solicit investment and, if enough investors pledge, the project is funded. So far, he has 25 backers that have pledged $4,264 with under two weeks left on the campaign.
If the company can get the funding Mullin estimates, he could have a product in stores within a year and a half that would be priced in the $500 range. Over time, he would like to see the product in the $100 to $200 range.
Professor Deng-Ke Yang in the Liquid Crystal Institute at Kent State University, a hub of liquid crystal research, isn't surprised by the idea of LCD in sunglasses since it's a growing marketplace.
"You can see from all the electronics," he said. "And everybody is buying LCD; it's used in telephones and computers, it's almost the dominant (technology) in the display area and also it has a bright future in photonic applications like sunglasses."
The area of research has been around for 40 years, but it's only in the past 20 years that it has been booming. The reason: LCD with its flat panel is less bulky, and LCD takes less energy to run.
Yang said that he could also envision the technology used in architecture and even fashion. Imagine a purse made of LCD that can change to match every outfit, he joked.
The cost to produce LCDs has also come down as more and more televisions and computer monitors use the technology, said Shawn DuBravac, director of research for the Consumer Electronics Association. When this happens, it usually leads to broader consumer uses.
"As displays get cheaper and you get economies of scale in manufacturing and prices go down, price declines are always passed on to the consumer," he said, offering the decline in TV prices as an example. This affordability also leads to placing LCDs in more devices.
In fact, DuBravac said he was looking at newly released ski goggles from Zeal Optics that had a small LCD embedded in the goggle to display GPS and other data. According to the Zeal Optics website, the goggles sell for $399 and are currently sold out.
However, when it comes to transferring technology from a military customer to a wider consumer audience, DuBravac said it can be tricky since consumers are fickle and have a myriad of demands.
Mullin is plugging ahead, however, and has been meeting with angel investor groups, but he says many are hesitant as to whether there is a market for such a product.
He also has received some interest from existing sunglasses companies and has started preliminary discussions, but declined to say with whom. He is hoping those talks can provide the market research needed to secure other investors or a strategic partner.
