TW202109478A - Display device - Google Patents

Abstract

A display device includes two bodies, a hinge structure, a flexible display panel and at least one supporting component. The two bodies are pivoted to each other through the hinge structure to be adapted to relatively rotate between an opened state and a closed state. The flexible display panel includes two non-bending sections and a bendable section, the two non-bending sections are disposed on the two bodies respectively, and the bendable section is connected between the two non-bending sections. The supporting component is rotatably connected to the body. With the two bodies rotating relatively from the opened state to the closed state, the supporting component is rotated relative to the corresponding body to support the bendable section.

Description

Display device

The present invention relates to a display device, and particularly relates to a foldable display device.

In recent years, flexible display technology has gradually matured, and various manufacturers have begun to apply flexible display panels to various products. A display device using a flexible display panel can achieve a large screen when unfolded and is easy to carry when bent, so it is suitable for displays in various fields, such as TVs, monitors, portable phones, ultra-thin portable personal computers , E-books, e-paper, etc. Specifically, when the user wants to use the foldable display device, it can be unfolded to fully unfold the flexible display panel so that a larger display screen can be used. When the user wants to move the foldable display device, the foldable display device can be folded to reduce the size of the foldable display device to facilitate carrying.

In the above-mentioned foldable display device, the flexible display panel is jointly supported by two bodies that can be turned over. In order to prevent the two bodies from interfering with the pivot structure during the turning process, it is generally necessary to form a recess corresponding to the pivot structure on the edge of each body. However, this action causes the bodies to be unable to support the flexible display panel at the recesses, so that the flexible display panel is recessed adjacent to the pivot structure.

The present invention provides a display device, which can prevent the flexible display panel from being recessed due to insufficient support near the pivot structure.

The display device of the present invention includes two bodies, a pivot structure, a flexible display panel and at least one support. The two bodies are pivotally connected to each other through the pivot structure so as to be suitable for relative rotation between an open state and a closed state. The flexible display panel includes two non-bending sections and a bendable section. The two non-bending sections are respectively arranged on the two bodies, and the bendable section is connected between the two non-bending sections. The support is rotatably connected to the body. As the two bodies rotate relative to each other from the open state to the closed state, the support member rotates relative to the corresponding body to support the bendable section.

In an embodiment of the present invention, when the two bodies are in a closed state, one end of each body faces the pivot structure, and at least one supporting member is disposed at the end of the corresponding at least one body.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the aforementioned at least one body corresponding to the at least one supporting member has a notch, and the at least one supporting member is located in the notch and is adapted to rotate relative to the corresponding at least one body while being partially located in the recess. Out of mouth.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the aforementioned at least one support member is pivotally connected to two opposite inner walls of the recess.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the two bodies mentioned above are rotatably connected to the pivot structure along a first rotation axis and a second rotation axis, and at least one support is rotatably connected to the pivot structure along a third rotation axis. In the corresponding at least one body, the first rotation axis, the second rotation axis, and the third rotation axis are parallel to each other.

In an embodiment of the present invention, when the two bodies are in the open state and have a relative deployment angle of 180 degrees, the third rotation axis is located between the first rotation axis and the second rotation axis.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the aforementioned at least one supporting member includes two supporting members, and the two supporting members are respectively rotatably connected to the two bodies.

In an embodiment of the present invention, when the two bodies are relatively rotated from the open state to the closed state, the relative rotation angle of the two support members is smaller than the relative rotation angle of the two bodies.

In an embodiment of the present invention, when the two bodies are in an open state and have a relative deployment angle of 180 degrees, at least one support member is coplanar with the corresponding at least one body.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the above-mentioned at least one support member has a stop protrusion, and when the two bodies are in an open state and have a relative deployment angle of 180 degrees, the stop protrusion abuts against the corresponding at least one body .

In an embodiment of the present invention, each of the above-mentioned bodies has a top surface and a bottom surface opposite to each other. The top surface carries a flexible display panel. When the two bodies are in an open state and have a relative expansion angle of 180 degrees, the stop The convex part abuts against the bottom surface.

In an embodiment of the present invention, each of the above-mentioned bodies has an opposite top surface, and the top surface carries a flexible display panel. When the two bodies are in a closed state, at least one supporting member partially protrudes from the top surface.

In an embodiment of the present invention, one end portion of each of the aforementioned non-bending sections is adjacent to the bendable section. When the two bodies are in a closed state, the two end portions of the two non-bending sections are parallel to each other.

In an embodiment of the present invention, when the two bodies are relatively rotated from the open state to the closed state, the at least one support member and the corresponding at least one body limit the at least one support member through the pivot structure and the bendable section. Position and relative rotation.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the above-mentioned display device includes two frames, wherein the two frames are respectively connected to the two frames, and each frame is rotatably connected to the pivot structure. When the two frames are in an open state and have a 180-degree angle When the relative deployment angle is, one end of each frame supports the corresponding support.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the above-mentioned display device includes two frame bodies, wherein the two frames are respectively connected to the two frame bodies, the pivot structure has two arc-shaped guide grooves, and each frame body has an arc-shaped section and two arc-shaped guide grooves. The shaped sections are respectively slidably arranged in the two arc-shaped guide grooves.

Based on the above, the display device of the present invention is additionally provided with a support member for supporting the flexible display panel. When the two bodies are in an open state, the two bodies and the supporting member jointly support the flexible display panel, and the supporting member can rotate relative to the body as the two bodies are closed to continuously support the flexible display panel, so as to make the flexible display The panel gets sufficient support. In addition, by rotating the support member relative to the body, the support member can avoid interference with the pivot structure during the turning of the body.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a display device according to an embodiment of the invention. 2A to 2E are operation flowcharts of the display device in FIG. 1. To make the drawings clearer, the flexible display panel 130 in FIG. 1 is not depicted in FIGS. 2A to 2E. 1 and 2A to 2E, the display device 100 of this embodiment is a portable electronic device such as a smart phone or a tablet computer, and includes two bodies 110, a pivot structure 120, and a flexible display板130。 Panel 130. The two bodies 110 are pivotally connected to each other by the pivot structure 120 so as to be suitable for relative rotation between the open state shown in FIGS. 1 and 2A and the closed state shown in FIG. 2E. Each body 110 has a top surface 110b and a bottom surface 110c opposite to each other. The flexible display panel 130 includes two non-bending sections 132 and a bendable section 134. The two non-bending sections 132 are respectively disposed on the top surfaces 110b of the two bodies 110 and are carried by the top surfaces 110b. The bending section 134 is connected between the two non-bending sections 134.

3A to 3E are partial cross-sectional views of the display device of FIGS. 1 and 2A to 2E, respectively. The display device 100 of this embodiment further includes at least one support member 140 (two are shown), and the two support members 140 are respectively rotatably connected to the two body 110. As the two bodies 110 relatively rotate from the open state shown in FIGS. 1, 2A, and 3A to the closed state shown in FIGS. 2E and 3E, each support member 140 is relative to the corresponding body as shown in FIGS. 3A to 3E. The 110 rotates to support the bendable section 134 of the flexible display panel 130.

4A to 4E are perspective views of the display device of FIGS. 3A to 3E, respectively. To make the drawings clearer, the flexible display panel 130 in FIGS. 3A to 3E is not depicted in FIGS. 4A to 4E. Specifically, during the relative rotation of the two bodies 110 from the open state shown in FIGS. 3A and 4A to the closed state shown in FIGS. 3E and 4E, the limit end 122a of the housing 122 of the pivot structure 120 and the can The bendable section 134 of the flexible display panel 130 stops and restricts the support 140 on the lower and upper sides of the support 140, so that the relative rotation angle of the two supports 140 is smaller than the relative rotation angle of the two bodies 110, As a result, each support member 140 rotates relative to the corresponding body 110 in a predetermined manner as shown in FIGS. 3A to 3E.

As described above, the display device 100 of this embodiment is additionally provided with a support 140 for supporting the flexible display panel 130. Therefore, when the two bodies 110 are in the open state, the two bodies 110 and the two supporting members 140 jointly support the flexible display panel 130 as shown in FIG. 3A, and each supporting member 140 can be relative to the body as the two bodies 110 are closed. The 110 rotates to continuously support the flexible display panel 130 during the operation process of FIGS. 3B to 3E, so that the flexible display panel 130 obtains sufficient support. Moreover, by rotating each support member 140 relative to the body 110, the support member 140 can be prevented from interfering with the pivot structure 120 during the turning of the body 110.

In detail, in this embodiment, when the two bodies 110 are in the closed state as shown in FIG. 2E and FIG. 3E, one end 110 a of each body 110 faces the pivot structure 120. In order to prevent the end 110 a of each body 110 from interfering with the pivot structure 120 in the closed state, each body 110 may have a notch N at its end 110 a to make way for the pivot structure 120. In order to prevent the flexible display panel 130 from being unsupported at the notch N and being recessed, each support member 140 is arranged in the notch N at the end 110a of the corresponding body 110 to support the flexible display at the notch N.板130。 Panel 130. In addition, each support member 140 can rotate relative to the corresponding body 110 and partially protrude from the top surface 110b of the body 110 as shown in FIG. 2E and FIG. 3E, and is partially located outside the notch N, so that each support member 140 In the closed state, it does not interfere with the pivot structure 120, and at the same time, each support member 140 can support the bendable section 134 of the flexible display panel 130 in the closed state.

Fig. 5 is an exploded view of the body and support of Fig. 1. Please refer to FIG. 5, each support member 140 of this embodiment is pivotally connected to the shaft portion P on the two opposite inner walls W of the corresponding recess N through its shaft hole 140 a, for example. In other embodiments, each supporting member 140 may be rotatably connected to the corresponding body 110 by other suitable methods, and the present invention is not limited thereto.

In this embodiment, the two bodies 110 are respectively rotatably connected to the pivot structure along a first rotation axis A1 (marked in FIGS. 3A to 3E) and a second rotation axis A2 (marked in FIGS. 3A to 3E) 120, and each support member 140 is rotatably connected to the corresponding body 110 along a third rotation axis A3 (marked in FIGS. 3A to 3E). The first rotation axis A1, the second rotation axis A2, and the third rotation axis A3 are, for example, parallel to each other. In addition, when the two bodies 110 are opened as shown in FIG. 3A and have a relative deployment angle of 180 degrees, the third rotation axis A3 is located between the first rotation axis A1 and the second rotation axis A2. Thereby, each support member 140 can follow the relative rotation of the two bodies 110 in the manner shown in FIG. 3A to FIG. 3E to follow the rotation center of the corresponding body 110 (the first rotation axis A1 or the second rotation axis A2) in a predetermined path. It revolves and rotates around the third axis of rotation A3 to act.

In addition, the flexible display panel 130 of this embodiment has a neutral layer 130a. The neutral layer 130 a extends in the bendable section 134 and the non-bendable section 132. When the two bodies 110 change between the open state and the closed state, the rotation centers of the two bodies 110 (ie, the first rotation axis A1 and the second rotation axis A2) are always maintained on the neutral layer 130a of the flexible display panel 130 . The aforementioned neutral layer 130a means that during the bending process of the material, the outer layer is stretched and the inner layer is squeezed, and there must be a transition layer that is neither stretched nor compressed on the cross section of the material, and the stress is almost zero , This transition layer is called the neutral layer of the material. Simply put, the length of the neutral layer 130a during the bending process is the same as before the bending, and remains unchanged. The neutral layer 130a does not refer to a layer at a certain height on the cross section of the flexible display panel 130. The neutral layer 130a will vary in accordance with the selection of materials and implementation thickness of the flexible display panel 130, and therefore it is flexible. Type display panel 130 at different heights on the cross section. In other words, the neutral layer 130 a may be located on the surface of the flexible display panel 130 or located inside the flexible display panel 130. For example, if other materials with strong rigidity are attached to the surface of the flexible display panel 130, such as bendable glass or metal materials used to protect the surface of the flexible display panel 130, then Considering the material and the flexible display panel 130 as a whole, the neutral layer 130a may be located on the surface of the whole including the material and the flexible display panel 130. In other embodiments, the first rotation axis A1 and the second rotation axis A2 may not be located on the neutral layer 130a, which is not limited in the present invention.

In the flexible display panel 130 of this embodiment, an end portion 132 a (marked in FIGS. 3A to 3E) of each non-bending section 132 is adjacent to the bendable section 134. Since each support member 140 is used to support the bendable section 134 of the flexible display panel 130 instead of the non-bendable section 132 as described above, when the two bodies 110 are in the closed state shown in FIG. 3E At this time, the two end portions 132a of the two non-bending sections 132 are not pushed by the support 140 and are maintained in a parallel state.

In this embodiment, each support member 140 has a stop protrusion 142. When the two bodies 110 are in the open state shown in FIG. 3A and have a relative expansion angle of 180 degrees, the stop protrusion 142 of each support 140 abuts against the bottom surface 110c of the corresponding body 110 to fix the support 140 Rotation angle. Thereby, it can be ensured that the upper surface 140a of each support member 140 and the top surface 110b of the corresponding body 110 are coplanar, so as to jointly support the flexible display panel 130 well.

In addition, the display device 100 of this embodiment further includes two frames 150. The two bodies 110 are respectively connected to the two frame bodies 150, and each frame body 150 is rotatably connected to the pivot structure 120. When the two bodies 110 are in the open state shown in FIG. 3A and have a relative deployment angle of 180 degrees, one end 150a of each frame 150 supports the corresponding support 140 to more firmly fix the rotation angle of each support 140 . In this embodiment, the pivot structure 120 has two arc-shaped guide grooves 120a (shown in FIG. 3E), each frame 150 has an arc-shaped section 152, and the two arc-shaped sections 152 are slidably disposed on the two arc-shaped sections. The guide groove 120a enables each frame 150 to rotate relative to the pivot structure 120 by sliding the arc-shaped section 152 along the arc-shaped guide groove 120a. In other embodiments, each frame 150 can be rotatably connected to the pivot structure 120 by other suitable methods, and the present invention is not limited thereto. In addition, the pivot structure 120 may include a gear set connected between the two frame bodies 150, so that the two frame bodies 150 can act in synchronization accordingly. In other embodiments, the gear set can be replaced with other forms of linkage mechanism, which is not limited in the present invention.

In summary, the display device of the present invention is additionally provided with a support for supporting the flexible display panel. When the two bodies are in an open state, the two bodies and the supporting member jointly support the flexible display panel, and the supporting member can rotate relative to the body as the two bodies are closed to continuously support the flexible display panel, so as to make the flexible display The panel gets sufficient support. In addition, by rotating the support member relative to the body, the support member can avoid interference with the pivot structure during the turning of the body.

100: display device 110: body 110a, 150a: end 110b: Top surface 110c: bottom surface 120: pivot structure 120a: curved guide groove 122: shell 122a: limit end 130: Flexible display panel 130a: Neutral layer 132: Non-bending section 132a: End part 134: Bendable section 140: Support 140a: shaft hole 142: Stop convex 150: frame 152: arc section A1: The first axis of rotation A2: The second axis of rotation A3: The third axis of rotation N: Notch P: Shaft W: inner wall

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a display device according to an embodiment of the invention. 2A to 2E are operation flowcharts of the display device in FIG. 1. 3A to 3E are partial cross-sectional views of the display device of FIGS. 1 and 2A to 2E, respectively. 4A to 4E are perspective views of the display device of FIGS. 3A to 3E, respectively. Fig. 5 is an exploded view of the body and support of Fig. 1.

100: display device

110: body

150a: end

110b: Top surface

110c: bottom surface

120: pivot structure

120a: curved guide groove

122: shell

122a: limit end

130: Flexible display panel

130a: Neutral layer

132: Non-bending section

132a: End part

134: Bendable section

140: Support

142: Stop convex

150: frame

152: arc section

A1: The first axis of rotation

A2: The second axis of rotation

A3: The third axis of rotation

N: Notch

Claims (16)

A display device includes: Two bodies A pivot structure, the two bodies are pivotally connected to each other by the pivot structure so as to be suitable for relative rotation between an open state and a closed state; A flexible display panel includes two non-bending sections and a bendable section, wherein the two non-bending sections are respectively arranged on the two bodies, and the bendable section is connected to the two non-bending sections Between fold sections; and At least one support member is rotatably connected to at least one body, wherein as the two bodies relatively rotate from the open state to the closed state, the at least one support member rotates relative to the corresponding at least one body to support the at least one body Bend section. The display device according to claim 1, wherein when the two bodies are in the closed state, one end of each body faces the pivot structure, and the at least one supporting member is disposed at the end of the corresponding at least one body. The display device according to claim 1, wherein the at least one body corresponding to the at least one supporting member has a notch, and the at least one supporting member is located in the notch and is adapted to rotate relative to the corresponding at least one body It is partially located outside the recess. The display device according to claim 3, wherein the at least one supporting member is pivotally connected to two opposite inner walls of the recess. The display device according to claim 1, wherein the two bodies are respectively rotatably connected to the pivot structure along a first rotation axis and a second rotation axis, and the at least one support member is rotatable along a third rotation axis The ground is connected to the corresponding at least one body, and the first rotation axis, the second rotation axis, and the third rotation axis are parallel to each other. The display device according to claim 5, wherein when the two bodies are in the open state and have a relative deployment angle of 180 degrees, the third rotation axis is located between the first rotation axis and the second rotation axis. The display device according to claim 1, wherein the at least one supporting member includes two supporting members, and the two supporting members are respectively rotatably connected to the two bodies. The display device according to claim 7, wherein when the two bodies are relatively rotated from the open state to the closed state, the relative rotation angle of the two support members is smaller than the relative rotation angle of the two bodies. The display device according to claim 1, wherein when the two bodies are in the open state and have a relative expansion angle of 180 degrees, the at least one supporting member is coplanar with the corresponding at least one body. The display device according to claim 1, wherein the at least one supporting member has a stop protrusion, and when the two bodies are in the open state and have a relative expansion angle of 180 degrees, the stop protrusion abuts against the corresponding Of the at least one body. The display device according to claim 10, wherein each of the bodies has a top surface and a bottom surface opposite to each other, and the top surface carries the flexible display panel, and when the two bodies are in the open state and have a relative expansion of 180 degrees When angled, the stop protrusion abuts against the bottom surface. The display device according to claim 1, wherein each of the bodies has an opposite top surface, and the top surface carries the flexible display panel, and when the two bodies are in the closed state, the at least one support is partially removed from The top surface protrudes. The display device according to claim 1, wherein one end portion of each of the non-bending sections is adjacent to the bendable section, and when the two bodies are in the closed state, the two ends of the two non-bending sections The parts are parallel to each other. The display device according to claim 1, wherein when the two bodies are relatively rotated from the open state to the closed state, the at least one supporting member and the corresponding at least one body are provided by the pivot structure and the bendable The section rotates relative to the limit of the at least one support member. The display device according to claim 1, comprising two frames, wherein the two frames are respectively connected to the two frames, and each frame is rotatably connected to the pivot structure, when the two frames are in the open state and When the relative deployment angle is 180 degrees, one end of each frame supports the corresponding support. The display device according to claim 1, comprising two frame bodies, wherein the two bodies are respectively connected to the two frame bodies, the pivot structure has two arc-shaped guide grooves, each frame body has an arc-shaped section, the The two arc-shaped sections are respectively slidably arranged in the two arc-shaped guide grooves.

Images