Large Area Liquid Crystal Display for Automobile

An instrument panel of a large area liquid crystal display (LCD), including a 50 segment bargraph speedometer, a six digit odo/trip/tacho meter, two gauges and several warning indicators, has been developed. The LCD cell evaluated for this instrument panel is operated in a reflective twisted nematic mode and dimensions of the cell are 260 × 110 × 3 mm. The liquid crystal material is capable of operating over a wider temperature range from −30°C to 80°C and the response time is less than 1 second at −20°C without heaters. The LCD instrument panel can display in multi-color by using high performance dichroic polarizers. Finally feasibility of the large area LCD instrument panel is investigated.