Flexible Display Impact Resistance via Segmented Support Plates
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Solution Overview
Problem
Flexible display devices lack sufficient impact resistance, making them vulnerable to damage from external forces such as drops or pressure, which can lead to malfunctions or defects.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of a display device design that includes support plates with encapsulation layers and air gaps between them, which absorb external impacts and enhance the device's resistance to damage by distributing the force across the structure.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If flexible display devices use a simple single-layer support structure, then the device complexity is low and ease of manufacture is high, but the impact resistance is insufficient making the device vulnerable to damage
Solution Approach 1:
The support structure is divided into multiple separate support plates (first support plate, second support plate, third support plate) positioned at different locations beneath the display panel. Each support plate independently supports a specific region (non-folding area, folding area), distributing the impact absorption function across multiple segmented components rather than using a single complex structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The support plates are arranged in a nested configuration where the first support plate corresponds to the non-folding area, the second support plate corresponds to the folding area, and the third support plate is positioned between them. This nested arrangement allows multiple support functions to be integrated in a compact manner, improving impact resistance without proportionally increasing overall device complexity.
2Strength
If the display device uses a rigid support structure to resist impact, then impact resistance improves, but the flexibility and foldability of the display device is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
Different support plates are positioned to provide localized support where needed: the first and second support plates support the non-folding areas requiring rigid protection, while the third support plate supports the folding area allowing flexibility. This local differentiation of support quality enables the display to maintain rigidity where needed and flexibility where required, resolving the contradiction between impact resistance and foldability.
Solution Approach 2:
The support structure transitions from a static rigid design to a dynamic configuration where the third support plate in the folding area allows movement and deformation during folding operations. This dynamic capability enables the display to adapt its structural properties - rigid during normal use for impact protection, and flexible during folding for portability.
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
The solution significantly improves the impact resistance of flexible display devices, allowing them to withstand greater external forces without sustaining damage, as demonstrated by increased absorption heights in impact tests.
Implementation Method 1
at least one of the first or second plates and the first and second support plates includes the first and second layers facing each other with an air gap interposed therebetween and the encapsulation layer encapsulating the air gap. Thus, impacts applied thereto from the outside are absorbed by the air gap
Data Source
AI summary
A display device includes: a display module comprising a first non-folding area, a second non-folding area, and a folding area between the first non-folding area and the second non-folding area; a first plate under the display module at the first non-folding area; and a second plate under the display module at the second non-folding area and spaced apart from the first plate, at least one of the first or second plates comprising: a first support layer; a second support layer facing the first support layer; and an encapsulation layer between the first and second support layers along an edge of the first and second support layers and encapsulating a separation space formed between the first and second support layers in a corresponding non-folding area of the first and second non-folding areas.