Electro-wetting Display Light Guide Plate Inversion
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional electro-wetting display panels suffer from low reflectivity and limited dye selection due to solubility issues in the ink layer, hindering their ability to produce high-quality reflective displays and color images.
Innovation Solution
The electro-wetting display incorporates a light guide plate, transparent electrodes, dielectric and polar/nonpolar solution layers, and a light emitting material layer on a counter substrate, employing a transmissive technique to enhance reflectivity and allowing for the use of light emitting materials not dissolved in solution layers, thus overcoming solubility limitations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Illumination intensity
If a reflective-type electro-wetting display panel is used, then the display device can be thin and flexible, but the reflectivity is very low
Solution Approach 1:
The patent inverts the conventional reflective electro-wetting display structure by placing the light source inside the display panel rather than relying on external ambient light reflection. This inversion transforms the display from passive reflective type to active self-luminous type, fundamentally resolving the low reflectivity issue while maintaining thin and flexible characteristics
Solution Approach 2:
The light source is nested within the display panel structure, specifically positioned between the lower electrode and the lower substrate. This nesting approach allows the light-generating component to be integrated into the existing electro-wetting layers without significantly increasing overall device thickness or complexity
2Adaptability or versatility
If color dyes are mixed into the ink layer to display color images, then color representation is enabled, but the selection of color dyes is limited by solubility
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the color-dye mixing function from the ink layer and relocates it to a dedicated color conversion layer. This separation allows color materials to be selected based on optical properties rather than solubility constraints, as the color conversion layer uses solid-state phosphors or fluorophores that convert the wavelength of emitted light rather than being dissolved in the electro-wetting ink
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a light conversion material layer as an intermediary between the light source and the electro-wetting ink layer. This intermediary layer converts the wavelength of light emitted by the light source to desired colors, enabling color display without requiring color dyes to be dissolved in the ink layer, thus expanding material selection while maintaining color display quality
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This configuration significantly improves reflectivity and expands dye material selection, enabling better display quality and color representation by leveraging refractive index differences and transmissive principles.
Implementation Method 1
a light guide plate, a light source, a transparent electrode layer... The light guide plate has a light incident surface and a light output surface. The light source is disposed near the light incident surface of the light guide plate.
Implementation Method 2
The dielectric layer covers the transparent electrode layer, and the refractive index of the dielectric layer is n1. The transparent nonpolar solution layer is disposed on the dielectric layer, wherein the refractive index of the transparent nonpolar solution layer is n2, and n2≧n1.
Implementation Method 3
a transparent electrode layer... a counter electrode... The transparent polar solution layer is positioned between the light guide plate and the counter substrate.
Data Source
AI summary
An electro-wetting display device includes a light guide plate having a light incident surface and a light output surface, a light source, a transparent electrode, a dielectric layer, a transparent non-polar solution layer, a counter substrate, a light emitting material layer, a counter electrode layer and a transparent polar solution layer. The light source is disposed near the light incident surface. The transparent electrode layer is disposed on the light output surface. The dielectric layer covers the transparent electrode layer and has refractive index n1. The transparent non-polar solution layer is disposed on the dielectric layer and has refractive index n2, and n2≧n1. The counter substrate is disposed above the transparent non-polar solution layer. The light emitting material layer and the counter electrode are disposed on the counter substrate. The transparent polar solution layer is disposed between the counter substrate and the light guide plate.