CN113556910B

CN113556910B - Dimming structure, manufacturing method thereof, electronic equipment shell and electronic equipment

Info

Publication number: CN113556910B
Application number: CN202110778872.0A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 王雷
Original assignee: Guangdong Oppo Mobile Telecommunications Corp Ltd
Current assignee: Guangdong Oppo Mobile Telecommunications Corp Ltd
Priority date: 2021-07-09
Filing date: 2021-07-09
Publication date: 2023-10-10
Anticipated expiration: 2041-07-09
Also published as: WO2023279841A1; CN113556910A

Abstract

The application relates to a dimming structure, a manufacturing method thereof, an electronic device shell and electronic equipment. The dimming structure comprises a first substrate, a second substrate, a first conductive film, a second conductive film, frame glue and PDLC. The manufacturing method of the dimming structure comprises the following steps: providing a first substrate and a second substrate, and forming a first conductive film and a second conductive film on one side surfaces of the first substrate and the second substrate respectively; the first substrate and the second substrate are correspondingly arranged and fixedly connected through frame glue to form a sealing cavity, and the first conductive film and the second conductive film are accommodated in the sealing cavity; vacuumizing and injecting PDLC into the sealed cavity in sequence; and carrying out ultraviolet irradiation on the PDLC. By the method, the PDLC can be directly poured into the sealing cavity, direct contact between the PDLC and the first substrate and direct contact between the PDLC and the second substrate are reduced, and the surfaces of the first substrate and the second substrate are not easy to be polluted by the PDLC.

Description

Dimming structure, manufacturing method thereof, electronic equipment shell and electronic equipment

Technical Field

The application relates to the technical field of electronic equipment, in particular to a dimming structure and a manufacturing method thereof, an electronic equipment shell and electronic equipment.

Background

Limited by the development of technology, electronic products such as mobile phones are becoming more and more popular, and the homogeneity of products from large manufacturers is becoming higher and higher. In order to find the differentiation of products, manufacturers aim at the decoration of mobile phone shells, such as mobile phone shells of electronic equipment shells adopting PDLC. The electronic equipment shell adopting the PDLC has very low molecular weight of liquid crystal in the PDLC in severe environments such as high temperature, high humidity, salt fog and the like, and can easily escape from a polymer to cause edge failure.

Disclosure of Invention

The application provides a dimming structure, a manufacturing method thereof, an electronic equipment shell and electronic equipment.

The embodiment of the application provides a dimming structure, which comprises the following components:

the first substrate and the second substrate are oppositely arranged at intervals;

the first conductive film and the second conductive film are arranged at intervals and opposite to each other, the first conductive film is arranged on the surface of the first substrate facing the second substrate, and the second conductive film is arranged on the surface of the second substrate facing the first substrate; and

the surface of one side of the frame glue is fixedly connected with the first substrate, the surface of the other side of the frame glue is fixedly connected with the second substrate, the frame glue, the first substrate and the second substrate enclose a sealing cavity, and the first conductive film and the second conductive film are accommodated in the sealing cavity; and

and the PDLC is accommodated in the sealing cavity.

The embodiment of the application also provides a manufacturing method of the dimming structure, which comprises the following steps:

providing a first substrate and a second substrate;

forming a first conductive film and a second conductive film on one side surfaces of the first substrate and the second substrate, respectively;

the first substrate and the second substrate are correspondingly arranged and fixedly connected through frame glue to form a sealing cavity, and the first conductive film and the second conductive film are accommodated in the sealing cavity;

vacuumizing and injecting PDLC into the sealed cavity in sequence;

and carrying out ultraviolet irradiation on the PDLC.

The embodiment of the application also provides an electronic equipment shell, which comprises:

a dimming structure; and

the first decorative film and the second decorative film are respectively positioned on the two opposite side surfaces of the dimming structure.

The embodiment of the application also provides the middle electronic equipment, which comprises:

an electronic device housing; and

the display screen is fixedly connected with the electronic equipment shell.

According to the manufacturing method of the dimming structure, the sealant, the first substrate and the second substrate are enclosed to form the sealing cavity, so that PDLC is directly poured into the sealing cavity, direct contact between the PDLC and the first substrate and between the PDLC and the second substrate is reduced, and the surfaces of the first substrate and the second substrate are not easy to be polluted by the PDLC; in addition, the frame glue is directly fixedly connected with the first substrate and the second substrate, so that the firmness of frame glue connection is improved.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, the drawings required for the description of the embodiments will be briefly described below, and it is apparent that the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present application, and other drawings may be obtained according to these drawings without inventive effort for a person skilled in the art.

Fig. 1 is a schematic perspective view of an electronic device according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the electronic device shown in FIG. 1 along the A-A direction;

FIG. 3 is a schematic partial cross-sectional view of the electronics housing of the electronics shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a prior art first dimming structure;

FIG. 5 is an interface schematic diagram of a dimming structure according to the second prior art;

FIG. 6 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the electronic device housing of FIG. 3 taken along the B-B direction;

FIG. 7 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a dimming structure in the electronic device housing shown in FIG. 6;

fig. 8 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a variation of the dimming structure shown in fig. 7;

FIG. 9 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the electronics housing of FIG. 3 taken along the direction C-C;

fig. 10 is a flowchart of a method for manufacturing a dimming structure according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 11 is a sub-flowchart of step S02 in the method for manufacturing a dimming structure shown in fig. 10;

fig. 12 is a sub-flowchart of step S03 in the method for manufacturing a dimming structure shown in fig. 10;

fig. 13-17 are schematic cross-sectional views of the method for manufacturing the dimming structure shown in fig. 10;

fig. 18 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a dimming structure in a further embodiment of the present application;

fig. 19 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a variation of the dimming structure shown in fig. 18.

Detailed Description

The application is described in further detail below with reference to the drawings and examples. It is specifically noted that the following examples are only for illustrating the present application, but do not limit the scope of the present application. Likewise, the following examples are only some, but not all, of the examples of the present application, and all other examples, which a person of ordinary skill in the art would obtain without making any inventive effort, are within the scope of the present application.

Reference herein to "an embodiment" means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment may be included in at least one embodiment of the application. The appearances of such phrases in various places in the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment, nor are separate or alternative embodiments mutually exclusive of other embodiments. Those of skill in the art will explicitly and implicitly appreciate that the embodiments described herein may be combined with other embodiments.

Referring to fig. 1, the present application provides an electronic device 1000. In particular, the electronic device 1000 may be any of various types of computer system devices (only one form of which is shown by way of example in FIG. 1) that are mobile or portable and that perform wireless communications. Specifically, the electronic device 1000 may be a mobile phone or a smart phone (e.g., an iPhone-based (TM) -based phone), a Portable game device (e.g., a Nintendo DS (TM) -based phone, a PlayStation Portable (TM) -Gameboy Advance TM, an iPhone (TM)), a laptop, a PDA, a Portable internet device, a music player, and a data storage device, other handheld devices, and a wearable device such as a headset, etc., the electronic device 1000 may also be other wearable devices that need to be charged (e.g., a head-mounted device (HMD) such as an electronic bracelet, an electronic necklace, an electronic device, or a smart watch).

The electronic device 1000 may also be any of a number of electronic devices including, but not limited to, cellular telephones, smart phones, other wireless communication devices, personal digital assistants, audio players, other media players, music recorders, video recorders, other media recorders, radios, medical devices, vehicle transportation equipment, calculators, programmable remote controls, pagers, laptop computers, desktop computers, printers, netbooks, personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), portable Multimedia Players (PMPs), moving picture experts group (MPEG-1 or MPEG-2) audio layer 3 (MP 3) players, portable medical devices, and digital cameras and combinations thereof.

In some cases, the electronic device 1000 may perform a variety of functions (e.g., playing music, displaying video, storing pictures, and receiving and sending phone calls). If desired, the electronic device 1000 may be a device such as a cellular telephone, media player, other handheld device, wristwatch device, pendant device, earpiece device, or other compact portable device.

Referring to fig. 2 and 3, an embodiment of the present application provides an electronic device 1000, which may include, but is not limited to: the electronic device casing 100 and the display screen 200, the display screen 200 is fixedly connected with the electronic device casing 100, and forms a containing space 101 with the electronic device casing 100, wherein the containing space 101 can be used for containing devices such as a battery, a main board, a camera component and the like.

Referring to fig. 4, the electronic device housing 100 may include a light adjusting structure 10, and a first decoration film 20 and a second decoration film 30 respectively disposed on two opposite sides of the light adjusting structure 10, wherein the first decoration film 20 faces the display screen 200, and the second decoration film 30 faces away from the display screen 200. The first decorative film 20 and the second decorative film 30 are fixedly connected with the dimming structure 10 through optical cement 40 respectively.

The dimming structure 10 may be in a transparent state in an energized state, so that the surface of the electronic device housing 100 presents a mixed pattern of the first decorative film 20 and the second decorative film 30 after being overlapped; in the off-state, the electronic device case 100 is in an opaque milky state or a translucent state, so that the surface of the electronic device case 100 only presents the pattern of the second decorative film 30. That is, the electronic device housing 100 can change the exterior decorative pattern of the electronic device housing 100 by adjusting the on-off state of the dimming structure 10.

It should be noted that the terms "first," "second," and "third" are used herein for descriptive purposes only and are not to be construed as indicating or implying a relative importance or implying a number of technical features being indicated. Thus, a feature defining "a first", "a second", and "a third" may explicitly or implicitly include at least one such feature. In the description of the present application, the meaning of "plurality" means at least two, for example, two, three, etc., unless specifically defined otherwise.

The electronic device housing 100 using the dimming structure 10 can encounter different situations, such as high temperature, high humidity, salt fog, etc., during use, and easily overflow from the PDLC layer, so that the edges of the electronic device housing 100 fail. Further, the liquid crystal in the PDLC layer generally accounts for 40-60% of the volume fraction, so that some holes are generated in the PDLC layer when the liquid crystal in the PDLC layer overflows, and the binding force of the PDLC layer is directly affected, and the delamination of the PDLC layer is caused when the binding force is severe. Especially, consumer electronic products requiring frequent movement are prone to liquid crystal overflow when accidental falling, external impact, micro vibration and the like occur, so that the dimming structure 10 fails.

Referring to fig. 5 and 6, the dimming structure 300 generally includes a first substrate 301, a first conductive film 302, a PDLC layer 303, a second conductive film 304, and a second substrate 305 stacked in order. To solve the liquid crystal overflow of the PDLC layer 303 in the dimming structure 300, the PDLC layer 303 is generally encapsulated in two ways: firstly, glue is directly coated on the edge of the dimming structure 300, that is, the edges of the first substrate 301, the first conductive film 302, the PDLC layer 303, the second conductive film 304 and the second substrate 305 are coated with and cured with the encapsulation glue 306, so as to achieve the purpose of encapsulating the PDLC layer 303. Although the operation is simple, on one hand, the glue is only coated on the surface of the light modulation structure 300 and is easy to fall off, and on the other hand, the glue is easy to overflow from the edge of the light modulation structure 300 to the surfaces of the first substrate 301 and the second substrate 305, so that the light modulation structure 300 is polluted in appearance (as shown in fig. 5). Secondly, a sealing groove 307 penetrating the first substrate 301, the first conductive film 302, and the PDLC layer 303 is cut on the surface of the dimming structure 300, and the sealing groove 307 is directly glued to be cured to form a sealing frame glue 308, so as to encapsulate the PDLC layer 303, and then the sealing frame glue 308 and the dimming structure 300 are cut along a central line parallel to the sealing frame glue 308. So designed, it cannot be guaranteed that glue can be completely leveled in the edge sealing groove 307, so that in actual operation, glue does not fill the edge sealing groove 307, so that the surface of the edge sealing frame glue 308 facing away from the second conductive film 304 is not flush with the surface of the first substrate 301 facing away from the first conductive layer, or the glue overflows from the edge sealing groove 307 to cause appearance pollution of the electronic device housing 100 (as shown in fig. 6). In view of the foregoing, embodiments of the present application provide a new dimming structure.

Referring to fig. 7, the dimming structure 10 may include a first substrate 11, a first conductive film 12, a polymer dispersed liquid crystal (Polymer Dispersed Liquid Crystal, abbreviated as PDLC) 13, a sealant 14, a second conductive film 15, and a second substrate 16. The first substrate 11 and the second substrate 16 are disposed opposite to each other with a gap therebetween, and the first conductive film 12 and the second conductive film 15 are disposed between the first substrate 11 and the second substrate 16, specifically, the first conductive film 12 is disposed on a surface of the first substrate 11 facing the second substrate 16, and the second conductive film 15 is disposed on a surface of the second substrate 16 facing the first substrate 11. The PDLC13 is located between the first conductive film 12 and the second conductive film 15, where one side surface of the sealant 14 is fixedly connected with the first substrate 11, the other side surface is fixedly connected with the second substrate 16, the sealant 14, the first substrate 11 and the second substrate 16 enclose a seal cavity 102, the seal cavity 102 is used for accommodating the PDLC13 and preventing the PDLC13 from overflowing, and the first conductive film 12 and the second conductive film 15 are accommodated in the seal cavity 102 and are used for applying an electric field to the PDLC13.

It is to be understood that the "first substrate" and the "second substrate" appearing above and below may be replaced with each other and may be denoted by "substrate", and also that the "first conductive film" and the "second conductive" appearing above and below may be replaced with each other and may be denoted by "conductive film".

Among them, polymer Dispersed Liquid Crystal (PDLC) is a liquid crystal dispersed in an organic solid polymer matrix as micron-sized droplets. When the liquid crystal is freely oriented, the refractive index of the liquid crystal is not matched with that of the matrix, and when light passes through the matrix, the liquid crystal is strongly scattered by the micro-droplets to be in an opaque milky state or a semitransparent state. The application of an electric field adjusts the optical axis orientation of the liquid crystal droplets, and when the refractive indices of the two are matched, a transparent state is assumed. The liquid crystal droplets, upon removal of the electric field, resume the original astigmatic state and assume a milky opaque state.

Specifically, the first conductive film 12 and the second conductive film 15 are respectively located on opposite sides of the PDLC13 to apply an electric field to the PDLC 13; the first substrate 11 is disposed adjacent to the first conductive film 12 for fixing the first conductive film 12; the second substrate 16 is disposed adjacent to the second conductive film 15 for fixing the second conductive film 15.

Optionally, the first substrate 11 and the second substrate 16 are transparent structures, so that light can pass through the first substrate 11 and the second substrate 16. Specifically, the materials of the first substrate 11 and the second substrate 16 are the same, and the first substrate 11 and the second substrate 16 may include one or more of PET (polyethylene terephthalate), PC (polycarbonate), PI (polyimide), and COP (cyclic olefin copolymer). Wherein the first substrate 11 is used for supporting and protecting the first conductive film 12, and the second substrate 16 is used for supporting and protecting the second conductive film 15.

Optionally, the first conductive film 12 and the second conductive film 15 are also transparent structures. The first conductive film 12 and the second conductive film 15 may include one of ITO (indium tin oxide), FTO (fluorine doped tin oxide) or Metal mesh (Metal mesh), the first conductive film 12 is formed by yellow etching on the surface of the first substrate 11, and the second conductive film 15 is formed by yellow etching on the surface of the second substrate 16. In the present embodiment, the first substrate 11 is a PET flexible material, and the first conductive film 12 is formed by etching with indium tin oxide yellow light. In particular, indium tin oxide has a major characteristic of a combination of its electrical conductivity and optical transparency. The indium tin oxide is a mixture, transparent brown film or yellow gray block, is formed by mixing 90% of In2O3 and 10% of SnO2, and can be used for manufacturing liquid crystal displays, flat panel displays, plasma displays, touch screens, electronic papers, organic light emitting diodes, solar cells, antistatic coating films, transparent conductive plating of EMI shielding, various optical coating films and the like.

The PDLC13 further comprises a first gap structure 17, the first gap structure 17 being located between the first conductive film 12 and the second conductive film 15 for supporting the first substrate 11 and the second substrate 16 on the one hand and for controlling the distance between the first conductive film 12 and the second conductive film 15 on the other hand.

Further, the first gap structures 17 may be randomly distributed between the first conductive film 12 and the second conductive film 15. The first gap structure 17 may be one or more selected from plastic (acryl resin particles), glass (rod-like particles), and silicon (spherical particles). The particle size of the first gap structure 17 is approximately between 9 and 20 μm, such as 9 μm, 12 μm, 15 μm, 20 μm, etc., which are not illustrated here, so that the distance between the first conductive film 12 and the second conductive film 15 is between 9 and 20 μm. In the present embodiment, the particle size of the first gap structure 17 is 15 μm, which ensures the distance between the first conductive film 12 and the second conductive film 15 on the one hand, and the thickness of the PDLC13 on the other hand, reduces the thickness of the dimming structure 10 as much as possible, so that the electronic device case 100 is light and thin.

It can be appreciated that, because of the great difference between the materials of the substrate and the conductive film, the adhesive performance between the sealant 14 and the substrate is much greater than that between the substrate and the conductive film, so the sealant 14 is usually directly and fixedly connected with the first substrate 11 and the second substrate 16, so as to increase the adhesive firmness of the sealant 14.

Specifically, the first conductive film 12 and the second conductive film 15 are completely contained in the sealing cavity 102 (as shown in fig. 7), that is, the first conductive film 12 is located within an inner ring range of the orthographic projection of the sealant 14 on the first substrate 11, and the second conductive film 15 is located within an inner ring range of the orthographic projection of the sealant 14 on the second substrate 16. In this way, the sealant 14 and the first substrate 11 and the second substrate 16 can be sufficiently contacted with the first substrate 11 and the second substrate 16, so as to enhance the bonding firmness of the sealant 14 and the first substrate 11 and the second substrate 16 and the reliability of the sealed cavity 102.

Referring to fig. 8, in another embodiment, the first conductive film 12 and the second conductive film 15 may be partially accommodated in the sealing cavity 102. Specifically, the first conductive film 12 exceeds the inner annular range of the orthographic projection of the sealant 14 on the first substrate 11 but is located within the outer annular range of the orthographic projection of the sealant 14 on the first substrate 11, and the second conductive film 15 exceeds the inner annular range of the orthographic projection of the sealant 14 on the second substrate 16 but is located within the outer annular range of the orthographic projection of the sealant 14 on the second substrate 16. By the above way, the electric field range between the first conductive film 12 and the second conductive film 15 can be increased as much as possible, and the bonding firmness of the frame glue 14 and the first substrate 11 and the second substrate 16 and the reliability of the sealing cavity 102 are not affected.

The frame glue 14 includes glue 141 and a second gap structure 142 mixed with the glue 141. Glue 141 is one of a heat curable glue, an ultraviolet curable glue, or a heat curable, ultraviolet dual-cure glue to facilitate rapid curing of frame glue 14. The second gap structure 142 is located between the first substrate 11 and the second substrate 16, wherein the second gap structure 142 occupies about 0.1-0.5% of the volume of the sealant 14, and is used for supporting the first substrate 11 and the second substrate 16 on one hand and controlling the distance between the first substrate 11 and the second substrate 16 on the other hand.

Specifically, the second gap structure 142 may be one or more selected from plastic (acryl resin particles), glass (rod-like particles), and silicon oxide (spherical particles). The particle size of the second gap structure 142 is slightly larger than the particle size of the first gap structure 17. The particle size of the second gap structure 142 is approximately between 12-25 μm, such as 12 μm, 15 μm, 20 μm, 25 μm, etc., which are not illustrated herein, so that the distance between the first conductive film 12 and the second conductive film 15 is between 9-20 μm. In the present embodiment, the particle diameter of the first gap structure 17 is 20 μm.

Referring to fig. 7, the dimming structure 10 may further include a first electrode 18 and a second electrode 19, where the first electrode 18 is electrically connected to the first conductive film 12, the second electrode 19 is electrically connected to the second conductive film 15, and the first electrode 18 and the second electrode 19 are disposed in a staggered manner. Specifically, the first electrode 18 is formed on the surface of the first conductive film 12, and the second electrode 19 is formed on the surface of the second conductive film 15. The first electrode 18 and the second electrode 19 are formed by adopting a silk-screen silver paste process to thermally cure, and the method has the advantages of low cost, simple process and convenient mass production.

Specifically, the first electrode 18 and the second electrode 19 are used to supply electric field between the first conductive film 12 and the second conductive film 15. The first electrode 18 and the second electrode 19 are arranged in a staggered manner, so as to prevent the ultraviolet curing of the PDLC13 from being affected by light shielded by the first electrode 18 and the second electrode 19. The first electrode 18 and the second electrode 19 may include, but are not limited to, silver/silver paste cured, copper/copper paste cured, aluminum, or single-layer or multi-layer composite metal traces of molybdenum, aluminum, molybdenum, etc., which are not illustrated herein.

Referring to fig. 9, in one embodiment, the sealant 14 may include a first frame 1401 and a second frame 1402, wherein the second frame 1402 is received in the first frame 1401, and the sealing cavity 102 is defined by the first frame 1401, the second frame 1402, and the first substrate 11 and the second substrate 16. Taking the rear case of the electronic device 1000, such as a mobile phone rear cover as an example, the second frame glue 14 is in a camera area for accommodating the camera module.

Referring to fig. 7, in the dimming structure 10 provided by the embodiment of the present application, a sealing cavity 102 is defined by the sealant 14, the first substrate 11 and the second substrate 16, and the sealing cavity 102 accommodates the PDLC13, so as to prevent the PDLC13 from leaking; in addition, the outer sealant 14 is directly fixed with the first substrate 11 and the second substrate 16, so that the reliability of the sealing cavity 102 can be enhanced.

Referring to fig. 10 to 17, the embodiment of the application further provides a method for manufacturing a dimming structure, which includes the following steps:

step S01: the first substrate 11 and the second substrate 16 are provided, and the first conductive film 12 and the second conductive film 15 are formed on one side surfaces of the first substrate 11 and the second substrate 16, respectively (as shown in fig. 13).

Specifically, the first substrate 11 and the second substrate 16 are transparent structures, so that light can pass through the first substrate 11 and the second substrate 16. The materials of the first substrate 11 and the second substrate 16 are the same, and the first substrate 11 and the second substrate 16 may include one or more of PET (polyethylene terephthalate), PC (polycarbonate), PI (polyimide), and COP (cyclic olefin copolymer), which are not limited herein.

In this step, the first conductive film 12 and the second conductive film 15 are formed by yellow etching. Specifically, the first conductive film 12 and the second conductive film 15 may be formed by yellow etching of one of ITO (indium tin oxide), FTO (fluorine doped tin oxide), or Metal mesh (Metal mesh). The first conductive film 12 is formed by yellow etching on the surface of the first substrate 11, and the second conductive film 15 is formed by yellow etching on the surface of the second substrate 16.

In the present embodiment, the first substrate 11 is a PET flexible material, and the first conductive film 12 is formed by etching with indium tin oxide yellow light. In particular, indium tin oxide has a major characteristic of a combination of its electrical conductivity and optical transparency. The indium tin oxide is a mixture, transparent brown film or yellow gray block, is formed by mixing 90% of In2O3 and 10% of SnO2, and can be used for manufacturing liquid crystal displays, flat panel displays, plasma displays, touch screens, electronic papers, organic light emitting diodes, solar cells, antistatic coating films, transparent conductive plating of EMI shielding, various optical coating films and the like.

Further, step S01 further includes the steps of: a first electrode 18 and a second electrode 19 are formed on the first conductive film 12 and the second conductive film 15, respectively, wherein the first electrode 18 and the second electrode 19 are disposed in a staggered manner.

In step S02, the first substrate 11 and the second substrate 16 are disposed corresponding to each other and fixedly connected to each other by the sealant 14 to form the sealing cavity 102, wherein the first conductive film 12 and the second conductive film 15 are accommodated in the sealing cavity 102.

Specifically, step S02 may further include the steps of:

in step S21, a frame glue 14 is formed on the surface of the first substrate 11 on which the first conductive film 12 is provided.

Before step S21, it is first ensured that the size of the first conductive film 12 is smaller than the size of the first substrate 11, and that the size of the second conductive film 15 is smaller than the size of the second substrate 16. Namely, the first conductive film 12 at the edge of the first substrate 11 and the second conductive film 15 at the edge of the second substrate 16 are etched away, so that the frame glue 14 can be directly and fixedly connected with the first substrate 11 and the second substrate 16. Because the materials of the substrate and the conductive film are greatly different, the bonding performance of the frame glue 14 and the substrate is far greater than that of the substrate and the conductive film, so the frame glue 14 is usually and directly fixedly connected with the first substrate 11 and the second substrate 16, and the bonding firmness of the frame glue 14 can be increased.

The frame glue 14 includes glue 141 and a second gap structure 142 mixed with the glue 141. The second gap structure 142 is located between the first substrate 11 and the second substrate 16, wherein the second gap structure 142 occupies about 0.1-0.5% of the volume of the sealant 14, and is used for supporting the first substrate 11 and the second substrate 16 on one hand and controlling the distance between the first substrate 11 and the second substrate 16 on the other hand.

Specifically, the second gap structure 142 may be one or more selected from plastic (acryl resin particles), glass (rod-like particles), and silicon oxide (spherical particles). The particle size of the second gap structure 142 is approximately between 12-25 μm, such as 12 μm, 15 μm, 20 μm, 25 μm, etc., which are not illustrated herein, so that the distance between the first conductive film 12 and the second conductive film 15 is between 9-20 μm. In the present embodiment, the particle diameter of the first gap structure 17 is 20 μm.

The glue 141 of the frame glue 14 may be applied to the surface of the first substrate 11 by a silk-screen process or a dispensing process. The viscosity of the glue 141 is determined according to the processing technology, the silk-screen printing technology is 2000-10000cps, and the dispensing technology is 1000-5000cps.

Further, step S21 includes step S211:

an opening 1403 is formed in the sealant 14 (as shown in fig. 14).

It can be appreciated that in the following step S24, when the first substrate 11 and the second substrate 16 are fixedly connected by the sealant 14 to form the seal cavity 102, the opening 1403 may be used as an air outlet to exhaust air in the seal cavity 102, so as to avoid that the air in the seal cavity 102 cannot be exhausted during the process that the first substrate 11 approaches the second substrate 16, which affects the reliability of the seal cavity 102. In this step, the number of the openings 1403 is at least one, but may be two or three, which are not listed here.

In step S22, the first gap structures 17 are sprayed on the surface of the second substrate 16 on which the second conductive film 15 is provided.

Specifically, the first gap structures 17 may be randomly distributed between the first conductive film 12 and the second conductive film 15. The first gap structure 17 may be one or more selected from plastic (acryl resin particles), glass (rod-like particles), and silicon (spherical particles). The particle size of the first gap structure 17 is approximately between 9 and 20 μm, such as 9 μm, 12 μm, 15 μm, 20 μm, etc., which are not illustrated here, so that the distance between the first conductive film 12 and the second conductive film 15 is between 9 and 20 μm. In the present embodiment, the particle size of the first gap structure 17 is 15 μm, which ensures the distance between the first conductive film 12 and the second conductive film 15 on the one hand, and the thickness of the PDLC13 on the other hand, reduces the thickness of the dimming structure 10 as much as possible, so that the electronic device case 100 is light and thin. The particle size of the second gap structure 142 is slightly larger than the particle size of the first gap structure 17, specifically, the particle size of the second gap structure 142 is approximately equal to the sum of the particle size of the first gap structure 17, the thickness of the first conductive film 12 and the thickness of the second conductive film 15.

In step S23, the first substrate 11 and the second substrate 16 are disposed in correspondence, and the second conductive film 15 is disposed toward the first conductive film 12.

The present step is used for adjusting the position of the first substrate 11 relative to the second substrate 16, so that the first substrate 11 and the second substrate 16 are disposed correspondingly.

In step S24, the sealant 14 and the surface of the second substrate 16 facing away from the second conductive film 15 are fixedly connected to form a sealed cavity 102 (as shown in fig. 15).

Specifically, the surface of the frame glue 14 facing away from the first substrate 11 is directly adhered to the surface of the second substrate 16, so as to improve the adhesion reliability of the frame glue 14.

It will be appreciated that the sealant 14 is in a gel state, and the sealant 14 needs to be cured rapidly to ensure the bonding firmness of the sealant 14. The glue 141 of the frame glue 14 is one of thermosetting glue 141, ultraviolet curing glue 141 or thermosetting and ultraviolet dual-curing glue 141, so as to facilitate the rapid curing of the frame glue 14.

In step S25, the frame glue 14 is cured.

In the embodiment, the glue 141 of the frame glue 14 is an ultraviolet curing glue 141, that is, the first substrate 11 and the second substrate 16 are irradiated with ultraviolet rays to achieve rapid curing of the glue 141.

In step S03, the sealed chamber 102 is sequentially evacuated and filled with PDLC13 (as shown in fig. 16).

Step S03 includes the steps of:

in step S31, the sealed chamber 102 is evacuated through the opening 1403.

The seal cavity 102 is vacuumized through the opening 1403, so that the PDLC13 can be conveniently filled in the seal cavity 102 completely, and bubbles in the seal cavity 102 are prevented from influencing the light transmittance and consistency of the PDLC13. In this step, the opening 1403 serves as an extraction port for exhausting the gas in the seal chamber 102.

In step S32, the PDLC13 is injected into the seal chamber 102 through the opening 1403.

On the basis of step S31, since the sealing cavity 102 is in a vacuum state, the atmospheric pressure can inject the glue 141 into the sealing cavity 102 through the opening 1403, thereby realizing the crystal filling operation of the sealing cavity 102. In this step, the opening 1403 serves as a pour gate for injecting the PDLC13 into the capsule 102.

In step S04, the PDLC13 is cured.

Since the filled PDLC13 has fluidity, the PDLC13 needs to be cured to avoid overflow of the PDLC13. Specifically, the first substrate 11 and the second substrate 16 are irradiated with ultraviolet rays at the same time, so that the PDLC13 is cured.

Step S05, cutting off the redundant part according to the preset shape to generate the dimming structure 10.

For example, taking an electronic device housing 100, such as a mobile phone rear case, a camera hole 104 is formed in the mobile phone rear case. In step S21, a first frame 1401 and a second frame adhesive 1402 are formed on the surface of the first substrate 11 on which the first conductive film 12 is provided. The first frame 1401, the second frame glue 1402, the first substrate 11 and the second substrate 16 enclose a sealed cavity 102, and the second frame glue 1402, the first substrate 11 and the second substrate 16 enclose a camera cavity 103. Wherein the sealed cavity 102 is used for injecting liquid crystal, and the camera cavity 103 is used for digging holes to be used as camera holes 104. In this step, a part of the structure corresponding to the camera cavity 103 needs to be cut off.

In step S06, dispensing and sealing are performed on the opening 1403 (as shown in fig. 17).

It can be understood that the opening 1403 is a channel for the sealing cavity 102 to communicate with the outside, and if not sealed, the liquid crystal molecules in the PDLC13 are easy to overflow, so as to affect the stability and reliability of the dimming structure 10.

Alternatively, the glue used to seal the opening 1403 may be the same as the glue 141 used for the frame glue 14, so that the frame glue 14 is consistent in structure, or other glue materials, such as epoxy, may be used, which is not particularly limited herein.

In step S07, the first decorative film 20 and the second decorative film 30 are formed on the surfaces of the first substrate 11 and the second substrate 16, respectively, to produce the electronic device case 100.

Referring to fig. 18, in a specific embodiment, in step S21, a first opening 1403a may be formed on the first frame 1401, and a second opening 1403b communicating with the sealing cavity 102 may be formed on the second frame glue 14, where the first opening 1403a is used to communicate the sealing cavity 102 with the outside, so as to realize the air exhaust and crystal filling of the sealing cavity 102. The second opening 1403b is used for communicating the camera cavity 103 with the sealing cavity 102, so that in the process of making the first substrate 11 approach the second substrate 16, air in the camera cavity 103 can be exhausted from the sealing cavity 102, thereby ensuring the connection stability of the first substrate 11 and the second substrate 16. Wherein the first opening 1403a may be located at any position of the first frame in the electronic device housing 100. In this embodiment, the first opening 1403a is located at the long side of the first frame, so that the crystal filling speed can be increased, the crystal filling efficiency can be improved, and the manufacturing process can be shortened.

It can be appreciated that in the process of sequentially evacuating the sealed cavity 102 and injecting the PDLC13 in step S03, the camera cavity 103 is evacuated and the PDLC13 is injected. Step S04 irradiates the PDLC13 in the seal chamber 102 and the camera chamber 103 with ultraviolet light. Step S05 cuts off the dimming structure 10 at the position of the camera cavity 103 to generate the camera hole 104. In step S06, the first opening 1403a and the second opening 1403b are sealed by dispensing, so as to generate the dimming structure 10.

Referring to fig. 19, in another embodiment, in step S21, a first opening 1403a may be formed in the first frame glue 14, and a second opening 1403b may be formed in the first substrate 11 or the second substrate 16 corresponding to the camera cavity 103. The first opening 1403a is used to communicate the sealed cavity 102 with the outside, so as to exhaust and irrigate the sealed cavity 102. The second opening 1403b is used for communicating the camera cavity 103 with the outside, so that in the process of making the first substrate 11 approach the second substrate 16, air in the camera cavity 103 can be exhausted from the second opening 1403b, thereby ensuring the connection stability of the first substrate 11 and the second substrate 16.

It will be appreciated that in step S03, only the sealed cavity 102 is sequentially evacuated and the PDLC13 is injected. Step S04 irradiates only the PDLC13 of the seal chamber 102 with ultraviolet light. Step S05 cuts off the first substrate 11 and the second substrate 16 at the position of the camera cavity 103. In step S06, the first opening 1403a is sealed by dispensing, so as to generate the dimming structure 10.

In other embodiments, when the dimming structure 10 is applied to the electronic device 1000, the first conductive film 12 and the second conductive film 15 can be produced based on the yellow light etching process in the step S02, so that the dimensions of the first conductive film 12 and the second conductive film 15 can be flexibly adjusted, leaving enough antenna clearance, and thus the design can reduce the stress on the antenna design.

According to the manufacturing method of the dimming structure 10 provided by the embodiment of the application, the sealant 14, the first substrate 11 and the second substrate 16 are enclosed to form the sealing cavity 102, so that the PDLC13 can be directly poured into the sealing cavity 102, the direct contact between the PDLC13 and the first substrate 11 and the second substrate 16 is reduced, and the surfaces of the first substrate 11 and the second substrate 16 are not easy to be polluted by the PDLC 13; in addition, the frame glue 14 is directly and fixedly connected with the first substrate 11 and the second substrate 16, so that the connection firmness of the frame glue 14 is improved.

The foregoing description is only a partial embodiment of the present application, and is not intended to limit the scope of the present application, and all equivalent devices or equivalent processes using the descriptions and the drawings of the present application or directly or indirectly applied to other related technical fields are included in the scope of the present application.

Claims

1. A dimming structure, comprising:

the first conductive film and the second conductive film are arranged at intervals and opposite to each other, the first conductive film is arranged on the surface of the first substrate facing the second substrate, and the second conductive film is arranged on the surface of the second substrate facing the first substrate;

the frame glue is characterized in that one side surface of the frame glue is fixedly connected with the first substrate, the other side surface of the frame glue is fixedly connected with the second substrate, a sealing cavity is formed by the frame glue, the first substrate and the second substrate, and the first conductive film and the second conductive film are accommodated in the sealing cavity;

PDLC, which is formed by injecting flowable PDLC into the vacuumized sealing cavity and then solidifying, is accommodated in the sealing cavity; and

a first gap structure located between the first conductive film and the second conductive film for controlling a distance between the first conductive film and the second conductive film;

the frame glue comprises glue and a second gap structure mixed with the glue, the glue is one of thermosetting glue, ultraviolet curing glue or thermosetting and ultraviolet dual-curing glue, the second gap is used for controlling the distance between the first substrate and the second substrate, an opening is formed in the frame glue, and the opening is used for vacuumizing the sealing cavity and injecting PDLC.

2. The dimming structure as recited in any one of claim 1, wherein the first substrate, the first conductive film, the second conductive film, and the second substrate are all transparent structures.

3. The dimming structure of any one of claims 1-2, wherein the first and second substrates comprise one or more of polyethylene terephthalate, polycarbonate, polyimide, cyclic olefin copolymer.

4. The dimming structure of any one of claims 1-2, wherein the first and second conductive films comprise one or more of indium tin oxide, tin oxide doped fluorine, or a metal mesh.

5. The dimming structure of claim 1, further comprising a first electrode and a second electrode, wherein the first electrode is electrically connected to the first conductive film, the second electrode is electrically connected to the second conductive film, and the first electrode and the second electrode are arranged in a staggered manner.

6. The manufacturing method of the dimming structure is characterized by comprising the following steps of:

providing a first substrate and a second substrate, and forming a first conductive film and a second conductive film on one side surfaces of the first substrate and the second substrate respectively;

a first gap structure is sprayed on the surface of the second substrate, on which the second conductive film is arranged;

the first substrate and the second substrate are correspondingly arranged and fixedly connected through a frame glue to form a sealing cavity, an opening is formed in the frame glue, and the first conductive film and the second conductive film are accommodated in the sealing cavity;

vacuumizing and injecting PDLC into the sealed cavity through the opening in sequence;

curing the PDLC;

the frame glue comprises glue and a second gap structure mixed with the glue, the glue is one of thermosetting glue, ultraviolet curing glue or thermosetting and ultraviolet dual-curing glue, and the second gap is used for controlling the distance between the first substrate and the second substrate.

7. The method of manufacturing a dimming structure according to claim 6, wherein,

the first substrate and the second substrate are correspondingly arranged and fixedly connected through a frame glue to form a sealing cavity, and the method comprises the following steps:

forming a frame glue on the surface of the first substrate, on which the first conductive film is arranged;

arranging the first substrate and the second substrate correspondingly, and arranging the second conductive film towards the first conductive film;

and fixedly connecting the frame glue with the surface of the second substrate, which is away from the second conductive film, and forming a sealing cavity.

8. The method of manufacturing a dimming structure according to claim 6, wherein,

the step of ultraviolet irradiation on the PDLC further comprises the following steps:

and dispensing and sealing the opening.

9. The method of manufacturing a dimming structure according to claim 6, wherein,

the step of forming a first conductive film and a second conductive film on one side surfaces of the first substrate and the second substrate respectively further includes:

forming a first electrode and a second electrode on the first substrate and the second substrate respectively;

wherein the first electrode and the second electrode are arranged in a staggered manner.

10. An electronic device housing, comprising:

a dimming structure as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 5; and

11. An electronic device, comprising

The electronic device housing of claim 10; and

the display screen is fixedly connected with the electronic equipment shell.