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This profile was automatically generated using 12 references found on the Internet. This information has not been verified. Learn more...
This profile was automatically generated using 12 references found on the Internet. This information has not been verified. Learn more...
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1. www.da-lite.com
www.da-lite.com/education/angl - [Cached]Published on: 3/23/2008 Last Visited: 3/23/2008
Dr. Richard Burrows is the Product Development Manager for Da-Lite's Polacoat Division, located in Blue Ash, Ohio. He was graduated from Muskingum College in 1988 and received his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from the University of Cincinnati in 1993. Dr. Burrows can be reached at rburrows@da-lite.com or through Da-Lite's website: http://www.da-lite.com. He is interviewed here on the subject of
Screening the Future - Da-Lite at the Horizons
Da-Lite: What were some of your first impressions of the technologies used to create projection screens?
Burrows: When I interviewed for the position I was privately wondering, do they really need a chemist? But then, when I saw the processes and grew familiar with how screens are made, I wondered why we don't have a larger staff of chemists. The chemistry that's going on here is wonderful chemistry and it is a particularly wonderful application of polymer chemistry.
Da-Lite: What do you mean by "Polymer" chemistry?
Burrows: If you stop to think about it, all projection screens are made up of two parts, a substrate and a surface coating.
...
Burrows: By no means. I am continually researching ways to make our products flatter, harder, stronger, more flexible, and/or more durable.
Da-Lite: Those of course are all mechanical properties descriptive of substrates. Are there instances where alterations of the substrates can have optical significance?
Burrows: Absolutely. When the material in question is part of a rigid rear projection screen, the substrate itself has to be optically active. It needs not only to be translucent but as transparent as possible.
Da-Lite: Doesn't any clear material, glass or acrylic, accomplish that?
Burrows: Yes; but not with equal efficiency. Acrylic has a measurably higher optical throughput than glass in the visible spectrum.
Da-Lite: Does that mean that acrylic substrates are to be preferred to glass ones?
Burrows: You might have been able to say that in the past, but I've been working just recently on ways to increase the transmission of our Da-Glas.
...
Burrows: Screen gain is the ratio of a measured amount of on-axis light reaching the back of the screen to a measured amount of light radiating from the front.
...
Burrows: Yes; the purpose of diffusion is to scatter light, not to absorb it. Often rear projection coatings contain colorants which serve to darken their overall hue. The "N" suffix in our Polacoat line, for example, stands for "Neutral Gray" which is a highly desirable color for a rear projection screen because the precise "Gray" we've developed significantly improves image contrast without altering the overall color balance between the Red, Green, and Blue portions of the image.
Da-Lite: But the gray colorant absorbs some light, doesn't it?
Burrows: Yes it does.
...
Burrows: Of course. Because front projection screens are not rigid, all sorts of chemical things need to be manipulated so that the mechanics of their substrates behave suitably. There are requirements that the screen not chip, fade, peel or crack, for instance.
Da-Lite: And what about the optical layer, the front projection screen's front surface?
Burrows: I'd like to answer that question this way: Of all the elements which make up a contemporary display system - computers, switchers, interfaces, projectors, lenses and screens - there is only one which performs anywhere near its theoretical efficiency.
...
Burrows: We're making a screen for a laser system which needs a diffuser with an especially small particle size, in this case about 5m . That's way smaller than the human eye can resolve but it's not too small to be machine readable.
...
Burrows: Very probably.
...
Burrows: Yes; both simple (curved in just one direction) and compound (curved in two). Some of the screens we produce for customers in the aircraft simulation industry are quite large. They consist, for instance, of spherical sections which have radii greater than six feet and which extend horizontally for 220o. (That's more than 23 feet of arc length, by the way.) We have become quite expert in getting single pieces of acrylic formed into that shape and then coating them to very exacting tolerances.
Da-Lite: Do you coat on the outside or the inside of the curve?
Burrows: Either one, although the convex side is more usual. Obviously the chemistry of the diffusion for a curved surface needs to be different from flat screen diffusers. Getting the coating to apply uniformly across curved surfaces requires very careful formulation and a custom delivery system.
Da-Lite: Does your group do a lot of custom work?
Burrows: Indeed we do.
...
Burrows: Of course; but the distinction between regular and custom is getting increasingly blurred.
...
Burrows: Sure.
...
Burrows: Because the thicker a coating is, the more chance it will have of degrading image resolution. And when projected displays are expected to match the resolution of work stations, it doesn't take much extra thickness to make a noticeable difference.
Da-Lite: Speaking of work stations and such, do you think that devices of that kind will ever supplant the projection screen?
Burrows: I think the future of visual displays splits into two paths: displays for small audiences and displays for large audiences. -
2. www.da-lite.com
www.da-lite.com/education/angl - [Cached]Published on: 11/13/2007 Last Visited: 11/13/2007
Dr. Richard Burrows is the Product Development Manager for Da-Lite's Polacoat Division, located in Blue Ash, Ohio. He was graduated from Muskingum College in 1988 and received his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from the University of Cincinnati in 1993. Dr. Burrows can be reached at rburrows@da-lite.com or through Da-Lite's website: http://www.da-lite.com. He is interviewed here on the subject of
Screening the Future - Da-Lite at the Horizons
Da-Lite: What were some of your first impressions of the technologies used to create projection screens?
Burrows: When I interviewed for the position I was privately wondering, do they really need a chemist? But then, when I saw the processes and grew familiar with how screens are made, I wondered why we don't have a larger staff of chemists. The chemistry that's going on here is wonderful chemistry and it is a particularly wonderful application of polymer chemistry.
Da-Lite: What do you mean by "Polymer" chemistry?
Burrows: If you stop to think about it, all projection screens are made up of two parts, a substrate and a surface coating.
...
Burrows: By no means. I am continually researching ways to make our products flatter, harder, stronger, more flexible, and/or more durable.
Da-Lite: Those of course are all mechanical properties descriptive of substrates. Are there instances where alterations of the substrates can have optical significance?
Burrows: Absolutely. When the material in question is part of a rigid rear projection screen, the substrate itself has to be optically active. It needs not only to be translucent but as transparent as possible.
Da-Lite: Doesn't any clear material, glass or acrylic, accomplish that?
Burrows: Yes; but not with equal efficiency. Acrylic has a measurably higher optical throughput than glass in the visible spectrum.
Da-Lite: Does that mean that acrylic substrates are to be preferred to glass ones?
Burrows: You might have been able to say that in the past, but I've been working just recently on ways to increase the transmission of our Da-Glas.
...
Burrows: Screen gain is the ratio of a measured amount of on-axis light reaching the back of the screen to a measured amount of light radiating from the front.
...
Burrows: Yes; the purpose of diffusion is to scatter light, not to absorb it. Often rear projection coatings contain colorants which serve to darken their overall hue. The "N" suffix in our Polacoat line, for example, stands for "Neutral Gray" which is a highly desirable color for a rear projection screen because the precise "Gray" we've developed significantly improves image contrast without altering the overall color balance between the Red, Green, and Blue portions of the image.
Da-Lite: But the gray colorant absorbs some light, doesn't it?
Burrows: Yes it does.
...
Burrows: Of course. Because front projection screens are not rigid, all sorts of chemical things need to be manipulated so that the mechanics of their substrates behave suitably. There are requirements that the screen not chip, fade, peel or crack, for instance.
Da-Lite: And what about the optical layer, the front projection screen's front surface?
Burrows: I'd like to answer that question this way: Of all the elements which make up a contemporary display system - computers, switchers, interfaces, projectors, lenses and screens - there is only one which performs anywhere near its theoretical efficiency.
...
Burrows: We're making a screen for a laser system which needs a diffuser with an especially small particle size, in this case about 5m . That's way smaller than the human eye can resolve but it's not too small to be machine readable.
...
Burrows: Very probably.
...
Burrows: Yes; both simple (curved in just one direction) and compound (curved in two). Some of the screens we produce for customers in the aircraft simulation industry are quite large. They consist, for instance, of spherical sections which have radii greater than six feet and which extend horizontally for 220o. (That's more than 23 feet of arc length, by the way.) We have become quite expert in getting single pieces of acrylic formed into that shape and then coating them to very exacting tolerances.
Da-Lite: Do you coat on the outside or the inside of the curve?
Burrows: Either one, although the convex side is more usual. Obviously the chemistry of the diffusion for a curved surface needs to be different from flat screen diffusers. Getting the coating to apply uniformly across curved surfaces requires very careful formulation and a custom delivery system.
Da-Lite: Does your group do a lot of custom work?
Burrows: Indeed we do.
...
Burrows: Of course; but the distinction between regular and custom is getting increasingly blurred.
...
Burrows: Sure.
...
Burrows: Because the thicker a coating is, the more chance it will have of degrading image resolution. And when projected displays are expected to match the resolution of work stations, it doesn't take much extra thickness to make a noticeable difference.
Da-Lite: Speaking of work stations and such, do you think that devices of that kind will ever supplant the projection screen?
Burrows: I think the future of visual displays splits into two paths: displays for small audiences and displays for large audiences. -
3. www.da-lite.com
www.da-lite.com/education/angl - [Cached]Published on: 11/22/2007 Last Visited: 11/22/2007
Dr. Richard Burrows is the Product Development Manager for Da-Lite's Polacoat Division, located in Blue Ash, Ohio. He was graduated from Muskingum College in 1988 and received his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from the University of Cincinnati in 1993. Dr. Burrows can be reached at rburrows@da-lite.com or through Da-Lite's website: http://www.da-lite.com. He is interviewed here on the subject of
Screening the Future - Da-Lite at the Horizons
Da-Lite: What were some of your first impressions of the technologies used to create projection screens?
Burrows: When I interviewed for the position I was privately wondering, do they really need a chemist? But then, when I saw the processes and grew familiar with how screens are made, I wondered why we don't have a larger staff of chemists. The chemistry that's going on here is wonderful chemistry and it is a particularly wonderful application of polymer chemistry.
Da-Lite: What do you mean by "Polymer" chemistry?
Burrows: If you stop to think about it, all projection screens are made up of two parts, a substrate and a surface coating.
...
Burrows: By no means. I am continually researching ways to make our products flatter, harder, stronger, more flexible, and/or more durable.
Da-Lite: Those of course are all mechanical properties descriptive of substrates. Are there instances where alterations of the substrates can have optical significance?
Burrows: Absolutely. When the material in question is part of a rigid rear projection screen, the substrate itself has to be optically active. It needs not only to be translucent but as transparent as possible.
Da-Lite: Doesn't any clear material, glass or acrylic, accomplish that?
Burrows: Yes; but not with equal efficiency. Acrylic has a measurably higher optical throughput than glass in the visible spectrum.
Da-Lite: Does that mean that acrylic substrates are to be preferred to glass ones?
Burrows: You might have been able to say that in the past, but I've been working just recently on ways to increase the transmission of our Da-Glas.
...
Burrows: Screen gain is the ratio of a measured amount of on-axis light reaching the back of the screen to a measured amount of light radiating from the front.
...
Burrows: Yes; the purpose of diffusion is to scatter light, not to absorb it. Often rear projection coatings contain colorants which serve to darken their overall hue. The "N" suffix in our Polacoat line, for example, stands for "Neutral Gray" which is a highly desirable color for a rear projection screen because the precise "Gray" we've developed significantly improves image contrast without altering the overall color balance between the Red, Green, and Blue portions of the image.
Da-Lite: But the gray colorant absorbs some light, doesn't it?
Burrows: Yes it does.
...
Burrows: Of course. Because front projection screens are not rigid, all sorts of chemical things need to be manipulated so that the mechanics of their substrates behave suitably. There are requirements that the screen not chip, fade, peel or crack, for instance.
Da-Lite: And what about the optical layer, the front projection screen's front surface?
Burrows: I'd like to answer that question this way: Of all the elements which make up a contemporary display system - computers, switchers, interfaces, projectors, lenses and screens - there is only one which performs anywhere near its theoretical efficiency.
...
Burrows: We're making a screen for a laser system which needs a diffuser with an especially small particle size, in this case about 5m . That's way smaller than the human eye can resolve but it's not too small to be machine readable.
...
Burrows: Very probably.
...
Burrows: Yes; both simple (curved in just one direction) and compound (curved in two). Some of the screens we produce for customers in the aircraft simulation industry are quite large. They consist, for instance, of spherical sections which have radii greater than six feet and which extend horizontally for 220o. (That's more than 23 feet of arc length, by the way.) We have become quite expert in getting single pieces of acrylic formed into that shape and then coating them to very exacting tolerances.
Da-Lite: Do you coat on the outside or the inside of the curve?
Burrows: Either one, although the convex side is more usual. Obviously the chemistry of the diffusion for a curved surface needs to be different from flat screen diffusers. Getting the coating to apply uniformly across curved surfaces requires very careful formulation and a custom delivery system.
Da-Lite: Does your group do a lot of custom work?
Burrows: Indeed we do.
...
Burrows: Of course; but the distinction between regular and custom is getting increasingly blurred.
...
Burrows: Sure.
...
Burrows: Because the thicker a coating is, the more chance it will have of degrading image resolution. And when projected displays are expected to match the resolution of work stations, it doesn't take much extra thickness to make a noticeable difference.
Da-Lite: Speaking of work stations and such, do you think that devices of that kind will ever supplant the projection screen?
Burrows: I think the future of visual displays splits into two paths: displays for small audiences and displays for large audiences.
