1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display structure, and more particularly to a transparent display structure constructed by transparent rigid base plates holding a plurality of light strips therebetween.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Nowadays many buildings adopt transparent glass curtain for the sake of appearance and lighting. Installing a large-sized display board on the glass curtain to increase the added value of the building has become a new advertisement style trend. Conventionally, a large-sized display board such as an electronic LED display board uses various array arrangements of LEDs to achieve the effect of variable patterns or direct image play. However, such display board mostly requires additional installation work on the external portion of the glass curtain or cement wall and would incur higher installation cost. Also, the LEDs suffering from the exposure to the sun and rain of the external environment would inevitably be damaged or deteriorate, causing the life expectancy of the large-sized display board to be affected.
In another aspect, the conventional large-sized display board is constrained to be configured on the plane of the external wall of the building, and can only be designed as a flat board, which has limited style and little application versatility, and therefore has a low practical value.
One object of the present invention is to provide a transparent display structure with high transparency and be directly used as an outdoor glass wall or an indoor display divider of the architectural field so that the construction of the glass wall can be finished at the same time the transparent display structure is installed, providing the benefit of low construction cost.
One object of the present invention is to provide a transparent display structure opening for planar or curved shape design, thereby affording high application versatility.
One object of the present invention is to provide a transparent display structure of which light strips are disposed inside a laminated glass or hollow glass, thereby being protected from water and dust and having higher stability.
According to an embodiment, the transparent display structure includes transparent rigid base plates spaced apart; a plurality of light strips arranged between the two transparent rigid base plates; and an interlayer film disposed between the two transparent rigid base plates and the light strips.
According to another embodiment, the transparent display structure includes two transparent rigid base plates spaced apart and having two inner surfaces facing against each other; a plurality of light strips arranged on one of the inner surfaces; and an interlayer film disposed on the peripheries of the two inner surfaces.
The foregoing aspects and the accompanying advantages of this invention will become more readily appreciated from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the attached drawings.
The examples described herein are provided merely for purposes of illustration and are not intended to limit embodiments of the present invention.
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Continuing the above description, each light strip 14 includes a substrate 141, a plurality of light-emitting elements 142 and a plurality of electric elements 143. The substrate 141 can be a flexible circuit board, a printed circuit board or a non-flexible circuit board. The plurality of light-emitting elements 142 are disposed on the outer surface of the substrate 141. According to an embodiment, the light-emitting elements 142 can be monochromatic or color point controlled LEDs so that the light strips can have varying effects of color, text, images or animation. The plurality of electric elements 143 such as control ICs are disposed inside the substrate 141 or on an inner surface of the substrate 141 and electrically connecting the light-emitting elements 142. According to another embodiment, the control ICs may also be disposed inside the light-emitting elements 142.
The material of the transparent rigid base plates 12, 12′ can be but not limited to be glass, polycarbonate, plastic, laminated glass or laminated plastic. And the interlayer film can be but not limited to be polyvinyl butyral (PVB), ethylene naphthalate (EN), polyethylene naphthalate (PEN), ethyl vinyl acetate (EVA), poly urethane (PU), thermoplastic poly urethane (TPU) or adhesive gel. According to an embedment, the plurality of light strips 14 are held in the laminated glass formed by two transparent glasses and PVB, i.e. the light strips are fixed by glue injection. In the transparent display structure 10 formed by the laminated glass, area other than the area where the plurality of light strips 14 are disposed are transparent, providing great transparency and allowing the transparent display structure 10 of the present embodiment to have both the advantages of the color varying effect produced by the plurality of the light strips 10 and the transparency of the laminated glass. Moreover, using curved laminated glass affords the transparent display structure 10 high flexibility on shape design.
Continuing the above description and taking the material of the transparent rigid base plates 12, 12′ to be glass as an example, the hollow glass formed by disposing the interlayer film 20 on the peripheries of the two inner surfaces 121, 121′ of the two transparent rigid base plates 12, 12′ as a spacer not only lowers the manufacturing cost of the transparent display structure 10 because the plurality of light strips 14 are directly disposed on the inner surface 121′ of the transparent rigid base plate 12, but also protects the light strips 14 from the attack of external moisture and extends the life expectancy of the light strips 14 because of the sealing effect of the interlayer film 20.
According to an embodiment, besides the design configuring the plurality of light strips in the laminated glass or hollow glass for the transparent display structure, two or more laminated glasses or hollow glasses may be overlapped, or the laminated glass and the hollow glass may be overlapped together to increase the thickness of the transparent display structure and create for the light strips a multi-layered visual effect. Further, in the transparent display structure, area other than the area where the plurality of light strips are disposed is transparent, providing good transparency.
According to the foregoing description, one spirit of the present invention lies in the provided transparent display structure can be adapted to the preference or need of a user on configuring different sizes, quantities or varieties of light-emitting elements of the light strips within the transparent rigid base plates, allowing more design flexibility. Furthermore, with the curved shape design, the transparent display structure may be applied to the transparent glass curtain and interior space divider of the architectural field; the display window, lamp design and desktop decoration of the furniture field; or display panel of illumination applications. In another aspect, whether the transparent display structure is formed by the aforementioned laminated glass, hollow glass or even composite glass, it is equipped to resist ultra violet (UV) rays and infrared (IR) rays. The light strips disposed inside the laminated glass or hollow glass are protected from water and dust and have higher stability. If LEDs are used for the light-emitting elements of the light strips, the transparent display structure would have a better energy saving effect. Compared to the plain planar display structure of the prior art, the transparent display structure of the present invention opening for planar or curved shape design provides high application versatility. Also, the high transparency of the transparent display structure allows it to be used directly as the glass wall of the architectural field, and therefore the construction of the glass wall can be finished at the same time the transparent display structure is installed, providing the benefit of low construction cost.
While the invention has been described with respect to particular embodiments and specific examples thereof, it should be understood that other embodiments may fall within the spirit and scope of the invention. The scope of the invention should, therefore, be determined from the appended claims along with their full scope of equivalents.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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100216011 | Aug 2011 | TW | national |