1. Claim of Priority
This application claims priority to Taiwanese Patent Application No. 098136368 filed on Oct. 27, 2009.
2. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a backlight module utilized in a liquid crystal display (LCD) device, and more particularly, to a backlight module with an improvement socket to fix a lamp tube.
3. Description of Prior Art
With a rapid development of monitor types, novel and colorful monitors with high resolution, e.g., liquid crystal displays (LCDs), are indispensable components used in various electronic products such as monitors for notebook computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), digital cameras, and projectors. The demand for the novelty and colorful monitors has increased tremendously.
For an ordinary LCD, a backlight module is disposed on the back of the display panel to provide light. The backlight module comprises a plurality of cold cathode fluorescent lamps (CCFLs) which are arranged in parallel arrays. In a tendency to achieve cost saving of a backlight module, cold cathode fluorescent lamps are welded on lamp holders and secured with rubber pads to fix CCFLs. The manpower which is required to weld, however, leads to comparatively high costs.
In order to solve the problem occurred by welding, a socket is additionally adopted in a backlight module to fix lamp holders. Referring to
In order to transmit electric power to the CCFLs 10, as shown in
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a backlight module with an improvement socket to fix a lamp tube to solve problems occurred in the prior art.
According to the present invention, a backlight module comprises a bezel, a lamp tube, and a lamp socket. The lamp tube is used for generating light in response to a driving signal; an inverter, the lamp tube comprising a lamp body and a connecting terminal connected thereto. The lamp socket which disposed on the bezel for holding the lamp tube comprises a lamp holder and a conductive element. The lamp holder with an accommodating space is used for accommodating part of the lamp body and the connecting terminal of the lamp tube. The conductive element comprises a first connector with a pair of attaching members which are protruded from two opposite sides of the accommodating space to contact the connecting terminal. The conductive element and the lamp holder are formed monolithically and part of the conductive element enclosed by the lamp holder.
In one aspect of the present invention, the backlight module further comprises an inverter for generating the driving signal. The conductive element further comprises a second connector linked to the first connector, for electrically connected to the inverter to form a path via which the driving signal is delivered to the lamp tube. The first connector and the second connector are formed monolithically and. The lamp holder further comprising an inverter clamping member located under the lamp holder, the inverter clamping member comprises an opening, the second connector extends towards the inside of the opening, and the inverter penetrates the opening to contact the second connector. The profile of the accommodating space fits to the lamp body.
In another aspect of the present invention, the lamp holder is made of rubber. The pair of attaching members substantially form two U or V shapes at opposite ends at the bottom.
In yet another aspect of the present invention, the lamp socket further comprises a holding board located under the lamp holder, the bezel comprises a securing hole whose area is smaller than an area of the holding board, so that the lamp socket is fixed onto the bezel when the bezel is located between the holding board and the lamp holder.
In still another aspect of the present invention, the connecting terminal is a cap or a wire, and the attaching members directly press the cap or the wire. The lamp tube is a cold cathode fluorescent tubes (CCFL) or a hot cathode fluorescent tubes (HCFL).
These and other objectives of the present invention will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment, which is illustrated in the various figures and drawings.
Referring to the attached figures, the following embodiments are illustrated to exemplify certain embodiments that the present invention can be applied to. The directional terms adopted in the present invention, such as upper, lower, front, back, left, right, top, and bottom, are defined merely according to the attached figures. Hence, the usage of the directional terms is to assist in elaborating, instead of confining, the present invention for better understanding.
Referring to
Referring to
The conductive element 134 comprises a first connector 140 and a second connector 142, which is preferably Y-shaped. The conductive element 134 and the lamp holder 132 are formed monolithically, such as formed by co-injection process, so that the conductive element 134 and the lamp holder 132 can affix compactly. Furthermore, using glue (not shown) between the conductive element 134 and the lamp holder 132 is feasible to facilitate adhesion. Part of the conductive element 134 is covered by the lamp holder 132, and part of the conductive element 134 is exposed. for example, the first connector 140 has a pair of arc-shaped attaching members 144 protruding out of two opposite sides of the accommodating space 135. The pair of attaching members 144 directly contacts the connecting terminal 124 of the lamp tube 104. Because the connecting terminal 124 slightly presses the pair of attaching members 144, the contraction of the pressed attaching members 144 is able to enhance the electrical connection between the pair of attaching members 144 and the connecting terminal 124 of the lamp tube 104. As a result, a better electrical connection is achieved in the present invention than in the prior art. The pair of attaching members 144 generally form two U or V shapes at opposite ends at the bottom. The inverter clamping member 136 comprises an opening 146. The opening 146 and the accommodating space 135, respectively, are located at the two opposite sides of the bezel 102. The second connector 142 extends towards the inside of the opening 146, and the inverter 108 penetrates the opening 146 so as to connect the second connector 142. Because the second connector 142 and the first connector 140 are formed into one piece and substantially appear as Y-shaped, drive signals generated by the inverter 108 are transmitted to the first connector 140 and then to the connecting terminal 124 of the lamp tube 104 via the second connector 142. The lamp body 122 produces light in response to the drive signals. The conductive element 134, made of either metal or other conductive materials, is manufactured by shaping a metal film or by a series of coating, sputtering, dipping, or plating processes on a metal or non-metal film.
Referring to
Referring to
Compared to the prior art, the rubber lamp holder 132, the inverter clamping member 136, and the conductive element 134 are fabricated together in the present invention so that the lamp holder 132, the inverter clamping member 136, and the conductive element 134 can be closely integrated with one another. The first connector 140 of the conductive element 134 is resilient and has a function in clamping the connecting terminal 124 of the lamp tube 104 closely, and the second connector 142 and the inverter 108 are electrically connected. The lamp holder 132 made of rubber material is mainly used to fix the lamp tube 104 onto the bezel 102 and to protect the conductive element 134 and the lamp tube 104 from being affected by external physical impacts. In addition, the lamp holder 132 made of rubber can act as a buffer.
Although the present invention has been explained by the embodiments shown in the drawings described above, it should be understood to the ordinary skilled person in the art that the invention is not limited to the embodiments, but rather various changes or modifications thereof are possible without departing from the spirit of the invention. Accordingly, the scope of the invention shall be determined only by the appended claims and their equivalents.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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098136368 | Oct 2009 | TW | national |