TW202234976A - Display device - Google Patents

Abstract

A display device includes two bodies, a hinge structure and a flexible display panel. The hinge structure includes a hinge assembly and two sliding parts. The two sliding parts are slidably disposed on the two bodies respectively, and the hinge assembly is pivotally connected between the two sliding parts. When the two bodies are relatively unfolded by the pivoting of the hinge assembly, each sliding member is hidden in the corresponding body. When the two bodies are relatively closed by the pivoting of the hinge assembly, each sliding member at least partially protrudes from the corresponding body. The flexible display panel is disposed on the two bodies and is suitable for bending as the two bodies are relatively closed.

Description

display device

The present invention relates to a display device, and more particularly, to a display device including a pivot structure.

In recent years, flexible display technology has gradually matured, and various manufacturers have begun to apply flexible display panels to various products. A display device using a flexible display panel can achieve a large screen when unfolded and is easy to carry when folded, so it is suitable for displays in various fields, such as televisions, monitors, portable phones, and ultra-thin portable personal computers , e-books, and e-paper. Specifically, when the user wants to use the foldable display device, it can be unfolded, so that the flexible display panel can be fully unfolded and a larger display screen can be used. When the user wants to move the folding display device, the folding display device can be folded up to reduce the size of the folding display device for easy carrying.

In the above-mentioned display device, the flexible display panel has a design premise of being non-stretchable. Therefore, the housing of the pivot structure (that is, the bending position) of the display device needs to be stretched to match the length change of the bending section of the flexible display panel, especially when the display device is folded 180 degrees in half and closed. The housing of the pivot structure requires a great amount of elongation. The pivot structure of the existing display device, for example, uses a multi-layer structure stack to obtain the elongation, but in order to match the length change of the bending section of the flexible display panel, it is often necessary to increase the number of stacked layers, resulting in the thickness of the pivot structure. too thick.

The present invention provides a display device whose pivot structure has a smaller thickness.

The display device of the present invention includes two bodies, a pivot structure and a flexible display panel. The pivot structure includes a pivot component and two sliding pieces, wherein the two sliding pieces are respectively slidably arranged on the two bodies, and the pivot component is pivotally connected between the two sliding pieces. When the two bodies are relatively unfolded by the pivoting of the pivot assembly, each sliding member is hidden in the corresponding body. When the two bodies are relatively closed by the pivoting of the pivot assembly, each sliding member at least partially protrudes from the corresponding body. The flexible display panel is disposed on the two bodies and is suitable for flexing when the two bodies are closed relative to each other.

In an embodiment of the present invention, each of the above-mentioned bodies has a slide rail, and each sliding member is slidably arranged on the slide rail of the corresponding body.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the above-mentioned pivot assembly includes a first pivot member and two second pivot members, the two second pivot members are pivotally connected to opposite ends of the first pivot member respectively, and the two second pivot members are pivotally connected to opposite ends of the first pivot member. The sliding pieces are pivotally connected to the two second pivoting pieces, respectively.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the above-mentioned first pivoting member has two sliding blocks, each second pivoting member has an arc-shaped sliding rail, and the two sliding blocks are respectively slidably mounted on the two arc-shaped sliding rails.

In an embodiment of the present invention, each of the above-mentioned second pivot members is pivotally connected to the first pivot member with a pivot axis, and the pivot axis is located at the center of curvature of the corresponding arc-shaped slide rail.

In an embodiment of the present invention, each of the above-mentioned second pivot members and the first pivot member has an overlapping area, and the size of the overlapping area varies with the relative movement of each second pivot member and the first pivot member. Change.

In an embodiment of the present invention, it further includes at least one elastic member, wherein the at least one elastic member is connected between the at least one body and the corresponding sliding member. When the two bodies are relatively closed by the pivoting of the pivot assembly, With the elastic force of at least one elastic element, the corresponding sliding element at least partially protrudes from the corresponding body.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the above-mentioned flexible display panel includes two non-bending sections and a bending section, wherein the two non-bending sections are respectively disposed on the two bodies, and the bending section is Connected between two non-bending sections. When the two bodies are relatively closed by the pivoting of the pivoting component, the pivoting component is pressed against the bendable area by the elastic force of the at least one elastic member.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the above-mentioned pivot structure includes a base body and two frame bodies, the two frame bodies are rotatably connected to the base body, the two bodies are respectively connected to the two frame bodies, and the pivot assembly and the two sliding members cover the The seat body and at least part of the two frame bodies.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the base body has two arc-shaped guide grooves, each frame body has an arc-shaped section, and the two arc-shaped sections are respectively slidably arranged in the two arc-shaped guide grooves.

Based on the above, in the pivot structure of the present invention, the two sliding members are respectively slidably arranged on the two bodies so as to be hidden in the body when the electronic device is unfolded, and can protrude from the body when the electronic device is closed to Increasing the length of the pivot structure enables the length of the pivot structure to change with the deflection of the flexible display panel. In this way, it is not necessary to design the pivot structure as a stacked structure including an excessive number of layers in order to make the pivot structure have sufficient length variation, and the thickness of the pivot structure can be prevented from being too large.

In order to make the above-mentioned features and advantages of the present invention more obvious and easy to understand, the following embodiments are given and described in detail with the accompanying drawings as follows.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a display device according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 shows that the two bodies of FIG. 1 are closed. Please refer to FIGS. 1 and 2 , the display device 100 of this embodiment is a portable electronic device such as a smart phone or a tablet computer, and includes two bodies 110 , a pivot structure 120 and a flexible display panel 130 . The two bodies 110 are pivotally connected to each other by the pivot structure 120 so as to be suitable for relative rotation between the open state shown in FIG. 1 and the closed state shown in FIG. 2 .

FIG. 3 is a partial perspective view of the display device of FIG. 1 . In order to make the drawings clearer, some components are omitted in FIG. 3 . 4 and 5 are respectively schematic cross-sectional views of different positions of the display device of FIG. 1 . FIG. 6 and FIG. 7 are schematic cross-sectional views of different positions of the display device of FIG. 2 , respectively. For the sake of clarity, the flexible display panel 130 in FIG. 1 is not shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 . In this embodiment, the pivot structure 120 includes a pivot assembly 121 and two sliding members 122 , wherein the two sliding members 122 are slidably disposed on the two bodies 110 respectively, and the pivot assembly 121 is pivotally connected between the two sliding members 122 . The flexible display panel 130 is disposed on the two bodies 110 and is suitable for bending as the two bodies 110 are closed relative to each other as shown in FIG. 6 and FIG. 7 .

Under the above configuration, when the two bodies 110 are relatively unfolded by the pivoting of the pivot assembly 121 as shown in FIG. 1 , FIG. 4 and FIG. When the two bodies 110 are relatively closed by the pivoting of the pivot assembly 121 as shown in FIG. 2 , FIG. 6 and FIG. 7 , each sliding member 122 at least partially protrudes from the corresponding body 110 to increase the pivot structure 120 , so that the length of the pivot structure 120 can be changed with the deflection of the flexible display panel 130 . In this way, it is not necessary to design the pivot structure 120 as a stack structure including an excessive number of layers in order to have a sufficient length variation, and the thickness of the pivot structure 120 can be prevented from being too large.

Please refer to FIG. 4 and FIG. 6 , in this embodiment, each body 110 has a sliding rail 111 , and each sliding member 122 is slidably disposed on the corresponding sliding rail 111 of the body 110 . Specifically, each body 110 has an end 112 facing the pivot assembly 121 , and each slide rail 111 is located at the end 112 of the corresponding body 110 . Each sliding member 122 is adapted to slide along a direction parallel to the corresponding body 110 to be hidden in the corresponding body 110 or at least partially protrude from the end 112 of the body 110 .

In this embodiment, the end of each sliding rail 111 has a stopper portion 111 a for limiting the sliding distance of each sliding member 122 . In one embodiment, each slide rail 111 is formed by a part of the corresponding body 110 close to the side edge. In other words, each slide rail 111 is integrally formed with the corresponding body 110 . In another embodiment, each slide rail 111 is constituted by additional components to be configured on the corresponding body 110 . In other embodiments, each sliding member 122 can be slidably connected to the corresponding body 110 by other suitable methods, which is not limited in the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 4 , in this embodiment, the pivot assembly 121 includes a first pivot member 1211 and two second pivot members 1212 , and the two second pivot members 1212 are pivotally connected to the first pivot member 1211 respectively. At opposite ends, the two sliding members 122 are pivotally connected to the two second pivoting members 1212 respectively. In this embodiment, the two second pivoting members 1212 are pivotally connected to the two shaft portions 1211b of the first pivoting member 1211 through the two shaft sleeves 1212b, respectively, and the two sliding members 122 are pivotally connected to the two shafts through the two shaft holes 1221, respectively. The two shaft portions 1212c of the second pivot member 1212 . In other embodiments, the two second pivot members 1212 can be pivotally connected to the first pivot member 1211 by other suitable methods, respectively, and the two sliding members 122 can be pivotally connected to each other by other suitable methods. It is connected to the corresponding two second pivot members 1212, which is not limited in the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 6 , in this embodiment, the first pivot member 1211 has two sliders 1211a, each of the second pivot members 1212 has an arc-shaped slide rail 1212a, and the two sliders 1211a are respectively slidably disposed on the two arc-shaped slides Rail 1212a. Each of the second pivot members 1212 is pivotally connected to the first pivot member 1211 with a pivot axis A1. The pivot axis A1 is located at the center of curvature of the corresponding arc-shaped slide rail 1212a. The advantage of this design is that by adjusting the position of the axis A1 and the elongation of the two sliding members 122 , the pivot structure 120 can be adapted to flexible display panels with different neutral layer positions.

Please refer to FIG. 1 and FIG. 7 , the flexible display panel 130 of this embodiment includes two non-bending sections 132 and a bending section 134 and has a neutral layer 130 a, wherein the two non-bending sections 132 Disposed on the two bodies 110 respectively, the bendable section 134 is connected between the two non-bendable sections 132 . The neutral layer 130a extends in the bendable section 134 and the non-bendable section 132 .

The aforementioned neutral layer 130a means that during the bending process of the material, the outer layer is stretched and the inner layer is squeezed, and there must be a transition layer that is neither stretched nor compressed on the cross section of the material, and the stress is almost zero. This transition layer is called the neutral layer of the material. In short, the length of the neutral layer 130a during the bending process remains the same as before the bending. The neutral layer 130a does not refer to a layer at a certain height on the cross-section of the flexible display panel 130. The neutral layer 130a will vary according to the selected material and the implementation thickness of the flexible display panel 130, so that the flexible display panel 130 is flexible. different heights on the cross-section of the display panel 130 . In this embodiment, the neutral layer 130 a is exposed on the outer surfaces of the two bodies 110 of the flexible display panel 130 . In other embodiments, the neutral layer 130 a may be located inside the flexible display panel 130 . According to different positions of the neutral layer 130a, the position of the pivot axis A1 and the sliding amount of the sliding member 122 can be adjusted accordingly, so that the two bodies 110, the pivot structure 120 and the flexible display panel 130 can move smoothly.

Please refer to FIG. 3 , the display device 100 of this embodiment further includes at least one elastic member 140 (two are shown in the figure), wherein each elastic member 140 is connected between the corresponding body 110 and the corresponding sliding member 122 . In this embodiment, each elastic member 140 is, for example, a torsion spring, and two ends of each elastic member 140 are respectively fixed to the corresponding body 110 and the corresponding sliding member 122 by two protruding columns. In other embodiments, the elastic member 140 may also be a spring, and the type of the elastic member 140 and its fixing method are not limited to the above.

In detail, when the two bodies 110 change from the unfolded state shown in FIG. 5 to the closed state shown in FIG. 7 , the two sliding members 122 are at least partially separated from the corresponding bodies by the elastic force of the elastic member 140 . 110 protrudes, and at this time, the pivot assembly 121 abuts against the bendable area 134 . In other words, a pre-compressed elastic member 140 is placed inside each body 110 to connect with the corresponding sliding member 122 to provide an outward thrust, so that the pivot structure 120 moves outward during the relative closing process of the two bodies 110 to make the pivot connection The assembly 121 adheres to and protects the surface of the flexible display panel 130 .

Please refer to FIG. 5 and FIG. 7 , the pivot structure 120 of this embodiment further includes a base body 123 and two frame bodies 124 . The two frame bodies 124 are rotatably connected to the base body 123 , and the two bodies 110 are respectively connected to the two frame bodies 124 to be opened or closed relative to the base body 123 by the rotation of the two frame bodies 124 relative to the base body 123 . Specifically, the base body 123 has two arc-shaped guide grooves 1231 , each frame body 124 has an arc-shaped section 1241 , and the two arc-shaped sections 1241 are slidably disposed in the two arc-shaped guide grooves 1231 respectively. The pivot assembly 121 and the two sliding members 122 can be regarded as the exterior parts of the pivot structure 120 to cover the base body 123 and at least part of the two frame bodies 124 .

In addition, in this embodiment, each of the second pivot members 1212 and the first pivot member 1211 has an overlapping area S as shown in FIG. 4 to FIG. 7 . 8A to 8D are schematic diagrams illustrating an operation flow of the display device of FIG. 1 . As the two bodies 110 are relatively opened and closed as shown in FIG. 8A to FIG. 8D , each of the second pivot members 1212 and the first pivot members 1211 are driven to move relative to each other, and the size of the overlapping area S changes. Specifically, in the unfolded state of the two bodies 110 as shown in FIG. 5 , the overlapping area S thereof is relatively large. In the closed state of the two bodies 110 as shown in FIG. 7 , the overlapping area S thereof is small. Therefore, the effect of changing the extension length of the pivot structure 120 is achieved by the design that the second pivot member 1212 and the first pivot member 1211 can overlap each other.

To sum up, in the pivot structure of the present invention, the two sliding members are slidably disposed on the two bodies respectively, so that they can be hidden in the body when the electronic device is unfolded, and can protrude from the body when the electronic device is closed. In order to increase the length of the pivot structure, the length of the pivot structure can be changed with the deflection of the flexible display panel. In this way, it is not necessary to design the pivot structure as a stacked structure including an excessive number of layers in order to make the pivot structure have sufficient length variation, and the thickness of the pivot structure can be prevented from being too large. In addition, a pre-compressed elastic piece is placed inside each body to connect with the corresponding sliding piece to provide an outward thrust, so that the pivot structure moves outward during the relative closing process of the two bodies, so that the pivot assembly fits and protects the The surface of the flexible display panel.

Although the present invention has been disclosed above by the embodiments, it is not intended to limit the present invention. Anyone with ordinary knowledge in the technical field can make some changes and modifications without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Therefore, The protection scope of the present invention shall be determined by the scope of the appended patent application.

100: Display device 110: Body 111: Slide rail 111a: Stopper 112: end 120: Pivot structure 121:Pivot components 1211: The first pivot 1211a: Slider 1211b: Shaft 1212: Second pivot 1212a: Arc Slide 1212b: Bushing 1212c: Shaft 122: Slider 1221: Shaft hole 123: seat body 1231: Arc guide groove 124: Frame 1241: Arc Segment 130: Flexible Display Panel 130a: Neutral Layer 132: Non-bending section 134: Bendable section 140: elastic parts A1: pivot axis S: overlapping area

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a display device according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 shows that the two bodies of FIG. 1 are closed. FIG. 3 is a partial perspective view of the display device of FIG. 1 . 4 and 5 are respectively schematic cross-sectional views of different positions of the display device of FIG. 1 . FIG. 6 and FIG. 7 are schematic cross-sectional views of different positions of the display device of FIG. 2 , respectively. 8A to 8D are schematic diagrams illustrating an operation flow of the display device of FIG. 1 .

100: Display device

110: Body

120: Pivot structure

121:Pivot components

1211: The first pivot

1212: Second pivot

122: Slider

Claims (10)

A display device, comprising: two bodies; A pivot structure includes a pivot assembly and two sliding members, wherein the two sliding members are respectively slidably arranged on the two bodies, the pivoting member is pivotally connected between the two sliding members, when the two bodies are connected by the pivot When the pivoting component is pivoted and relatively unfolded, each of the sliding members is hidden in the corresponding body, and when the two bodies are relatively closed by the pivoting of the pivoting component, each of the sliding members is at least partially removed from the corresponding body. of the body protrudes; and A flexible display panel is disposed on the two bodies and is suitable for flexing when the two bodies are closed relative to each other. The display device according to claim 1, wherein each of the bodies has a slide rail, and each of the sliders is slidably mounted on the slide rail of the corresponding body. The display device according to claim 1, wherein the pivot assembly comprises a first pivot member and two second pivot members, the two second pivot members are pivotally connected to two opposite sides of the first pivot member respectively. The two sliding members are pivotally connected to the two second pivoting members respectively. The display device of claim 3, wherein the first pivot member has two sliders, each of the second pivot members has an arc-shaped sliding rail, and the two sliders are respectively slidably mounted on the two arc-shaped sliding rails . The display device of claim 4, wherein each of the second pivot members is pivotally connected to the first pivot member with a pivot axis located at the center of curvature of the corresponding arc-shaped slide rail. The display device as claimed in claim 3, wherein each of the second pivot members and the first pivot member has an overlapping area, and the size of the overlap area varies with each of the second pivot members and the first pivot member relative movement of the pieces. The display device according to claim 3, comprising at least one elastic member, wherein the at least one elastic member is connected between at least one of the body and the corresponding sliding member, when the two bodies are pivoted by the pivoting component When relatively closed, the corresponding sliding member at least partially protrudes from the corresponding body by the elastic force of the at least one elastic member. The display device of claim 7, wherein the flexible display panel comprises two non-bending sections and a bending section, wherein the two non-bending sections are respectively disposed on the two bodies, and the flexible The bending section is connected between the two non-bending sections, and when the two bodies are relatively closed by the pivoting of the pivoting component, the pivoting component is resisted by the elastic force of the at least one elastic piece against the bendable area. The display device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the pivot structure comprises a base body and two frame bodies, the two frame bodies are rotatably connected to the base body, the two bodies are respectively connected to the two frame bodies, and the pivotal connection The assembly and the two sliding pieces cover the base body and at least part of the two frame bodies. The display device as claimed in claim 9, wherein the base body has two arc-shaped guide grooves, each of the frame bodies has an arc-shaped section, and the two arc-shaped sections are respectively slidably arranged in the two arc-shaped guide grooves.

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