LG Innotek announced on April 24 that it won the Bronze Award at the "Edison Awards 2023" in the U.S. with "Nexlim," a component with the properties of a magnet, which is evaluated to have newly opened the era of ultra-slim and high-definition TVs.
The Edison Awards are the most renowned invention awards in the United States, and they have been honoring Thomas Edison's innovative spirit since 1987. The awards are meticulously evaluated over about 7 months by approximately 3,000 judges from diverse industries across the United States. Each year, gold, silver, and bronze winners are chosen in 16 fields.
LG Innotek's "Nexlim" won the Bronze Award in the commercial technology category at the awards ceremony held on April 20, local time. The world's thinnest ultra-thin magnetic component, "Nexlim," is used in power modules for TVs and power/chargers for vehicles to change voltage or remove unnecessary signals generated by current waves. It plays an important role in improving the energy efficiency of electronic products and electric vehicles by minimizing power loss due to heat generation.
TV manufacturers faced difficulties in product design due to the expected rise in popularity of high-definition and ultra-slim TVs with larger screens and thinner thicknesses from 2018. To achieve the specifications of large-screen and high-definition TVs that consumers desire, it was necessary to increase the number of magnetic parts by more than three times compared to the previous model. However, it was technically impossible to reduce the thickness of the TV at the same time.
Thus, the development of ultra-thin magnetic parts that could replace the existing magnetic parts that took up half of the total thickness of TVs became a topic in the industry. In 2017, LG Innotek predicted this trend in the electronics industry and quickly began developing ultra-thin magnetic parts. Since then, the technology has advanced, and last year, the thickness of Necklim was reduced to 7mm.
The secret to drastically reducing the thickness of magnetic parts lies in the high-efficiency Ferrite magnetic material used as the main material of Necklim. LG Innotek independently developed and applied Ferrite magnetic material (X-2), which reduces energy loss by up to 40% and increases power density by 3 times compared to general magnetic materials, and applied it to Nexlim.
With the advent of ultra-thin magnetic components such as Nexlim, the thickness of power modules for TVs can be made as thin as 7.2 to 9.9 mm. Ultra-slim TVs with a total thickness of only 15 to 19.9 mm can become a reality.
