Quick answer
A seven-segment display does one job extremely well: showing Arabic numerals with seven lit bars. Sixteen-segment displays can display both Arabic numerals and English letters (uppercase and lowercase). This article focuses on the internal structures of these two types of displays.
Table of Contents
Introducing 7-segment & 16-segment displays & internal structures.
The same is a seven-segment monitor, sixteen-segment display, there are different names in the industry, do you often feel troubled by this? This article organizes the common names in the industry, and explains its meaning to the reader, in addition to the introduction of seven segment display, sixteen segment display of the internal structure, so that you can faster understand a variety of seven-segment display’s, sixteen-segment display’s specifications!
Which LED displays can be used to display Arabic numerals and English letters?
“The most common LED display used for showing Arabic numerals is the 7-segment display, while the 16-segment display can show both Arabic numerals and uppercase and lowercase English letters. For more information on how these displays work, you can refer to this article. In addition to these two types, dot matrix displays use illuminated points to display pixelated images, and they can also easily display pixelated Arabic numerals and English letters.
This article will focus on discussing the display of numbers and English letters on seven-segment, fourteen-segment, and sixteen-segment displays. Dot matrix displays will be discussed in a separate article.”
Why are they called seven-segment displays, fourteen-segment displays, and sixteen-segment displays?
The naming of these displays originally came from the number of illuminated regions (also called segments) within a character. For example, a seven-segment display (7-Segment Display) means there are seven illuminated regions in one character. The same naming convention applies to fourteen-segment displays (14-Segment Display) and sixteen-segment displays (16-Segment Display).
It’s worth noting that almost all displays have a circular illuminated region in the lower right corner, commonly called the DP (Decimal Point). The DP is typically used as a decimal separator (Decimal Mark), but in some cases, it may also be used as a thousands separator. The presence or number of DP points does not affect the naming convention. The example below shows two products, where you can see that the number of points does not impact the naming. The display on the left is called a seven-segment display (7-Segment Display), and the one on the right is a sixteen-segment display (16-Segment Display).
A nickname for a seven-segment display, a fourteen-segment display, and a sixteen-segment display
Before describing the internal construction of the three displays mentioned above, the industry has different names for these displays, and although the names are different, they refer to the same displays, each of which is discussed as follows:
The nickname for a seven-segment display
Seven-segment displays are most commonly used to display Arabic numerals, which many people call “digital displays”, in addition, when light up all seven-segment, it display “8” Arabic numerals, so, many people are often call it as the “eight-word display” or simply “8 word” . In addition to the above Chinese Traditional, the simplified characters used in China often call “displays” as “tubes”, “digital” as “digital” and “segment” as “dash”, and the simplified characters “digital tube”, “seven digital tube”, “seven tube”, “eight word tube” and “8-word displays, “eight-word tubes”, “8 eight-word display”, or directly turning simplified bodies into traditional forms are also very common, for example, “digital tubes”, “seven-segment digital tubes”, “seven-segment tubes”, “8 eight-word tubes”, “8 eight-word displays” It can be said that the name is very confusing.
The nickname of a fourteen-segment display and a sixteen-segment display
Fourteen-segment displays and sixteen-segment displays are deformations of seven-segment displays, and the extra segments are designed to display capital and lowercase English letters, which should be individually called “alphanumeric displays” (Alphanumeric Display), In addition, since the interior of the 14-segment display and the 16-segment display have the same appearance as the Chinese word “米meter”, therefore Chinese language countries, more people called “米meter-word display.” All of the above terms may refer to both “14-segment displays” and “16-segment displays”, the names of which are often mixed.
The internal structure of seven-segment displays, fourteen-segment displays and sixteen-segment displays
The internal structure of the seven-segment display, the fourteen-segment display and the sixteen-segment display are roughly the same, except for the naming rules for the internal segments. Seven-segment displays and sixteen-segment displays will each give an example.
Internal Structure of a 7-Segment Display – Using the OPS-S5620(1)SB as an Example
Using the OPS-S5620(1)SB as an example, the internal structure of a seven-segment display consists of three parts:
- LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes)
- PCB (which connects the circuit and LEDs)
- Packaging of the seven-segment display pins (commonly Surface Mount Device, SMD, and Through-Hole Technology, THT)
First, each light-emitting area has at least one LED, as shown in the upper right corner, and a seven-segment display requires at least eight light-emitting diode LEDs to fully represent numbers, in order to completely render the numbers by naming the inner segment (Segment) clockwise, and the DP point (Data point) in the lower right corner.
Next is the connection method. The pins of seven-segment displays are commonly assembled onto the mainboard using either SMD (Surface Mount Device) or THT (Through-Hole Technology). If there are too many external connection points for the seven-segment display pins, the entire module becomes larger. To address this, the industry often uses two types of seven-segment display connections—Common Anode and Common Cathode—to reduce the number of pin connections and assembly points on the mainboard. Typically, different circuit configurations are indicated by different product model numbers. For example, the Common Anode seven-segment display model is OPS-S5620SB, while the Common Cathode seven-segment display model is OPS-S5621SB
Next is the position of the external connections. By referring to the numbers on the illuminated diagram, you can identify the position of the external connection points for the seven-segment display pins. It is crucial to thoroughly check the DATASHEET before using the product to ensure the seven-segment display is driven correctly. For more information on how to properly drive a seven-segment display, please refer to our previous article, ‘How to Design LED Current-Limiting Resistors for a Seven-Segment Display?‘
16-segment display and its internal structure – using the OPD-AS5010(1)LR as an example
Taking the sixteen-segment display OPD-AS5010(1)LR as an example, aside from the fact that the two products emit different light colors (blue and red, respectively), most of the naming conventions are similar to those used for seven-segment displays. However, there are two key differences:
- Segments that were originally part of a seven-segment display and are now split into two segments are labeled as A1/A2, D1/D2, and G1/G2.
- The internal segments of the sixteen-segment display are also named in a clockwise sequence, similar to how the outer segments are labeled in the seven-segment display, with segments labeled H through L.”
Conclusion
This article integrates the seven-segment displays, fourteen-segment displays, and sixteen-segment displays that are common in the industry, and explains their meaning. The internal structure of the three displays is also briefly explained. It is hoped that readers will be able to see the specifications of these three displays more quickly after reading these articles.
Why this is usually a cost decision, not a capability decision
Seven segments give you the digits and a workable subset of letters. Sixteen segments give you the full upper and lower case. Stated that way sixteen sounds strictly better, but most products never need the full alphabet: a short, fixed vocabulary of status words can usually be spelled on seven segments, and staying with seven keeps both the part and the driving simpler.
The practical test we suggest to customers is to write down every string the display will ever show, before choosing the format. More than once that list has turned out to fit on seven segments after all — and when it genuinely does not, the list also tells you exactly how many characters wide the sixteen-segment part needs to be.
Related article
What is RGB SMD LED? | SMD LED Packaging | Full Series RGB LED Comparison Table
Introduce dot matrix display’s name, type, internal structure, and application scene
Analysis of Applications for 3 Standard and Custom LED Display Products!
Choose lowest-cost colored LED for your product. | low-cost LED color