KR20030021980A - A driving apparatus of plasma display panel and the method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: An apparatus for driving a plasma display panel(PDP) and a method thereof are provided, which stabilizes a sustain discharge by increasing a voltage interval performing the sustain discharge without using additional external capacitor. CONSTITUTION: According to the apparatus for driving a plasma display panel including a number of address electrodes and a number of discharge cells and the first and the second discharge cell group, the first discharge sustain driving circuit part(DXa) sustains a voltage of the first scanning electrode as a discharge sustain voltage or the first voltage. The second discharge sustain driving circuit part(DYa) sustains a voltage of the second scanning electrode as the discharge sustain voltage or the first voltage. The third discharge sustain driving circuit part(DXb) sustains a voltage of the first sustain electrode as the discharge sustain voltage or the first voltage. The fourth discharge sustain driving circuit part(DYb) sustains a voltage of the second sustain electrode as the discharge sustain voltage or the first voltage. The first power recovery part(RX1) is formed in the first and the second discharge sustain driving circuit part, and charges the second scanning electrode(or the first scanning electrode) with the discharge sustain voltage by recovering power charged in the first scanning electrode(or the second scanning electrode). And the second power recovery part(RY1) is formed in the third and the fourth discharge sustain driving circuit part, and charges the second sustain electrode(or the first sustain electrode) with the discharge sustain voltage by recovering power charged in the first sustain electrode(or the second sustain electrode).

Description

A driving device of a plasma display panel and a driving method thereof {A DRIVING APPARATUS OF PLASMA DISPLAY PANEL AND THE METHOD THEREOF}

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for driving a plasma display panel (PDP), and more particularly to a plasma display panel that performs power recovery without installing a separate power storage capacitor during a power recovery operation of the plasma display panel. It relates to a driving device and a driving method.

Recently, flat display devices such as liquid crystal displays (LCDs), field emission displays (FEDs), and PDPs have been actively developed. Among these flat panel display devices, PDPs have advantages of higher luminance and luminous efficiency and wider viewing angles than other flat panel display devices. Therefore, the PDP is in the spotlight as a display device to replace the conventional cathode ray tube (CRT) in a large display device of 40 inches or more.

PDPs are flat display devices that display characters or images using plasma generated by gas discharge, and dozens to millions or more of pixels are arranged in a matrix according to their size. Such PDPs are classified into a direct current type (DC type) and an alternating current type (AC type) according to the shape of the driving voltage waveform applied and the structure of the discharge cell.

In the DC-type PDP, since the electrode is exposed to the discharge space as it is, the current flows in the discharge space while the voltage is applied, and for this purpose, a resistance for current limiting must be made externally. On the other hand, in the AC PDP, the dielectric layer covers the electrode, so that the current is limited by the formation of a natural capacitance component and the life is longer than that of the DC type because the electrode is protected from the impact of ions during discharge.

1 is a partial perspective view of an AC plasma display panel.

As shown in FIG. 1, the scan electrode 4 and the sustain electrode 5 covered with the dielectric layer 2 and the protective film 3 are arranged in parallel on the first glass substrate 1. A plurality of address electrodes 8 covered with the insulator layer 7 are provided on the second glass substrate 6. A partition 9 is formed on the insulator layer 7 between the address electrodes 8 in parallel with the address electrode 8. In addition, the phosphor 10 is formed on the surface of the insulator layer 7 and on both side surfaces of the partition wall 9. The first glass substrate 1 and the second glass substrate 6 have a discharge space 11 therebetween so that the scan electrode 4 and the address electrode 8 and the sustain electrode 5 and the address electrode 8 are orthogonal to each other. They are arranged to face each other. The discharge space at the intersection of the address electrode 8 and the pair of the scanning electrode 4 and the sustain electrode 5 forms a discharge cell 12.

2 shows an electrode arrangement diagram of the plasma display panel.

As shown in Fig. 2, the PDP electrode has a matrix structure of m x n. Specifically, the address electrodes A1 to Am are arranged in the column direction, and the scan electrodes X1 to n rows in the row direction. Xn) and sustain electrodes Y1 to Yn are arranged in a zigzag. The discharge cell 12 shown in FIG. 2 corresponds to the discharge cell 12 shown in FIG.

In general, the driving method of the PDP is composed of a reset (initialization) period, a write (addressing) period, a sustain period, and an erase period.

The reset period is a period of initializing the state of each cell in order to perform an addressing operation smoothly on the cell, and the write period selects a wall cell on the panel (addressed cell) that is turned on by selecting a cell that is turned on and a cell that is not turned on. This is the period during which the stacking operation is performed. The sustain period is a period in which discharge for actually displaying an image is performed on the addressed cell, and the erase period is a period in which the wall discharge of the cell is reduced to end the sustain discharge.

In the AC type PDP, the scan electrodes (hereinafter referred to as 'X electrodes') and the sustain electrodes (hereinafter referred to as 'Y electrodes') for sustain discharge serve as capacitive loads. There is capacitance to the electrode, and reactive power is required in addition to the power for the discharge to apply the waveform for the sustain discharge. A circuit for recovering and reusing such reactive power is called a sustain discharge circuit (or a power recovery circuit).

Hereinafter, driving of the sustain discharge circuit of the conventional AC plasma display panel will be described.

3 and 4 are diagrams showing a conventional sustain discharge circuit and operation waveforms.

As in the accompanying Figure 3, L.F. The sustain discharge circuits proposed by Weber (US Pat. Nos. 4,866,349 and 5,081,400) are sustain discharge circuits (or power recovery circuits) of an AC plasma display panel, and a drive circuit of an AC plasma display panel is a sustain discharge circuit of an X electrode. 10 and the sustain discharge circuit 11 (not shown) of the Y electrode are constituted in the same manner. Hereinafter, the sustain discharge circuit for one electrode will be described for convenience.

The conventional sustain discharge circuit 10 includes a power recovery unit including two switches S1 and S2 and diodes D1 and D2 and a power recovery capacitor Cc, and two switches S3 and S4 connected in series. And a sustain discharge portion composed of An inductor Lc is connected between the contact between the diodes D1 and D2 of the power recovery unit and the two switches S3 and S4 of the sustain discharge unit, and the capacitor Cp of the plasma display panel is connected to the sustain discharge unit. The load with is connected.

The conventional sustain discharge circuit configured as described above is operated in four modes according to the switching operations of the switches S1 to S4, as shown in FIG. The waveforms of the current I _L flowing through the respective appear.

However, the conventional sustain discharge circuit shown in FIG. 3 has a disadvantage of using a separate power storage capacitor Cc externally for power recovery, and also has independent inductors and switches when configuring the sustain discharge circuit. The use of a large number of diodes and the power recovery rate has the disadvantage that the rise and fall time of the voltage is long.

A driving technique for solving this problem is presented in Korean Patent Publication No. 1999-61691, and FIGS. 5 and 6 show a driving circuit and a driving waveform thereof disclosed in the above publication, respectively.

The characteristic of the driving circuit shown in Fig. 5 is that power recovery is performed using the capacitor components Cp1 and Cp2 of the panel itself, without using an additional capacitor element externally.

In such a driving circuit, a sustain discharge occurs due to a difference in pulse voltages applied to the Xa electrode (or Xb electrode) and the Ya electrode (Yb electrode). According to the related art, as shown in FIG. 6, the Xa electrode (or Xb) Electrodes) and Ya electrodes (or Yb electrodes) were applied with pulse voltages of the same type with a phase difference of 90 degrees. As a result, as shown in FIG. 6, a section in which voltages applied to the Xa and Ya electrodes overlap with each other increases, resulting in a shortening of the voltage section for performing sustain discharge.

The technical problem to be solved by the present invention is to solve such a problem, and does not use a separate capacitor to the outside of the plasma display panel that can achieve the stabilization of the sustain discharge by increasing the voltage section to perform the sustain discharge It is to provide a driving device and a driving method.

1 is a partial perspective view of an AC plasma display panel.

2 is an electrode array diagram of a plasma display panel.

3 and 4 are diagrams each showing a sustain discharge circuit of a conventional weber system and a voltage waveform thereof.

5 is a diagram showing a sustain discharge circuit according to an embodiment of the present invention.

6 is a view showing a voltage waveform conventionally used in FIG.

7 is a view showing a voltage waveform according to the embodiment of the present invention.

8A to 8B are diagrams showing equivalent circuits for respective modes.

9 is a diagram showing a sustain discharge circuit according to another embodiment of the present invention.

A driving apparatus of a plasma display panel according to an aspect of the present invention for achieving the above object is formed in the intersection of a plurality of address electrodes and a plurality of scan electrodes and sustain electrodes arranged in pairs and zigzag pairs with each other A plurality of discharge cells, the plurality of discharge cells comprising: a first discharge cell group having a plurality of first scan electrodes and a plurality of first sustain electrodes; and a plurality of second scan electrodes and a plurality of second sustain electrodes; A driving device of a plasma display panel including a group of two discharge cells,

A first discharge sustain driving circuit unit for maintaining the voltage of the first scan electrode at a discharge sustain voltage or a first voltage; A second discharge sustain driving circuit unit for maintaining the voltage of the second scan electrode at a discharge sustain voltage or the first voltage; A third discharge sustain driving circuit unit for maintaining the voltage of the first sustain electrode at a discharge sustain voltage or the first voltage; A fourth discharge sustain driving circuit unit for maintaining the voltage of the second sustain electrode at a discharge sustain voltage or the first voltage; The first discharge sustain driving circuit unit and the second discharge sustain driving circuit unit are formed, and the second scan electrode (or the first scan) is recovered by recovering electric power charged in the first scan electrode (or the second scan electrode). A first power recovery unit for charging the electrode to a discharge sustain voltage; And the second discharge electrode formed on the third discharge sustain driving circuit part and the fourth discharge sustain driving circuit part, and recovering electric power charged in the first sustain electrode (or the second sustain electrode). And a second power recovery unit for charging the sustain electrode to a discharge sustain voltage.

The voltage waveform applied to the first scan electrode and the second electrode has a phase difference greater than 90 ° and less than 180 °.

On the other hand, the driving method of the plasma display panel according to an aspect of the present invention

And a plurality of discharge cells formed at intersections of a plurality of address electrodes and a plurality of scan electrodes arranged in a zigzag pair and arranged in a zigzag pair, wherein the discharge cells comprise a plurality of first scan electrodes and a plurality of first electrodes. A driving method of a plasma display panel including a first discharge cell group having a sustain electrode and a second discharge cell group having a plurality of second scan electrodes and a plurality of second sustain electrodes,

A first charging step of recovering electric power charged in the second scan electrode to charge the first scan electrode with a discharge sustain voltage; A first sustain discharge step of maintaining the first scan electrode at a discharge sustain voltage and maintaining the second scan electrode at a first voltage level; A second charging step of recovering electric power charged in the second sustain electrode to charge the first sustain electrode to a discharge sustain voltage; A second sustain discharge step of maintaining the first sustain electrode at a discharge sustain voltage and maintaining the second sustain electrode at a first voltage level; A third charging step of recovering power charged in the first scan electrode to charge the second scan electrode with a discharge sustain voltage; A third sustain discharge step of maintaining the second scan electrode at a discharge sustain voltage and maintaining the first scan electrode at a first voltage level; A fourth charging step of recovering power charged in the first sustain electrode to charge the second sustain electrode to a discharge sustain voltage; A fourth sustain discharge step of maintaining the second sustain electrode at a discharge sustain voltage and maintaining the first sustain electrode at a first voltage level,

The voltage waveform applied to the first scan electrode and the second electrode has a phase difference greater than 90 ° and less than 180 °.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings so that those skilled in the art may easily implement the present invention.

7 is a view showing a drive waveform of the sustain discharge circuit according to the embodiment of the present invention. The drive circuit according to the embodiment of the present invention has the same circuit configuration as the sustain discharge circuit shown in Fig. 5, but the switching operation timing of the drive circuit is different as described below.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 5 and 7.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the set of discharge cells constituting the entire screen is divided into two sets, and the X electrodes of the first set of discharge cells are called Xa electrodes, the Y electrodes are called Ya electrodes, and the X electrodes of the second set of discharge cells are The Xb electrode and the Y electrodes are defined as Yb electrodes.

Referring to FIG. 5, the sustain discharge circuit according to the embodiment of the present invention includes discharge sustain driving circuit units DXa, DYa, DXb, and DYb and power recovery units RX1 and RY1.

The discharge sustain driving circuit units DXa, DYa, DXb, and DYb represent driving circuits of the Xa, Ya, Xb, and Yb electrodes, respectively, and are connected between a power supply voltage and a ground voltage (SW1, SW2; SW7, SW8; SW3, SW4; SW9, SW10 and diodes D1, D2; D7, D8; D3, D4; D9, D10. The power recovery units RX1 and RY1 are connected between DXa and DXb and between DYa and DYb, respectively, and the inductors L1 and L2, the diodes D5 and D6, D11 and D12, and the switches SW5, SW6, SW11, SW12).

Next, the operation of the sustain discharge circuit according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 5, 7 and 8A to 8D.

First, assume that the Xa electrode and the Ya electrode voltage are 0V, the Xb electrode and the Yb electrode voltage are the discharge sustain level voltage Vs in the initial state. In this state, the switches SW2, SW3, SW8, and SW9 are on.

Mode 1: Xa electrode charging step

At the time t = t0, the switch SW6 of the power recovery unit Rx is turned on, and the switches SW2 and SW3 are turned off. Then, a current flows from the Xb electrode to the Xa electrode through the switch SW6, the diode D6, and the inductor L1 by the potential difference between the Xb electrode and the Xa electrode. Accordingly, the voltage of the Xb electrode drops from Vs to 0V, and the voltage of the Xa electrode rises from 0V to Vs. The equivalent circuit at this time is as shown in Fig. 8A.

Mode 2: maintenance step

At the point in time when the Xa electrode rises to Vs (t = t1), the switch SW6 is turned off and the switches SW1 and SW4 of the discharge sustain driving circuit section are turned on. As a result, the Xa electrode and the Xb electrode maintain the Vs voltage and the 0V voltage, respectively.

Mode 3: Ya electrode charging step

At the time t = t2, the switch SW12 of the power recovery section Ry is turned on, and the switches SW8 and SW9 of the discharge sustaining drive circuit section are turned off. Then, a current flows from the Yb electrode to the Ya electrode through the inductor L2, the diode D12, and the switch SW12 by the potential difference between the Yb electrode and the Ya electrode. Accordingly, the voltage of the Yb electrode drops from Vs to 0V, and the voltage of the Ya electrode rises from 0V to Vs. The equivalent circuit at this time is as shown in Fig. 8B. In this case, according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 7, the time point at which the switch SW12 is turned on is a time point at which the delay time of tau is only large near the center of the section in which the Xa electrode maintains the Vs voltage. That is, the voltage waveform of the Ya electrode (or Yb electrode) is designed to have a phase difference greater than 90 ° and smaller than 180 ° than the voltage waveform of the Xa electrode (Xb electrode).

Mode 4: maintenance step

At the time point t = t3 when the Ya electrode rises to Vs, the switch SW12 is turned off and the switches SW7 and SW10 are turned on. As a result, the Ya electrode and the Yb electrode maintain the Vs voltage and the 0V voltage, respectively.

Mode 5: Xb electrode charging step

At the time t = t4, the switch SW5 of the power recovery section Rx is turned on, and the switches SW1 and SW4 of the discharge sustain driving circuit section are turned off. Then, a current flows from the Xa electrode to the Xb electrode through the inductor L1, the diode D5, and the switch SW5 by the potential difference between the Xa electrode and the Xb electrode. Accordingly, the voltage of the Xa electrode drops from Vs to 0V, and the voltage of the Xb electrode rises from 0V to Vs. The equivalent circuit at this time is as shown in Fig. 8C. In this case, the time point at which the switch SW5 is turned on is a time point delayed by τ when the Ya electrode reaches Vs.

Mode 6: maintenance stage

At the point in time when the Xb electrode rises to Vs (t = t5), the switch SW5 is turned off and the switches SW2 and SW3 are turned on. As a result, the Xb electrode and the Xa electrode maintain the Vs voltage and the 0V voltage, respectively.

Mode 7: Yb electrode charging step

At the time t = t6, the switch SW11 of the power recovery unit Ry is turned on, and the switches SW7 and SW10 are turned off. Then, a current flows from the Ya electrode to the Yb electrode through the diode D11, the switch SW11, and the inductor L2 by the potential difference between the Ya electrode and the Yb electrode. Accordingly, the voltage of the Ya electrode drops from Vs to 0V, and the voltage of the Yb electrode rises from 0V to Vs. The equivalent circuit at this time is shown in FIG. 8D.

Mode 8: Hold Step

At the point in time when the Yb electrode rises to Vs (t = t7), the switch SW11 is turned off and the switches SW8 and SW9 are turned on. As a result, the Yb electrode and the Ya electrode maintain the Vs voltage and the 0V voltage, respectively.

As described above, the embodiment of the present invention maintains the discharge by repeating the Xa electrode charging (Xb electrode discharge) step-holding step-Ya electrode charging step-holding step-Xb electrode charging step-holding step-Yb electrode charging step-holding step. Generate a waveform.

In this case, according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention, since the phase difference between the voltages applied to the Xa electrode (or Xb electrode) and the Ya electrode (or Yb electrode) is greater than 90 ° and smaller than 180 °, both ends of the panel capacitance are used. The voltage difference between the Xa electrode and the Ya electrode (or the voltage difference between the Xb electrode and the Yb electrode), which is an applied discharge sustain waveform, is sufficiently large as the discharge sustain voltage section (the section where the voltage Vs is maintained or the -Vs voltage). It is possible to have a section that is maintained. Therefore, in the embodiment of the present invention, since the sustain discharge pulse longer than the voltage application time of the conventional sustain discharge pulse shown in FIG. 6 can be generated, there is an advantage that the discharge can be stabilized during the sustain discharge.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail, but many other modifications and variations are possible.

For example, in the exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the set of pixels constituting the entire screen is divided into two sets. For example, the set of pixels may be divided into four or more even groups as shown in FIG. 9. The description thereof will be omitted since it will be easily understood by those skilled in the art from the previous description.

As described above, the present invention can achieve stabilization of sustain discharge by increasing a voltage section for performing sustain discharge without using a separate capacitor.

Claims (6)

And a plurality of discharge cells formed at intersections of a plurality of address electrodes and a plurality of scan electrodes arranged in a zigzag pair and arranged in a zigzag manner, wherein the plurality of discharge cells are formed of a plurality of first scan electrodes and a plurality of discharge cells. An apparatus for driving a plasma display panel comprising a first discharge cell group having a first sustain electrode and a second discharge cell group having a plurality of second scan electrodes and a plurality of second sustain electrodes. A first discharge sustain driving circuit unit for maintaining the voltage of the first scan electrode at a discharge sustain voltage or a first voltage; A second discharge sustain driving circuit unit for maintaining the voltage of the second scan electrode at a discharge sustain voltage or the first voltage; A third discharge sustain driving circuit unit for maintaining the voltage of the first sustain electrode at a discharge sustain voltage or the first voltage; A fourth discharge sustain driving circuit unit for maintaining the voltage of the second sustain electrode at a discharge sustain voltage or the first voltage; The first discharge sustain driving circuit unit and the second discharge sustain driving circuit unit are formed, and the second scan electrode (or the first scan) is recovered by recovering electric power charged in the first scan electrode (or the second scan electrode). A first power recovery unit for charging the electrode to a discharge sustain voltage; And The third discharge sustain driving circuit unit and the fourth discharge sustain driving circuit unit are formed to recover power charged in the first sustain electrode (or the second sustain electrode) to recover the second sustain electrode (or the first sustain electrode). A second power recovery unit for charging the electrode) to a discharge sustain voltage; And a voltage waveform applied to the first scan electrode and the second electrode has a phase difference greater than 90 ° and less than 180 °. The method of claim 1, And the first voltage is a ground voltage. The method of claim 2, The first to fourth discharge sustain driving circuit units, respectively. And a first switch and a second switch connected in series between the discharge sustain voltage and the ground voltage, wherein the contact points of the first and second switches are electrically connected to respective scan electrodes or sustain electrodes. . The method of claim 3, The first power recovery unit A first inductor having one terminal electrically connected to a contact between the first switch and the second switch of the first sustain driving circuit unit; First and second diodes having an anode and a cathode connected to the other terminal of the first inductor, respectively; And A third and fourth switch having one terminal connected to the cathode and the anode of the first and second diodes, respectively, and the other terminal being electrically connected to the contacts of the first and second switches of the second discharge sustaining circuit portion. Include, The second power recovery unit A second inductor having one terminal electrically connected to a contact between the first switch and the second switch of a third sustain driving circuit; Third and fourth diodes having an anode and a cathode connected to the other terminal of the second inductor, respectively; And A fifth and a sixth switch having one terminal connected to the cathode and the anode of the third and fourth diodes, respectively, and the other terminal being electrically connected to the contacts of the first and second switches of the fourth discharge sustaining circuit portion. Driving apparatus for a plasma display panel comprising. And a plurality of discharge cells formed at intersections of a plurality of address electrodes and a plurality of scan electrodes arranged in a zigzag pair and arranged in a zigzag pair, wherein the discharge cells comprise a plurality of first scan electrodes and a plurality of first electrodes. A method of driving a plasma display panel comprising a first discharge cell group having a sustain electrode and a second discharge cell group having a plurality of second scan electrodes and a plurality of second sustain electrodes, A first charging step of recovering electric power charged in the second scan electrode to charge the first scan electrode with a discharge sustain voltage; A first sustain discharge step of maintaining the first scan electrode at a discharge sustain voltage and maintaining the second scan electrode at a first voltage level; A second charging step of recovering electric power charged in the second sustain electrode to charge the first sustain electrode to a discharge sustain voltage; A second sustain discharge step of maintaining the first sustain electrode at a discharge sustain voltage and maintaining the second sustain electrode at a first voltage level; A third charging step of recovering power charged in the first scan electrode to charge the second scan electrode with a discharge sustain voltage; A third sustain discharge step of maintaining the second scan electrode at a discharge sustain voltage and maintaining the first scan electrode at a first voltage level; A fourth charging step of recovering power charged in the first sustain electrode to charge the second sustain electrode to a discharge sustain voltage; A fourth sustain discharge step of maintaining the second sustain electrode at a discharge sustain voltage and maintaining the first sustain electrode at a first voltage level, And a voltage waveform applied to the first scan electrode and the second electrode has a phase difference greater than 90 ° and less than 180 °. The method of claim 5, And the first voltage level is a ground voltage level.