Ordering Samples and Designer's Kits |
 | Can I request samples? Answer:
Certainly. Simply fill out the literature request form and we will get in touch with you as soon as possible.
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| What comes in an Inverter Designer's Kit? What is the purpose of the kit? Answer:
The Designer's Kit board comes with an EL inverter chip already soldered to the board and driver-specific components. The purpose of the Designer's Kit is to optimize the EL driver circuitry for a specific application. For the specific components included in the Designer's Kit and further information on Designer's Kits, please refer to the Technical Literature section.
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| What is the price to purchase a Driver Designer's Kit? How can I order them? Answer:
The price of each Designer's Kit including detailed instructions is $105 ($95 plus $10 shipping and handling charge - shipped via US mail). If you need the Kit quickly, an express service will be used (e.g., FedEx, UPS, etc.) for an additional charge. To request the Kit, email us at durelcustomerservice@rogerscorporation.com or call Customer Service at 480-917-6000. We need your full name, company name, mailing address, which Designer's Kit(s) is (are) needed, payment method and the quantity. We accept Visa and Master Card as payment up to a total of $5,000 USD. For sales greater than $5,000 USD, a 3% service fee is added.
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Product Information / Quotes |
| I am not located in the United States. How can I receive product information and price? Answer:
You can contact the Customer Service Department of Durel Division in the United States at 480-917-6000 or email us at durelcustomerservice@rogerscorporation.com. If you are from any of the following countries, you can also contact the local sales office: China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Taiwan, Belgium, Eastern Europe, Finland, France, Germany, or United Kingdom.
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| What do I need to provide to receive a quote for IC drivers?Answer:Please state which product, what quantity and the delivery requirements.
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| What volumes are considered large volumes? Answer:
For Drivers, 100,000 per month or greater is considered high volume and may not be available inside lead times. Volume purchases of 2500 or less drivers are most efficiently obtained from our distributors.
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Rogers DUREL® EL Driver |
| What advantage does EL represent over LEDs?Answer:EL lamps offer significant advantages over point light sources such as discrete light emitting diodes (LEDs), which are not as efficient. For example, the high LED count that is required to evenly light large liquid crystal displays (LCDs) consumes more current than an alternative EL backlight system. In addition, LED solutions normally require a complex light guide design to distribute the light more uniformly across the viewing area of a display. This combination of LEDs and light guide is generally three to four times thicker than an EL lamp solution.
Additional advantages of EL over LEDs include:
- Uniform lighting - EL lamps provide a smooth, uniform light unlike the "hot spots" associated with LEDs. There is no color variation in your monochrome display or, when used in keypads, between the keys. In instrument clusters, there are no dark areas around the dials.
- Energy efficient - EL lamps use lower power consumption and have lower heat emission.
- Thinness - EL lamps are much thinner than LEDs. No light guides are required.
- Reliability - EL systems have fewer components - fewer components = fewer opportunities for failure.
- No catastrophic failures - LEDs are subject to total failure. Unlike LEDs, EL lamps do not simply "fail" one day.
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| What are the advantages of Rogers DUREL® IC drivers?Answer:Rogers' 3P technology has lower EMI and audible noise features through shared common ground. This gives you the option to reverse lamp lead connections so that the side closest to the most noise sensitive components in the application is grounded. Additionally, when a three-electrode lamp is used, the first and third electrodes can be grounded, creating the equivalent of a Faraday Cage.
Rogers is the first EL driver supplier to offer low-noise "stealth" discharge technology, which is now available in the D365, D371, D372, D381, D305, D306, and D388. A wave-shaping feature is available in the D371, D372, D381, D305, D306, and D388. This allows the user to tune the discharge slope of the output waveform for the lowest audible noise with the use of different resistor values. The low-noise wave-shape can vary depending on size of the EL lamp and input supply voltage to the IC.
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| What is the advantage of using an IC driver module?Answer:Rogers' DUREL IC driver modules provide you with a turnkey solution, ease of design and the convenience of a single source versus multiple suppliers for various components
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| What is the difference between EL and OLEDs?Answer:OLED is a display technology and EL is a lighting technology.
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| Why is thin important?Answer:As electronic devices continue to get thinner and thinner, components need to get thinner as well. Designers choose EL to meet thinness requirements.
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Technical Questions |
| Are Rogers' drivers RoHS compliant?Answer:
Rogers' drivers with part number designation of "NL" or "QFS", as well as all modules or any ICs in bare wafer form are RoHS compliant.
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| Does EL produce audible noise?Answer:A low level of audible noise can be produced by EL at higher-level drive conditions. In most applications, this noise level is undetectable by the user. In those applications that are more sensitive to audible noise, it can be reduced or eliminated through a combination of EL lamp design, Rogers' low-noise drivers and mechanical methods.
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| For what types of applications is EL lighting well suited? Answer:
EL is an effective thin lighting solution that is used to backlight applications that need to be visible in dark conditions. It is frequently used in monochrome displays and keypads of portable handheld products such as cell phones (handsets), PDAs, MP3/CD players, pagers, cordless phones, remote controls, medical devices, and timepieces (clocks/wristwatches). It is also used in many automotive interior applications such as instrument clusters, radios, climate controls and switch assemblies.
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| If a lamp compares favorably on luminance when driven on a power supply, will it also compare favorably when driven on a driver integrated circuit (IC)?Answer:Not necessarily. A power supply provides "unlimited" power and can hide a lamp's inefficiency. This inefficiency will often become apparent through lower luminance output when driven on a "power limited" driver IC. Rogers develops our lamps to provide optimum luminance on the appropriate EL driver. Our experienced engineers will recommend the appropriate matched system to meet your application requirements.
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| What is "Green" and are Rogers' drivers considered Green?Answer:The standards and principals regarding Green can vary between countries and regions due to differences in legislation and infrastructure. Rogers' IC drivers (NL, QFS, modules, and bare wafer form) are not only RoHS compliant, but considered Green as well.
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| What is RoHS? What does this mean to me?Answer:RoHS (Reduction of the use of Hazardous Substances) is a term used for European environmental standards. Under these standards, there are three types of materials. (1) materials that are not acceptable; (2) materials that are acceptable in trace amounts; and (3) materials that will be put on the "acceptable in trace amounts" list. Hazardous materials include lead and mercury. For specific information, go to http://www.dti.gov.uk/sustainability for the Directive 2002/95/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 January 2003 on the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic components. |
| What technical support is offered?Answer:Rogers provides complete technical assistance from early development, into design and then throughout the production life cycle. Our global staff of engineers focuses on satisfying your needs.
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