Patent Application
20080067933
These and other aspects and advantages of the invention will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which:
a to 7f are partial cross-sectional views for explaining a bezel of a dual wall structure; and
a to 8c are graphs showing stress measuring results through fall simulations.
Hereinafter, various embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. The embodiments are provided so that those skilled in the art can sufficiently understand aspects of the present invention, but the embodiments may be modified in various forms which fall within the scope of the present invention.
The display panel 100 includes a support substrate 110 in which an organic light emitting device or an array of organic light emitting pixels is formed, an encapsulating substrate 120 opposed to the support substrate 110, and an encapsulation material 130 formed between the support substrate 110 and the encapsulating substrate 120. The support substrate 110 includes a pixel area and a non-pixel area. In the pixel area, the array connected to between a scan line and a data line is formed in the form of a matrix to constitute pixels. In the non-pixel area, a scan line and a data line which extend from the scan line and the data line of the pixel area, a power source voltage supply line for the operation of the organic light emitting device, and a drive unit 150 processing signals provided through a pad section 140 from outside and supplying the signals to the scan line and the data line. An FPC (flexible printed circuit) (not shown) is connected to the pad section 140 and signals (a power source voltage, a scan signal, a data signal, etc.) are input through the FPC from outside.
In certain embodiments, the organic light emitting device or the array includes an anode electrode and a cathode electrode and an organic thin film layer formed between the anode electrode and the cathode electrode. The organic thin film layer has a structure in which a hole transport layer, an organic light emitting layer, and an electron transportation layer are stacked and can further include a hole injection layer and an electron injection layer. In addition, the organic light emitting device can further include a switching transistor for controlling the operation of the organic light emitting device and a capacitor for maintaining signals.
The encapsulating substrate 120 is formed of a transparent material such as glass and is opposed to the support substrate 110 to encapsulate the organic light emitting device. The encapsulation material is provided to prevent penetration of oxygen or moisture by encapsulating the organic light emitting device and is formed between the support substrate 110 and the encapsulating substrate 120 so as to surround the organic light emitting device. The support substrate 110 and the encapsulating substrate 120 are interconnected by the encapsulation material 130. The encapsulation material 130 is formed of an inorganic encapsulation material or an organic encapsulation material such as a frit including at least one kind of transition metal dopant.
The bezel or support frame 300 includes a lower surface 310 and a plurality of side walls 320, 330, and 340 extending from the edges of the lower surface or plate 310. An accommodation space is formed by the lower surface 310 and the side walls 320, 330, and 340 and the display panel 100 is accommodated so that the support substrate 110 opposes to the lower surface 310 and a side surface opposes to the side walls 320, 330, and 340. Then, the support substrate 110 can be attached to the lower surface 310 by a bonding tape or an adhesive. The bezel 300 can be manufactured by bending a metal plate or by extruding a plastic etc. The side walls 320, 330, and 340 may be connected to each other to be integrally formed or may be separated from each other and then are assembled for the manufacturing convenience.
The mold frame or intervening frame 200 is interposed between the side walls 320, 330, and 340 of the bezel 300 and the display panel 100 and, in certain embodiments, can be formed of a plastic, an LCP, an ABS, a PCABS, a PC, or the like which may have a high impact absorbing rate. For example, the mold frame 200 can be manufactured so as to have a U-shape corresponding to the three side walls 320, 330, and 340 of the bezel 300 and can has a rectangular or circular cross-section. Further, the bezel 300 and the mold frame 200 can be integrally manufactured by using an insert molding method.
In the illustrated embodiment, a side wall is not formed in one edge of the lower plate of the bezel so that an FPC can be easily provided in the pad section 140, but in other embodiments, the bezel can include four side walls. Further, in certain embodiments, the protrusion 410 can have a circular shape as well as a rectangular shape. The pad section 140 is located in the surface in which a side wall is not formed, and the display panel 100 is accommodated so that the rest of the side surfaces oppose to the side walls 420, 430, and 440 and the support substrate 110 opposes to the protrusions 410a.
In the above-discussed embodiments, the bezels 300, 400, 500, and 600 shown in
The side wall of the dual wall structure can be realized by bending the side wall 340. As shown in
Table 1 shows a simulation result which has measured the maximum impact transferred to portions of the display panel in the 1 meter drop test. The table shows the results of case B using a bezel according to an embodiment of the present invention including in which the protrusions are formed on the lower surface and the mold frame and the results of case A of using an exemplary bezel. In the result, in the case of the inorganic encapsulation material 130, the effect is decreased by about 25 percent and in the case of the encapsulating substrate 120, the effect is decreased by about 16.3 percent. Although in the case of the edge of the support substrate 110, the stress is increased by 2.66 percent, since the absolute value of the stress is very small as compared with the encapsulating substrate 120, the influence thereof can be ignored. Then, the reasons for observing the stresses generated at the edges of the substrates 110 and 120 are as follows.
In the case of a glass substrate, many micro-cracks may be generated on a cut surface in the process of cutting the substrate into a predetermined size. Therefore, if the stress is concentrated at the crack portions, the cracks may be easily transferred to the inner side by small stresses as compared with a portion in which a crack is not generated, and thus, the substrate may be easily damaged. Therefore, it is important to observe the stresses generated at the edges of the substrates 110 and 120.
Further,
The maximum stress transferred to the substrate in the case of the exemplary bezel has the maximum value of 158.7 MPa (
As mentioned above, according to the present invention, an impact is absorbed by the mold frame interposed between the side wall of the bezel and the display panel and the protrusions formed on the lower surface of the bezel, effectively decreasing the stress transferred to the display panel. According to the present invention, the stress transferred to the side surface and the lower surface can be decreased, thereby safely protecting the display panel from an impact.
As mentioned above, various embodiments of the present invention is disclosed through the descriptions and the drawings. It would be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes might be made in the embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined in the claims and their equivalents.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10-2006-0091231 | Sep 2006 | KR | national |
