Flex-Tolerant Structure for Foldable Display Panels
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing display panel structures with bent or folded driving circuits often experience broken electrical traces due to mechanical stress, leading to faulty connections and reduced reliability.
Innovation Solution
A flex-tolerant structure featuring a flexible substrate with spaced, insulated traces that include a stretch-resistant layer and a metal layer, allowing for repeated bending without significant resistance change, maintaining conductivity through cracks in the metal layer.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Shape
If a bent or folded structure is used to fold the driving circuit, then the border width is reduced and screen-to-body ratio is increased, but the electrical traces may be broken and faulty
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses a composite trace structure consisting of a metal layer and an elastic conductive layer. The metal layer provides electrical conductivity while the elastic conductive layer provides flexibility and crack resistance. This composite material approach allows the trace to maintain electrical connectivity during bending operations, resolving the contradiction between achieving narrow borders through folding and maintaining trace reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs a flexible substrate and elastic conductive layer that can accommodate bending deformations. The elastic conductive layer acts as a flexible protective shell that prevents the rigid metal layer from cracking during folding, enabling the display panel to achieve narrow borders while maintaining electrical trace integrity through the flexible structure.
2Shape
If repeated bending is performed to achieve narrow border, then the border width is reduced, but the electrical traces break and become faulty
Solution Approach 1:
The composite trace structure with metal layer and elastic conductive layer provides both electrical conductivity and bending resistance. The elastic conductive layer absorbs bending stress through elastic deformation, preventing the metal layer from breaking, thus maintaining trace strength during repeated bending operations while achieving narrow borders.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the physical parameters of the trace by using an elastic conductive layer with appropriate elasticity modulus and thickness. This parameter optimization allows the trace to withstand repeated bending stresses without breaking, maintaining strength requirements while enabling the folding structure for narrow borders.
Data Source
AI summary
A flex-tolerant structure includes a flexible and foldable substrate and traces on the substrate. Each trace includes a stretch-resistant layer and a metal layer covering the stretch-resistant layer, electrical flow can persist through these layers even if the traces are fractured. A display panel is also disclosed.