My Cart - Plasma TV Inventor, Dr. Larry Weber, is toiling in his garage to engineer a plasma screen that can be used effectively and affordably for laptop and tablet screens, in preference to LCD.
As a student Weber and two colleagues worked at the University of Illinois developing plasma display technology. He spent the following thirty years developing technology which was originally intended to be a monochrome computer monitor into the first 60” colour TV screen in 1999. Since then television technology has taken another leap from cheap plasma TVs into LCD screens, which utilise LCD shutters to filter white light.
Dr Weber’s first aim is to improve the power consumption of plasma screens. He is working alongside two graduate students, reminiscent of his own work as a young man, who collectively believe they can ultimately reduce power consumption by forty times
Dr Weber is working alongside two graduate students, reflecting his own work as a young man. Their first aim is to improve the power consumption of plasma screens, which the team believes they can do by up to 40 times. Their shorter term goal is to reduce current consumption by 20 times, a target Dr Weber believes can be achieved within the next two years.
If Dr Weber and his team are successful in their mission to improve the power efficiency of plasma the advance could mark a great jump in laptop use and battery life. Currently an LCD screen consumes around 25-30% of a laptop’s power, while an efficient plasma screen could use as little as 5%. Coupled with the improved colour quality and viewing angles, plasma may be the new element that drives the use of laptops for film and television viewing.
