Optical technologies for consumer lifestyle products

PROJECT BACKGROUND

The PHILIPS plant in Klagenfurt develops innovations for the global market in the areas of body and hair care, household, health and spa products. In addition, they also manufacture key components here for consumer lifestyle products. The company wanted to use optical technology that can be integrated in the existing hair removal product LUMEA to detect certain skin parameters automatically and improve functionality.

PROJECT CONTENT

The goal of the research project conducted was to develop a demonstrator for an existing light-based hair removal device that extended functionality and improved the safety concept. What was the greatest challenge was to find an appropriate optical technology that not only meets the demands of industrial production but also the consumers’ needs. The technology had to be cost effective to implement (business to consumer market) and capable of miniaturisation and spatial resolution.

SAL SERVICE

Having carried out technology screening, SAL used the results to completely redesign and miniaturise the components (i.e. sensors, image analysis, electronics and data processing). SAL’s contribution to the project was expertise in the area of design, miniaturisation and development of multispectral instrumentation in dermatology and also expertise in detecting skin lesions using multispectral image data, including algorithms and data evaluation.

“What motivated us to produce this product development was primarily the aim of improving its functionality and providing users with a smart and yet affordable high-tech product.” Peter Heindl, Innovation Team Lead, Philips Austria.