KR102195091B1 - Touch sensor module and touch panel having the same - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a touch sensor module, wherein the touch sensor module includes a coil layer including a coil, a first conductive film positioned on the coil layer, and a first gap positioned between the coil layer and the first conductive film. A portion, and the first spacing portion is disposed on an entire upper surface of the coil layer and an entire lower surface of the first conductive layer.

Description

Touch sensor module and touch panel having the same {TOUCH SENSOR MODULE AND TOUCH PANEL HAVING THE SAME}

The present invention relates to a touch sensor module and a touch panel having the same.

In general, portable electronic devices such as smart phones and MP3s, or home appliances such as refrigerators, have a touch panel for outputting various operation states and inputting commands such as commands by a touch operation. Is attached.

Accordingly, in the touch panel, a display device module for visually outputting information and a touch sensor module for recognizing a user's touch operation are combined.

The display module used in such a touch panel is an OLED (organic light emitting diode) display device, in particular, AMOLED (active matrix organic light emitting diode) or a liquid crystal display device. do.

In addition, the touch sensor module uses a two-dimensional touch sensing method that detects a touch point using the coordinates of the X-axis and Y-axis as well as a three-dimensional touch sensing method that additionally detects the intensity of the touch applied in the Z-axis direction, which is the pressing direction have.

For this 3D touch sensing method, conventionally, although the intensity of the touch is sensed using a pressure sensor or an image sensor, there is a problem in that the change in touch intensity cannot be accurately detected.

Republic of Korea Patent Registration No. 10-1777733 (Registration date: September 6, 2017, title of invention: 3D touch device using image sensor and opaque member)

The problem to be solved by the present invention is to improve the reaction speed of the touch panel.

Another problem to be solved by the present invention is to increase the reliability of the operation of the touch panel.

The touch sensor module according to one aspect of the present invention for solving the above problems includes a coil layer including a coil, a first conductive film positioned on the coil layer, and a first conductive film positioned between the coil layer and the first conductive film. 1 spacer, and the first spacer is located on an entire upper surface of the coil layer and an entire lower surface of the first conductive layer.

The first spacer may be made of a material having elasticity.

The touch sensor module according to the feature includes a first adhesive layer positioned between a lower surface of the first conductive layer and an upper surface of the first spacer, and a lower surface of the first spacer and an upper surface of the coil layer. It may further include a second adhesive layer.

The touch sensor module according to the above feature may further include a second conductive layer positioned under the coil layer.

The touch sensor module according to the feature may further include a third adhesive layer positioned between the lower surface of the coil layer and the upper surface of the second conductive layer.

The touch sensor module according to the feature may further include a second spacing part between the lower part of the coil layer and the second conductive film, and the second space part may include an entire lower surface of the coil layer and an upper part of the second conductive film. It can be located all over the face.

The second spacer may be made of a material having elasticity.

The touch sensor module according to the feature includes a third adhesive layer positioned between a lower surface of the coil layer and an upper surface of the second spacer, and a lower surface of the second spacer and an upper surface of the second conductive layer. It may further include a fourth adhesive layer.

A touch panel according to another aspect of the present invention includes a coil layer including a coil, a first conductive film positioned on the coil layer, a first gap portion positioned between the coil layer and the first conductive film, and the first conductive film. A display device module disposed on a conductive layer, and the first spacing portion is disposed on an entire lower surface of the first conductive layer and an entire upper surface of the coil layer.

The first spacer may be made of a material having elasticity.

The touch panel according to the above characteristics may further include a second conductive layer positioned under the coil layer.

The touch panel according to the feature may further include a second spacing portion between the lower portion of the coil layer and the second conductive layer, and the second spacing portion is formed of the entire lower surface of the coil layer and the second conductive layer. It can be located on the top surface.

The second spacer may be made of a material having elasticity.

According to this feature, as the elastic gap portion is located between the entire lower surface of the first conductive film and the entire upper surface of the coil layer, the restoring force of the first conductive film is improved, and the response speed of the operation to the touch panel is improved. Therefore, the user's satisfaction is increased.

In addition, when the touch operation is not performed, the first conductive layer stably maintains the initial state without bending. For this reason, the reliability of the operation on the touch panel is improved.

Since the second conductive film located under the touch sensor module provides electromagnetic shielding from the electric circuit located under the second conductive film, the reliability of the operation of the touch sensor module is further improved.

As the spacer is additionally positioned between the coil layer and the second conductive layer, the bending or twisting phenomenon of the second conductive layer and the coil layer is prevented. The operation of the touch sensor module is made stably and the lifespan is increased.

1 is a conceptual cross-sectional view of a touch sensor module for explaining the operating principle of the touch sensor module according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a plan view of a coil positioned in the coil layer of FIG. 1.
3A is a diagram conceptually illustrating an eddy current formed in a touch object according to a magnetic field generated in the coil when an AC current is applied to the coil in the touch sensor module of FIG. 1.
3B is a diagram conceptually illustrating a change in a magnetic field of a coil and a change in intensity of an eddy current of the touch object according to a change in a distance between the touch object and the coil when a touch object is touched.
4 is a cross-sectional view of a touch sensor module according to an embodiment of the present invention.
5 is a cross-sectional view of a touch sensor module according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In describing the present invention, if it is determined that it may obscure the subject matter of the present invention that adds a detailed description of a technology or configuration already known in the relevant field, some of these will be omitted from the detailed description. In addition, terms used in the present specification are terms used to appropriately express embodiments of the present invention, and these may vary according to related people or customs in the field. Accordingly, definitions of these terms should be made based on the contents throughout the present specification.

The terminology used herein is for reference only to specific embodiments and is not intended to limit the invention. Singular forms as used herein also include plural forms unless the phrases clearly indicate the opposite. As used in the specification, the meaning of'comprising' specifies a specific characteristic, region, integer, step, action, element and/or component, and other specific characteristic, region, integer, step, action, element, component and/or group It does not exclude the existence or addition of

Hereinafter, a touch sensor module and a touch panel having the same according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

First, with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3B, an operation concept of an inductive force sensor, which is a touch sensor used in the touch sensor module of the present invention, is used.

The inductance force sensor is a tactile sensor that senses a pressure pressing a touch panel using an inductance that changes according to a change in the gap between a spiral coil and a metal film wound in a spiral shape.

That is, when an alternating current is applied to the spiral coil, a magnetic field is formed around the spiral coil. In this case, when a conductor (eg, a metal film) is placed apart from the spiral coil, the induced current is symmetric with the direction of the current applied to the spiral coil. Is created.

In this case, the induced current is varied according to the change in the strength of the magnetic field, and the strength of the force applied to the touch panel is sensed according to the oscillation of the resonance frequency.

Therefore, the touch sensor module using the concept of an inductance force sensor conceptually has a coil layer 10 on which a coil L1 is disposed and a coil layer 10 spaced apart from the coil layer 10 as shown in FIG. A touch object 20 is provided.

At this time, a spacer 30 is positioned between the coil layer 10 and the touch object 20, so that the coil layer 10 and the touch object 20 are spaced apart by the thickness of the spacer 30. .

The coil layer 10 is a plate in which the coil L1 is disposed on a substrate made of an insulating material such as a flexible printed circuit board (FPCB), and the coil layer 10 is formed in a spiral manner as shown in FIG. Coils L1 are disposed at the top and bottom.

In FIG. 1, the coil L1 is located at both the upper and lower portions, but is not limited thereto, and is not limited to either side of the upper or lower portion, for example, the upper portion of the coil layer 10 positioned adjacent to the touch object 20. Can only be placed.

The touch object 20 has a thin plate shape covering the coil layer 10 on the touch sensor module, and is adjacent to a display device module (not shown) positioned thereon.

In this case, the display module may be a liquid crystal display module using a liquid crystal or an organic light emitting display module using an organic light emitting diode.

The touch object 20 is a conductive film made of a transparent conductive material such as indium tin oxide (ITO) or a conductive material such as metal, and the degree of warpage varies according to the degree of physical force applied from the outside. In addition, when the physical force is removed, the bending state of the touch object 20 is restored to the initial state by elasticity.

Therefore, when the user presses the display module located above the touch object 20, the physical force according to the user's pressing operation is transmitted to the touch object 20, so that the touch object 20 reaches the touch point according to the pressing strength. It bends in proportion to the strength of the applied force.

In this way, since the touch object 20, which is a conductor, is located on the coil layer 10 to be spaced apart from the coil layer 10, when an alternating current is applied to the coil L1 located on the coil layer 10 to form a magnetic field, An induced current, which is an eddy current, is generated in the chain touch object 20, and the magnetic field of the coil L1 changes according to the induced current, so that the inductance size of the coil L1 also changes.

That is, as shown in FIG. 3A, when an alternating current is applied to the coil L1 and the alternating current flows, a magnetic field M1 is generated in the coil L1, and the touch object 20 is affected by the magnetic field M1. Induction current I1, which is an eddy current, is generated in

However, as shown in FIG. 3B, when a touch operation on the touch object 20 is performed and the corresponding point of the touch object 20 is bent, the distance between the corresponding point and the touch sensor module decreases, and the touch object 20 at the corresponding point is ) And the distance between the coil (L1) located below the point decreases.

Accordingly, as the distance between the touch object 20 and the coil L1 decreases, the magnitude of the induced current I1 at the corresponding point of the touch object 20 increases, and is affected by the increasing induced current I1. The magnetic field M1 generated by the coil L1 at the point decreases.

This decrease in the magnetic field M1 reduces the effective inductance of the coil L1.

In this way, since the inductance size of the coil L1 changes due to the change in the distance between the touch object 20 and the coil L1 according to the degree of touch of the touch object 20, when the size change of the inductance is detected, the touch of the touch panel The degree of force applied to the point, that is, the degree of pressing in the Z-axis direction is sensed.

Next, a touch panel according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 4. The touch panel of this example includes a touch sensor module using the concept of the inductance force sensor described above.

As shown in FIG. 4, a touch panel 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a touch sensor module 110 and a display device module 120 positioned above the touch sensor module 110.

The touch sensor module 110 includes a first conductive layer 111 positioned at the top, a spacing portion sp1 positioned below the first conductive layer 111, and a coil layer 113 positioned below the spacing portion sp1. ) And a second conductive film 115 positioned under the coil layer 113.

Accordingly, the first conductive layer 111 and the second conductive layer 115 are positioned at upper and lower portions in opposite directions with the coil layer 113 interposed therebetween, and the coil layer 113 is the first conductive layer 111 ) And the spacing part (sp1) are spaced apart.

In addition, the touch sensor module 110 includes a first adhesive layer ad11 positioned between the lower surface of the first conductive layer 111 and the upper surface of the spacing part sp1, and the lower surface and the coating layer 113 of the spacing part sp1. A second adhesive layer ad12 positioned between the upper surfaces of the layer and a second adhesive layer ad13 positioned between the lower surface of the coating unit 113 and the upper surface of the second conductive layer 115 are additionally provided.

The first and second conductive films 111 and 115 are each formed in a plate shape made of a metal such as aluminum (Al) or copper (Cu), and, as already described, opposite each other with the coil layer 113 interposed therebetween. It is located correspondingly in.

An induced current, which is an eddy current, is generated according to a magnetic field generated by applying an alternating current to the coil 1132 located in the coil layer 113 to the first and second conductive films 111 and 115, and at this time, the induced current The intensity of is varies depending on the distance between the adjacent coil 1132 and the corresponding conductive layers 111 and 115. Accordingly, as the distance with the coil 1132 decreases, the intensity of the eddy current formed in the corresponding conductive layers 111 and 115 increases.

In this example, the first conductive layer 111 may be formed of a metal material as well as a conductive material such as ITO.

The first conductive layer 111 separates the display device module 120 and the touch sensor module 110 positioned above, and is bent in proportion to the physical force applied according to the touch operation of the display device module 120. All. Accordingly, the distance between the first conductive layer 111 and the coil layer 113 at the touch point decreases, so that the inductance of the coil 1132 changes.

As such, the touch panel 100 of the present example detects the magnitude of the inductance that changes in proportion to the physical force applied to the display device module 120 to determine the degree of touch in the Z-axis direction.

In addition, the second conductive layer 115 performs an electromagnetic shielding function with an electric circuit such as a battery positioned under the touch sensor module 110.

Therefore, by the second conductive layer 115, the touch sensor module 110 accurately senses the amount of change in inductance according to the degree of touch of the display device module 120 without the influence of electromagnetic waves emitted from the electric circuit located below. .

However, in an alternative example, the second conductive layer 115 may be omitted, and in this case, the adhesive layer ad13 for bonding between the second conductive layer 113 and the coil layer 113 is also omitted.

The third adhesive layer ad131 is positioned between the second conductive layer 115 and the coil layer 113 to adhere the second conductive layer 115 and the coil layer 113 to the upper surface of the second conductive layer 115. Position the coil layer 113 on.

The coil layer 113 positioned between the first conductive film 111 and the second conductive film 115 is a substrate 1131 and a substrate 1131 made of a single-sided printed circuit board, a double-sided printed circuit board, or a multilayer printed circuit board. ) Is provided with a coil 1132 positioned on the upper and lower surfaces.

In this case, the substrate 1131 may be a rigid printed circuit board or a flexible printed circuit board.

In FIG. 4, the upper and lower surfaces of the substrate 1131 on which the coil 1132 is positioned are molded using epoxy or the like.

As described above, an alternating current of a corresponding magnitude is applied to the coil 1132 to generate eddy currents in the first and second conductive layers 111 and 115 corresponding to the lower and upper portions of each other.

In this example, the coil 1122 is located on the upper and lower surfaces of the substrate 1131, but is not limited thereto, and may be located only on one surface (eg, the upper surface) of the substrate 1131.

The spacing part sp1 is formed in the shape of a flat plate positioned entirely between the first conductive film 111 and the coil layer 113, so that the first conductive film 111 and the coil layer 113 are separated from each other.

At this time, the first adhesive layer ad11 is positioned on the gap portion sp1. Accordingly, the lower surface of the first conductive layer 111 is adhered to the upper surface of the spacing part sp1 so that the entire lower surface of the first conductive layer 115 is positioned on the upper surface of the spacing part sp1.

In addition, by the second adhesive layer ad12 formed by an adhesive that is located on the entire upper surface of the coil layer 113 and applied to the entire upper surface of the coil layer 113, the lower surface of the spacing part sp1 is a coil layer. It is positioned to be adhered to the entire upper surface of (113).

For this reason, the spacing part sp1 is located between the entire lower surface of the first conductive layer 111 and the entire upper surface of the coil layer 113.

The spacing part (sp1) is a material having excellent elasticity with excellent resilience and compressibility, for example, polyethylene, polyurethane, polyolefin, etc. B. There is no gap in which water is injected into the bending, and the base material does not pass through the water and withstands high water pressure) tape, etc. may be used.

Accordingly, due to the spacing part sp1, the first conductive layer 111 and the coil layer 113 are positioned to be spaced apart by the thickness of the spacing part sp1, so that the touch operation of the touch panel 100 is smoothly performed.

In addition, since the first conductive layer 111 positioned above the spacing part sp1 stably maintains its initial state without bending when the touch operation is not performed by the support operation by the spacing part sp1, the touch panel The reliability of operation for 100 is improved and the lifespan is extended.

The display device module 120 includes a display panel 121 and a passivation layer 122 on the display panel 121.

The display panel 121 may be a display panel of a liquid crystal display device that implements a display device using liquid crystal, or may be a display panel of an organic light emitting display device that implements a display device using organic light emitting diodes.

The protective layer 122 is a layer exposed to the outside and protects the display panel 121 and may be made of glass or transparent plastic.

In the touch panel 100 having such a structure, when a user touches the protective film 122 of the display device module 120 exposed to the outside, the first conductive film ( 111) Also pressed, the portion of the first conductive layer at the touch point is bent.

Due to this bending phenomenon, since the spacing between the coil layers 113 at the corresponding touch point is smaller than the initial state, the size of the inductance of the coil 1132 also changes in proportion to the decreased spacing. Accordingly, the degree of touch to the touch panel 100 in the Z-axis direction is determined using the amount of change according to the initial value of the inductance.

In this example, since the spacing part sp1 is located on the entire lower surface of the first conductive layer 111, the first conductive layer 111 is protected from a physical force applied to the first conductive layer 111. Accordingly, a problem in which the first conductive layer 111 is damaged or a restoring force is reduced is reduced, and a problem in which restoration of the first conductive layer 111 due to a repeated touch operation is weakened is prevented or reduced.

In addition, compared to the case where an air layer without a gap portion exists between the first conductive layer 111 and the coil layer 113, in this example, the restoring force of the first conductive layer 111 by the gap portion sp1 As this is improved, the response speed of the operation on the touch panel 100 is improved, and thus, the user's satisfaction is increased.

Moreover, since the spacing part sp1 is located on the entire surface of the coil layer 113, the difficulty due to the alignment operation of the spacing part sp1 is reduced, and thus the touch sensor module 110 is easily manufactured.

Next, a touch panel according to another embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 5.

In FIG. 5, components that have the same structure and perform the same function as compared with FIG. 4 are denoted by the same reference numerals as those given in FIG. 4, and detailed descriptions thereof are also omitted.

The touch panel 100a shown in FIG. 5 also includes a touch sensor module 110a having first and second conductive layers 111 and 115 facing each other to be spaced apart from each other with a coil layer 113 therebetween. And a display device module 120 including a display panel 121 and a passivation layer 122.

At this time, the touch sensor module 110a is formed between the coil layer 113 and the second conductive layer 115 as well as the first spacing part sp21 positioned between the first conductive layer 111 and the coil layer 113. A second spacing part sp22 is further provided.

The first spacing part sp21 is located on the entire lower surface of the first conductive layer 111 and the entire upper surface of the coil layer 113 as described above.

That is, the first spacing part sp21 is the entire lower surface of the second conductive layer 115 positioned above and below through the first and second adhesive layers ad21 and ad22 in contact with its upper and lower surfaces. And the entire upper surface of the coil layer 113.

In addition, since the second spacing part sp22 has a flat plate shape positioned on the entire lower surface of the coil layer 113 and the entire upper surface of the second conductive film 115, it is in contact with its upper surface and the lower surface. Through the third and fourth adhesive layers ad23 and ad24 that are present, the entire lower surface of the coil layer 113 positioned at the upper and lower portions thereof and the entire upper surface of the second conductive layer 115 are adhered to each other.

The first and second spacing parts sp21 and sp22 are made of the same material as the spacing part sp1 of FIG. 4, and may have the same thickness.

For this reason, the distance L11 between the first conductive film 111 and the corresponding coil 1132 of the coil layer 113 and the distance between the corresponding coil 1132 and the second conductive film 115 of the coil layer 113 ( L12) is the same.

Accordingly, the intensity of the eddy current formed in the first and second conductive layers 111 and 115 is the same, and the inductance between the conductive layers 111 and 115 and the corresponding coil 1132 is also the same.

Accordingly, since the inductance is easily changed according to the change in the distance between the first conductive layer 111 and the coil layer 113 according to the touch operation of the touch panel 100a, the amount of change in inductance for detecting the touch degree is easy Can be judged.

Further, the first to fourth adhesive layers ad21-ad24 are also made of the same material as the adhesive layers ad11-ad13 of FIG. 4.

In this way, since the spacing part sp22 is located in the entire lower portion of the coil layer 113, only the effect due to the spacing part sp21 located in the entire upper part of the coil layer 113 already described with reference to FIG. 4 In addition, the second conductive film 115 and the coil layer 113 are prevented from bending or twisting, thereby stably operating the touch sensor module 110a and improving the lifespan of the touch sensor module 110a. It occurs additionally.

In the above, embodiments of the touch sensor module of the present invention and a touch panel having the same have been described. The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments and the accompanying drawings, and various modifications and variations are possible from the perspective of those of ordinary skill in the field to which the present invention pertains. Therefore, the scope of the present invention should be defined by the claims of the present specification as well as those equivalent to the claims.

100, 100a: touch panel 110, 100a: touch sensor module
120: display module 111: first conductive film
113: coil layer 1132: coil
115: second conductive film sp1, sp21, sp22: spacing portion
ad11-ad13, ad21-ad24: adhesive layer

Claims (11)

A coil layer having a coil;
A first conductive layer on the coil layer; And
A first gap portion positioned between the coil layer and the first conductive layer
Including,
The first spacer is made of a material having elasticity, is located on the entire upper surface of the coil layer and the entire lower surface of the first conductive film, and the entire lower surface of the first spacer is formed of the entire upper surface of the coil layer and And the entire upper surface of the first spacer is facing the entire lower surface of the first conductive layer.
Touch sensor module. In claim 1,
A first adhesive layer positioned between a lower surface of the first conductive layer and an upper surface of the first spacer; And
A second adhesive layer positioned between the lower surface of the first spacing part and the upper surface of the coil layer
Touch sensor module further comprising a. In claim 1,
A second conductive film positioned under the coil layer
Touch sensor module further comprising a. In paragraph 3,
A third adhesive layer positioned between the lower surface of the coil layer and the upper surface of the second conductive layer
Touch sensor module further comprising a. In paragraph 3,
A second gap between the lower portion of the coil layer and the second conductive layer
Including more,
The second spacing part is located on the entire lower surface of the coil layer and the entire upper surface of the second conductive layer.
Touch sensor module. In clause 5,
The second spacer is a touch sensor module made of a material having elasticity. In clause 5,
A third adhesive layer positioned between a lower surface of the coil layer and an upper surface of the second spacer; And
A fourth adhesive layer positioned between the lower surface of the second gap and the upper surface of the second conductive layer
Touch sensor module further comprising a. A coil layer having a coil;
A first conductive layer on the coil layer;
A first gap portion positioned between the coil layer and the first conductive layer; And
A display device module positioned on the first conductive layer;
Including,
The first spacer is made of a material having elasticity, is located on the entire upper surface of the coil layer and the entire lower surface of the first conductive film, and the entire lower surface of the first spacer is formed of the entire upper surface of the coil layer and And the entire upper surface of the first spacer is facing the entire lower surface of the first conductive layer.
Touch panel. In clause 8,
A second conductive film positioned under the coil layer
Touch panel further comprising a. In claim 9,
A second gap between the lower portion of the coil layer and the second conductive layer
Including more,
The second spacing part is located on the entire lower surface of the coil layer and the upper surface of the second conductive layer.
Touch panel. In claim 10,
The second spacer is made of a material having elasticity.

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