1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of liquid crystal displaying techniques, and in particular to a liquid crystal display (LCD) device, and its backlight module and back plate assembly.
2. The Related Arts
The liquid crystal display techniques have significant advancement compared to prior technologies. For example, LCD devices are more power-saving, and of greater resolution. It is certain that more advanced techniques will be applied to the field of LCD.
However, to increase the overall quality of the LCD device and user experience, guaranteeing the quality of the optical member and liquid crystal panel is still the most basic requirement. It is well known that the optical member and liquid crystal panel are the more fragile components, and they can be easily scratched during the assembly, transportation, and usage processes. Especially, once they are scratched, the LCD device is hardly usable.
The technical issue to be addressed by the present invention is to provide a back plate assembly, and a backlight module and a LCD device equipped with the back plate assembly, so that the optical member and liquid crystal panel are protected from being scratched.
The resolve the technical issue, the present invention provides a back plate assembly for a backlight module, which contains a back plate, a blocking rim, a side wall, and a buffering element. The back plate supports the optical member of the backlight module. The blocking rim fixes the optical member jointly with the back plate, and supports a liquid crystal panel. The side wall has a back edge connected with the back plate and a front edge connected with the blocking rim. The buffering element contains a first buffering piece, a second buffering piece, and a linking piece. The first buffering piece is sandwiched between the blocking rim and the optical member so as to prevent the optical member from contacting with the blocking rim. The second buffering piece is sandwiched between the blocking rim and the liquid crystal panel so as to prevent the liquid crystal panel from contacting with the blocking rim. The linking piece joins the first and second buffering pieces. The first and second buffering pieces and the linking piece jointly form an accommodation trough receiving an edge of the blocking rim that is away from the side wall.
Preferably, the first and second buffering pieces, and the linking piece are integrally formed; and the accommodation trough is U-shaped.
Preferably, the first and second buffering pieces are made of one of silicone, rubber, and foam.
Preferably, first and second buffering pieces are attached to a back surface and a front surface of the edge of the blocking rim, respectively.
Preferably, a heat dissipation space is reserved in the accommodation trough adjacent to the side wall.
Alternatively, there are multiple back plates, blocking rims, and side wall, all joined together by the plural back plates.
Alternatively, the back plate assembly further contains at least a positioning element connecting the multiple back plates for supporting and fixing the optical member.
The resolve the technical issue, the present invention provides a backlight module which contains an optical member and a back plate assembly. The back plate assembly contains a back plate, a blocking rim, a side wall, and a buffering element. The back plate supports the optical member of the backlight module. The blocking rim fixes the optical member jointly with the back plate, and supports a liquid crystal panel. The side wall has a back edge connected with the back plate and a front edge connected with the blocking rim. The buffering element is configured at an edge of the blocking rim that is away from the side wall and attached to the optical member and a liquid crystal panel, respectively. The optical member contains stacked light guide plate and optical film. The light guide plate is attached to the back plate; and the optical film is attached to the buffering element.
The buffering element contains a first buffering piece, a second buffering piece, and a linking piece. The first buffering piece is sandwiched between the blocking rim and the optical member so as to prevent the optical member from contacting with the blocking rim. The second buffering piece is sandwiched between the blocking rim and the liquid crystal panel so as to prevent the liquid crystal panel from contacting with the blocking rim. The linking piece joins the first and second buffering pieces. The first and second buffering pieces and the linking piece jointly form an accommodation trough receiving an edge of the blocking rim that is away from the side wall.
Preferably, the first and second buffering pieces, and the linking piece are integrally formed; and the accommodation trough is U-shaped.
Preferably, the first and second buffering pieces are made of one of silicone, rubber, and foam.
Preferably, first and second buffering pieces are attached to a back surface and a front surface of the edge of the blocking rim, respectively.
The resolve the technical issue, the present invention provides a LCD device equipped with the aforementioned backlight module.
The buffering element of the LCD device contains a first buffering piece, a second buffering piece, and a linking piece. The first buffering piece is sandwiched between the blocking rim and the optical member so as to prevent the optical member from contacting with the blocking rim. The second buffering piece is sandwiched between the blocking rim and the liquid crystal panel so as to prevent the liquid crystal panel from contacting with the blocking rim. The linking piece joins the first and second buffering pieces. The first and second buffering pieces and the linking piece jointly form an accommodation trough receiving an edge of the blocking rim that is away from the side wall.
Preferably, the first and second buffering pieces, and the linking piece are integrally formed; and the accommodation trough is U-shaped.
Preferably, the first and second buffering pieces are made of one of silicone, rubber, and foam.
The present invention provides a back plate assembly having a buffering element, and a backlight module and a LCD device equipped with the back plate assembly. Through the buffering element of the back plate assembly, the optical member and the liquid crystal panel are protected from being scratched. In addition, the buffering element is structurally simple and conveniently manufactured so that the present invention can be assembled easily.
To make the technical solution of the embodiments according to the present invention, a brief description of the drawings that are necessary for the illustration of the embodiments will be given as follows. Apparently, the drawings described below show only example embodiments of the present invention and for those having ordinary skills in the art, other drawings may be easily obtained from these drawings without paying any creative effort. In the drawings:
The following descriptions are exemplary embodiments only, and are not intended to limit the scope, applicability or configuration of the invention in any way. Rather, the following description provides a convenient illustration for implementing exemplary embodiments of the invention. Various changes to the described embodiments may be made in the function and arrangement of the elements described without departing from the scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.
As shown in
As illustrated in
It also can be seen from
In the present embodiment, a heat dissipation space 14 is reserved in the U-shaped trough adjacent to the side wall 13 so as to reduce the temperature inside the U-shaped trough. In addition, as the optical member 30's edge does not contact the side wall 13 and the back plate 11 directly, the heat dissipation space 14 also prevents the optical member 30's edge from being scratched. It should be noted that the heat dissipation space 14 is not a required technical feature of the present invention and in alternative embodiments its configuration is completely up to the practitioner. The present invention also does not impose specific limitation on the structure of the heat dissipation space 14 as long as a space is reserved for the convection of heat.
Regarding the structure of the side wall 13, it can be configured perpendicularly or slantwise to form an included angle not equal to 90 degrees with the back plate 11. In addition, the side wall 13 can be structured as a flat piece or with columns at intervals, as long as the back plate 11 and the blocking rim 12 can be joined. Furthermore, in order to work with the heat dissipation space 14, a number of small through holes can be configured on the side wall 13 so as to speed up the heat exchange with external atmosphere. In other words, the specific structure of the side wall 13 can be flexibly designed to fit product requirement and the present invention does not impose specific limitation.
It should be noted that the back plate 11, the blocking rim 12, and the side wall 13 can be integrally formed, or separately produced and subsequently connected together. The means of connection can be flexible too such as by bolts or rivets. The details should be familiar to those of the related arts and therefore are omitted here.
Similarly, the numbers of the back plate 11, the blocking rim 12, and the side wall 13 can be different depending on specific requirement. For example, there can be one back plate 11, one side wall 13, and one blocking rim 12 joined together; or there can be a number of back plates 11, a number of blocking rims 12, and a number of side walls 13 joined together by the back plates 11 or other parts. The present invention does not impose specific limitation.
To protect the optical member 30 and the liquid crystal panel 40 from being scratched, the back plate assembly of the present embodiment further contains a buffering element 20 configured at the edge of the blocking rim 12 that is away from the side wall 13. The buffering element 20 is in contact with the optical member 30 and the liquid crystal panel 40.
Specifically, the buffering element 20 contains a first buffering piece 21, a second buffering piece 22, and a linking piece 23. The first buffering piece 21 is sandwiched between the blocking rim 12 and the optical member 30 so as to prevent the optical member 30 from contacting with the blocking rim 12 directly and thereby being scratched. The second buffering piece 22 is sandwiched between the blocking rim 12 and the liquid crystal panel 40 so as to prevent the liquid crystal panel 40 from contacting with the blocking rim 12 directly and thereby being scratched. The linking piece 23 is for joining the first and second buffering pieces 21 and 22.
The first and second buffering pieces 21 and 22 and the linking piece 23 jointly form a U-shaped accommodation trough 24. It can be seen that the edge of the blocking rim 12 is embedded in the accommodation trough 24, or the accommodation trough 24 receives the edge of the blocking rim 12.
Generally, the first and second buffering pieces 21 and 22, and the linking piece 23 are integrally formed. In other words, the buffering element 20 is in one piece during the manufacturing process. It is also possible to manufacture the first and second buffering pieces 21 and 22 and the linking piece 23 separately and then connect them together to form the buffering element 20. The present invention does not impose specific limitation. The connection can be achieved by bolts, rivets, etc. The details should be familiar to those of the related arts and therefore are omitted here.
It is easy to understand that, in order to protect the optical member 30 and liquid crystal panel 40 from being scratched, the buffering element 20 is better made of a flexible material, especially for the first and second buffering pieces 21 and 22. In the present embodiment, the first and second buffering pieces 21 and 22 can be made of silicone, rubber, foam, etc. In alternative embodiments, other material that does not scratch the surface of the optical member 30 and the liquid crystal panel 40 can also be used. The present invention does not impose specific limitation.
As shown in
Additionally, the structure and dimension of the buffering element 20 can be flexibly configured. For example, in the present embodiment, the cross-section of the first and second buffering pieces 21 and 22, and the linking piece 23 are rectangular and, in alternative embodiments, the cross-section of the first and second buffering pieces 21 and 22 can be a curved shape and the linking piece 23 can be a number of columns at intervals connecting the first and second buffering pieces 21 and 22. Generally, the first and second buffering pieces 21 and 22 can be configured to be of a larger dimension so as to increase the contact area with the optical member 30 and the liquid crystal panel 40 for even better protection.
As shown in
To use the back plate assembly on a LCD device, the buffering element 20 is first put on the blocking rim 12 and, then, the optical member 30 and the liquid crystal panel 40 is assembled. The details of the assembly should be familiar to those of the related arts and therefore are omitted here.
The back plate assembly, especially the buffering element 20, effectively prevents the optical member 30 and the liquid crystal panel 40 from being scratched, and as such provides enhanced protection. Considering that the optical member 30 and the liquid crystal panel 40 are the key components of a LCD device, the buffering element 20 of the back plate assembly can extend the operational life span of the LCD device and guarantee its usage reliability, in addition to the protection provided to the optical member 30 and the liquid crystal panel 40.
In a third embodiment of the present invention, a backlight module is provided, which contains optical member and the aforementioned back plate assembly. The optical member contains stacked light guide plate and optical film. The light guide plate is attached to the back plate and the optical film is attached to the buffering pieces. Since the back plate assembly has already been described above, the details are omitted here.
In a fourth embodiment of the present invention, a LCD device is provided, which contains a liquid crystal panel and the aforementioned backlight module. Since the details have already been described, they are omitted here.
It should be easy to understand that, regardless of the backlight module or the LCD device, due to the back plate assembly, the optical member and the liquid crystal panel are protected from being scratched. As such, the quality of the LCD device is guaranteed and its operational life span is extended.
Embodiments of the present invention have been described, but not intending to impose any unduly constraint to the appended claims. Any modification of equivalent structure or equivalent process made according to the disclosure and drawings of the present invention, or any application thereof, directly or indirectly, to other related fields of technique, is considered encompassed in the scope of protection defined by the clams of the present invention.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2012 1 0257624 | Jul 2012 | CN | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/CN2012/079341 | 7/30/2012 | WO | 00 | 8/11/2012 |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
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WO2014/015529 | 1/30/2014 | WO | A |
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20140028946 A1 | Jan 2014 | US |