JP2008192033A - Touch panel - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a touch panel in which neither so called "swelling phenomenon" nor peeling of a polarizing plate occurs even if the polarizing plate and a first electrode plate are fixed on the whole surfaces thereof with the use of commercially available adhesive, instead of fixing them by irradiation of the whole surfaces thereof with ultraviolet light by using cured resin. <P>SOLUTION: The touch panel is provided with: the polarizing plate fixed to the external face of the first electrode plate of the touch panel on the whole surface of the first electrode plate, the external face being opposite from a transparent conductive film; and a protection plate fixed to the external face of the polarizing plate on the whole surface thereof, the external face being opposite from fixed face to the first electrode plate. The protection plate is formed of the same materials as those of the plastic film substrate of the first electrode plate, and holds the polarizing plate fixedly cooperatively with the first electrode plate. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a structure of a touch panel.

  In a resistive touch panel, a film made by bonding a pair of transparent conductive film with a gap between the transparent conductive films (generally ITO (indium tin oxide)) is known. ing. The first transparent conductive film-attached film on the side touched by the operator may be fixed on the entire surface with a polarizing plate for improving visibility. Since this polarizing plate is exposed to the outside, it is affected by environmental temperature and humidity. Under severe high temperature conditions, the polarizing plate may be greatly thermally expanded and warped, and a “bulging phenomenon” may occur in which the central portion of the polarizing plate expands outward. When the “bulging phenomenon” occurs, the pressing force required when performing an input operation on the touch panel increases and the operation feels heavy, which may adversely affect the input operation. Moreover, a polarizing plate may absorb moisture and peel from a film with a transparent conductive film under high humidity conditions. Therefore, in the touch panel, dealing with environmental changes has been an important issue.

  In order to cope with said problem, in patent document 1, the laminated sheet for polarizing plate integrated inner touch panels which has a curable resin cured material layer between a polarizing element film and a base film layer is disclosed. . When used as a touch panel, the two transparent conductive sheets (or the transparent conductive sheet and glass with a transparent conductive layer) of the two laminated sheets for an inner touch panel integrated with polarizing plates are arranged opposite to each other via a spacer. And use.

  In Patent Document 2, in order to cope with the above problem, in a touch panel having a polarizing plate on the upper surface of the touch panel body, a film having a low heat shrinkage rate and a low water absorption rate is bonded to the upper surface of the polarizing plate. A touch panel having the above configuration is disclosed.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-53118 JP 2003-50674 A

  In the touch panel of Patent Document 1 described above, since the curable resin cured product layer is provided between the polarizing element film and the base film layer, it is necessary to cure the resin by irradiating the curable resin with ultraviolet rays. In addition, when the touch panel is used, the protective layer adhered on the polarizing element film is peeled off. Therefore, after the protective layer is peeled off, the polarizing element film is exposed to the outside. If this deteriorates, the polarizing element film will cause the “bulging phenomenon” or peeling due to the influence of the external environment.

  In the touch panel of Patent Document 2 described above, the film is attached to the polarizing plate provided on the outer side of the above-described film with the first transparent conductive film, which exceeds the heat shrinkage rate and water absorption rate limit of the film. Could not cope with environmental changes. Moreover, it discloses only about the touch panel of the structure which bonded together the film with a transparent conductive film, and the glass with a transparent conductive film, and what is disclosed about the touch panel of the structure which bonded the film with a transparent conductive film and the film with a transparent conductive film together Not done.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a touch panel having a configuration in which a polarizing plate is fixed to a touch operation surface, which can surely prevent the “bulging phenomenon” and peeling of the polarizing plate even in a high-temperature and high-humidity environment and can be manufactured at low cost. Is to provide.

In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, a touch panel having the following features is provided.
According to the first aspect of the present invention, a first electrode plate and a second electrode plate each provided with a transparent conductive film provided on one surface of a plastic film substrate and a plastic film substrate are provided, and the first electrode plate and the second electrode are provided. In the touch panel in which the transparent conductive films are combined in a relative arrangement in which the respective transparent conductive films are opposed to and spaced apart from each other so as to be in conductive contact with each other, the entire surface of the first electrode plate is disposed on the outer side opposite to the transparent conductive film. And a protective plate fixed over the entire surface on the opposite side of the polarizing plate to the first electrode plate, and the protective plate is a first electrode. The plate is made of the same material as the plastic film substrate, and the polarizing plate is fixedly held in cooperation with the first electrode plate.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, a first electrode plate and a second electrode plate each provided with a transparent conductive film provided on one surface of a plastic film substrate and a plastic film substrate are provided, and the first electrode plate and the second electrode are provided. In a touch panel in which the transparent conductive films are combined in a relative arrangement in which the respective transparent conductive films are opposed to and spaced apart from each other so as to be in conductive contact with each other, the entire surface of the first electrode plate is opposite to the transparent conductive film. And a second polarizing plate fixed over the entire surface of the second electrode plate on the side opposite to the transparent conductive film.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, since the protective plate made of the same material as the plastic film plate in the first electrode plate is fixed to the entire surface of the polarizing plate, the polarizing plate is not affected by humidity and thus peeled off. Even when the temperature rises and the polarizing plate is likely to be deformed, the polarizing plate is sandwiched between the protective plate and the first electrode plate, so that the “bulging phenomenon” does not easily occur. Moreover, since the protective film which protects the conventional polarizing plate obstructs the polarizing function of the polarizing plate, it was necessary to peel it off before using the touch panel. The protective plate of the present invention is a plastic film substrate of the first electrode plate. Since it is the same material as this material, the polarizing function of the polarizing plate is not hindered and it is not necessary to remove it before use. Furthermore, since an inexpensive commercially available pressure-sensitive adhesive can be used as a means for fixing the protective plate to the polarizing plate, an ultraviolet irradiation step is not required, and it can be produced at a low cost.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, the polarizing plate is fixed to the entire outer surface of the first electrode plate opposite to the transparent conductive film and the outer surface of the second electrode plate opposite to the transparent conductive film. Therefore, even if the polarizing plate is about to be deformed due to an increase in temperature, the rigidity of the touch panel suppresses the deformation of the polarizing plate and the warpage of the entire touch panel, so that the outer polarizing plate exhibits the above swelling phenomenon. It is difficult to occur and is difficult to peel off.

FIG. 1 shows a cross-sectional view of a first embodiment of the present invention.
The touch panel 1 includes a first electrode plate 2 provided with plastic film substrates 9, 11 and transparent conductive films (generally ITO (indium tin oxide)) 8, 10 provided on one surface of the plastic film substrates 9, 11, respectively. A second electrode plate 3 is provided. The first electrode plate 2 and the second electrode plate 3 are combined in a relative arrangement in which the transparent conductive films 8 and 10 are opposed to and spaced apart from each other so as to be in conductive contact with each other. In FIG. 1, the adhesive member 4 is used when combining. The adhesive member 4 is, for example, an adhesive tape 4. And the polarizing plate 5 fixed to the outer surface of the 1st electrode plate 2 on the opposite side to the transparent conductive film 8 with the adhesive 13 over the whole surface, and the fixing of the polarizing plate 5 to the 1st electrode plate 2 On the outer surface opposite to the surface, there is provided a protective plate 6 fixed by the adhesive 13 over the entire surface. The protective plate 6 is formed of the same material as the plastic film substrate 9 of the first electrode plate 2, and holds the polarizing plate 3 in a fixed manner in cooperation with the first electrode plate 2. A dot spacer 7 is disposed on the second electrode plate 3. The polarizing plate 5 has a sandwich structure of, for example, TAC (triacetyl cellulose) -PVA (polyvinyl alcohol) -TAC (triacetyl cellulose), and the protective plate 6 is made of the same material as the films 2 and 3 with ITO, for example. It is a polycarbonate (PC) film.

  When the touch panel 1 has such a structure, the protective plate 6 is bonded to the outside of the polarizing plate 5, so that the polarizing plate 5 is not affected by humidity and is difficult to peel off. In addition, when the temperature rises and the polarizing plate 5 tends to deform, the polarizing plate 5 is sandwiched between the first electrode plate 2 and the protective plate 6, so that the “swelling phenomenon” of the polarizing plate 5 occurs. Hard to occur. As described above, the “swelling phenomenon” is a phenomenon in which the polarizing plate 5 is largely thermally expanded and warps, and the central portion of the polarizing plate 5 swells outward. In addition, since the protective plate 6 made of the same material as the plastic film substrate 9 in the first electrode plate 2 is fixed to the entire surface of the polarizing plate 5, the polarizing plate 5 is not affected by humidity and thus is difficult to peel off. Even when the temperature rises and the polarizing plate 5 is likely to be deformed, since the polarizing plate 5 is sandwiched between the protective plate 6 and the first electrode plate 2, the “swelling phenomenon” hardly occurs. Moreover, since the protective film which protects the conventional polarizing plate obstructs the polarizing function of a polarizing plate, it was necessary to peel off before using a touch panel, but the protective plate 5 of the present invention is a plastic of the first electrode plate 9. Since it is the same material as the material of the film substrate 9, the polarizing function of the polarizing plate 5 is not hindered and it is not necessary to peel it off before use. Furthermore, since an inexpensive commercially available pressure-sensitive adhesive can be used as a means for fixing the protective plate 6 to the polarizing plate 5, an ultraviolet irradiation step is not required, and it can be manufactured at low cost.

  FIG. 2 shows a cross-sectional view of the touch panel 100 according to the second embodiment of the present invention. The touch panel 100 is different from the touch panel 1 according to the first embodiment in that the touch panel 100 further includes a second polarizing plate 101 and a protective plate 106 instead of the protective plate 6. Have substantially the same configuration. Accordingly, corresponding constituent elements are denoted by common reference numerals and description thereof is omitted.

  The touch panel 100 includes a first electrode plate 2 and a second electrode plate 3 each including a plastic film substrate 9 and 11 and transparent conductive films 8 and 10 provided on one surface of the plastic film substrate 9 and 11, respectively. The first electrode plate 2 and the second electrode plate 3 are combined in a relative arrangement in which the transparent conductive films 8 and 10 are opposed to and separated from each other so as to be in conductive contact with each other. The first polarizing plate 5 fixed to the entire outer surface of the first electrode plate 2 opposite to the transparent conductive film 8 by the adhesive 13 and the transparent conductive film 10 of the second electrode plate 3 On the opposite outer surface, the second polarizing plate 101 fixed by the adhesive 13 over the entire surface is provided. Here, a protective plate 106 that protects the first polarizing plate 5 and is peeled off before using the touch panel 100 is bonded to the first polarizing plate 5 with the adhesive 14. Unlike the protective plate 6 of the first embodiment, the protective plate 106 is peeled off before using the touch panel 100, so that the polarizing function may be inhibited as long as the polarizing plate 5 can be protected. Further, since the protective plate 106 is for protecting the first polarizing plate 5, it may not be provided.

  When the touch panel 100 has such a structure, the polarizing plate 5 is formed on the outer surface of the first electrode plate 2 opposite to the transparent conductive film 8 and the outer surface of the second electrode plate 3 opposite to the transparent conductive film 10. 101 are fixed on the entire surface, so that even if the polarizing plates 5 and 101 are deformed due to a rise in temperature, the rigidity of the touch panel 100 suppresses the deformation of the polarizing plates 5 and 101 and the warpage of the entire touch panel 100. Therefore, the outer polarizing plate 5 is less likely to cause the above-described expansion phenomenon and is difficult to peel off.

  FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view when the touch panel 100 of the present embodiment is attached to the LCD 12. The touch panel 100 is fixed to the entire surface of the LCD 12 by the adhesive 13. Since the adhesion of the touch panel to the conventional LCD did not have the second polarizing plate 101, another touch panel was fixed to the entire surface of the LCD and then the touch panel was fixed to the entire surface of the polarizing plate. . Therefore, it took time and effort. If the touch panel 100 according to the present embodiment is used, the touch panel 100 may be simply fixed to the entire surface of the LCD 12 via the adhesive 13, so that the work process can be reduced.

It is sectional drawing of the touchscreen of 1st embodiment of this invention. It is sectional drawing of the touchscreen of 2nd embodiment of this invention. It is sectional drawing when the touch panel of 2nd embodiment of this invention is adhere | attached on LCD.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Touch panel 2 1st electrode plate 3 2nd electrode plate 4 Adhesive member 5 Polarizing plate 6 Protection plate 7 Dot spacer 8 Transparent conductive film 9 Plastic film substrate 10 Transparent conductive film 11 Plastic film substrate 13 Adhesive

Claims (2)

A first electrode plate and a second electrode plate each provided with a plastic film substrate and a transparent conductive film provided on one surface of the plastic film substrate, and the first electrode plate and the second electrode plate, In the touch panel in which the transparent conductive films are combined in a relative arrangement facing and spaced apart from each other so as to be in conductive contact with each other,
A polarizing plate fixed over the entire outer surface of the first electrode plate opposite to the transparent conductive film;
A protective plate fixed over the entire surface of the polarizing plate on the outer surface opposite to the surface fixed to the first electrode plate,
The protective plate is formed of the same material as the plastic film substrate of the first electrode plate, and fixedly holds the polarizing plate in cooperation with the first electrode plate;
Touch panel characterized by. A first electrode plate and a second electrode plate each provided with a plastic film substrate and a transparent conductive film provided on one surface of the plastic film substrate, and the first electrode plate and the second electrode plate, In the touch panel in which the transparent conductive films are combined in a relative arrangement facing and spaced apart from each other so as to be electrically conductive,
A first polarizing plate fixed over the entire outer surface of the first electrode plate opposite to the transparent conductive film;
A second polarizing plate fixed over the entire outer surface of the second electrode plate opposite to the transparent conductive film;
Touch panel characterized by.

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