Flexible Display Window Structure With Cylindrical Glass for Bend Durability

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Solution Overview

Problem

Flexible displays made of transparent polyimide or ultra-thin glass are prone to damage from repetitive bending and external impacts, leading to increased risk of cracking and detachment of protective films due to low impact strength and high bending resistance.

Innovation Solution

Incorporation of cylindrical glass members embedded in optically clear resin, with a polymer coating and bundling members to enhance impact strength and reduce bending resistance, while maintaining transparency.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If a rigid housing structure is used to protect internal components, then reliability is improved, but adaptability deteriorates

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveprotection of internal componentsVSAvoidflexibility of device configurations

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSAdaptability or versatility

Solution Approach 1:

The patent employs a flexible housing structure that can bend and deform to accommodate different folding configurations of the display panel. This flexible housing maintains protection for internal components while enabling various form factors including folded, unfolded, and partially folded states, thereby resolving the contradiction between structural protection and configuration adaptability.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #30Flexible shells and thin films

Solution Approach 2:

The housing structure is designed with dynamic characteristics, allowing it to transition between different rigid and flexible states. The housing can maintain a rigid protective state when the display is in stable configurations while allowing controlled deformation during folding operations, thus achieving both component protection and configuration versatility.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #15Dynamics

2Adaptability or versatility

If a flexible display panel is implemented to enable folding, then adaptability is improved, but manufacturing precision deteriorates

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvefolding capabilityVSAvoidalignment of display elements

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSManufacturing precision

Solution Approach 1:

The display panel is divided into multiple segments or zones with different flexibility characteristics. Critical areas requiring high precision alignment are designed with greater rigidity, while non-critical areas allow more flexibility. This segmentation enables the display to achieve folding adaptability while maintaining manufacturing precision in essential regions.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

Different regions of the display panel and housing are assigned different mechanical properties. Areas requiring precise alignment during manufacturing are designed with local rigidity, while other areas are designed to be more flexible to enable folding. This local differentiation resolves the contradiction between folding capability and manufacturing precision.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #3Local quality

3Ease of operation

If the device structure is made flexible to enable folding, then ease of operation is improved, but stability deteriorates

Engineering Contradiction:

ImproveportabilityVSAvoidstructural stability

Core Design Contradiction:

Ease of operationVSStability of the object's composition

Solution Approach 1:

The device structure transitions between dynamic flexible states during folding operations and stable rigid states during use. The housing and display panel are designed to maintain structural stability when in folded or unfolded configurations, while allowing controlled flexibility during the folding process, thus achieving both portability and structural stability.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #15Dynamics

Solution Approach 2:

The design incorporates protective elements and reinforcement structures that prevent excessive deformation or damage during folding operations. These pre-designed protective features ensure that the flexible structure maintains its integrity and stability, preventing catastrophic failure while enabling portable folding configurations.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #11Beforehand cushioning (Prior cushioning)

Data Source

PatentEP4321966B1Electronic device comprising flexible display

Publication Date: 2026.04.29 SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO LTD

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AI summary

Disclosed is an electronic device including a flexible display. An electronic device according to various embodiments of the disclosure may include a flexible display including a flexible display panel which displays an image in a first direction and is capable of being flexed and unflexed, and a flexible window which is disposed in the first direction of the flexible display panel, based on the direction in which the image of the flexible display panel is displayed, and includes at least one flexible part capable of being flexed and unflexed around a bending axis and a flat part. The flat part may include a flat-plate glass member, and the flexible part may include multiple cylinder-shaped glass members oriented parallel to the bending axis on a plane surface on which the flat-plate glass member is disposed in an unflexed state of the flexible window, and an optically transparent polymer disposed in a region positioned in the first direction of the multiple cylinder-shaped glass members and a region positioned in a second direction opposite to the first direction in the flexible part, directly or indirectly coupled to the multiple cylinder-shaped glass members, and having flexibility.