Three-Digit, 7-Segment Display

The Challenge

An electronic control company in the residential and commercial appliance market was trying to use an existing printed circuit board (PCB) in one of their controls but add a new user interface to communicate more information to the consumer. The engineer needed a three-digit, 7-segment display but could not locate a standard display that would conform to their product’s design requirements. The amount of space in the enclosure was so small that standard displays would not work and with the size of some of the application specific displays available, the information would not be easily readable.  In addition, the display needed to be right angled in order to mount with the legacy PCB and ensure full visibility of the display data on the face on the device.

The Solution

Lumex met the customer’s challenge by combining two technologies into one great solution.

Lumex was able to take advantage of a previous proprietary reflector concept and combine it with the a new display for an application specific design created to work with the existing PCB. The Lumex PCB within the display had a custom pinout design allowing the customer to directly interface the display with the data from their microprocessor. The unique design also ensured that the brightness and viewing angle requirements would be met consistently and reliably. Lumex developed prototypes for the customer and after some minor tooling adjustments, the new part was born.

The Value Proposition

The customer was ecstatic with the results! By accessing a prior technology and combining it with the new display, the customer was able to save costs by not having to tool a new motherboard and significantly increased manufacturing throughput with the highly reliable new display. The display was visible at the exact angle required by the customer and presented a prominent, attractive view of the data from their microprocessor. An attractive, space-saving solution!