The Plus Pendant prototype is a fully functional ceiling mounted OLED luminaire designed to showcase the future capabilities of Organic LEDs such as their thin, surface based light and flexibility.

The OLED frame flexes up and down to change its lighting characteristics, ranging from a wide area light to a focused spot light. This is unseen mechanism is achieved by an internal motor, magnets and tensile wiring. Although the frame is flexible, the OLED panels themselves are rigid

A tablet app controls the luminaire via a Bluetooth connection.

The fabric covering the frame is a hybrid wool/polyester 3D knitted textile.

OLED technology has been around for a while now but there hasn't really been any OLED lighting designs which fully take advantage of its capabilities. This is partly because its full potential is far from commercial availability. The challenge is to design and create an OLED luminaire which tries to realise these possibilities whilst still working with OLED panels available today (as of May 2013).

The intent of the project was to push OLED technology currently available today to the limit in order to create a design which represents where lighting will be headed in the future. All of this needed to be achieved in a way which gives the user/viewer an experiential event somewhat like installation art does.

OLED manufacturers' roadmaps predict that OLEDs will be as efficient, if not more efficient than any other viable lighting method available in a couple of years (LG Chem's OLEDs predicted to be >135 lm/W by 2015). By being so thin and becoming flexible and even transparent, OLEDs will be capable of being integrated into products more and more. Most of these unique characteristics need to be portrayed through the design whilst only using OLED panels available as of May 2013 which are not flexible or transparent.

The same approach needs to be taken to create a textile cover. This textile will tie the whole design together and leave the OLEDs looking like integrated components. The cutting edge technology for textile design is definitely the direction to push towards.

THE OLEDS
The research into OLED technology was fairly extensive as the project began with the hopes of making homemade OLEDs. Those hopes were later doused and I began looking to other avenues. During the research of the project, I had formed a good relationship with the flexible electronics department at CSIRO which has led into a partnership in creating the final product. This partnership involved expert chemist advice leading on to engineering the Plus Pendant prototype.

The Plus Pendant uses 36 LG Chem OLEDs in the design. By laying the OLEDS out on a cross shaped chassis, the light can be evenly spread to create a soothing, low glare and high CRI light. It achieves all of this whilst still maintaining a 1.8mm thickness. The maximum illumination of the Plus Pendant is 2636 lumens at an efficiency of 45 lm/W (LG Chem 2011 generation panels).

THE KNIT
The research process for the textile was very hands on. Initially, I collected around 100 samples of translucent fabrics to experiment with. Left unsatisfied, I was introduced to 3D knitting, an old but innovative process whereby textiles can be knitted as a single, seamless piece using multiple thread materials. There are only a few examples where 3D knitting has been applied to industrial design. After countless refinements and prototypes, the final piece has been knitted with white polyester and grey wool thread to create a single, seamless textile. To complete the piece, invisible zips have been sown in.

THE MATERIALS
Materials, manufacturing processes and the design aesthetic itself has been carefully considered to be simple, approachable and conceals all signs of joining processes.

The timber components are century-old recycled ironbark sourced from Princes Pier in Port Melbourne, Australia which have been CNC machined and finished with low shine polyurethane.

The cable system uses thin 1mm tensile cables to reduce the profile of the mechanism to make the flex seem as mysterious as possible.

THE FUNCTION
The flexible frame which flexes up or down to change the conical characteristic of the incident light into either an area light, directional light, spotlight or anywhere in between. The total thickness of the arms measure in at 5mm. This razor thin profile really accentuates the film-like qualities of OLED technology. The arms flex with the help of a motor + ball screw inside the steel column, magnets and tensile cables to drive the annulus up the column. This gives the illusion of an invisible mechanism shifting the state of the Plus Pendant.

The refinement and troubleshooting of the movement was extensive. Various magnets were used to ensure the pull strength would be more than enough whilst minimising the volume taken up by the mechanism.

THE CONTROL
The light can be controlled via a Bluetooth paired app on a smartphone or tablet device. The app has two modes: automatic and manual. In automatic mode, the Plus Pendant cycles through five programmed sequences. In manual mode, the user can specify their desired position and brightness.

The Plus Pendant comes under the genre of experiential lighting but set in the context of a home or commercial environment. By designing the light specifically for OLEDs, the Plus Pendant predicts the future trend in lighting and how OLEDs can be used in design. The light can be completely disassembled for servicing or retrofitted with newer, more efficient OLED panels. As it stands today, the panels are quite efficient considering where OLED technology is currently at.