GB2438735A

GB2438735A - A waterproof viewing panel

Info

Publication number: GB2438735A
Application number: GB0710342A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Ian Rees
Original assignee: EUROP SATELLITES Ltd
Current assignee: EUROP SATELLITES Ltd
Priority date: 2006-05-31
Filing date: 2007-05-31
Publication date: 2007-12-05
Anticipated expiration: 2027-05-31
Also published as: GB0610693D0; GB0710342D0; GB2438735B

Abstract

This invention relates to television screens, displays and monitors and furthermore to screens and monitors which can be used in wet or damp conditions, for example that are located in a bathroom or kitchen. A problem occurs in such as wet or damp environments. These include the risk of short circuits and potentially lethal electric shock. A further problem has been that of condensation on the viewing screen itself. The invention aims to eliminate such problems by providing a waterproof and condensation proof viewing screen comprising an image display screen (1) having a viewing panel hermetically sealed to a transparent viewing panel (2). A back box (6) completes the waterproof housing. The image display screen may be a liquid crystal display (LCD), plasma panel or a conventional television with a glass-fronted screen. The image display screen may be touch sensitive.

Description

VIEWING PANEL

Background

This invention relates to a viewing panel, for example of the type used in television screens, displays and monitors. More particularly, but not exclusively, the invention relates to panels, screens and monitors which can be used in wet or damp conditions. It has particular, but not exclusive, application to liquid crystal display (LCD) and plasma panels.

Nowadays many individuals have increasingly busy lifestyles. To overcome this many may wish to use their time efficiently and effectively, for example by doing two or three things at the same time. This is known as multi-tasking'.

Furthermore, individuals are increasingly demanding with regard to their options. An individual may wish for example to take a bath, shower or even a sauna at a certain time without interruption to a favourite television programme. Alternatively many may in another example, wish to view a movie or television whilst preparing a meal in the kitchen.

Prior Art

A problem occurs in the aforementioned examples with conventional televisions, because electrical problems arise in such as wet or damp environments. These include the risk of causing short circuits to electrical equipment, causing damage and malfunction at low voltage levels and can present potential lethal dangers at higher voltages.

A problem has been that of condensation on the viewing screen itself.

It is an object of the invention to eliminate such problems by providing a waterproof and condensation proof viewing screen.

US Patent US 4 715 686 (Seiko Epson Corporation) discloses a viewing plate for a liquid crystal display, which has an anti reflective coating. The display is sealed by way of a transparent adhesive layer, which is ideally a thermop!astic plastic.

Published International Patent Application WO-Al -9820389 (Optical Coating Laboratory Inc) describes a technique for covering flexible glass substrate for enhancing the performance of visual display units (VDUs). The technique involves forming layers on substrates and affixing them onto glass panels.

A multi-layered, transparent laminate is described in European Patent Application EP-A3-1 107 025 (Nitto Denko Corporation). The laminate comprises a transparent substrate which has a low refractive index in the range of 1.3 to 1.6.

Another object of the invention is to provide a waterproof screen that can be used to control a viewing system.

Summary of the Invention

According to a first aspect the invention comprises a viewing panel arrangement comprising: a viewing panel fixed to a glass or plastic screen of a display in a sealed fashion, characterised in that the viewing panel is located to the glass screen via a sealed shroud.

Ideally the display is hermetically sealed to the transparent viewing panel and a region is defined on the screen for varying a characteristic of a signal. The signal characteristic may be the volume or the channel being viewed.

Preferably this is achieved by varying a capacitive property of the switch which ideally includes an infrared transmitter and sensor housed within the hermetically sealed panel. Ideally the transmitter is angled at an inner surface of the screen and impinges an area that is marked on the external surface with suitable indicia.

The image display screen may be a liquid crystal display (LCD), plasma panel or a conventional television with a glass-fronted screen.

Preferably the viewing panel is located adjacent the display screen by way of a shroud. Ideally the shroud includes a rubber or silicone seal.

A viewing panel arrangement comprising a viewing panel fixed to a glass or a synthetic plastics screen in a sealed fashion. Alternatively the shroud is bonded to said glass panel using ground glass or ground ceramic based paste.

The paste may include a dye. An advantage of this is that it can be coloured to match the colour of the surface of the synthetic plastics screen, thereby effectively blending with the screen and becoming invisible.

Advantageously the viewing panel arrangement is attached to a chassis and ideally the viewing panel and chassis arrangement are located within a back box.

In an alternative preferred embodiment the shroud is bonded to the display screen using a ground glass or ground ceramic based paste.

According to another aspect of the invention there is provided a transparent viewing panel including means to heat the panel over a substantial area.

The means to heat the panel preferably comprises electrical conductors overlaid onto the viewing panel or a screen which is overlaid onto the panel.

The viewing screen may be an LCD or plasma panel.

According to a further aspect of the invention, there is provided a transparent viewing panel including: an infra red source located so as to direct infra red radiation towards a first surface of the panel and an infra red detector arranged to detect said radiation and trigger a switch, when a user touches a region of the panel at a second surface, said first surface being hermetically sealed from the second surface.

As the screen is for use in hot, wet or humid environments, it was undesirable to provide a conventional remote control with an infra red capability as such devices, as well as infra red sensors that were conventionally mounted on a television screen, were found not to operate efficiently and reliably. Therefore the inventor developed a screen which was capable of receiving instructions directly from a user, by way of a touch panel, which operated in or humid environments.

The switch may be an ON/OFF' switch or a volume switch or arranged to change channels. It will be appreciated that several switches may be provided. Ideally the switches are indicated with graphic or other indicia at the second surface, around a peripheral region so that a viewing area is not impeded.

Ideally a bias means is provided so that a threshold level of radiation can be selected, whereby in use, when the touch panel on the second surface is touched, the level at which the infra red radiation is detected can be varied.

The invention will now be described, by way of example only, and with reference to the following Figures in which:

Brief Description of the Figures

Figure 1 shows a schematic representation of an embodiment of the invention; Figures 2a and 2b show diagrammatical representation of back boxes; Figure 3a is a diagrammatical section through an alternative embodiment; Figure 3b is a plan view of the embodiment in Figure 3a; and Figure 4 shows a diagrammatical view of a display installed in a tiled wall of a bathroom.

Detailed description of Preferred Embodiments of the Invention Referring to the Figures, Figure 1 shows a representation of one embodiment of the invention shown as an exploded diagrammatical view, and in an assembled state. Each of the component parts are sandwiched together as indicated hereinafter. A liquid crystal display (LCD) panel I is shown which needs to be protected from wet/humid operating environments. This is achieved by covering it with a glass screen 2. However, a problem with this lies in the fact that a glass screen cannot simply be located onto the LCD display.

The inventor has overcome this problem by an innovative method of providing a practical fashion of attaching the screen so that it retains an aesthetic quality, whilst still providing a requisite waterproofing and allows robust assembly.

Onto the glass panel glass screen is bonded an inner shroud 3. This allows the LCD panel to be mounted and secured to the glass screen. The shroud is fabricated preferably from steel or synthetic plastics. In order to achieve the bonding of the glass to such a shroud material the following method is used: Firstly a paste is made using ground glass/ceramic particles and dye. This advantageously provides the requisite surround colour (eg. black surround).

Secondly the paste is then applied in a thin layer onto the glass in a desired area by any suitable method, eg. silk screen printing.

Thirdly the glass and paste are then heated to such a temperature so as to create a ceramic compound to ensure the steel or plastic shroud is firmly bonded to the screen. The shroud includes a seal for, (eg. ribbed rubber seal), in order to ensure waterproofing.

Finally, the LCD panel is mounted to a chassis 5 directly by suitable means eg. screws. Onto an opposite side of the chassis are mounted arrangements for fixing electronic modules, none of which are shown in the drawing. These modules include: OSD, a tuner, a driver board and inverter. Once the LCD panel has been mounted to the chassis, the chassis in turn can be screw fixed to the inner holes of the steel shroud. This ensures the panel is fixed tight to the glass creating a seal which prevents dust or moisture entering at a later stage. Once the panel is mounted onto the chassis, as described above, it can be inserted into a back box. The back box 6 may be formed from steel or plastic. This may be performed at the same time as installation In an alternative preferred embodiment the back box comprises two separate sub boxes, eg. a plastic back box and a steel back box. Magnets are preferably situated within the plastic box so as to provide a secure grip of the chassis which is secured to the shroud. Should the shroud be fabricated from steel this adds to the grip. Schematic views of the plastic back box and the steel back box are shown in Figures 2a and 2b respectively.

Installation in situ is performed according to an exemplary procedure for the above preferred embodiment as follows: A hole or aperture is cut in the wall where the system is to be viewed and mounted. The hole is cut to the steel back box dimensions. Power and TV/video cables are laid through a hole in the steel back box. The steel back box is placed within the hole cavity and secured to the back cavity by screws.

Power and TV feed cables are then threaded through the cable hole in the plastic back box. The steel back box is then offered up to the wall around the edge of the hole. The plastic back box is then screw fixed within the steel back box. Silicone sealant is laid under the lip of the plastic back box to create a watertight seal around the unit to prevent water seeping between the plastic and steel back boxes. Power and TV feed cables are attached to relevant connectors on the chassis. The glass screen is pushed along with the steel shroud into the plastic box ensuring no snagging of cables. The chassis is held within the back box arrangement via magnets on each corner of the plastic box and the tight ribbed aqua seal.

A further aspect of the invention formulated by the inventor is to have viewing panels of television plasma or LCD screens, which have heating means.

These heating means cover a substantial area of the viewing panel and heat the screen so as to prevent condensation forming thereon.

Referring to Figure 3 there is shown a representation of an alternative embodiment of the invention shown as diagrammatical sectional view (Figure 3a) and plan views (Figure 3b). There is shown a front panel 50 of a display (not shown), an infra red source 60 and an infra red detector 70. Front panel encloses the infra red source 60 and the detector 70 in an hermetically sealed environment, as described above. Ideally the IR source and detector are mounted so that, for example a finger contacting the screen, will give rise to a reflected signal, sufficient to act as a control signal. A switch 80 is shown on Figure 3b and as a user touches the switch, for example with a finger, a higher level of infra red radiation is reflected onto the detector 70. When this higher level of radiation is detected a switch is triggered or other control device is actuated.

The heating means preferably comprises heating elements in the form of electrical conductors formed on either the viewing screen or a substrate such as a glass or plastic lead onto the viewing screen.

Referring briefly to Figure 4, which is diagrammatical view of a display installed in a tiled wall of a bathroom, there is shown a display 50 mounted in an aperture defined in tiles 130, for example on a bathroom wall. A suitable silicon sealant 150, as well as a flexible rubber seal, is applied around the aperture and the shrouded screen is inserted into the space. A blackout frame 140, on which an opaque film has been applied, hides any discontinuities such as chipped or cracked tiles and provides a larger frame than the screen per Se.

Applied to the front of the screen are control buttons 100 -for the ON/OFF switch, 110, as the volume control and 120 as the channel changer. These control buttons are operated by bringing a user's finger into contact with the surface of the screen 50 and thereby altering capacitive properties of the glass as mentioned above. The buttons are defined by thin lines, that may be applied in the form of a ceramic paste, which is coloured and which shows outlines of regions that require touching.

By contacting these regions or buttons' a variation of the capacitive effect changes the properties of an incident infrared beam; a detector, such as a phototransistor, senses this and changes the desired signal by way of a controller (not shown).

The invention has been described by way of exemplary examples only and it will be appreciated that variation may be made to the examples without departing from the scope of the invention.

Other variations include providing air vents or ducts at the rear of the shroud to permit the screen to cool. Alternatively this may be achieved using cooling fins.

Additionally a moisture absorber can be placed in the shroud -such as silica gel -in order to absorb any small amounts of moisture which may egress into the housing so as to avoid condensation within the sealed housing unit.

A further dust case is optionally fitted to the casing or housing in order to provide additional isolation form the external environment. This casing may be fitted into an aperture and is adapted to receive the housing thereby providing an interference fit which is airtight and which aids installation.

Pre-formed knock-out panels or aperture scan be formed in the housing or casing on order to assist fitters inserting power leads, conduit and control cables. Ideally these are fitted with waterproof grommets and cables are introduced via plugs and sockets so that signals/power can be introduced to the screen without risk of short circuits or earth faults.

Claims

Claims 1. A viewing panel arrangement comprising: a viewing panel fixed

to a glass or plastic screen of a display in a sealed fashion, characterised in that the viewing panel is located to the glass screen via a sealed shroud.

2. An arrangement as claimed in claim 3 wherein the shroud includes a rubber or silicone seal.

3. An arrangement as claimed in claim 2 wherein said shroud is bonded to said glass panel using ground glass or ground ceramic based paste.

4. An arrangement as claimed in claim 3 wherein said paste includes a dye.

5. An arrangement as claimed in claims 1 to 4 wherein said viewing panel arrangement is attached to a chassis.

6. An arrangement as claimed in claim 5 wherein said viewing panel arrangement and chassis are located within a close fitting back box.

7. A viewing panel included means to heat said panel over a substantial area.

8. A viewing panel as claimed in claim 9 wherein said panel is fixed to a glass or plastic screen.

9. A viewing panel arrangement as claimed in claims 7 or 8 wherein said heating means comprises an electrical conductor overlaid onto said screen or said panel.

10. A viewing panel arrangement as claimed in claims 9 to 11 wherein said viewing panel comprises an LCD or plasma panel.

11. A viewing panel arrangement as claimed in any preceding claim, the panel including: an infra red source located so as to direct infra red radiation towards a first surface of the panel and an infra red detector arranged to detect said radiation and trigger a switch, when a user touches a region of the panel at a second surface, said first surface being hermetically sealed from the second surface.

12. A viewing panel arrangement as claimed in claim 11, wherein a switch is indicated with graphic or other indicia at the second surface.

13. A viewing panel arrangement as claimed in claim 13 or 14 wherein a bias means is provided so that a threshold level of radiation can be selected, such that in use, when the touch panel on the second surface is touched, the level at which the infra red radiation is detected can be varied.

14. A viewing panel arrangement as claimed in any preceding claim wherein control means are defined on an outer surface of said panel.

14. A viewing panel arrangement substantially as hereinbefore describe and with reference to the Figures.

15. A method of manufacturing a viewing panel arrangement substantially as hereinbefore describe and with reference to the Figures.