The present disclosure relates to the field of display technology, and particularly to a display panel and a display device.
Liquid crystal display (LCD) panel has been widely used in various types of electronic information devices such as television, computer, mobile phone, personal digital assistant and the like.
Currently, the LCD has a structure as illustrated in
The reason why light leakage may occur at stress concentration regions is that a glass substrate applied with no stress effect is an isotropic medium which would not cause birefringence phenomenon; when a distortion is generated under the stress effect, a refractivity of the glass substrate will be changed to produce a birefringence phenomenon, and at this moment, light leakage may occur if an optical axis of the glass substrate is neither parallel to nor perpendicular with a polarization direction of the polarizer.
Therefore, how to design a display panel and a display device with little or no light leakage has become one of urgent problems to be solved, by far.
In order to at least partly solve the problem above, the present disclosure provides a display panel and a display device. The display panel and the display device considerably reduce an amount of light leakage as compared to existing display panels and display devices.
The technical solutions as adopted to solve the technical problem of the present disclosure may include: providing a display panel including an array substrate, an opposite substrate and a liquid crystal layer between the array substrate and the opposite substrate. An optical compensation film is further disposed at either side of the liquid crystal layer, and the optical compensation film is configured to compensate for a phase retardation subjected by light passing through the liquid crystal layer.
In an example of the embodiment, a phase retardation caused by the optical compensation film to the light is equal to a phase retardation caused by liquid crystals in the liquid crystal layer to the light.
In an example of the embodiment, the optical compensation film is a first optical compensation film satisfying an optical conditional expression of nx>ny=nz, wherein nx indicates a refractivity in a X-axis direction of a surface of the optical compensation film, ny indicates a refractivity in a Y-axis direction of the surface of the optical compensation film, and nz indicates a refractivity in a Z-axis direction along a thickness of the optical compensation film; and wherein a direction of optical axis of the first optical compensation film is perpendicular to a long axis of a liquid crystal in the liquid crystal layer.
In an example of the embodiment, the optical compensation film is a second optical compensation film satisfying an optical conditional expression of nx<ny=nz, wherein nx indicates a refractivity in a X-axis direction of a surface of the optical compensation film, ny indicates a refractivity in a Y-axis direction of the surface of the optical compensation film, and nz indicates a refractivity in a Z-axis direction along a thickness of the optical compensation film; and wherein a direction of optical axis of the second optical compensation film is parallel to a long axis of a liquid crystal in the liquid crystal layer.
In an example of the embodiment, the optical compensation film further satisfies optical conditional expressions of 1.4≤nx≤2.0, 1.4≤ny≤2.0, 1.4≤nz≤2.0, and a result of (nx−ny)*d equals to the phase retardation caused by the liquids crystals in the liquid crystal layer to the light, wherein d is a thickness of the optical compensation film.
In an example of the embodiment, the display panel further includes a first protection layer and a second protection layer which are located at two sides of the optical compensation film, respectively.
In an example of the embodiment, the optical compensation film is located at a side of the opposite substrate adjacent to the liquid crystal layer, or is located at a side of the array substrate adjacent to the liquid crystal layer.
In an example of the embodiment, a phase retardation of the light caused by the opposite substrate is equal to a phase retardation of the light caused by the array substrate; and a direction of optical axis of the opposite substrate is orthogonal to a direction of optical axis of the array substrate.
In an example of the embodiment, a material of the optical compensation film includes cellulose triacetate.
Another technical solution provided by the present disclosure lies in: a display device including the aforementioned display panel.
The display panel and the display device in certain embodiments of the present disclosure achieve an effect of compensating for a phase retardation of light passing through the array substrate, the liquid crystal layer and the opposite substrate, by utilizing an optical compensation film disposed at either side of the liquid crystal layer, so as to offset an overall phase retardation of the light, considerably reduce an amount of light leakage, increase a contrast ratio of the display panel and display device, and improve a display quality of images.
Hereinafter, the present disclosure will be described specifically in conjunction with drawings and particular embodiments so that those skilled in the art would well understand the technical solutions of the present disclosure.
The present embodiment provides a display panel, in which a side of an opposite substrate adjacent to a liquid crystal layer is provided with an optical compensation film. The optical compensation film is configured to compensate for a phase retardation subjected by light passing through the liquid crystal layer.
In the present embodiment, a material of the optical compensation film 4 includes cellulose triacetate (TAC), which causes a phase retardation to the light equally to a phase retardation caused by liquid crystals in the liquid crystal layer 2 to the light. In this way, the optical compensation film 4 enables offsetting the phase retardation subjected by light when passing through the liquid crystal layer 2, and thereby preventing light leakage from occurring in the display panel under stress effect.
The optical compensation film 4 may adopt a first optical compensation film having a direction of optical axis perpendicular (orthogonal) to a long axis of a liquid crystal in the liquid crystal layer 2. In the related art, the first optical compensation film may also be referred to as a “+a-plate” which satisfies an optical conditional expression of nx>ny=nz, wherein nx indicates a refractivity in a X-axis direction of a surface of the optical compensation film, ny indicates a refractivity in a Y-axis direction of a surface of the optical compensation film, and nz indicates a refractivity in a Z-axis direction along a thickness of the optical compensation film; and wherein 1.4≤nx≤2.0, 1.4≤ny≤2.0, 1.4≤nz≤2.0. An in-plane phase retardation caused by the first optical compensation film is expressed by Ro=(nx−ny)*d, wherein d is a thickness of the first optical compensation film, a value of Ro is equal to a phase retardation caused by liquid crystals in the liquid crystal layer 2 to the light and is usually ranged from 280 nm to 400 nm.
In a similar way, the optical compensation film 4 may adopt a second optical compensation film having a direction of optical axis parallel to the long axis of the liquid crystal in the liquid crystal layer. In the related art, the second optical compensation film may also be referred to as a “−a-plate” which satisfies an optical conditional expression of nx<ny=nz, wherein nx indicates a refractivity in a X-axis direction of a surface of the optical compensation film, ny indicates a refractivity in a Y-axis direction of a surface of the optical compensation film, and nz indicates a refractivity in a Z-axis direction along a thickness of the optical compensation film; and wherein 1.4≤nx≤2.0, 1.4≤ny≤2.0, 1.4≤nz≤2.0. An in-plane phase retardation caused by the second optical compensation film is expressed by Ro=(nx−ny)*d, wherein d is a thickness of the second optical compensation film, a value of Ro is equal to a phase retardation caused by liquid crystals in the liquid crystal layer 2 to the light and is usually ranged from 280 nm to 400 nm.
The display panel, when curved, may produce a stress effect. As both of the array substrate 1 and the opposite substrate 3 include a glass base, a corresponding retardation may be generated in the light during the light passing through the array substrate 1 and the opposite substrate 3, which in turn leads to light leakage. The phase retardation caused by the glass base to the light may be calculated according to a formula as below:
R
o
=C*t*s (1)
In the formula, Ro indicates a phase retardation caused by the glass base to the light, C indicates a photoelastic coefficient of the glass base, t indicates a thickness of the glass base, and s indicates a stress force subjected by the glass base.
In the formula, the stress force subjected by the glass base may be calculated according to a formula as below:
s=E*t/(2R) (2)
In the formula, E indicates a young's modulus, t indicates a thickness of the glass base, R indicates a radius of curvature. In the formula, a value of R may be configured according to particular products and is usually ranged from 1000 nm to 8000 nm.
Based on the formula (1) and the formula (2), the optical retardation caused by the glass base in the array substrate 1 and the in opposite substrate 3, respectively, may be obtained.
In the display panel of the present embodiment, taking the lower polarizer 5 as a reference, given that an angle of a transmittance axis of the lower polarizer 5 is zero and causes a phase retardation of 0 nm to the light, then parameters such as an angle of each of other structures in various layers with respect to the transmittance axis of the lower polarizer 5 and a phase retardation caused by the respective structure may be as below.
The array substrate 1 has a direction of optical axis which is 120° and causes a phase retardation which is 9 nm.
The liquid crystal layer 2 has a direction of optical axis which is 0° and causes a phase retardation which is 350 nm.
The optical compensation film 4 has a direction of optical axis which is 0/90° and causes a phase retardation which is 350 nm.
The opposite substrate 3 has a direction of optical axis which is 30° and causes a phase retardation which is 9 nm.
The upper polarizer 6 has a direction of optical axis which is 90° and causes a phase retardation which is 0 nm.
Therefore, in the display panel of the present embodiment, the phase retardation caused by the opposite substrate 3 to the light is equal to the phase retardation caused by the array substrate 1 to the light, and the direction of optical axis of the opposite substrate 3 is orthogonal to the direction of optical axis of the array substrate 1. As a result, the direction of optical axis and the phase retardation of the array substrate 1 are cancelled out by the direction of optical axis and the phase retardation of the opposite substrate 3 and of the upper polarizer 6; while the direction of optical axis and the phase retardation of the liquid crystal layer 2 are cancelled out by the direction of optical axis and the phase retardation of the optical compensation film 4. In this way, the phase retardations caused by structures in upper layers and the phase retardations caused by structures in lower layers are cancelled out by each other, thereby achieving the effect of reducing or eliminating light leakage.
The existing display panel may suffer from light leakage when distorted under force. For more details, as illustrated by a poincare sphere in
In addition,
However, considering the liquid crystal layer 2 and the optical compensation film 4 in the display panel of the present embodiment as a whole, the phase retardation thereof Ro=(nx−ny)*d (in the formula, d indicates the whole thickness), may be reduced to zero. At the same time, the phase retardation caused by the array substrate 1 to the light and the phase retardation caused by the opposite substrate 3 to the light are equal to each other, and hence cancelled out by each other, so as to reduce or eliminate the light leakage. As illustrated by the poincare sphere in
In addition, the display panel of the present embodiment further includes a first protection layer and a second protection layer which are located at two sides of the optical compensation film 4, respectively, and configured to effectively protect the optical compensation film 4.
The optical compensation film 4 in the display panel may be prepared by steps as below.
First of all, forming a first protection layer at an inner side of the opposite substrate 3.
Subsequently, forming and solidifying an optical compensation film 4 on the first protection layer.
Then, forming a second protection layer on the optical compensation film 4.
Finally, preparing other structures in respective layers according to normal processes.
During the preparation, since the optical compensation film 4 inherently possesses property of high-temperature resistance, no other negative effects due to process technology would be caused.
The display panel in the present embodiment can not only be designed as a vertical alignment (VA) display panel but also can be designed as an in-plane switching (IPS) display panel. In the IPS display panel, the direction of optical axis and the phase retardation of the liquid crystal layer are respectively cancelled out by the direction of optical axis and the phase retardation of the optical compensation film 4. In this way, the phase retardation caused by structures in upper layers and the phase retardation caused by structures in lower layers are cancelled out by each other to achieve the effect of reducing or eliminating light leakage.
By providing an optical compensation film on a side of the opposite substrate adjacent to the liquid crystal layer, the display panel of the present embodiment achieves an effect of compensating for the phase retardation subjected by the light passing through the liquid crystal layer, thereby offsetting the overall phase retardation of the light and considerably reducing the amount of light leakage, especially almost eliminating the light leakage under the dark state, which considerably improves the contrast ratio of the display panel and the display effect of images.
The present embodiment provides a display panel having a structure similar with that of the first embodiment. The present embodiment differs from the first embodiment in that: the optical compensation film is located at a side of the array substrate adjacent to the liquid crystal layer.
Other structures and optical conditions of various layers in the display panel of the present embodiment are similar with those in the first embodiment, without repeating herein.
The display panel of the present embodiment can bring about similar technical effects with that in the first embodiment, i.e., offsetting the overall phase retardation of the light and considerably reducing the amount of light leakage, especially almost eliminating the light leakage under the dark state, thereby considerably improving the contrast ratio of the display panel and the display effect of images.
The present embodiment provides a display device including any one of the display panel as disclosed in the first and second embodiments. The display device may be any product or component having display functions, such as, an electronic paper, a cell phone, a tablet computer, a television set, a display, a notebook computer, a digital photo frame and a navigator.
The display device of the present embodiment includes any one of the display panel as disclosed in the first and second embodiments, and can offset the overall phase retardation of the light and considerably reduce the amount of light leakage, especially almost eliminate the light leakage under the dark state, and thereby considerably improves the contrast ratio of the display panel and the display effect of images.
It should be understood that, foregoing specific implementations are merely illustrative embodiments for describing the principles of the present disclosure. However, the present disclosure is not intended to be limited thereto. For those skilled in the art, various modifications and improvements may be made without departing from the scope and spirit of the present disclosure, and those modifications and improvements shall also be regarded as fallen within the scope of protection of the present disclosure.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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201610382230.8 | Jun 2016 | CN | national |
The present application is based on International Application No. PCT/CN2017/073383, filed on Feb. 13, 2017, which claims the benefits of Chinese patent application No. 201610382230.8 titled “DISPLAY PANEL AND DISPLAY DEVICE”, which was filed with the SIPO on Jun. 1, 2016 and are fully incorporated herein by reference as part of this application.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/CN17/73383 | 2/13/2017 | WO | 00 |