Hinged Device Flexible Substrate Support Plates
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing hinged electronic devices face challenges in providing uniform mechanical support for flexible displays during bending operations, limiting deformation within a predefined radius, and efficiently transferring electrical signals across the hinge while maintaining a compact device thickness.
Innovation Solution
A hinge mechanism that includes a flexible substrate with conductive and insulative layers, dynamically transforming and changing length as the device housings pivot, coupled with support plates that provide mechanical support and allow the flexible display to form a service loop, ensuring reliable signal transfer and preventing damage during folding.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Volume of moving object
If a flexible display is used in a hinged device, then the device can be folded to compact form, but the flexible display requires uniform mechanical support during bending to prevent damage and memory effects
Solution Approach 1:
The support structure is segmented into multiple support plates distributed along the hinge region. Each support plate provides localized mechanical support to the flexible display at critical bending zones, ensuring uniform support throughout the folding operation while maintaining a compact overall device structure.
Solution Approach 2:
Support plates are introduced as intermediary elements between the flexible display and the hinge mechanism. These plates transfer and distribute mechanical forces uniformly across the flexible display during bending, preventing direct concentration of stress that could cause damage or memory effects.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the flexible substrate is allowed to deform freely during hinge operation, then the device achieves compact folding, but the flexible substrate may develop memory effects or damage without proper constraints
Solution Approach 1:
The support plates are positioned to dynamically accommodate the flexible substrate's deformation during hinge operation. The plates provide constraints that guide the bending path and prevent excessive or irregular deformation, allowing the device to achieve compact folding while maintaining substrate integrity through controlled dynamic support.
3Reliability
If support structures are added to protect the flexible display, then mechanical support is improved, but the device thickness increases
Solution Approach 1:
The support structure utilizes thin support plates that provide necessary mechanical support while minimizing thickness increase. These thin plates are strategically positioned to provide support only where needed during bending, avoiding excessive bulk while ensuring display protection.
Data Source
AI summary
An electronic device includes a first device housing and a second device housing. A hinge couples the first device housing to the second device housing. The first device housing is pivotable about the hinge relative to the second device housing. The hinge separates a first chamber defined by the first device housing and a second chamber defined by the second device housing. A flexible substrate passes through the first chamber and the second chamber. The flexible substrate spans the hinge, either by passing through or around a hinge housing. The flexible substrate deforms to a curvilinear deformed state within one or both of the first chamber or the second chamber when the first device housing and the second device housing pivot about the hinge from a closed position to an axially displaced open position.