January 25, 2007

Explay Nano Projector-the smallest projector in the world

by Dhiram Shah

Those of you who are regular at the boardroom meetings will know about the hassles of getting the projector working right. Though the technology of this industry has improved considerably over the years, (brightness, contrast, and color are better than ever), size of the projector still remains an issue for those looking for a true portable device. To solve this problem is Explay, a company from Israel. They have developed a projector that is the world’s smallest and lightest projector that is only a few inches long and with a weight of a mobile phone. The new laser-LED-based projector can easily slip into any pocket. They have developed projector, the size of a cigarette box and will be around 20 cc and 5 cm in length. Instead of using a conventional light source to produce a picture, Explay’s Nanoprojector uses a laser-based light source for its device. In the conventional one only 15% of the energy is ultimately transferred to the projected image. Laser light is much more focused, thus producing sharper images.

Explay’s technology uses a combination of laser and LED light sources, which makes the system cost effective and efficient. They have developed two prototypes. The first is the nanoprojector engine without a battery. It’s a bit larger than a matchbox. The second prototype is larger (about the size of a large cellphone) and included a flat lithium-ion battery, which was still on the outside. Its resolution is QVGA (240×320).Nanoprojectors can be embedded in a range of different products, including cars and passenger airliners as virtual displays for entertainment systems, inside mobile devices (cellphones, PDAs, MP3 players, laptops, etc.), and as hidden projectors embedded in walls and ceilings for advertising and displaying virtual images. Though still costing a $100, the company wants to try to bring down the costing to under that.
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