Flexible Display Panel with Retractable Arm Sections
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current flexible display devices lack a practical mechanism to seamlessly switch between flat and curved configurations, limiting their versatility and user experience in applications such as smartphones and tablets.
Innovation Solution
A display apparatus featuring a flexible display panel with retractable arm sections and an included angle controller, allowing the panel to transition between flat and curved configurations, and optionally incorporating peripheral display panels and ancillary folding arms for enhanced functionality.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a flexible display panel is used to enable bending and deformation, then adaptability and versatility are improved, but device complexity increases due to the need for additional support structures and control mechanisms
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies dynamics by making the support panels rotatable relative to the central display panel, enabling the display to transition between flat and curved configurations. The arm sections are designed to be movable rather than fixed, allowing dynamic reconfiguration of the display apparatus to adapt to different usage scenarios.
Solution Approach 2:
The support structure is segmented into multiple independent components including a central support panel, arm sections with joints, and peripheral display panels. This segmentation allows each component to move and rotate independently, facilitating the transition between configurations while managing overall system complexity through modular design.
2Adaptability or versatility
If retractable arm sections are added to enable configuration changes, then adaptability is improved, but device complexity and structural complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The arm sections are designed with nested joints where one arm section rotates relative to another through articulated connections. This nesting of rotational joints within the arm structure allows compact storage of the mechanism when not in use and enables smooth transitions between configurations without requiring excessive space or complex external linkages.
Solution Approach 2:
The arm sections incorporate rotatable joints that allow dynamic adjustment of angles and positions. This dynamic capability enables the support structure to adapt to different configurations (flat, curved, folded) while maintaining structural integrity, resolving the contradiction between adaptability and complexity through controlled mechanical motion.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the flexible display panel is deformed between flat and curved configurations, then adaptability is improved, but reliability may worsen due to repeated deformation and stress on the display panel
Solution Approach 1:
The patent incorporates support panels and arm sections that provide structural cushioning and protection to the flexible display panel during deformation. These support structures absorb and distribute the mechanical stress generated during configuration transitions, preventing excessive strain on the display panel itself and thereby protecting its reliability over repeated use cycles.
Solution Approach 2:
The flexible display panel is integrated with flexible support structures that can deform in coordination with the display panel. This coordinated flexibility ensures that the support structure follows the panel's deformation without creating stress concentration points, thereby protecting the display panel from damage while enabling configuration changes.
Data Source
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AI summary
A display apparatus is disclosed. The display apparatus comprises a flexible display panel capable of undergoing deformation between a flat configuration in which the flexible display panel is substantially flat and a curved configuration in which the flexible display panel is curved, and a first arm section (320) and a second arm section (330) for deforming the flexible display panel between the flat configuration and the curved configuration. Each of the first arm section (320) and the second arm section (330) comprises a first terminal and a second terminal, the first terminal of the first arm section (320) and the first terminal of the second arm section (330) coupled to each other, and the second terminal of the first arm section (320) and the second terminal of the second arm section (330) coupled to the flexible display panel on a side distal to a light emitting surface of the flexible display panel and at two opposite margins of the flexible display panel, respectively.