Design and development of driving waveforms for AC PDPs

This paper presents design and development of driving waveforms to improve efficacy, contrast and resolution for AC plasma display panels (PDPs). In the paper, the conventional driving waveforms are first reviewed, and the proposed driving waveforms are then discussed. The driving of PDPs in each sub-frame is divided into three periods, namely reset period, address period and sustain period. During reset period, the ramp-like reset waveforms can enhance the contrast and resolution, and can lower the address voltage while still sustaining a reliable wall-charge control. Additionally, a square sustain waveform with the supplementation of the ramp-like waveform can induce self-erasing discharges which will improve efficacy during the sustain period. Operation of a PDP and comparison among various driving waveforms are also presented. Experimental results measured from a 46-in PDP system have verified the feasibility of the proposed driving waveforms.