Patterned Glass Window Structure for Invisible Foldable Display Patterns
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing flexible electronic devices face challenges in maintaining surface quality and visibility of patterns on foldable windows, which can compromise user experience and functionality.
Innovation Solution
A method for manufacturing a window with invisible patterns by forming grooves on a glass surface using a laser beam and filling them with resin, creating a patterned glass structure that enhances surface quality and flexibility.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If patterns are formed on the window surface to ensure flexibility of foldable devices, then flexibility is improved, but surface quality and visibility deteriorate due to visible patterns
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by creating grooves with different widths at different locations. The first groove has a wider width at the upper surface for resin filling, while the second groove has a narrower width extending downward for flexibility. This localized variation in groove dimensions allows the pattern to be invisible from the front while maintaining flexibility functionality.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions from two-dimensional surface patterns to three-dimensional subsurface grooves. By extending grooves downward from the upper surface into the window thickness, the flexibility function is achieved through volumetric structure rather than surface markings, making patterns invisible from the front while maintaining adaptability.
2Manufacturing precision
If grooves are formed on the glass surface to create invisible patterns, then surface quality is improved, but manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces traditional mechanical patterning methods with laser beam processing. The laser beam directly ablates or modifies the glass surface to create grooves of varying widths without mechanical contact, simplifying the manufacturing process while achieving high precision invisible patterns.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent utilizes parameter changes in the laser beam (such as power, pulse duration, scanning speed) to create grooves with different widths at different locations. By modulating laser parameters during processing, the system achieves complex groove geometries in a single pass, reducing manufacturing complexity.
3Reliability
If patterns are made visible to ensure functionality, then flexibility is maintained, but aesthetic appeal deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces resin as an intermediary material filled into the grooves. The resin has a refractive index matched to the glass, making the groove boundaries invisible from the front while maintaining the structural flexibility function. This intermediary layer bridges the gap between aesthetic requirements and functional needs.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent exploits optical property changes, specifically refractive index matching, to make the pattern invisible. By filling grooves with resin having similar optical properties to glass, the patterns become imperceptible from the front while maintaining their structural function for flexibility.
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 provides a window with improved surface quality and flexibility, ensuring seamless integration with flexible electronic devices while maintaining aesthetic appeal and functional integrity.
Implementation Method 1
forming, on an upper surface of a glass, a plurality of patterns disposed in a first direction and extending in a second direction crossing the first direction by irradiating the glass with a laser beam
Implementation Method 2
the resin may be filled into the patterns through capillarity
Data Source
AI summary
A display device includes a display panel and a patterned glass disposed on the display panel and including a first non-patterned part, a patterned part, and a second non-patterned part, which are arranged in a first direction. A first groove extending in a second direction crossing the first direction in a plan view, and a second groove extending from the first groove toward a lower surface of the patterned part are defined in an upper surface of the patterned part, and a width of the first groove in the first direction may be smaller than a width of the second groove.