electron reactive coating

[LadyJennifer]

Hi I am neither a chemist nor an engineer but.......
I have an idea that could help many disabled people.....
But!!!!!
I need to find a safe material that will "swell" when stimulated by electrons.

Can any one help, Please

Jennifer.

 

[nbucska]

Would piezoelectric ceramic or plastic do?

<nbucska@pcperipherals DOT com> subj: eng-tips
read FAQ240-1032

 

[LadyJennifer]

Would piezoelectric ceramic or plastic do?

I,m not sure. Plastic might, I was looking to use a form of membrane. The idea is not dissimilar to the coloured dots that coat the inside of a tv screen except the "swelling" rether than glowing.

Jennifer

 

[LadyJennifer]

From another site electropolymers and muscle wires (whatever they are) have been suggested.
To me the electropolymers sound the more hopeful but then I am unlearned.
I appologise if I have seemed overly cautious but I have nursed this idea for some years. Perhaps knowing the product will be more helpfull.
The product I am looking to produce is a braille VDU.

Jennifer.

 

[nbucska]

What is a VDU ? How many point/characters do you need to display?

<nbucska@pcperipherals DOT com> subj: eng-tips
read FAQ240-1032

 

[LadyJennifer]

There was a mechanical system using moving pins that was used back in the '80's, but that was basically a strip 1" x 6" and gave the braille version of letters only.

I envisage either pre coating at the manufacture of VDU (Visual Display Unit) in addition to the current coating (for colour) or a membrane that can be fixed to the CRT CCathode Ray Tube) of said VDU. I imagine that software might be required to enlarge the displayed characters to approximately 0.5 cm. Effectively creating a physical interpretation of the visual display.

Jennifer

 

[LadyJennifer]

Pin density options.

The number of dots per unit area currently used in a conventional display is limited by the space requirements of the powered actuators. The passive pins of current design can be made smaller without much increase in cost. A new prototype I have come across uses ten pins per linear inch (2.54 mm spacing), and at least double that linear density should be feasible. Manual Braille typewriters use 6 dots (3x2) approx 1mm in diameter with approx 1mm space between each dot. However what I wish to achieve should be directly comparable to the point/characters display currently found on a standard CRT.

From another forum "Jabberwocky (Mechanical)" said.....

" So you want to translate a visual signal into a depth map? How would you resolve contrast issues or colour info?

I (Jabberwocky) was just envisioning an electronic "piece of paper" that could display any given Braille data by changing its contour. "

Now to the crux of the matter..........

This is where I am looking for suitable coating materials with varying responses to the electron gun. I am hoping that by mixing their differing properties I will allow for texturing of the image which should provide an indication of the different aspects of the visual image. Hopefully there will be at least three suitable such materials for each of the guns in a CRT.

Jennifer

 

[unclesyd]

Checkout the February 2004 issue of Scientific American, they have a report on "Flexible Displays".
Even though they are talking mostly about visual the article might give you some leads.