Text | Xue Xiaoyan, Xue Yuting
Edit | Su Jianxun
36 Carbon learned that Shanghai Longsheng Optoelectronics New Materials Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Longsheng Optoelectronics") recently completed nearly 100 million yuan in B+ round of financing, this round of financing is jointly led by Yida Capital and Ancheng Capital, and Duowei Capital serves as the exclusive financial advisor, and the funds are mainly used for production line construction, equipment procurement, personnel recruitment and R&D investment.
Longsheng Optoelectronics is a high-tech enterprise focusing on the R&D, manufacturing and sales of new materials for liquid crystal dimming films. Pan Xuan, general manager of the company, introduced that the core team of Longsheng Optoelectronics has been engaged in the research and development of dimming film products since 2005 and has been deeply involved in the industry for nearly 20 years. The company's core material is intelligent dimming film, and the team members have participated in the compilation and review of the national standard for dimming film glass, and have accumulated profound technical strength, a large number of practical cases and upstream and downstream industrial chain resources over the years.
In the whole vehicle, dimming film products have many application scenarios, such as canopy glass, rear windshield, door glass and triangular fixed windows. In particular, the solution of "panoramic canopy + dimming film" can combine the thermal insulation and temperature control effect of the dimming film with the effect of the canopy glass to release the interior space and reduce the weight of the body, so as to create a differentiated in-vehicle interior experience and further achieve the green goal of energy conservation and emission reduction.
36 Carbon understands that dimming film materials mainly include PDLC (polymer dispersed liquid crystal), EC (electrochromic), SPD (suspended particle device) and other different technical solutions. Among them, PDLC is a flexible material, and the principle is that the polymers in the liquid crystal film will be arranged in an orderly manner when energized, and the glass will become transparent accordingly, and the glass will show a transparent and opaque appearance when it is not energized.
Courtesy of Longsheng Optoelectronics
Among the above-mentioned technical routes, PDLC dimming film is currently the most mature and cost-effective (the price is 15-20% of SPD and 40-50% of EC), and it is the mainstream solution recognized by downstream dimming glass manufacturers. Pan Xuan, general manager, told 36 Carbon that Longsheng Optoelectronics has been deeply involved in the PDLC route for more than 20 years, and the company has independent research and development of liquid crystal formula, PDLC wide temperature technology, advanced PDLC coating equipment and back-end process automation production line, and the indicators of dimming film products are at the world's leading level, and have passed the vehicle specification certification.
The product performance has passed the vehicle specification certification, which is a major competitive advantage of Longsheng Optoelectronics. According to reports, the vehicle-grade certification standard first requires that the dimming film liquid crystal material cannot be turned and permeable when it is bent and pressured, that is, it cannot be "pressure-induced discoloration". After solving this problem, Longsheng Optoelectronics has used many years of technical research to achieve the haze of the product at a high temperature of 95 °C to maintain more than 95%, and has passed the thermal aging test of more than 1000 hours of 105 °C and 3000 hours of photoaging test in China and 5000 hours in Europe, as well as the performance stability test of power on and off under tens of thousands of hours of high temperature and high pressure.
Courtesy of Longsheng Optoelectronics
For automotive scenarios, Longsheng Optoelectronics has mainly created three product series: white wide-temperature LCD dimming film, black wide-temperature LCD dimming film and direct-attached wide-temperature dimming film, which have multiple functions such as sun shading, privacy protection, heat insulation, temperature control, and partitioning.
The company's mass production capacity is mainly due to the self-developed front-end process core equipment and back-end process automation production line. "In terms of the front-end process, in order to ensure the stability of high-sensitivity, ultra-thin liquid crystal film products, spacer balls are usually used in the coating process in the industry. Pan Xuan, general manager, told 36 Carbon, "But spacer balls will also lead to problems such as reduced production efficiency, embossed appearance, white haze on the side, and poor product performance, which is difficult to meet customers' needs for gradient effect and smooth appearance." ”
In contrast, Longsheng Optoelectronics uses self-developed proprietary coating equipment, which can coat without spacer balls, and at the same time ensure that PDLC film products achieve lower bursting point, lower haze, and more anti-aging, and the coating speed can reach more than five times that of the industry. At present, the company has two fully automatic coating equipment, with an annual production capacity of more than 1.8 million square meters.
In terms of back-end technology, Longsheng Optoelectronics took the lead in realizing fully automated production, breaking the situation that the industry's usual important processes rely on manual processing. According to reports, the production line of the PDLC membrane rear electrode side independently developed by Longsheng Optoelectronics can not only improve the stability of the electrode side of the product, but also help to realize the large-scale mass production and batch loading of the product. At present, the company has planned to build five or six back-end automated production lines in the factory, with an annual production capacity of 1 million to 2 million pieces.
36 Carbon understands that Longsheng Optoelectronics has established cooperative relations with a number of first-tier suppliers and well-known car companies, obtained order certification from domestic and foreign customers, and has strong commercialization capabilities. The company has reached cooperation with the world's five major glass factories and other downstream automotive glass and sunroof giants, and has entered the mainstream automotive supply chain such as BMW, Audi, Volkswagen, Lotus and other mainstream automobile supply chains, and its products have been introduced into more than 40 fixed-point models and 10 mass-produced models at home and abroad.
In response to customer needs, Pan Xuan, general manager, introduced that the dimming field is currently divided into two types of dimming methods: the conversion of transparent and opaque, and the conversion of chiaroscuro in a transparent state. Regarding the conversion of transparent and opaque, Longsheng Optoelectronics will launch a wide-angle dimming film product in 2023, which can achieve consistent transparency at different angles of the front and side of the vehicle and ensure the lowest haze. On this basis, Longsheng Optoelectronics plans to launch high-contrast dimming film products with chiaroscuro conversion in 2024 and achieve large-scale mass production to meet the diversified needs of customers.
Pan Xuan, general manager, also revealed that Longsheng Optoelectronics will introduce a new coating production line in 2025 to further improve mass production capacity. In the future, the company will focus on the extension of PDLC dimming film technology to extend the application scenarios and gradually enter the building curtain wall market.
Investors' Perspectives:
Yida Capital: In recent years, automotive rooftop glass has been recognized by the majority of automobile brand manufacturers for its lightweight, weight-reducing and energy-saving characteristics. Compared with small sunroofs, the application of automobile sunroofs reduces the drive unit and execution unit, and saves the cost of parts and components of OEMs. With the rapid application of canopy glass, consumers' demand for privacy protection, aesthetics, thermal insulation and personalization of canopy glass is also increasing. The PDLC automotive dimming film products developed by Longsheng Optoelectronics are perfectly combined with the automotive sunroof glass, which greatly enhances the added value of the products of glass manufacturers and automobile brand manufacturers. At the same time, for consumers, they also get a better functional and personalized experience. It is believed that with the rapid penetration of automotive canopies and smart car scene applications, the development of the automotive dimming film industry will usher in a period of rapid growth.
Ancheng Capital: The global automobile has entered the era of accelerated penetration of new energy, and the concept of automotive intelligence is heating up, Longsheng Optoelectronics takes advantage of the trend, the company's self-developed PDLC dimming film can actively change the transparent and opaque state in combination with the needs of users, and realize the active regulation of sunlight protection/heat insulation and privacy. The trend of aesthetics and intelligence leads the innovation and upgrading of panoramic roofs for new energy vehicles.