1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display panel device including a flat display panel and a front sheet that is glued on the display panel.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Technology development of a plasma display panel (PDP) that is a self-luminous device is directed to a large screen for providing more powerful display. One of the important tasks for a large screen is weight reduction of the panel.
In general, a display device including a plasma display panel has a filter plate having a base of a tempered glass. This filter plate is arranged in front of the plasma display panel with air gap. The filter plate has various functions of adjusting a display color optically, preventing reflection of external light, shielding electromagnetic waves, and shielding near infrared rays concerning displaying operation and a function of protecting the plasma display panel mechanically. In addition, arranging the filter plate in front of the plasma display panel is also effective for sound isolation of vibrational sounds generated by the plasma display panel.
However, the filter plate is not desired for a large screen of the plasma display panel because it has a large weight. In order to reduce a weight of the display device, another structure is suitable in which a thin filter having a base of a resin film is glued directly on the front face of the plasma display panel instead of attaching the filter plate. Japanese unexamined patent publication No. 2001-343898 discloses a front filter that includes a transparent conductive film for a measure against EMI and a anti-reflection film that is glued on the front side of the front filter.
When a thick transparent sheet is glued on the front face of the plasma display panel, light from the screen is scattered at the surface of the sheet (i.e., an interface between the sheet and air) that is farther than the surface of the panel. As a result, a phenomenon in which a contour of the highlight portion of the image may be blurred, which is called a “halation” becomes conspicuous. In addition, microscopic asperities on the front surface of the sheet may cause distortion of a reflected image of the external light.
An object of the present invention is to reduce a weight of the display panel device while reducing the halation. Another object of the present invention is to provide a light-weighted display panel device having shock impact resistance and little distortion of the reflected image of the external light.
According to an aspect of the present invention, a light-permeable front sheet that is glued on a front face of a display panel includes a mesh made of a light shield member that has a blackened front surface and a plane size larger than a screen. The mesh cuts a part of light that is spreading out in the direction along the interface after being reflected repeatedly between the front interface and the rear interface of the front sheet so that halation is reduced. As visible light passes the mesh, so there is no problem to the display. A transmittance of the mesh is selected so that the halation is reduced sufficiently within the range in which a predetermined luminance can be obtained. A relationship between the mesh pitch and a cell pitch of the screen is selected so that the light shield member covers all the cells. The light-permeable front sheet has a transparence for passing display light rays.
A thin film having a thickness less than or equal to 30 microns is suitable as the mesh. A method for forming the mesh pattern may be a method of removing parts of a uniform film or forming a light shield member by plating or deposition on a part of the formation surface. The mesh made of a patterned film has better flatness and uniformity of the pattern than the mesh made by a net fiber, and it is desirable because it does not increase scattering of light that may affect the halation. If the mesh is formed by a conductive member, the mesh can be used for electromagnetic wave shielding. In addition, by arranging a visible light transmittance adjusting layer in front of the mesh, return light that is reflected by the surface of the front sheet is reduced so that the halation can be improved.
By disposing a soft layer behind the mesh, it is possible to protect the mesh from an impact from an external surface. Also by disposing a hard scratch resistance layer in front of the mesh, an impact absorbing function of the plasma display panel can be obtained. In order to protect the mesh from breakage due to deformation of the soft layer, it is desirable that a thickness of the soft layer is less than or equal to 1 mm. In order to prevent the display from deformation, it is desirable to make the external surface of the front sheet a hard flat surface.
According to the present invention, a weight of a display panel device can be reduced and halation can be reduced to the same extent as a panel without a front sheet.
According to the present invention, the front sheet can be utilized for electromagnetic wave shielding.
According to the present invention, a light display panel device with shock impact resistance and little display distortion can be obtained.
Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained more in detail with reference to embodiments and drawings.
A plasma display panel that is useful as a color display device is a preferable object to which the present invention is applied.
As shown in
The front sheet 3 is a flexible layered film including a front portion 3A having a thickness of 0.2 mm and having a base of a resin film, and a rear portion 3B having a thickness of 1.0 mm made of a resin layer that are put on each other, which will be described later. In particular, the thin front portion 3A that is a functional film having a multilayered structure has a good flexibility. The plane size of the front sheet 3, more specifically the plane size of the front portion 3A is larger than the plane size of the plasma display panel 2, so that the peripheral portion of the front portion 3A is positioned outside the plasma display panel 2. The plane size of the rear portion 3B is smaller than that of the front portion 3A and larger than that of the screen.
The conductive housing 102 is a metal plate formed in a boxed shape having a rectangular rear face, four side faces and a looped front face. It is also a conductive member surrounding the side faces and the rear face of the plasma display panel 2 apart from them (see
In the display device 100, the front sheet 3 extends along the plasma display panel 2 substantially in flat, and only the end portion thereof contacts the front face of the conductive housing 102. A looped pressure member 103 is disposed in front of the front sheet 3, which is sandwiched between the pressure member 103 and the front face of the conductive housing 102 so that the end portion of the front sheet 3 is fixed to the conductive housing 102. Actually, however, the end portion of the front portion 3A of the front sheet 3 is fixed to the conductive housing 102 as shown in
As shown in
As a method of fixing the end portion of the front sheet 3, it is preferable to use a plastic rivet 150 for mass production and reducing weight. It is preferable that the front sheet 3, the conductive housing 102 and the pressure member 103 are provided with holes 3Ah, 102h and 103h, respectively in advance, which are adapted to the rivet 150. Punching process can make many holes at the same time. Although a protrusion corresponding to a thickness of the pressure member 103 may be generated at the end portion of the front sheet 3, increase of a thickness of the display device 100 due to the protrusion is only approximately 1-2 mm.
The optical film layer 310 includes a film 311 made of a PET (polyethylene terephthalate), a anti-reflection film 312 that is coated on the front side of the film 311, and a coloring layer 313 that is formed on the rear side of the film 311. The anti-reflection film 312 prevents reflection of external light. However, the function of the anti-reflection film 312 may be changed from AR (anti reflection) to AG (anti glare). The anti-reflection film 312 includes a hard coat for increasing scratch resistance of the surface of the sheet up to pencil hardness 4H. The coloring layer 313 adjusts visible light transmittance of red (R), green (G) and blue (B) for a color display and cuts off near infrared rays. The coloring layer 313 contains an infrared absorption coloring matter for absorbing light having a wavelength within the range of approximately 850-1100 nm, a neon light absorption coloring matter for absorbing light having a wavelength of approximately 580 nm and a coloring matter for adjusting visible light transmittance in a resin. An external light reflection factor of the optical film layer 310 is 3% after the spectral luminous efficiency correction, and the visible light transmittance is 55% after the spectral luminous efficiency correction. In addition, the infrared transmittance is 10% as an average in the wavelength range.
The electromagnetic wave shielding layer 320 includes a film 321 made of PET and a conductive layer 322 having a thickness of 10 microns that is a copper foil having a mesh portion. The visible light transmittance of an area of the conductive layer 322 that overlaps the screen is 80%. As the front surface of the conductive layer 322 is black, the electromagnetic wave shielding layer 320 looks substantially coal-black when it is viewed through the optical film layer 310.
The film 311 of the optical film layer 310 and the film 321 of the electromagnetic wave shielding layer 320 have a function of preventing a glass plate of the plasma display panel 2 from scattering when it is broken in an abnormal situation. In order to realize this function, it is preferable that a total thickness of the film 311 and the film 321 is 50 microns or more.
The impact absorbing layer 351 is made of a soft resin of an acrylic system, and a visible light transmittance thereof is 90%. The impact absorbing layer 351 is formed by applying the resin. When the resin is applied, it enters spaces of the mesh of the conductive layer 322, so that the conductive layer 322 becomes flat. Thus, scattering of light that may be generated by unevenness of the conductive layer 322 can be prevented.
The impact absorbing layer 351 made of the soft resin contributes to thinning of the front sheet 3. A test was conducted in which the display panel device 1 was placed on a horizontal hard floor, and an iron ball having a weight of approximately 500 grams was dropped on the center of the screen. An impact force just before the plasma display panel 2 was broken was approximately 0.73 J. When the plasma display panel 2 without the front sheet 3 was tested under the same condition, the result was approximately 0.13 J. When the display panel device in which only the optical film layer 310 was glued on the plasma display panel 2 was tested under the same condition, the result was approximately 0.15 J. Namely, an improved portion of the shock resistance due to the front sheet 3 is approximately 0.6 J, and most of the improvement that is approximately 0.58 J is obtained by the impact absorbing layer 351. The impact absorbing layer 351 having a thickness of 1.0 mm is practical.
In this example, a rear side surface portion of the resin layer that constitutes the impact absorbing layer 351 has a function as the adhesive layer 352. The impact absorbing layer 351 has relatively strong adhesiveness to the electromagnetic wave shielding layer 320 made of PET and copper. On the contrary, the adhesive layer 352 has loose adhesiveness to the glass surface that is the front face of the plasma display panel 2. The adhesion force thereof is approximately 2N/25 mm. When the front sheet 3 is peeled, the optical film layer 310 is not separated from the electromagnetic wave shielding layer 320 so that the front sheet 3 is separated from the plasma display panel 2 normally. “Normally” means that an even peeled surface without a visible remaining matter can be obtained.
Note that although the conductive mesh 322A is drawn to be coarse in
The display device 200 has a display panel device 5 that is a screen module. The display panel device 5 includes a plasma display panel 2 and a front sheet 6, and the front sheet 6 includes a front portion 6A and a rear portion 6B. A layer structure of the front sheet 6 is the same as in
When the front portion 6A is bent, the fixing position becomes closer to the plasma display panel 2 than the case where it is not bent so that a plane size of the conductive housing 202 can be reduced. In addition, the fixing position becomes rear more than the case where the front portion 6A is not bent, so a thickness of the conductive housing 202 (size of the side face) can be reduced. Downsizing of the conductive housing 202 contributes to weight saving of the display device 200.
Note that if a factory that manufactures the display panel device 5 (a device manufacturer) and a factory that completes the display device 200 by assembling the display panel device 5 in the housing (a set manufacturer) are separated, it is necessary to prevent the front portion 6A from being damaged at the peripheral portion during transportation of the display panel device 5. For example, when the display panel device 5 is attached to the chassis 205 made of aluminum during transportation, a package size can be downsized by fixing the end portion of the front portion 6A to the chassis 205 via an insulator.
According to the above-mentioned first, second and third examples, halation can be reduced more than the case where the front sheet 3 or 6 is not glued. More specifically, a white color pattern of an approximately 10 cm square was displayed at a luminance of 350 cd/m2, and a length from the end of the white color pattern to the end of the range in which light emission having a luminance of 1 cd/m2 appears was measured as an indicator of expansion of the halation. When the front sheet 3 or 6 was glued, the halation was reduced by 0.7 times. Note that when the conventional filter plate is disposed in front of the plasma display panel away from the panel front face by 1 cm, the halation is increased by 2.5 times compared with the case where the filter plate is not arranged.
According to the above-mentioned first, second and third examples, in the conductive layer 322 of the electromagnetic wave shielding layer 320, the conductive mesh 322A that passes light and the looped conductive member 322B surrounding the conductive mesh 322A are formed integrally, so cost of the display panel device 1 or 5 can be reduced compared with a structure in which a conductive tape is attached around the mesh made of woven conductive fibers.
The above-mentioned embodiments have the following variations.
The most rear face of the front sheet 3 or 6 can be formed as an adsorption surface having a self adsorption function. For example, after forming the impact absorbing layer 351, a film made of a silicone material is formed on the surface of the impact absorbing layer 351. Thus, it is possible to repeat peeling and sticking between the front sheet 3 or 6 and the plasma display panel 2 many times. This can reduce a loss of the display panel device during manufacturing process and also contribute to maintenance after it is assembled to the display device. It is because that the front sheet can be replaced easily when it is damaged. It is also possible that only the anti-reflection layer 312 is made as a sheet having the self adsorption function and is glued on the remaining portion of the front sheet 3 or 6. A strength of the adsorption is preferably adjusted so that peeling can be done only by a force applied in the perpendicular direction, and the adsorption force is preferably 4N/25 mm or less (when peeling speed is 50 mm/min).
Instead of a silicone material, an acrylic foam material that is similar to the material of the impact absorbing layer 351 may be used, and similar effect can be obtained.
Note that a cleaning process such as using water or air injection should be performed prior to gluing the front sheet 3 or 6, if necessary, and such cleaning process should also be performed on an adsorption surface when a peeled front sheet is reused.
It is useful to design a red color fluorescent material (for example, (Y, Gd, Eu)PVO4) and a discharge gas (for example, Ne-Xe gas having Xe ratio of 5% or more and gas pressure of 500 Torr) of the plasma display panel 2 appropriately so as to reduce quantity of orange color light. If an optical filter having a narrow wavelength range of absorbing orange color light selectively can be eliminated, cost of the front sheet 3 can be reduced more.
Although a plasma display panel is exemplified in the above description, the device constituting a screen is not limited to the plasma display panel, and the prevention of halation by using the mesh can be applied to devices in which other display panels including an EL (Electro Luminescence), an FED (Field Emission Display) and a liquid crystal display constitute screens.
The present invention is useful for improving a display quality and reducing cost of a display device having a large screen and a light weight.
While example embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it will be understood that the present invention is not limited thereto, and that various changes and modifications may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims and their equivalents.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2004-031338 | Feb 2004 | JP | national |
This is a continuation application of U.S. Ser. No. 11/048,813 filed Feb. 3, 2005, now allowed. Contents thereof are incorporated herein by reference.
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 11048813 | Feb 2005 | US |
Child | 11541582 | Oct 2006 | US |