Concept of power consumption saving in transflective liquid crystal displays

This study proposes the concept of power consumption saving in transflective liquid-crystal displays (TR-LCDs). This concept is based on the design of a TR-LCD with three different display modes, namely, transmissive (T), reflective (R) and transflective (TR). Among the three, the TR mode is most often used to operate the designed LCD. To conserve power and extend the battery life, the designed LCD can be switched to operate in T/R mode in an environment with dim/stable ambient light. The highest operation voltages of both T and R modes are less than half of that of the TR mode. Moreover, the strong and weak surface anchoring energies that affect TR-LCD performance and the various pretilt angles of LCs are discussed. Moreover, the operating voltage (3.7 V) to obtain the good dark state of the three modes is independent of the errors of cell gap fabrication and surface anchoring energy, and temperature effect. The concept can be applied to portable electronic gadgets in which power consumption is an important issue.