JPH023530Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display device. More specifically, the present invention relates to a liquid crystal display device that is resistant to external shocks, easy to manufacture, lightweight, convenient to carry, and has a wide viewing angle.

2. Description of the Related Art Liquid crystal display devices have conventionally been known to have a structure in which a liquid crystal display panel having an inorganic glass substrate is housed together with other components in a sturdy case made of metal or hard synthetic resin. Since known liquid crystal display devices are equipped with liquid crystal display panels using inorganic glass as a substrate, they are heavy and easily breakable due to external shocks, requiring careful handling. Disadvantages include the difficulty of bending and other free-form processing during manufacturing, and the need for a sturdy storage case to protect the inorganic glass display panel, making it heavy and inconvenient to carry. Ta. Furthermore, when using inorganic glass as a substrate for liquid crystal display panels with curved surfaces such as concave or convex surfaces, it is difficult to process, resulting in uneven thickness, and poor display uniformity in the gap of overlay. There is a risk of display defects due to uneven hues and lighting, and in addition, production costs are high as special measures are required for applying resist and alignment agents to curved surfaces, vapor deposition of alignment films, rubbing, etc. Particularly in the case of a display panel with a large display area, since the weight is heavy, a sturdier support plate is required to support it.

Instead of using inorganic glass as the substrate of the liquid crystal display panel, this invention uses a flexible polymer film that is lightweight, has excellent bending and other processability, and can withstand external impacts, and takes advantage of its processability. A liquid crystal display panel with a curved surface is attached and fixed to a support plate, and if necessary, the entire structure is covered with a protective cover made of a flexible polymer film, which eliminates the above-mentioned drawbacks of conventional products. The present invention provides a display device.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained based on the drawings showing one embodiment thereof.

FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a liquid crystal display device according to the present invention, which includes a liquid crystal display panel having a concave circular curved surface. In the figure, 1 is the upper substrate of the liquid crystal display panel, 2
are lower substrates, each of which is made of a polymer film that is lighter and more flexible than inorganic glass, such as polyethylene terephthalate film, polybutylene terephthalate film, polyether sulfone film, or polycarbonate film. A transparent conductive film made of indium oxide, tin oxide, etc. is formed by means. The transparent conductive film is processed into a predetermined pattern, and is further coated with an alignment agent, a gapping agent, etc., such as a reaction product of a known saturated polyester and a reinforcing agent. 3 is a sealing material that connects the upper substrate 1 and the lower substrate 2.
A liquid crystal 4 is sealed in the gap between the upper and lower substrates, which are stacked one above the other.
5 and 6 are an upper polarizing plate and a lower polarizing plate, respectively, which are installed as necessary on the outside of the upper substrate 1 and the lower substrate 2;
7 is a reflecting plate installed on the back surface of the lower polarizing plate.
It is also possible to omit the reflecting plate 7 by providing a thin film of a material with good light reflectivity, such as aluminum, on the polarizing plate side of the switch plate 12, which will be described later, by vapor deposition or sputtering. Reference numeral 8 denotes a circuit board made of a flexible polymer film on which a circuit device (not shown) for driving the liquid crystal display panel made up of the above-mentioned constituent members is mounted; 9 provides conduction between the upper substrate 1 and the circuit board 8; For example, it is a zebra contact, a heat seal connector, or a conductive member made of a conductive adhesive.
Note that hot-melt conductive adhesives are superior in terms of ease of manufacture and reliable connection. There is also a method of applying a heat seal connector agent to the terminal electrodes of the upper and lower substrates and directly thermocompression bonding the upper and lower substrates to the circuit board 8 to establish continuity. Reference numeral 10 denotes a flexible support plate having a concave curved surface and made of, for example, plastic or a light metal film such as aluminum, to which the back surface of the circuit board 8 is tightly fixed via an adhesive. As shown in the perspective view of FIG. 2, the support plate 10 is shaped so that when pressed with a finger, the central portion 10a can be elastically deformed to become a convex surface A or a concave surface B. This device can be applied to either a liquid crystal display device having a convex circular curved surface or a liquid crystal display device having a convex circular curved surface. 11 serves to cover and protect the entire curved liquid crystal display panel including the support plate 10 when necessary, such as a polyvinylidene chloride film or a polyester film with low gas permeability.
Nylon film, fluororesin film, or
The protective cover is made of a laminate film of polyethylene and polycarbonate, polyethylene and polyester, etc., and the liquid crystal display part is made of a transparent polymer film.

FIG. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view of another liquid crystal display device according to the present invention, which has a convex circular curved surface and has a switch mechanism located at the bottom of the liquid crystal display panel.
That is, unlike the liquid crystal display device shown in FIG. 1, this example is different from the liquid crystal display device shown in FIG. A circuit board 8 made of a flexible synthetic resin is provided on which is loaded a liquid crystal display panel (not shown), and electrodes 14 are attached to the circuit board 8, and these are closely fixed to a convex support plate 10 together with a liquid crystal display panel. The entire liquid crystal display device is covered and protected with a protective cover 11 made of a flexible polymer film, and if the liquid crystal display panel is pressed through the protective cover 11 or the support plate 10 is pressed, a short circuit will occur and the display will blink. It has a structure that allows it to be used.

A liquid crystal display device including a liquid crystal display panel having a concave or convex circular curved surface can be manufactured, for example, as follows. Taking as an example a liquid crystal display device having a concave circular curved surface shown in FIG. 1, as shown in a schematic cross-sectional view in FIG. The support plate 10 is deformed into a concave shape and placed on the concave surface, the periphery of the support plate 10 is coated with, for example, an adhesive (not shown), the flat liquid crystal display panel is placed thereon, and the mounting frame 15a,
For example, a strong thick rubber 16 is attached to the cover 15a, and vacuum suction is carried out through an exhaust hole 15b provided in the covering concave support base 15. Through such operations, as shown in FIG. 5, the liquid crystal display panel is closely deformed along the concave curved surface of the support base material 15 by atmospheric pressure acting through the rubber, so that it has a concave circular curved surface and is supported on the support plate 10. A liquid crystal display device is completed. Next, it is taken out from the supporting base material 15, sandwiched between two protective covers 11, 11 made of flexible polymer films by a known method, the peripheral edges 11a, 11a are heat-sealed, and further covered with a vacuum pack method. Laminate the top and bottom in close contact. By covering the protective cover 11 made of polymer film in this way, the entire liquid crystal display panel is protected and its impact resistance is reinforced, and it also has the advantage of being extremely lightweight compared to conventional products that are housed in a sturdy case. There is.

As the adhesive for fixing between the liquid crystal display panel and the support plate 10 used in the above manufacturing, an anaerobic adhesive is preferable because it allows the two to be bonded together in a vacuum. Alternatively, instead of applying an adhesive, a double-sided adhesive tape may be applied to the support plate 10, and a liquid crystal display panel including a circuit board may be laminated thereon and fixed by pressure bonding.

The above example describes the case of manufacturing a liquid crystal display device with a concave circular curved surface, but when manufacturing a liquid crystal display device with a convex circular curved surface, a convex support base material is used, and a support deformed into a convex shape is used. Use a board.

In manufacturing a liquid crystal display device having a concave or convex circular curved surface as described above, the gap between the upper substrate 1 and the lower substrate 2 containing the liquid crystal in the liquid crystal display panel is secured as follows. . That is, this is a method in which transparent synthetic resin beads of uniform particle size are used as a gap material and are dispersed almost evenly between the upper and lower substrates. An example of such synthetic resin beads is Micropearl (trade name, chemical name: polystyrene divinylbenzene, manufactured by Sekisui Hua In Chemical Co., Ltd.). Examples of other gap materials include glass fibers crushed into lengths of several tens of microns, silica gel powder, etc. By incorporating these gap materials between the upper and lower substrates, the liquid crystal display panel Gap can be secured in bending process. Note that when the liquid crystal display panel is bent to form a curved surface as in the liquid crystal display device of the present invention, the outer side, that is, the lower substrate 1, is bent toward the side edge, and the inner side, that is, the upper substrate 2 is bent toward the center. Since bending stress is applied in the direction (when a concave circular curved surface is formed and vice versa when a convex circular curved surface is formed), forces act in a direction that narrows the gap. Therefore, it is easier to maintain the gap distance with a curved surface. Therefore, the display function is not impaired even when a circularly curved surface having an uneven shape is formed.

As described above, in the liquid crystal display device of the present invention, a liquid crystal display panel with a concave or convex circular curved surface is attached to the surface of a flexible polymer film substrate, and the entire device can be assembled as needed. This product is reinforced with a protective cover made of a flexible polymer film, and has a curved surface compared to conventional products that use an inorganic glass substrate that is difficult to process and is susceptible to cracking or damage. It has the advantages of being easy to process, offering a high degree of freedom in design, being lightweight and convenient to carry, and being resistant to external shocks.

Furthermore, the blinking display on the liquid crystal display panel can be switched by pressing the switch mechanism from the outside through the flexible protective cover 11, or by pressing the switch mechanism from the outside through the flexible protective cover 1.
This can be done by pressing 1 across the flexible display panel. Furthermore, since the liquid crystal display surface has a curved shape, it is possible to compensate for poor viewing angle characteristics of the display panel, for example in the case of a concave surface.Especially when performing multiplex drive with dynamic drive, it is possible to compensate for poor viewing angle characteristics of the display panel. This can prevent the selected segment from appearing lit. Also, since the distances from the eyes are equal, it is easier to see displayed characters, etc. On the other hand, a convex surface has the advantage that displayed characters can be viewed from a wide angle.

By standardizing part or all of the lower board, switch board, circuit board, battery electrode board, etc.,
It can also be made thinner. It is also possible to use transparent materials for the switch board, circuit board, electrodes, etc. to make the display device entirely transmissive.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing one example of the liquid crystal display device of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a support plate, and FIG. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing another example of the liquid crystal display device of the present invention. 4 and 5 are schematic cross-sectional views showing the manufacturing state of the liquid crystal display device shown in FIG. 1. 1... Upper substrate, 2... Lower substrate, 3... Seal material, 4...
Liquid crystal, 5... Upper polarizing plate, 6... Lower polarizing plate, 7... Reflecting plate, 8... Circuit board, 9... Conductive member, 10... Support plate,
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11... Protective cover, 12... Switch board, 13... Spacer, 14... Electrode, 15... Support base material, 16...
rubber.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] A liquid crystal display panel whose substrate is made of a flexible polymer film and whose surface is circularly curved and capable of displaying a curved surface, a circuit board made of a flexible polymer film on which a circuit device for driving the liquid crystal display panel is mounted, and a liquid crystal display. A liquid crystal display device comprising: a conductive member that connects a panel and a circuit board; and a curved support plate that laminates these components.