1. Field of the Invention:
The present invention generally relates to a flexible backlight module and a system for manufacturing the same and, more particularly, to a flexible backlight module combining a flexible panel and a light guiding device so as to emit light and a system capable of mass-producing the flexible backlight module in an automatic fashion.
2. Description of the Prior Art:
A liquid crystal display (LCD) generally comprises a backlight module and a liquid crystal module. Since the liquid crystal module does not emit light itself, it requires a backlight module to provide the LCD with enough luminescence so as to display images. In order to comply with consumers' requests, the backlight module is directed to reducing the weight and being less power-consuming. Especially for a backlight module using cold cathode fluorescent lamps (CCFLs), the number of CCFLs increases with the size of the LCD panel to bring forth problems such as high power-consumption, high operational temperature and high manufacturing cost.
Therefore, in order to overcome the afore-mentioned problems, U.S. Pat. No. 4,885,663 discloses a light emitting panel including an emitter surface in which optical fibers are woven into a sheet or a mat and coated with a material having a refractive index that will cause a change in the attenuation of the optical fibers in the emitter surface to increase the optical efficiency of the panel. Even though U.S. Pat. No. 4,885,663 overcomes the problems of the CCFL, it has shortcomings such as: (1) damage in the fibers caused when the fibers are woven into a sheet or a mat by mechanism; (2) low uniformity and poor utility efficiency of light due to uncontrollable light orientation; and (3) inability to upsize to meet the requirement of large-area displays.
Moreover, U.S. Pat. No. 5,432,876 discloses optical fibers provided with a series of optical elements of controlled morphology, pattern and spacing that find particular utility as a means of illumination. However, this disclosure is also problematic due to uncontrollable light orientation and small light-emitting angle.
Also, U.S. Pat. No. 6,247,826 discloses a thin sheet-form illumination device for illuminating objects using a flexible light guide plate with a light source on one side so as to emit light through bumps arranged on the surface of the light guide plate. However, this disclosure is also problematic in: (1) poor utility efficiency of light; (2) low illumination uniformity; (3) distortion of light path when the light guide plate is bended; and (4) lowered illumination intensity at a distance from the light source.
Therefore, there exists a need in providing a flexible backlight module and a system for manufacturing the same so as to overcome the problems of the aforementioned prior art references.
It is a primary object of the present invention to provide a flexible backlight module combining a flexible panel and a light guiding device for guiding light so as to increase the efficiency of light and reduce power consumption.
It is a secondary object of the present invention to provide a flexible backlight module combining a flexible panel and a light guiding device for guiding light so as to achieve illumination uniformity and increase illumination intensity.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a flexible backlight module combining a flexible panel and a light guiding device for guiding light so as to reduce the volume and weight of the flexible backlight module for various illumination purposes anywhere.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a system for manufacturing a flexible backlight module, capable of mass-producing the flexible backlight module in an automatic fashion so as to reduce the manufacturing cost.
In order to achieve the foregoing object, the present invention provides a flexible backlight module, comprising: a bottom flexible panel, having a plurality of troughs arranged thereon; at least a light guide device, each being disposed in one of the troughs corresponding thereto, capable of guiding light to be discharged from the opening of the corresponding trough; and a top flexible panel, laid over the bottom flexible panel to receive the light discharged from each trough while emitting the received light therefrom.
Preferably, the surface of each of the troughs is a reflecting surface.
Preferably, the reflecting surface is a spherical mirror with a focal point the light guide device is disposed at.
Preferably, the surface of each of the troughs has a metal film deposited thereon.
Preferably, a filler selected from a group including a liquid, at least a gas and combination thereof is provided between the troughs and the top flexible panel.
Preferably, the light guide device is coupled to a light source and a plurality of notches are arranged on a jacket layer of the light guide device so as to emit light.
Preferably, the light guide device is selected from a group including an optical fiber and a light guide beam.
Preferably, the flexible backlight module further comprises a plurality of micro lenses arranged on a light-emitting surface of the top flexible panel so as to focus the emitted light from the top flexible panel.
Preferably, the plurality of micro lenses are arranged to form a shape selected from a group including an arc shape, a polygon shape and combination thereof.
Preferably, the flexible backlight module further comprises a support member disposed between each of the light guide devices and each of the plurality of troughs.
The present invention further provides a system for manufacturing a flexible backlight module, the system comprising: a first transport device, carrying a bottom flexible panel to move corresponding to the first transport device; a first shaping device, disposed on the first transport device and having a plurality of bumps so as to form a plurality of troughs by exerting pressure on the plurality of bumps towards the bottom flexible panel; a deployment device, providing at least a light guide device on the each of the troughs; a second transport device, carrying a top flexible panel to move corresponding to the second transport device; and a combining device, receiving and exerting pressure on the bottom flexible panel transported on the first transport device and the top flexible panel transported on the second transport device so as to combine the bottom flexible panel and the top flexible panel.
Preferably, the first shaping device is one selected from a group including a roller and a punch.
Preferably, the system further comprises a second shaping device, disposed on the second transport device and having a plurality of pits so as to form a plurality of protrusions by exerting pressure on the plurality of pits towards the bottom flexible panel.
Preferably, the second shaping device is selected from a group including a roller and a punch.
Preferably, the system further comprises a coating device disposed between the first shaping device and the deployment device so as to form a thin film on the troughs.
Preferably, the system further comprises a filling device disposed between the deployment device and the combining device so as to fill the troughs with a filler selected from a group including a liquid, at least a gas and combination thereof.
Preferably, the combining device exerting pressure on the bottom flexible panel and the top flexible panel using a process selected from a group including agglutination, hot embossing and combination thereof.
The present invention further provides a flexible backlight module, comprising: a bottom flexible panel, having a plurality of troughs arranged thereon, the surface of each of the troughs being a reflecting surface; at least a light guide device, each being disposed in one of the troughs corresponding thereto, capable of guiding light to be discharged from the opening of the corresponding trough; and a top flexible panel comprising a plurality of micro lenses, laid over the bottom flexible panel to receive the light discharged from each trough while emitting the received light therefrom.
The objects, spirits and advantages of the preferred embodiments of the present invention will be readily understood by the accompanying drawings and detailed descriptions, wherein:
The present invention providing a flexible backlight module and a system for manufacturing the same can be exemplified by the preferred embodiments as described hereinafter.
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According to the Lens Maker's Formula as described in Equ. (1), where O indicates the object, I indicates the image distance, f indicates the focal distance, n indicates the medium-to-lens refractive index, r′ indicates the radius of curvature of the first curved surface of the micro lens 211 and r″ indicates the radius of curvature of the second curved surface of the micro lens 211, the focal distance f of the micro lens 211 can be determined.
The light guide device 22 is disposed at the focal point of the micro lens 211. Therefore, the light from the focal point passes through the micro lens 211 and is refracted to generate parallel rays of light. For example, the light emitted from the light guide device 22 is diverged by the trough 201 into a light path 90 and a light path 91. The light path 90 enters the micro lens 211 and thus is refracted by the top flexible panel 211 as parallel rays of light because the light guide device 22 is disposed at the focal point of the micro lens 211. On the other hand, the light path 91 is reflected by the reflecting surface of the trough 201 and then enters the micro lens 211 so as to be converged by the micro lens 211 and then emitted from the top flexible panel 21.
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In order to enhance the reflection efficiency of the troughs 33, a coating device 85 is provided between the first-shaping device 80 and the deployment device 86 so as to form a thin film 331 on the troughs 33. The thin film 331 is then baked or cooled down. The bottom flexible panel 32 passes through the deployment device 86. The deployment device 86 provides at least a light guide device 34 on the each of the troughs 33. The jacket layer at the light-emitting regions of light guide device 34 is removed beforehand and therefore, the light guide device 34 provided by the deployment device 86 is directly mounted on one of the troughs 33. The system 8 further comprises a filling device 87 to fill the troughs 33 with a filler selected from a group including a liquid, at least a gas and combination thereof.
The second transport device 88 carries a top flexible panel 36 to move corresponding to the second transport device 88. The second transport device 88 comprises a plurality of steering-wheels for transportation. The top flexible panel 36 passes through a second shaping device 82 to perform micro-pressing so as to form a plurality of micro lenses 361 on the top flexible panel 36. The second shaping device 82 is disposed on the second transport device 88 and has a plurality of pits 821 so as to form the micro lenses 361 by exerting pressure on the plurality of pits 821 towards the top flexible panel 36. In the present embodiment, during micro-pressing, a heating device (not shown) can be provided to heat up the top flexible panel 36 and the second shaping device 82 so as to facilitate to form the micro lenses 361. The second shaping device 82 is a roller for rolling over the top flexible panel 36 to form the micro lenses 361. Alternatively, the second shaping device 82 is a punch for punching the top flexible panel 36 to form the micro lenses 361.
Furthermore, the combining device 83 receives and exerts pressure on the bottom flexible panel 32 transported on the first transport device 84 and the top flexible panel 36 transported on the second transport device 88 so as to combine the bottom flexible panel 32 and the top flexible panel 36. In the present embodiment, the combining device 83 comprises a top steering-wheel and a bottom steering-wheel but is not limited thereto so as to exert enough pressure for combining the bottom flexible panel 32 and the top flexible panel 36. The bottom flexible panel 32 and the top flexible panel 36 are combined using glue coating on the interface of the bottom flexible panel 32 and the top flexible panel 36. Alternatively, the filling device 87 is used to fill with a viscous liquid. Alternatively, the bottom flexible panel 32 and the top flexible panel 36 are combined using a process selected from a group including agglutination, hot embossing and combination thereof.
According to the above discussion, it is apparent that the present invention discloses a flexible backlight module combining a flexible panel and a light guiding device so as to emit light and a system capable of mass-producing the flexible backlight module in an automatic fashion. The disclosed flexible backlight module has advantages such as:
(1) capability in serving a backlight module of a liquid crystal display to overcome the problems of conventional backlight module;
(2) higher power efficiency, lower power consumption and compactness in size;
(3) high uniformity in illumination due to high orientation flexibility;
(4) low operational temperature due to the use of the optical fiber for guiding light;
(5) controllable light-emitting regions for uniform illumination;
(6) simple configuration with light weight by mass-producing in an automatic fashion to reduce the manufacturing cost;
(7) brightness enhancement by using micro lenses to converge the light;
(8) various illumination purposes such as displays, advertisements, traffic signs, etc.
Although this invention has been disclosed and illustrated with reference to particular embodiments, the principles involved are susceptible for use in numerous other embodiments that will be apparent to persons skilled in the art. This invention is, therefore, to be limited only as indicated by the scope of the appended claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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094146654 | Dec 2005 | TW | national |