Patent Grant
7531962
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a flat panel display such as, for example, a plasma display panel and, more particularly, to the flat panel display of a structure including a pair of substrates larger than a screen, in which one of the substrates has a peripheral edge partly protruding outwardly from that of the other of the substrates.
2. Description of the Prior Art
With keen interests centered on the environmental protection, various attempts have hitherto been made and are currently made in the field of industrial production of various products to minimize emission of industrial wastes. This is not an exception to the mass production of flat panel displays (FPDs) such as, for example, plasma display panels, liquid crystal panels, field emission display panels, organic electroluminescence panels and others. As is well understood by those skilled in the art, maximized utilization of materials contributes, to a large extent, to reduction in manufacturing cost and also to the environmental protection.
The plasma display panel is known, which emits imagewise light as a result of gas discharges developed in between a pair of substrates that are sandwiched together. In the plasma display panel of a type having a screen capable of achieving a matrix display, activation of a multiplicity of cells forming the display screen is controlled by column electrodes disposed on one of the substrates and row electrodes disposed on the other of the substrates. The column and row electrodes have respective ends drawn outwardly from the screen for electric connection with a matrix drive circuit as is well known to those skilled in the art.
By way of example, Japanese unexamined patent publication No. 8-255568, for example, discloses the use of flexible wiring boards for electrically connecting between the column and row electrodes and the matrix drive circuit, respectively. According to this published application, in order for the flexible wiring boards to be electrically connected with the column and row electrodes, respectively, by means of a heat press technique, the first and second substrates are sandwiched together so that respective ends of the column electrodes in the first substrate may protrude outwardly from the periphery of the second substrate while respective ends of the row electrodes in the second substrate may similarly protrude outwardly from the periphery of the first substrate.
Specifically, referring to
The first and second substrates 11z and 21z of different sizes as discussed above are positioned one above the other with their geometric centers aligned with each other. In this condition, the short side edges of the first substrate 11z protrude longitudinally outwardly, each a distance of about 5 mm, from those of the second substrate 21z in a horizontal direction, whereas the long side edges of the second substrate 21z protrude longitudinally outwardly, each a distance of about 5 mm, from those of the first substrate 11z in a direction orthogonal to the horizontal direction, that is, in a vertical direction.
It has, however, been found that as shown in and discussed with reference to
More specifically,
Similarly, similar scraps 93 and 94 may result in even where a plurality of, for example, two, first substrates 11z1 and 11z2 and correspondingly two second substrates 21z1 and 21z2 are to be prepared from the mother substrates 2001 and 2002, respectively, as shown in
To minimize waste of the material for the substrates, the use may be contemplated of relatively large mother substrates each having a size that is an integer multiplication of the size of the respective substrate 11z1 or 21z1. However, the use of such large mother substrates requires complicated and costly maintenance and storage of two kinds of mother substrates of different sizes. As such, diversification of the materials of different sizes is undesirable because the cost of manufacture of the plasma display panels would eventually result in.
In view of the foregoing, the present invention has for its object to maximize the efficiency of utilization of mother substrates that are material for the substrates used in the flat display panel to form a screen.
In order to accomplish the foregoing object of the present invention, the flat display panel in accordance with one aspect of the present invention includes tetragonal first and second substrates sandwiched together with one of the first and second substrates protruding in part outwardly from the peripheral edge of the other of the first and second substrates. The first and second substrates when in a sandwiched condition defines a display screen. Each of the first and second substrates has a tetragonal peripheral edge, and two sides of the tetragonal peripheral edge of the first substrate, which are opposite to each other, are of a length substantially equal to that of each of two sides of the tetragonal peripheral edge of the second substrate, which are opposite to each other. Also, three sides of the peripheral edge of the first substrate, including said two opposite sides of the peripheral edge of the first substrate, are positioned outwardly from the peripheral edge of the second substrate over an entire perimeter thereof.
According to the present invention, the use of the glass substrates having their respective portions of the peripheral edges that are substantially equal in size is effective to maximize the utilization of materials for those glass substrates. Specifically during the preparation of the substrates to be used in the manufacture of the flat display panel, in which the first and second substrates are cut from two mother substrates of the same size, respectively, at least one of the mother substrates does not yield any scrap.
Respective features as set forth in the appended claims are effective to maximize the utilization of the mother substrate and, hence, the cost which would be incurred in manufacturing the flat display panel can advantageously reduced.
In summary, the present invention is featured in that a pair of substrates used to form a screen are commonly shared in size with each other. The screen of a flat panel display to which the present invention is applied, includes a first rectangular substrate and a second rectangular substrate having four or two sides equal in size to those of the first rectangular substrate. The first and second substrates are overlapped one above the other with one of them partially protruding outwardly from the perimeter of the other of them. Where the first and second substrates are of the same size, two of the four sides of the first substrate, which adjoin to each other, are positioned outside the perimeter of the second substrate over their entire length, while two of the four sides of the second substrate, which similarly adjoin to each other, are positioned inside the perimeter of the first substrate over their entire length. Where only two sides of one of the first and second substrates are equal in size to two sides of the other of the first and second substrates, three of the four sides of the first substrate, which includes two sides opposite to each other, are positioned outside the perimeter of the second substrate over their entire length.
In any event, the present invention will become more clearly understood from the following description of preferred embodiments thereof, when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. However, the embodiments and the drawings are given only for the purpose of illustration and explanation, and are not to be taken as limiting the scope of the present invention in any way whatsoever, which scope is to be determined by the appended claims. In the accompanying drawings, like reference numerals are used to denote like parts throughout the several views, and:
In the practice of the present invention, mother substrates having a minimum necessary size or surface area are used as materials for substrates that are employed during the manufacture of a plasma display panel (PDP), a sort of flat panel displays. As a matter of fact, the size and the contour of each of the substrates used in the plasma display depend on the specification of the display screen. Considering that the typical aspect ratio of the high-definition TV display screen currently broadcasted in Japan and some other countries is defined 16:9, rectangular substrates are suitably and conveniently employed in the manufacture of the plasma display panel. However, where the display screen is of a nearly square shape, square substrates are suitably and conveniently employed.
The plasma display panel 1 is a three-electrode surface discharge AC type PDP. The front substrate structure 10 includes a first glass substrate 11, a plurality of first display electrodes X, second display electrodes Y, a dielectric layer 17 and a protective layer 18. The first and second display electrodes X and Y form respective surface discharge electrode pairs and are each made up of a transparent electroconductive film 41 for defining a surface discharge gap and a metallic film 42 which is a bus conductor for reducing the electric resistance. The transparent electroconductive film 41 shown therein is in the form of a thin electroconductive strip of a predetermined width.
On the other hand, the rear substrate structure 20 includes a second glass substrate 21, a plurality of address electrodes A, a dielectric layer 24, a plurality of partition walls 29 and phosphor films 28R, 28G and 28B. Each of the partition walls 29 shown therein is in the form of a straight ridge and is positioned between the neighboring address electrodes. Those partition walls 29 divide the gas-filled space, defined between the first and second glass substrates 11 and 21, into a plurality of cells one for each of the columns of the matrix display.
It is to be noted that alphabetical characters “R”, “G” and “B” each affixed to the reference numeral “28” referred to above and shown in
When a picture is to be displayed, one of the first and second display electrodes, for example, the second display electrodes Y are used as a scanning electrode for selection of one of the rows and addressing to form a wall charge on a surface of a portion of each dielectric layer 17 aligned with a cell to be energized can be performed by causing an addressing discharge to develop between the scanning electrode and the address electrode. After this addressing, a train of sustaining pulses of alternating polarities are applied to the display electrode pairs, i.e., the first and second display electrodes so that each time the sustaining pulse is applied, a display discharge in the form of a surface discharge develops between respective portions of the first and second display electrodes aligned with the cell to be energized so as to propagate along a surface of the substrates. The discharge gas filled within the gas-filled space then emits ultraviolet rays of light, which in turn excite the fluorescent films 28R, 28G and 28B to emit light of respective colors.
In the practice of the present invention, where the first or front glass substrate 11 and the second or rear glass substrate 21 have respective electrodes deposited thereon, the cell structure may not be always limited to that shown and described above. It is to be noted that each of the partition walls, which has been shown and described as extending straight, may be in the form of a tortuous ridge, provided that the partition walls as a whole can divide the display screen area into a mesh of cells. It is also to be noted that the particular shape and the particular arrangement of the electrodes employed and/or the presence or absence of the dielectric layers may be suitably and conveniently chosen as desired.
Referring now to
By the reason which will become clear from the subsequent description, the sealing member 33 utilized to connect the first and second glass substrates 11 and 21 together encompasses only respective areas of the first and second glass substrates 11 and 21, which overlap substantially exactly one above the other to define therebetween the gas-filled space 30 filled with a discharge gas. This sealing member 33 is in the form of a generally rectangular frame-like configuration having four side edges and also has a width of about 5 mm, with the four side edges of the sealing member 33 spaced a distance of about 20 mm outwardly from adjacent peripheral side edges of the display screen area 51, regardless of the size of the display screen area 51.
Although exaggerated in
According to the embodiment now under discussion with particular reference to
Accordingly, when the first and second glass substrates 11 and 21 are positioned one above the other during the manufacture of the plasma display panel 1 of the present invention, the geometric center of the first glass substrate 11 is displaced relative to that of the second glass substrate 21 in a direction parallel to any one of the short side edges. In this displaced condition, since the opposite long side edge portions 112 and 114 of the first glass substrate 11 are longer than any one of the opposite long side edge portions 212 and 214 of the second glass substrate 21, it is clear that the short side edge portions 111 and 113 and one of the long side edges portions, that is, the long side edge portion 112 of the first glass substrate 11 protrude outwardly from the adjacent side edges 211, 213 and 212 of the second glass substrate 21 while the other long side edge portion 214 of the second glass substrate 21 protrude laterally outwardly from the remaining long side edge portion 114 of the first glass substrate 11 as best shown in
It is to be noted that the length of any one of the four side edge portions of the first glass substrate 11 and the length of one of the four side edge portions of the second glass substrate 21, which is positioned adjacent to and extends generally or substantially parallel to such any one of the four side edge portions of the first glass substrate may vary relative to each other depending on the precision of grinding when the first and second glass substrates 11 and 21 are prepared from respective mother substrates. Accordingly, if the difference between those lengths is about 1 mm or less, such difference can be deemed within the design tolerance and should, therefore, be construed as encompassed within the term “substantially” used in connection with the sameness between the length al of each short side edge portions 111 and 113 and the length cl of each short side edge portion 211 and 213 as described above.
The above statement on the difference in length equally applies to any other embodiment of the present invention, in which a similar difference is present between the length of any one of the four side edge portions of the first glass substrate and the length of one of the four side edge portions of the second glass substrate, which is positioned adjacent to and extends generally or substantially parallel to such any one of the four side edge portions of the first glass substrate.
As described above the long side edge portion 214 of the second glass substrate 21 is positioned laterally outside the adjacent long side edge portion 114 of the first glass substrate 11 and the other side edge portions 211, 212 and 213 of the second glass substrate 21 are set back inwardly of the adjacent side edge portions 111, 112 and 113 of the first substrate 11, allowing such adjacent side edge portions 111, 112 and 113 of the first substrate 11 to protrude outwardly relative to the second substrate 21. Accordingly, in terms of grinding efficiency, the entire peripheral edge of both of the first and second glass substrates 11 and 21 need not be ground and grinding to be effected to the peripheral edge of the sandwich structure of the first and second substrates 11 and 21 may be comparable to grinding of the peripheral edge of a single substrate, thus resulting in increase of the grinding workability.
Referring particularly to
The use of the electrode arrangement shown in and described with reference to
Also, the manner in which the first and second ends of the first and second display electrodes X and Y, respectively, are drawn outwardly through the display screen area 51 to the outside is such as to distribute the first ends of the first display electrodes X and the second ends of the second display electrodes Y to occupy the opposite short side edge portions 111 and 113 of the first glass substrate, respectively, and accordingly, the distributed disposition of those exposed ends of the first and second display electrodes X and Y is also advantageous in that the wiring employed in a drive circuit can be simplified as the first and second exposed ends of the first and second display electrodes X and Y, respectively, do not mix up in one site.
On the other hand, the address electrodes A disposed on an inner surface of the second glass substrate 21 facing the first glass substrate 11 extend perpendicular to and across the first and second display electrodes X and Y, each having one of its opposite ends emerging outwardly from the display screen area 51 and positioned only on the long side edge portion 214 of the second glass substrate 21.
In the manufacture of the flat panel displays, particularly that of the plasma display panel 1, the use of the glass substrates having their respective short side edges portions of an equal size is effective to maximize the utilization of materials for those glass substrates. Specifically, with two mother substrates of the same size in hand, and if those mother substrates are trimmed to provide the first and second glass substrates, respectively, preparation of the first and second glass substrates of the different sizes as discussed hereinbefore results in that at least one of the first and second glass substrates will not yield any scrap while the other of the first and second glass substrates can be used in its entirety.
Referring particularly to
In a second preferred embodiment of the present invention shown in
The first glass substrate 12 has a peripheral edge made up of a pair of opposite short side edge portions 121 and 123 and a pair of opposite long side edge portions 122 and 124 and, similarly, the second glass substrate 22 has a peripheral edge made up of a pair of opposite short side edge portion 221 and 223 and a pair of opposite long side edge portions 222 and 224. Of the four side edge portions of the first glass substrate 12, two long edge portions that are opposite to each other, for example, the long side edge portions 122 and 124 have a length b2 which is substantially equal to the length d2 of each of two of the four side edge portions of the second glass substrate 22 that are opposite to each other, that is, the long side edge portions 222 and 224 of the second glass substrate 22. Also, the short side edge portions 121 and 123 of the first glass substrate 12 that are opposite to each other have a length a2 which is greater than the length c2 of each of the short side edge portions 221 and 223 of the second glass substrate 22.
Accordingly, when the first and second glass substrates 12 and 22 are positioned one above the other, the geometric center of the first glass substrate 12 is displaced relative to that of the second glass substrate 22 in a direction parallel to any one of the long side edges. In this displaced condition, since the opposite short side edge portions 121 and 123 of the first glass substrate 12 are longer than any one of the opposite short side edge portions 221 and 223 of the second glass substrate 22, it is clear that the long side edge portions 122 and 124 and one of the short side edge portions, that is, the short side edge portion 121 of the first glass substrate 12 protrude outwardly from the adjacent side edges 222, 224 and 221 of the second glass substrate 22 while the other short side edge portion 223 of the second glass substrate 22 protrude laterally outwardly from the remaining short side edge portion 123 of the first glass substrate 12 as best shown in
In the plasma display panel 2 according to the second embodiment, as best shown in
On the other hand, the address electrodes Ab disposed on an inner surface of the second glass substrate 22 facing the first glass substrate 12 extend perpendicular to and across the first and second display electrodes Xb and Yb, each having one of its opposite ends emerging outwardly from the display screen area 52 and positioned only on the short side edge portion 223 of the second glass substrate 22.
It is to be noted that although in the second embodiment the first and second display electrodes Xb and Yb and the address electrodes Ab are oriented in respective directions different from those of the first and second display electrodes X and B and the address electrodes A according to the previously described first embodiment, the first and second display electrodes Xb and Yb and the address electrodes Ab correspond in function to the first and second display electrodes X and B and the address electrodes A, respectively.
In the manufacture of the flat panel displays, particularly that of the plasma display panel 2, the use of the glass substrates having their respective long side edges portions of an equal size is also effective to maximize the utilization of materials for those glass substrates. Specifically, when one of the first and second glass substrates which is larger than the other of the first and second glass substrate, that is, the first glass substrate 12 in this embodiment, is to be cut from a mother substrate of a size equal to the first glass substrate 12, no scrap will yield.
Also, since as described above, in this embodiment, the long side edge portions 122 and 124 and the short side edge portion 121 of the first glass substrate 12 protrude outwardly from the adjacent side edges 222, 224 and 221 of the second glass substrate 22 while the other short side edge portion 223 of the second glass substrate 22 protrude laterally outwardly from the remaining short side edge portion 123 of the first glass substrate 12. Accordingly, in terms of grinding efficiency, the entire peripheral edge of both of the first and second glass substrates 12 and 22 need not be ground and grinding to be effected to the peripheral edge of the sandwich structure of the first and second substrates 12 and 22 may be comparable to grinding of the peripheral edge of a single substrate, thus resulting in increase of the grinding workability.
In addition, since only one end of the electrodes, i.e., the first and second display electrodes Xb and Yb, protrudes laterally outwardly from the sealing member 34, the work load which would otherwise be imposed in applying electrically insulating and water proofing resins to the exposed portions of the electrodes can advantageously be reduced.
Even in this embodiment, the first glass substrate 13 has a peripheral edge made up of a pair of opposite short side edge portions 131 and 133 and a pair of opposite long side edge portions 132 and 134 and, similarly, the second glass substrate 23 has a peripheral edge made up of a pair of opposite short side edge portions 231 and 233 and a pair of opposite long side edge portions 232 and 234. However, the first and second glass substrates 13 and 23 are of the same size and are, during the manufacture of the plasma display panel 3, positioned one above the other, having been displaced in a diagonal direction so that one of those glass substrates 13 and 23 may have at least a portion of the entire peripheral edge thereof protruding outwardly from that of the other of those glass substrates 13 and 23 as will become clear from the subsequent description.
More specifically, the first glass substrate 13 has a peripheral edge made up of a pair of opposite short side edge portions 131 and 133 and a pair of opposite long side edge portions 132 and 134 and, similarly, the second glass substrate 23 has a peripheral edge made up of a pair of opposite short side edge portion 231 and 233 and a pair of opposite long side edge portions 232 and 234. The short side edge portions 131 and 133 of the first glass substrate 13 have a length a3 which is substantially equal to the length c3 of each of the short side edge portions 231 and 233 of the second glass substrate 23, and the long side edge portions 132 and 134 of the first glass substrate 13 have a length b3 which is substantially equal to the length d3 of each of the long side edge portion 232 and 234 of the second glass substrate 23. Thus, the first and second glass substrates 13 and 23 are of the same size.
The first and second glass substrates 13 and 23 are positioned one above the other with the geometric center of the first glass substrate 13 displaced relative to that of the second glass substrate 23 in a diagonal direction so that two of the adjoining side edge portions, for example, the side edge portions 132 and 133, of the first glass substrate 13 can protrude outwardly from the adjacent side edge portions 232 and 233 of the second glass substrate 23 while the adjoining side edge portions 231 and 234 of the second glass substrate 23 protrude outwardly from the adjacent side edge portions 131 and 134 of the first glass substrate 13, i.e., from the peripheral edge of the first glass substrate 13 over the entire perimeter thereof.
In the plasma display panel 3 according to the third embodiment, as best shown in
The connecting conductor 61 referred to above is patterned so represent an L-shaped configuration made up of a vertical conductor segment XC extending parallel to the short side edge portions of the first glass substrate 13 and a horizontal conductor segment TX extending parallel to the long side edge portions of the first glass substrate 13. The vertical conductor segment XC connects the first ends of the first display electrodes Xc together as hereinabove described, whereas the horizontal conductor segment XT is so deposited on the long side edge portion 132 of the first glass substrate 13 as to be exposed outwardly from the adjacent long side edge portion 232 of the second glass substrate 23 and is utilized as a terminal for electrically connecting the first ends of the first display electrodes Xc therethrough with an external drive circuit by way of the vertical conductor segment XC.
On the other hand, the address electrodes Ac disposed on an inner surface of the second glass substrate 23 facing the first glass substrate 13 extend perpendicular to and across the first and second display electrodes Xc and Yc, each having one of its opposite ends emerging outwardly from the display screen area 53 and positioned only on the long side edge portion 234 of the second glass substrate 23.
It is to be noted that the first and second display electrodes Xc and Yc and the address electrodes Ac, both employed in the third embodiment, correspond in function to the first and second display electrodes X and B and the address electrodes A employed in the first embodiment, respectively.
In the manufacture of the plasma display panel 3, the use of the glass substrates having the same size is also effective to maximize the utilization of materials for those glass substrates. Specifically, according to the third embodiment, since the first and second glass substrates 13 and 23 are of the same size, the use of mother substrates of the same size as that of the first and second glass substrates 13 and 23 as respective materials for the first and second glass substrates 13 and 23 do in no way yield any scrap when the first and second glass substrates 13 and 23 are to be prepared from those mother substrates.
Also, since as described above, the first and second substrates 13 and 23 are displaced diagonally relative to each other with the two adjoining side edge portions of one of the first and second substrates 13 and 14 consequently protruding laterally outwardly from the perimeter of the other of the first and second substrates 13 and 14. Accordingly, in terms of grinding efficiency, the entire peripheral edge of both of the first and second glass substrates 13 and 23 need not be ground and grinding to be effected to the peripheral edge of the sandwich structure of the first and second substrates 13 and 23 may be comparable to grinding of the peripheral edge of a single substrate, thus resulting in increase of the grinding workability.
In addition, since only one end of the electrodes, i.e., the first and second display electrodes Xc and Yc, protrudes laterally outwardly from the sealing member 35, the work load which would otherwise be imposed in applying electrically insulating and water proofing resins to the exposed portions of the electrodes can advantageously be reduced as compared with the case in which the opposite ends of the electrodes protrude laterally outwardly from the sealing member.
From the foregoing full description of some preferred embodiments of the present invention, it is clear that the material for the substrates used to form the display screen can advantageously be saved and, therefore, the present invention makes it possible to manufacture the flat panel displays at a reduced cost. As a matter of course, the present invention can be equally applied to any type of flat panel display that requires one of the first and second glass substrates to protrude outwardly from the contour of the other of the first and second glass substrates.
Although the present invention has been fully described in connection with the preferred embodiments thereof with reference to the accompanying drawings which are used only for the purpose of illustration, those skilled in the art will readily conceive numerous changes and modifications within the framework of obviousness upon the reading of the specification herein presented of the present invention. Accordingly, such changes and modifications are, unless they depart from the scope of the present invention as delivered from the claims annexed hereto, to be construed as included therein.
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