This application is a National Phase of PCT Patent Application No. PCT/CN2020/112041 having International filing date of Aug. 28, 2020, which claims the benefit of priority of Chinese Patent Application No. 202010602432.5 filed on Jun. 29, 2020. The contents of the above applications are all incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein in their entirety.
The present invention relates to the field of liquid crystal display technology, and especially to a light guide plate, a backlight module, and a liquid crystal display module.
With development of digital technology, liquid crystal display products have been widely applied to various aspects in daily life, and requirements for thinner and more lightweight liquid crystal display modules are also gradually increased. A structure of a liquid crystal display module adopts a liquid crystal display panel in combination with a backlight module. A conventional edge light backlight module usually consists of independent optical films such as a reflector, a light guide plate, a diffuser, a prism, etc.
The conventional edge light backlight module in
In order to solve drawbacks of conventional technology, a main purpose of the present invention is to provide a light guide plate, a backlight module, and a liquid crystal display module that can realize integration of the backlight module and a liquid crystal panel to decrease a thickness of the liquid crystal display module.
In order to realize the purpose above, the present invention provides a light guide plate that includes:
In some embodiments, the first refractive index layer has a first refractive index n1, and the first refractive index n1 is greater than a refractive index of the substrate no.
In some embodiments, the second refractive index layer has a second refractive index n2, and the second refractive index n2 is less than the refractive index of the substrate no.
In some embodiments, when an apex angle of the prism structures is cut in half with respect to a normal of a lower side of prisms, two sub-angles produced are equal. The prism structures are distributed on an emergence surface of the substrate as distributed netted dots, such that light emitting out from the emergence surface of the substrate is uniformly directed out through the prism-structured netted dots.
In some embodiments, the second refractive index layer fills gaps between the prism-structured netted dots of the first refractive index layer and forms a planar upper surface.
In some embodiments, the light guide plate further includes a third refractive index layer and a planarization layer, wherein the third refractive index layer and the planarization layer are sequentially stacked on an upper surface of the second refractive index layer.
In some embodiments, the third refractive index layer is a prism layer, and a refractive index of the third refractive index layer n3 is greater than the second refractive index n2.
In some embodiments, the refractive index of the third refractive index layer n3 can be the same as or different from a refractive index of the first refractive index layer n1.
In some embodiments, the substrate is a glass substrate.
In some embodiments, the reflective layer is a metal reflective layer.
In another aspect, the present invention provides a backlight module that includes the light guide plate and an incident light source as described above, wherein the incident light source is disposed on an incident light side of the light guide plate.
In some embodiments, the second refractive index layer has a total internal reflection critical angle δ defined, the total internal reflection critical angle is an incidence angle when an included angle between a refracted light and a normal direction (refracted angle) is ninety degrees, the normal direction is perpendicular to an emergence surface of the substrate, and δ=arcsin(n2/n0). When an incident light reaches the second refractive index layer with gaps of the prism-structured netted dots directly through the substrate, if the incidence angle θ0<δ, then the light enters the second refractive index layer to form a first light path. If the incidence angle θ0≥δ, a total internal reflection will occur. The light goes back into the substrate, and, after reflection of the reflective layer, reaches the first refractive index layer.
Each prism structure of the prism-structured netted dots of the first refractive index layer has an apex angle α defined. When an incident light enters the first refractive index layer through the substrate, because n1<n0, a refraction occurs, and the refraction angle is θ1=arcsin ((n0/n1)×sin θ0). When θ1≤(180−α)/2, an emergent light that passes through a prism structure can enter the second refractive index layer and then emit out to form a second light path. When θ1>(180−α)/2, the emergent light that passes through the prism structure will enter a next prism structure, and, after going through optical effects of the second prism structure and the reflective layer, emit again toward the second refractive index layer or the first refractive index layer from the substrate, with gradually decreasing incidence angles. Until an incidence angle incident at the second refractive index layer is less than δ, or until a refraction angle θ1 when entering the first refractive index layer is less than or equal to (180−α)/2, the emergent light enters the second refractive index layer 109 and then emits out to form a third light path.
In some embodiments, the backlight module is an edge light backlight module, and the backlight module includes at least one light source of an incident light.
In some embodiments, the light source of the incident light is a light-emitting diode (LED) light source.
In still another aspect, the present invention provides a liquid crystal display module that includes the backlight module as described above.
In some embodiments, a color filter (CF) layer or a thin film transistor (TFT) array is disposed on a surface of the light guide plate in the edge light back light module. For example, a CF layer or a TFT array is directly disposed on an upper surface of a planarization layer of the light guide plate.
The present invention further provides a manufacturing method of the light guide plate that includes:
Forming a first refractive index layer on a surface of a light guide plate substrate, and forming a reflective layer on a surface opposite to the first refractive index layer;
Forming a distribution of prism-structured netted dots on the first refractive index layer, and disposing a second refractive index layer on the first refractive index layer.
In some embodiments, the manufacturing method further includes disposing a third refractive index layer on an upper surface of the second refractive index layer, and disposing a planarization layer on the third refractive index layer.
In some embodiments, when manufacturing the first refractive index layer or the third refractive index layer, first, a planar surface is formed on an upper surface of the substrate or the upper surface of the second refractive index layer through coating, spray coating, vapor deposition, etc., and then a prism structure is formed from the surface. Methods to form the prism structure include but are not limited to at least one of imprint, etching, burning, cutting, etc.
The light guide plate, the backlight module, and the liquid crystal display module according to the present invention can be applied to the field of liquid crystal display, which includes but is not limited to display fields such as wearable device displays, portable electronic device displays, mobile communication, computers, televisions, commercial advertisement display, military equipment, etc.
Beneficial effects of the present invention: the present invention forms prism-structured netted dots on an upper surface of a substrate and plates a reflective layer on its lower surface. Through refraction of light by the prism-structured netted dots and reflection by the reflective layer, an emergence angle is adjusted to realize a function of a single light guide plate, diffuser, and reflector, and decrease a thickness of the backlight module. Meanwhile, the light guide plate can be directly used as a substrate for manufacturing a CF or TFTs to manufacture a liquid crystal display. Integrating the backlight module and a liquid crystal panel further decreases a thickness of the liquid crystal display module, which can widely be applied to manufacturing thin type liquid crystal displays.
With reference to the following drawings, the technical approach and other beneficial effects of the present invention will be obvious through describing embodiments of the present invention in detail.
The embodiments of the present invention are described in detail hereinafter. Examples of the described embodiments are given in the accompanying drawings. It should be noted that the following embodiments are intended to illustrate and interpret the present invention, and shall not be construed as causing limitations to the present invention. Similarly, the following embodiments are part of the embodiments of the present invention and are not the whole embodiments, and all other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art without making any inventive efforts are within the scope protected by the present invention.
In description of embodiments of the present invention, it should be understood that terms that indicates orientation or relation of position such as “center”, “longitudinal”, “lateral”, “length”, “width”, “thickness”, “upper”, “lower”, “front”, “rear”, “left”, “right”, “vertical”, “horizontal”, “top”, “bottom”, “interior”, “exterior” are based on orientation or relation of position accompanying drawings show. They are simply for purpose of description of the present invention and simplifying of description, and do not mean or suggest the devices or components have a specified orientation and constructed and operated in a specified orientation; therefore, it should not be understood as limitation of the present invention. Furthermore, terms “first” and “second” are used simply for purpose of description and cannot be understood to mean or suggest relative importance or implicitly mean amount of the technical features. Therefore, features with terms “first” and “second” can mean or implicitly include one or more of the features. In description of the present invention, “multiple” means two or more unless otherwise clearly and concretely specified.
Contents disclosed below provide many different embodiments or examples to realize different structures according to the present application. For the purpose of simplifying description of the present application, contents below describe parts and configuration of specific examples. Naturally, they are merely for illustration and do not intend to limit the present application. Furthermore, reference numerals and/or letters can be repeated in different examples of the present application, and this repeat is for the purse of simplification and clearness, not indicating relations between various embodiments and/or configurations under discussion. Furthermore, the present application provides examples of various specific processes and materials; however, a person of ordinary skill in the art can think of applications of other processes and/or materials.
Embodiments of the present application provide a light guide plate. Specifically, referring to
The substrate 102 has a refractive index of no. The substrate 102 can use a light guide plate substrate material known in the art, such as a silicon dioxide glass substrate or an organic glass substrate.
The first refractive index layer 108 is disposed on an upper surface of the substrate 102, the first refractive index layer 108 has a refractive index of n1, and n1>n0.
Referring to
In some embodiments, the prism structure of the first refractive index layer 108 is a triangular pyramid or a quadrangular pyramid (as shown in
First, a first refractive index layer surface can be formed on the upper surface of the substrate 102 through coating, spray coating, vapor deposition, etc., and then a plurality of prism structures are formed from the surface, such that the prism-structured netted dots are uniformly distributed on the upper surface of the substrate 102. Methods to form the prism-structured netted dots include but are not limited to imprinting, etching, burning, cutting, etc., and any methods capable of making the first refractive index layer present a prism shape can be adopted by the present invention.
The second refractive index layer 109 is disposed on the first refractive index layer 108, the second refractive index layer 109 has a refractive index of n2, and n2<n0. The second refractive index layer 109 can be formed on the first refractive index layer 108 through coating, and the second refractive index layer 109 fills gaps of the prism-structured netted dots of the first refractive index layer 108 and covers apexes of the prism structure to form a planar layer.
The reflective layer 103 is further disposed on a lower surface of the substrate 102. The reflective layer 103 and the first refractive index layer 108 are located at two opposite surfaces of the substrate 102, respectively. In some embodiments, the reflective layer 103 is a metal reflective layer, such as an aluminum (Al) reflective layer or a silver (Ag) reflective layer. The metal reflective layer 103 can be formed on the lower surface of the substrate 102 through processes such as spray coating, coating, electroplating, deposition, etc.
Referring to
The second refractive index layer 109 has a total internal reflection critical angle δ defined, the total internal reflection critical angle is an incidence angle when an included angle between a refracted light and a normal direction (refracted angle) is ninety degrees, the normal direction is perpendicular to an emergence surface of the substrate 102 (the upper surface of the substrate 102 in
When an incident light generated by the backlight module light source 101 enters the substrate 102 and reaches the second refractive index layer 109 with gaps of the prism-structured netted dots, if the incidence angle θ0<δ, then the light enters the second refractive index layer 109 and then emits out to form a first light path, as light path 1 shown in
When an incident light generated by the light source 101 enters the substrate 102 and reaches the first refractive index layer 108, because n1>n0, a refraction occurs and the light enters the first refractive index layer 108.
When the incident light enters the first refractive index layer 108 through the substrate 102, because n1>n0, a refraction occurs, and the refraction angle is θ1=arcsin ((n0/n1)×sin θ0). When θ1≤(180−α)/2, an emergent light that passes through a prism structure can enter the second refractive index layer 109 and then emit out to form a second light path, as light path 2 shown in
In some embodiment, the light guide plate further includes a third refractive index layer 110, and the third refractive index layer 110 is disposed on an upper surface of the second refractive index layer 109. The third refractive index layer 110 has a refractive index of ns, and n3>n2. The refractive index of the third refractive index layer 110 n3 and that of the first refractive index layer n1 can be same or different, and they are both greater than n2. When light emits toward the third refractive index layer 110 through the second refractive index layer 109, a refraction occurs, and the light enters the third refractive index layer 110 and then emits out to enter a liquid crystal layer.
The third refractive index layer 110 is a prism layer, and it can be a prism layer structure known in the art. For example, the prism layer has prisms with a triangle vertical cross section, that are arranged side by side and parallel to a side of the substrate, and a long side of the prisms is parallel to the side of the substrate.
First, a third refractive index layer surface can be formed on the upper surface of the second refractive index layer 109 through coating, spray coating, vapor deposition, etc., and then a prism structure is formed from the surface. Methods to form the prism structure include but are not limited to imprinting, etching, burning, cutting, etc., and any methods capable of making the third refractive index layer present a prism shape can be adopted by the present invention.
In some embodiments, a planarization layer 111 is disposed on the third refractive index layer 110, which can be manufactured through a coating process.
Light guide plate materials known in the art, such as transparent optical resins including polycarbonate, polypropylene, polyethylene terephthalate, poly(methyl methacrylate), acrylic resin, etc., can be adopted for the first refractive index layer 108, the second refractive index layer 109, the third refractive index layer 110, and the planarization layer 111 according to the present invention. As long as refraction indexes satisfy conditions, the effect of adjusting emergent light angles described above can be realized.
Referring to
Referring to
The liquid crystal display module according to embodiments of the present invention realizes functional integration of a light guide plate, a diffuser, and a reflector within one substrate, decreases a thickness of a backlight, and manufactures a liquid crystal display by using the light guide plate as a substrate to manufacture CF or TFT. Through integrating a backlight module and a liquid crystal panel, a thickness of the liquid crystal display module is decreased to realize thinness and lightweight of a liquid crystal display panel and solve a problem of poor reliability of conventional backlight modules.
A light guide plate, a backlight module, and a liquid crystal display module according to embodiments of the present invention are described in detail above. Specific examples are used to explain principles and embodiments of the present invention, and description of the above embodiments is merely to help understanding of the present invention. Meanwhile, a person of ordinary skill in the art, according to spirit of the present application, would vary in specific embodiments and application ranges. In summary, contents of the specification should not be understood as limitation to the present invention.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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202010602432.5 | Jun 2020 | CN | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/CN2020/112041 | 8/28/2020 | WO |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
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WO2022/000746 | 1/6/2022 | WO | A |
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