Integrated Pressure Sensor for Flexible Displays
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional touch sensors in flexible display devices require a minimum distance between the sensor and the user's finger, limiting their flexibility and increasing the risk of delamination, especially in applications like foldable or bendable displays where deformation is significant.
Innovation Solution
Integration of a pressure sensor within the display device, utilizing a layer of pressure-sensitive material with particles whose conductivity changes upon deformation, coupled with conductor lines that detect these changes, eliminating the need for separation and enhancing mechanical flexibility.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a conventional touch sensor is used in a flexible display device, then the sensor can detect touch input, but the sensor requires a minimum distance from the user's finger which limits flexibility and increases delamination risk
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the touch sensor with the display structure by integrating the pressure-sensitive material layer and conductor lines directly into the display stack. This eliminates the need for a separate, distance-requiring sensor component, allowing the sensor to function at any distance from the finger while maintaining flexibility and reducing delamination risk through unified structural integration.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent utilizes pressure-sensitive material whose electrical conductivity changes in response to mechanical deformation (pressure application). This parameter change enables the sensor to detect touch input without requiring a minimum distance from the finger, as the conductivity change occurs directly when pressure is applied to the integrated sensor layer within the display structure.
2Ease of operation
If a separate touch sensor is integrated into the display, then touch functionality is achieved, but the display stack thickness increases and bendability is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the touch sensor components (pressure-sensitive material layer and conductor lines) with the display structure itself, integrating them into a single unified stack. This merging eliminates the need for separate sensor assemblies and reduces overall stack thickness, thereby maintaining bendability while providing touch sensing functionality.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent embeds the pressure-sensitive material layer and conductor lines within the existing display layer structure, nesting the sensor components within the display stack rather than adding them as external separate components. This nesting approach minimizes the increase in stack thickness and preserves the flexibility and bendability of the display device.
3Ease of operation
If a minimum distance is maintained between the sensor and finger, then the sensor can function, but the risk of delamination increases in flexible displays
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the sensor with the display structure by integrating the pressure-sensitive material and conductor lines directly into the display stack. This integration eliminates the gap between sensor and finger that causes delamination, as the sensor becomes part of the structural assembly that moves with the display, thereby maintaining functionality while improving reliability in flexible deformation conditions.
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
This solution reduces the thickness of the display stack, enhances bendability, and decreases the risk of delamination, allowing for sensitive touch detection without the need for a minimum distance between the sensor and the user's finger, thus enabling robust and flexible touch sensing in deformable displays.
Implementation Method 1
conductivity of the pressure sensitive material is configured to change when the layer experiences deformation
Data Source
AI summary
A display integrated pressure sensor is described. In an example, a device comprises: a display including a plurality of layers; a layer of pressure sensitive material having particles; conductivity of the pressure sensitive material is configured to change when the layer experiences deformation; a layer of conductor lines configured to detect the change of the conductivity of the pressure sensitive material; the layer of conductor lines includes a plurality of contacting points with the pressure sensitive material; the layer of pressure sensitive material and the conductor lines are configured to be integrated within the display. In other examples, a manufacturing method and a display module are discussed along with the features of the device.