Mechanical switching device of LCD light valve

Abstract

The utility model discloses a mechanical switching device of a liquid crystal display (LCD) light valve, the LCD light valve comprises an upper glass substrate, a lower glass substrate and a liquid crystal box clamped between the upper glass substrate and the lower glass substrate, and light enters from the upper glass substrate and exits from the lower glass substrate after passing through the liquid crystal box. The mechanical switching device comprises a glass plate, and the glass plate is attached to the incident surface of the upper glass substrate; the glass plate is longer than the upper glass substrate; the width of the glass plate is greater than that of the upper glass substrate; the thickness of the glass plate is greater than or equal to 0.4 mm; and the glass plate is made of optical glass with an amorphous structure. According to the utility model, the loss of the LCD light valve in the projector assembling process can be reduced to zero at a certain probability, and raw materials and workpiece replacement time are saved. Meanwhile, the direct liquid cooling technology is adopted to cool the LCD light valve, the practical problem of how to simply and efficiently assemble the LCD light valve with peripheral materials can be effectively solved, and the direct liquid cooling technology can really and effectively generate value on domestic projectors.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This utility model relates to the field of projectors, and more particularly to a mechanical adapter for an LCD light valve. Background Technology

[0002] See Figure 2 As shown, due to the special mechanical and electrical structure of the LCD light valve, the length (e.g., vertical screen) or width (e.g., horizontal screen) of the upper glass substrate 21 is always smaller than that of the lower glass substrate 23 (usually 3-6mm smaller), because the driving IC of the TFT array and the FPC cable connected to the external circuit are bonded on the lower glass substrate 23. Figure 2 The figure shown in Figure 24 is an FPC cable. The portion of the lower glass substrate 23 that is larger than (or "greater than") the upper glass substrate 21 (see Figure 24). Figure 2 The shaded area 231, because its thickness is usually in the range of 0.15-0.5mm, is brittle and has a certain probability of being damaged during the production and assembly of the projector (e.g., a few per thousand to a few per hundred). When mechanical damage such as corner breakage or breakage occurs in the area 231 of the glass substrate 23, the LCD light valve cannot display images normally and cannot be repaired. At the same time, replacing the part is also time-consuming.

[0003] Secondly, with the increasing brightness of domestically produced LCD projectors, people are constantly trying to use direct liquid cooling to dissipate heat from the LCD light valve. Currently, the light in the projector's optical path must enter from the upper glass substrate of the LCD light valve (i.e., from the color filter side) and exit from the lower glass substrate (i.e., from the TFT side); otherwise, severe image trailing will occur (the specific mechanism is common knowledge in the industry and will not be detailed here). If direct liquid cooling is used, and the outer wall of the lower glass substrate is in contact with the liquid, the heat dissipation effect is not stronger than that of traditional air cooling (the specific mechanism will not be detailed). If the surface of the upper glass substrate is in contact with the liquid, the industry has not yet found a simple, effective, and low-cost way to install and fix the LCD light valve. This is because the frame of the LCD light valve (the area around the display window) is very narrow, usually only about 0.8-1.2mm. It is difficult to achieve a leak-proof seal with the metal / plastic bracket for installing the LCD light valve. Because the bonding area is too small, the bonding force is far from sufficient. Whether it is the thermal expansion and contraction pressure of the cooling liquid in static conditions or the dynamic vibration and impact during transportation, the reliability of the seal is not high, and it is impossible to achieve the basic delivery quality for mass production. Utility Model Content

[0004] This invention provides a mechanical transfer device for an LCD light valve. In this invention, a glass plate is attached to the surface of the upper glass substrate. When the LCD light valve is installed, the structural device for fixing the LCD light valve (such as a plastic bracket, metal bracket, or common structural form such as a slot) only needs to contact the glass plate, without having to make substantial contact with the upper and lower glass substrates. Therefore, the LCD light valve is not subjected to additional complex stress, thus eliminating the loss of the LCD light valve in the projection process.

[0005] The specific technical solution adopted in this utility model is as follows:

[0006] A mechanical switching device for an LCD light valve, the LCD light valve comprising an upper glass substrate, a lower glass substrate, and a liquid crystal cell sandwiched between the upper and lower glass substrates, wherein light enters from the upper glass substrate, passes through the liquid crystal cell, and exits from the lower glass substrate;

[0007] The mechanical adapter includes a glass plate that is attached to the incident surface of the upper glass substrate; the length of the glass plate is greater than the length of the upper glass substrate; the width of the glass plate is greater than the width of the upper glass substrate; the thickness of the glass plate is ≥0.4mm; and the material of the glass plate is amorphous optical glass.

[0008] Preferably, when the glass plate is bonded to the incident surface of the upper glass substrate, transparent optical adhesive or ultraviolet adhesive is used for bonding and curing.

[0009] The beneficial effects of this utility model are:

[0010] 1. This utility model involves attaching a glass plate to the surface of the upper glass substrate, through which the LCD light valve is installed inside the projector. During installation, the LCD light valve will not make substantial contact with the upper and lower glass substrates, nor will it be subject to additional complex stress, thus eliminating the loss of the LCD light valve during the projector assembly process. This utility model can reduce the probability of loss of the LCD light valve during the projector assembly process to zero, saving raw materials and replacement time.

[0011] 2. When the glass plate of this utility model is bonded to the incident surface of the upper glass substrate, transparent optical adhesive or ultraviolet adhesive is used for bonding and curing, which can easily realize automated production and the increased overall cost is extremely low.

[0012] 3. This utility model allows for simple and convenient connection to a metal bracket employing liquid cooling. A sealed cavity for filling with coolant is formed between the metal bracket and the glass plate. The coolant is in contact with the glass plate. Despite the significant thermal resistance of the glass plate in the thickness direction, even with a projector outputting 1000 lumens of luminous flux, ANSI uniformity of 80%, a glass plate thickness of 0.5-0.7mm, H-K9L material with a thermal conductivity of 1.2w / m·k, and a 4.5-inch LCD light valve, the temperature increase during heat transfer via the glass plate (in the thickness direction) is only 2-3℃, having no substantial impact on the heat dissipation effect of the LCD light valve. Therefore, this utility model effectively solves the practical problem of how to achieve simple and efficient assembly of the LCD light valve with surrounding materials using direct liquid cooling technology, enabling direct liquid cooling technology to truly and effectively generate value in domestically produced projectors. Attached Figure Description

[0013] To more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of this utility model or the prior art, the drawings used in the description of the embodiments or the prior art will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments recorded in this utility model. For those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without creative effort.

[0014] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the mechanical transfer device for the LCD light valve of this utility model;

[0015] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of the LCD light valve's outline (including a side view);

[0016] Figure 3 A breakdown diagram showing common installation methods for LCD light valves in existing domestic LCD projectors;

[0017] Figure 4 for Figure 3 A diagram showing the completed assembly;

[0018] Figure 5 This is a schematic diagram illustrating the application of this invention to direct liquid cooling of an LCD light valve.

[0019] Explanation of the above figure labels:

[0020] 1. Glass plate, 21. Upper glass substrate, 22. Liquid crystal cell, 23. Lower glass substrate, 231. Area, 24. FPC cable, 3. Plastic bracket, 31. Inverted, 4. Metal bracket, 5. Coolant. Detailed Implementation

[0021] To enable those skilled in the art to better understand the technical solution of this utility model, the present utility model will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. The description in this part is only exemplary and explanatory, and should not be used to limit the scope of protection of this utility model in any way.

[0022] It should be noted that similar labels and letters in the following figures indicate similar items. Therefore, once an item is defined in one figure, it does not need to be further defined and explained in subsequent figures.

[0023] It should be noted that the terms "center," "upper," "lower," "left," "right," "vertical," "horizontal," "inner," and "outer," etc., indicate the orientation or positional relationship based on the orientation or positional relationship shown in the accompanying drawings, or the orientation or positional relationship commonly used when the product is in use. They are only for the convenience of describing the present invention and simplifying the description, and do not indicate or imply that the device or element referred to must have a specific orientation, or be constructed and operated in a specific orientation. Therefore, they should not be construed as limitations on the present invention. In addition, the terms "first," "second," and "third," etc., are only used to distinguish descriptions and should not be construed as indicating or implying relative importance.

[0024] Furthermore, terms such as "horizontal," "vertical," and "sag" do not imply that components must be absolutely horizontal or suspended, but rather that they can be slightly tilted. For example, "horizontal" simply means that its direction is more horizontal relative to "vertical," and does not mean that the structure must be completely horizontal, but can be slightly tilted.

[0025] In the description of this utility model, it should also be noted that, unless otherwise explicitly specified and limited, the terms "set," "install," "connect," and "link" should be interpreted broadly. For example, they can refer to a fixed connection, a detachable connection, or an integral connection; they can refer to a mechanical connection or an electrical connection; they can refer to a direct connection or an indirect connection through an intermediate medium; and they can refer to the internal connection of two components. Those skilled in the art can understand the specific meaning of the above terms in this utility model based on the specific circumstances.

[0026] Example 1

[0027] See Figure 1As shown (arrows in the figure represent the direction of light travel from the projector), this embodiment provides a mechanical switching device for an LCD light valve. The LCD light valve includes an upper glass substrate 21, a lower glass substrate 23, and a liquid crystal cell 22 sandwiched between the upper glass substrate 21 and the lower glass substrate 23. Light enters from the upper glass substrate 21, passes through the liquid crystal cell 22, and exits from the lower glass substrate 23. It should be noted that the glass substrate 21 is defined in the industry as a piece of glass with main microstructures such as a color filter array, a black frame (BM array), and a common electrode (ITO) fabricated on its inner wall surface. Correspondingly, the glass substrate 23 is defined in the industry as a piece of glass with main microstructures such as a TFT array fabricated on its inner wall surface.

[0028] This embodiment provides a mechanical adapter for an LCD light valve, comprising a glass plate 1, wherein the glass plate 1 is attached to the incident surface of the upper glass substrate 21, the length of the glass plate 1 is greater than the length of the upper glass substrate 21, the width of the glass plate 1 is greater than the width of the upper glass substrate 21, the thickness of the glass plate 1 is ≥0.4mm, and the material of the glass plate 1 is amorphous optical glass.

[0029] See Figure 3 , Figure 4 The installation method of the LCD light valve in existing domestic LCD projectors is shown. This structural design is very simple and universal. In fact, it utilizes the low rigidity of plastic (such as ABS, ABS+PC, etc.) after injection molding, which gives it a certain degree of deformation elasticity or extensibility under external force. After the plastic bracket 3 is appropriately stretched and deformed, the LCD light valve is snapped into the inverted clips 31 (the number of inverted clips 31 is usually 3-4), thus realizing the installation of the LCD light valve. Then the plastic bracket 3 is installed into the projector. However, in the projector process, mechanical damage such as corner breakage and breakage of the lower glass substrate 23 (i.e., area 231) cannot be avoided, resulting in physical damage to the LCD light valve. At the same time, replacement is also relatively time-consuming.

[0030] In this embodiment, after a glass plate 1 is attached to the surface of the upper glass substrate 21, the LCD light valve is installed inside the projector through the glass plate 1, such as... Figure 3 , Figure 4 The common installation method and structure shown here only requires the inverted clip 31 to hold the glass plate 1 in place, without any substantial contact with the upper glass substrate 21 and the lower glass substrate 23. The LCD light valve is not subjected to additional complex stresses, such as thermal expansion and contraction of the plastic bracket 3 or impacts during transportation, thus eliminating wear and tear on the LCD light valve during the projector assembly process. This embodiment reduces the probability of LCD light valve wear during projector assembly to zero, saving raw materials and replacement time. Furthermore, if the glass plate 1 experiences abnormalities such as broken corners or localized edge damage, it will not affect the image quality of the projector, and it can still be delivered to the market.

[0031] In this embodiment, when the LCD light valve is installed inside the projector using the glass plate 1, a slot that matches the glass plate 1 can be provided inside the projector, or the glass plate 1 can be snapped into a plastic bracket 3 similar to the existing one using the existing snap-fit ​​31, and then the plastic bracket 3 can be installed inside the projector. The specific method is not limited.

[0032] In this preferred embodiment, when the glass plate 1 is bonded to the incident surface of the upper glass substrate 21, transparent optical adhesive (also known in the industry as OCA) or ultraviolet adhesive (UV adhesive) is used for bonding and curing. This can easily achieve automated production, and the increased overall cost is extremely low (for example, the upper glass substrate 21 of BOE's 3.5-inch LCD light valve has a size of 80.9mm*48.31mm, and the glass plate 1 is made of domestic H-K9L glass with a size of 85mm*53mm and a thickness of 0.7mm. The increased cost is less than one yuan, while the purchase price of the LCD light valve is as high as 65 yuan). Compared with the labor cost of damaging the LCD light valve and causing the replacement process, it is still more cost-effective.

[0033] Example 2

[0034] As mentioned earlier, regarding the direct liquid cooling method for LCD light valves, the industry has not yet found a simple, effective, and low-cost installation and fixing method for LCD light valves (there are many practical innovations in liquid cooling technology, but none have been actually launched into the market; however, there are indeed liquid cooling products with false advertising). See also Figure 5 As shown in the figure, 4 represents the metal support and 5 represents the coolant. This type of design is also the basic manufacturing form of direct liquid cooling. Generally speaking, it is necessary for the surface of the upper glass substrate 21 to be in contact with the liquid (because the heat dissipation effect of the lower glass substrate 23 being in contact with the liquid is not significant). Obviously, because the bonding area between the upper glass substrate 21 and the metal support 4 is too small, it is impossible to reliably prevent leakage, and therefore it is not meaningful for mass production. In this embodiment, the metal support 4 is connected to the glass plate 1 (such as by simply bonding with silicone rubber), which can easily solve the problem of bonding area and thus achieve reliable leakage prevention.

[0035] Although the heat transfer capability of glass plate 1 in the thickness direction is not good in this embodiment, even if the projector outputs a luminous flux of 1000 lumens (with known thermal power) and an ANSI uniformity of 80% (with known quantitative heat distribution), the thickness of glass plate 1 is 0.5-0.7 mm, the thermal conductivity is 1.2 W / m·K, the material is H-K9L, and the LCD light valve is 4.5 inches (with known heat transfer cross-section), the temperature increase of glass plate 1 (in the thickness direction) due to conductive thermal resistance is only 2-3°C (compared to the incident surface of the upper glass substrate 21 directly contacting the coolant 5). This has no essential impact on the heat dissipation effect of the LCD light valve. Therefore, this embodiment of the product using direct liquid cooling technology to cool the LCD light valve can effectively solve the practical problem of how to achieve simple and efficient assembly of the LCD light valve with surrounding materials, achieve reliable leak prevention, and enable direct liquid cooling technology to truly and effectively generate value in domestic projectors.

[0036] See also CN113376939A, which discloses a light valve heat dissipation device and a fully sealed LCD projection optical engine. Its core innovation is the bonding of sapphire glass to the surface of the LCD light valve to facilitate heat transfer. Specifically, the high in-plane thermal conductivity of the sapphire glass transfers heat from the LCD light valve to the surrounding area of ​​the sapphire glass, and then to the structural support (similar to...). Figure 5 The metal bracket 4 in this invention rapidly diffuses the heat from the LCD light valve into the air through the structural bracket. This is fundamentally different from the present invention. Firstly, the glass plate 1 in this invention is not an expensive crystal (currently, sapphire glass is obtained by cutting wafers into rectangular shapes, and because Fresnel loss is too high, an anti-reflection coating must be applied. Furthermore, the light valve size of domestic single LCD projectors is particularly large, so sapphire glass has very low market acceptance due to cost, resulting in limited practicality), but rather ordinary optical glass. It also does not have the ability to conduct heat over long distances in the plane (such as from the center to the edge of the display window). At the same time, this invention provides a simple and efficient solution for assembling the LCD light valve with the metal bracket 4 to solve problems such as damage and leakage during LCD light valve installation and to provide a direct liquid cooling method.

[0037] It should be noted that, in this document, the terms “comprising,” “including,” or any other variations thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements includes not only those elements but also other elements not expressly listed, or elements inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus.

[0038] This article uses specific examples to illustrate the principles and implementation methods of this utility model. The above examples are only for the purpose of helping to understand the method and core ideas of this utility model. The above are only preferred embodiments of this utility model. It should be noted that due to the limitations of textual expression, while there are objectively infinite specific structures, those skilled in the art can make several improvements, modifications, or changes without departing from the principles of this utility model, and can also combine the above technical features in an appropriate manner. These improvements, modifications, changes, or combinations, or the direct application of the concept and technical solution of the utility model to other occasions without modification, should all be considered within the protection scope of this utility model.

Claims

1. A mechanical switching device for an LCD light valve, the LCD light valve comprising an upper glass substrate (21), a lower glass substrate (23), and a liquid crystal cell (22) sandwiched between the upper glass substrate (21) and the lower glass substrate (23), wherein light enters from the upper glass substrate (21), passes through the liquid crystal cell (22), and exits from the lower glass substrate (23), characterized in that: The mechanical transfer device includes a glass plate (1) that is in contact with the incident surface of the upper glass substrate (21); the length of the glass plate (1) is greater than the length of the upper glass substrate (21); the width of the glass plate (1) is greater than the width of the upper glass substrate (21); the thickness of the glass plate (1) is ≥0.4mm; and the material of the glass plate (1) is amorphous optical glass.

2. The mechanical adapter for an LCD light valve according to claim 1, characterized in that, When the glass plate (1) is bonded to the incident surface of the upper glass substrate (21), transparent optical adhesive or ultraviolet adhesive is used for bonding and curing.

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