WO2005088426A1

WO2005088426A1 - A housing for a flat panel display device

Info

Publication number: WO2005088426A1
Application number: PCT/DK2004/000174
Authority: WO
Inventors: Søren Rasmussen
Original assignee: Bluecom Danmark A/S; Søren Rasmussen Industriel Design Aps
Priority date: 2004-03-16
Filing date: 2004-03-16
Publication date: 2005-09-22

Abstract

A housing (1) for a flat panel display device, comprising a front part (2) and a back part (3). Between the front part (2) and the back part (3) at least one separate side part (4, 2a, 2b) comprises a generally U-shaped bent metal profile with a plurality of perforations (12).

Description

A housing for a flat panel display device.

The present invention relates to a housing for a flat panel display device . Small size flat screen displays, e.g. Liquid Crystal Displays with a few inches diagonal, have been widely used in various electronic apparatuses, such as calculators, telephones, hand held television sets, PDA's, etc. for the past two decades. For lar- ger displays, e.g. with diagonals of in the range of 10 to 30 inches such as stationary television sets or computer monitors, however, Cathode Ray Tubes were used. Recently, however, flat panel displays, such as Thin Film Transistor screens, Liquid Crystal Display, plasma screens or the like have gained popularity also in the large dimensions where the Cathode Ray Tubes were used. Currently flat panel display devices used as computer monitors, are typically in the range between 13 and 17 inches diagonal. Flat panel dis- plays with larger diagonals are available, and will undoubtedly reach prices acceptable for the general consumer in the future . In flat panel display devices in the form of computer monitors or television screens the overall appearance and thus the housing plays an important role. For most users the flat panel display device itself is not of interest as long as it presents an acceptable picture. The housing however should present itself in an appealing fashion, also when the flat panel display device is not in use. Typically the housings for flat panel display devices are moulded in several pieces from a plastic material, by a suitable process such as injection moulding. Typically, the housing consists of at least two parts, e.g. a somewhat dome-shaped, pyramid- shaped or otherwise conve back part, and a front part with an aperture, through which the display de- vice may be viewed or watched. Such housings are i.e. known from US-A-6, 068 , 227, US-A-6 , 104 , 451 or US-B- 6,256,075. Being manufactured this way, i.e. by injection moulding, the housings are dedicated to the specific flat panel display units to be mounted inside them. The flat panel display units are generally parallelepiped shaped units, which may be supplied from various manufactures. However, the flat panel display- units provided from different manufacturers do not have their mounting facilities, such as holes, be it with or without threads, in the frame or in- lugs, placed on the same positions. The holes may have different spacings . They may be positioned in the back, the front or the sides of the flat panel . This however presents the problem that for a given housing only a specific flat panel display unit can be used. On this background it is the object of the present invention to provide a novel housing for a flat panel display device, which is simple in manufacture, and which overcomes the above problem. According to the invention this object is achieved by a housing for a flat panel display device, comprising a front part and a back part, char- acterised in that between the front part and the back part at least one separate side part is provided. Providing a housing in this manner allows for the simple manufacture of housings for panel display de- vices, where the housings essentially consist of only three parts, viz. front part, back part and side parts. In particular this allows for the use of materials, which unlike plastics convey a high quality impression, but are hard to shape. According to a preferred embodiment of the housing at least one side part comprises a generally U-shaped profile having a bottom and two uprights. This allows the side part to be used for mounting not only the various other parts of the flat panel display device housing but also, further components such as the flat panel display unit, speakers, switches, indicator lights, etc. According to an especially preferred embodiment of the housing the generally U-shaped profile comprises a plurality of .^'perforations . Having the plurality of perforations in the U- shaped profile forming the side member is advantageous in relation to the above-mentioned parts to be mounted. In particular switches, such as operating buttons, and speakers could be mounted directly in the perforations, but also IR-sensors and indicator lights could be mounted visibly within the housing, i.e. visible through the perforations. At the same time the perforations provide for good venting of the housing in order to remove heat. According to one embodiment the plurality of perforations is provided in each of at least the bottom of the U-profile and in one of the uprights, but preferably a plurality of perforations is provided in all three of the bottom and the two uprights. That is because this gives the greatest freedom with respect to how to mount given parts of the flat panel display device, e.g. the number of fasteners, such as screws, pins or staples, used to mount the back part on the U-shaped profile, or the size or number of speakers mounted on the side part. According to a further preferred embodiment the area of the perforations constitute at least 5%, preferably 10% to 20%, of the area of the overall area of the respective bottom and/or upright of the U-shaped profile in which said plurality of perfora- tions is provided. This allows a good compromise between venting of the housing, the visibility through it, which should preferably not be too high, and the mechanical rigidity thereof. According to yet another embodiment, the at least one separate side part is bent to a rectangular shape so as to form all four sides of the housing between said front part and said back part . During manufacture this is advantageous as it gives one piece less to handle. Alternatively the at least one separate side part is bent so as to form three sides of the housing between said front part and said back part . The fourth side could then be a further separate straight side part. This would in certain circumstances allow easier access to the various parts during mounting. According to a preferred embodiment the U- shaped profile is made of metal. Metal provides sufficient mechanical strength and rigidity, and is easy to bend to a stable form. According to a further preferred embodiment the back part is made from medium density fibre board. Medium Density Fibre board (MDF) is cheap, easy to cut or otherwise machine into a preferred shape. In particular it is so soft that according to a further preferred embodiment it allows the at least one U-shaped- profile to be mounted directly on said back part by means of fastening means penetrating through at least one of said perforations in one of said uprights. The fasteners such as screws simply passing through the hole and penetrating into the medium density fibre board. According to yet another preferred embodiment of the housing the front part is made from glass. This allows indicator lights or IR-sensors mounted behind the perforations of the U-shaped profile to be visible through the glass plate, irrespective of whether the front part is a plate that covers the en- tire front surface of the flat panel display device, or it only takes the form of .a frame or a bezel. Preferably, however, the front part covers the entire front surface. Thereby the front part protects the flat panel unit and provides it with a harmonic overall aesthetic appearance. For better understanding of the invention a detailed description of non-limiting exemplary embodiments will be given below with reference to the drawings, on which fig. 1 is a schematic isometric view of a housing according to the invention, fig. 2 is a schematic isometric view of a separate side part according to the invention with the top visible, fig. 3 is a schematic isometric view of a separate side part of fig. 2 with the bottom visible, fig. 4a is a top plan view of the separate side part of fig. 2, and fig. 4b is a top plan view of another embodiment of the separate side part. Fig. 1 illustrates a housing 1 for a flat panel display device. The housing 1 comprises three sepa- rate parts, a front part 2, a back part 3 and a side part 4. It should be understood that separate parts in this context mean that the various parts are provided as separate parts, preferably from different materials, to be assembled during the manufacture of the housing 1. In the embodiment illustrated, the front part 2 is an essentially flat glass plate covering tb-e entire front surface of the housing 1. The border- 5 of the front part 2 may have a reduced transparency e.g. from colouring, from being frosted, from having an opaque coating or the like. Furthermore, in the area of the border 5, the front part 2 may be tapering off (not shown) so that the thickness is reduced at the edge 6. The overall thickness would lie in the range of approximately 3 mm to 4 mm. The front part is essentially rectangular, though the corners 7 are preferably rounded, to reduce the risk of injury of a person hitting them, and to reduce the risk of damage thereof . The back part 3 is also essentially flat. Also, the back part 3 is essentially rectangular with rounded corners to reduce the risk of injury of a person hitting them, and to reduce the risk of damage thereof. The back part 3 is preferably opaque. Ac- cording to the preferred embodiment the back part 3 is preferably made from MDF board, because it is stable, rigid, cheap, and easily cut and machined. Moreover it allows for easy mounting of the side part 2, or the side parts 2 if several are used. This could be done with fasteners, such as screws, staples, tacks or the like passing through the perforat ons and cutting into the MDF board. However, other mate- rials could be used as well. Thus the back part 3 could be made of a plastic material, or it coulcd be made of metal or of glass, stone, ceramics, or similar hard materials. The thickness would depend on the actual material used, but for a medium density fibre board a thickness of 8 mm to 12 mm has been found appropriate. Between the f-ront part 3 and the back part 3 at least one side part 4 is interposed. As best seen on figs. 2 and 3 the side part 4 comprises an essen- tially U-shaped profile. The U-shape of the profile comprises a bottom 9 and two uprights 10 and 11. The uprights 10 and 11 tiave different heights to facilitate mounting, but may also have equal heights. The U-shaped profile is preferably made of metal such as aluminium, with a thickness of 0.7 mm to 1.2 mm. The width of the U-shaped profile depends on the actual construction, but fo-tr a 17 inches diagonal panel display an external width of the bottom 9 of 27 mm has been found appropriate. Other materials such as steel could be used for the U-shaped profile instead of aluminium. The U-shaped profile is provided with a plurality of perforations 12, which serve several different purposes. Through arxy of the perforations 12 in the upright 10 of the U—shaped profile fasteners such, as screws, tacks, staples, or the like may pass, so that they penetrate into the back part 3. Easy access for the tools for performing this is preferably provided by the fact that upright 10 is higher than the other upright 11. It should be noted that if hard materials such as glass, stone or ceramics are used for the back part 3, it may be necessary to provide it with appropriate bores for the mounting screws . Nonetheless this is still quite a simple machining of the back part, and the use of the perforated, U-shaped profile according to the invention still allows the use of such rather unusual materials for the housing 1 for the flat panel display device. Using such materials could be of interest for certain high-end marked segments for flat panel display devices, where materials, such as stone, glass or ceramics are of use in enhancing the aesthetic appearance of the flat panel display device. Through the perforations 12 in the bottom 9 or the other upright 11, the flat panel display unit (not shown) may be mounted. Because of the plurality of perforations 12 this mounting can take place either from the front of the panel display unit through an appropriate number of the perforations 12 in the upright 11 of the U-shape profile or from the side of the flat panel display unit through the bottom 9 of the U-shaped profile. This allows different flat panel display units, e.g. from different manufacturers to be mounted in the same flat panel display device housing 1. Thereby, the manufacturer of flat panel display devices has greater freedom in the pur- chase of flat panel display units for his flat panel display devices. In either case fasteners such as screws or bolts may pass through the perforations 12 into appropriate lugs or threaded bores in the frame of the flat panel display unit . The perforations 12 also serve to vent the housing 1, so that heat generated by the electronics inside, in particular flat panel display unit, may be removed by natural or forced convection. Furthermore IR sensors for receiving I signals from a remote control may be positioned within the housing 1 behind the perforations 12, so that the signals may be received through the perforations, possibly also through the transparent front part 2, in particular the border 5 thereof. If desired, further electronic devices which necessitate communication to the exterior, e.g. speakers or switches, such as operating buttons, may be mounted using the perforations 12, e.g. by passing the switches through the perforations, or by means of fasteners such as screws, bolts or rivets through the perforations . For the mounting of the front part 2 gluing is preferred, the upright 11 of the in that case serving as a flange and support surface for the front part 2. To facilitate the above, said plurality of perforations 12 comprise not only a few but quite a lot of perforations 12. Preferably more than 5 %, and in particular 10 % to 20 % or even more of the overall surface, i.e. the surface including the area of the perforations 12, is provided with perforations with a diameter of 1 mm to 2 mm, preferably 1.6 mm. The re- suiting high number of perforations provides a multitude of choices allowing for almost optional choice of mounting positions for the further electronic devices. At the same time these percentages are suffi- cient to restrict the view to the electronics inside the housing 1. Except, of course, for appropriately placed indicator. lights, IR sensors or the like. As seen in figs. 4a and 4b in conjunction, two separate side parts 2a and 2b, both in the form of U- shaped profiles, are provided for the housing 1. One side part 2b is straight and the other side part 2a is bent to form three sides of a rectangle. The ends of both of the separate side parts 2a and 2b are cut at an angle of 45 degrees to form a mitre joint. By means of the mitre joints they can be joined to form all four sides of the housing 1, viz. all other sides than those formed by the front part 1 and the back part 3. Though not shown, it would be equally possible to join four separate side parts 2b to form the ^' rectangle. Also not shown, the separate side part 2 could be formed from one single U-shaped profile bent in three places to form the rectangle. The ends of the single U-shaped profile could meet at a mitre joint in a corner, or have otherwise ^•matching ends meeting each other somewhere else along one of the sides of the rectangle. Thus, with the above described housing a novel and advantageous housing for a flat panel display device is provided. The above description is however only to be construed as an example, on which the skilled person will be able to elaborate within the scope of the claims. Thus, the front part 1 need not be a glass plate covering the entire surface of the flat panel display unit. For one it could be of any other transparent material such as acryl, polycarbonate or other plastic materials. For the other it need not be a contiguous surface covering the entire flat panel display device. If protection is not considered necessary the front part could take the form of a frame or a bezel. Deviations from dimensions are also possible, e.g. to adapt the housing 1 to flat panel display units of different dimensions such as 19 inches or 32 inches diagonals rather than the 17 inches diagonal described above. Though not preferred, other materials than metal, e.g. plastics, could be used for the side part 2 provided they have sufficient mechanical strength and rigidity.

Claims

P A T E N T C L A I M S 1. A housing for a flat panel display device, comprising a front part and a back part, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that between the front part and the back part at least one separate side part is provided.

2. A housing according to claim 1, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that said at least one side part comprises a generally U-shaped profile having a bottom and two uprights.

3. A housing according to claim 2, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that, the generally U-shaped profile comprises a plurality of perforations.

4. A housing according to claim 3, c h a r -a c t e r i z e d in that a plurality of perforations is provided in each of at least the bottom^' of the U-profile and in one of the uprights.

5. A housing according to claim 3 or 4, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that a plurality of perforations is provided in all three of the bottom and the two uprights.

6. A housing according to any one of claims 3 to 5, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the area of the perforations constitute at least 5%, preferably 10% to 20%, of the area of the overall area of the respective bottom and/or upright of the U-shaped profile in which said plurality of perforations is provided.

7. A housing according to any one of the pre- ceding claims, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that said at least one separate side part is bent to a rectangular shape so as to form all four sides of the housing between said front part and said back part .

8. A housing according to any one of claims 1- 7, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that said at least one separate^' side part is bent so as to form three sides of the housing between said front part and said back part .

9. A housing according to any one of the preceding claims, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that said U-shaped profile is made of metal.

10. A housing according to any one of the pre- ceding claims, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the back part is made from medium density fibre board.

11. A housing according to any one of the preceding claims, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that said at least one U-shaped profile is mounted on said back, part by means of fastening means penetrating through at least one of said perforations in one of said uprights.

12. A housing according to any one of the pre- ceding claims, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the front part is made from glass .

13. A housing according to any one of the preceding claims, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the front part covers the entire front surface.