Scale With Concealed Matrix Display
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing scales for household and personal use face limitations in design freedom due to the need for glass support plates to accommodate covert LED displays, which restrict material choices and create design constraints.
Innovation Solution
A scale design featuring a support plate composed of a carrier body with integrated LED display elements, where the LEDs are concealed within the plate, allowing for a variety of materials and a seamless, undisturbed surface appearance, with a matrix display that uses LEDs to show weight values through a translucent cover layer.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If a glass support plate is used to accommodate concealed LED display elements, then the display device becomes visible through the support plate during inactive operation, but the design freedom and material choices are restricted
Solution Approach 1:
The support plate is divided into two separate components: a carrier body (which can be made of various materials like wood) and a translucent cover layer. This segmentation allows the carrier body to provide structural support and aesthetic appearance while the cover layer enables light transmission for the display, thus resolving the contradiction between design freedom and display visibility.
Solution Approach 2:
A translucent cover layer is introduced as an intermediary element between the LED display elements and the external environment. This cover layer allows light to pass through during inactive operation, making the display visible, while not interfering with the material choices for the carrier body, thus maintaining both display functionality and design freedom.
2Shape
If the support plate is made with a seamless, undisturbed surface using various materials like wood, then the surface appears natural and beautiful, but accommodating concealed LED display elements becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The support plate is segmented into a carrier body and a separate cover layer. The carrier body can be made of various materials like wood with a seamless surface, while the cover layer is specifically designed to be translucent to allow LED light transmission. This segmentation enables both aesthetic surface appearance and LED integration without compromise.
Solution Approach 2:
The cover layer is specifically designed with translucent properties in the areas where LED display elements are located, while the rest of the support plate can maintain its natural, seamless appearance. This local quality approach allows the surface to appear natural and beautiful overall while enabling LED integration in specific localized areas.
3Reliability
If partial printing is applied to the support plate to make the display device invisible during inactive operation, then the display becomes visible through printed free areas, but the production costs increase and design freedom is limited
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of using partial printing, a translucent cover layer is introduced as an intermediary that naturally allows light transmission without requiring any printing processes. This eliminates the need for complex printing operations and associated costs, while still achieving the effect of making the display visible through the support plate during inactive operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The optical parameters of the cover layer are specifically selected to be translucent, which fundamentally changes how light interacts with the display area. This parameter change eliminates the need for partial printing techniques, reducing production complexity and cost while maintaining the desired display visibility effect.
4Illumination intensity
If a translucent base plate with light sources is used to illuminate the plate boundaries, then the boundaries become visible, but the display device cannot be designed to be covered and design freedom remains limited
Solution Approach 1:
The support plate is segmented into a carrier body and a separate cover layer, allowing independent optimization of each component. The carrier body can be illuminated at its boundaries to indicate plate boundaries, while the cover layer remains translucent to allow display visibility. This segmentation provides design flexibility for both boundary illumination and display coverage.
Solution Approach 2:
The translucent cover layer serves multiple functions: it allows light transmission for display visibility, permits boundary illumination to be visible, and maintains design flexibility for various display configurations. This multi-functionality resolves the contradiction between boundary illumination and display design 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
This configuration offers greater design flexibility, reduced production costs, and a visually appealing, contamination-resistant surface without the need for partial printing or separate glass support plates, enabling the use of various materials like wood for the support plate.
Implementation Method 1
The display device has a luminosity and the cover layer has a translucency which are matched to one another in such a way that the display device is visible through the cover layer and the weighing result can be seen
Data Source
Figure 1~3
AI summary
The invention relates to a scale comprising a support plate (1) for receiving a load to be weighed, which is supported indirectly or directly on a surface via load cells (2), electronics for determining the weight of a load lying on the support plate (1), and a display device interacting with the electronics for displaying the weight, wherein the display device is concealed below the top surface of the support plate (1) and arranged such that the weighing result is visible from above through the top surface of the support plate. Known scales have the disadvantage that the support plate (1) is a glass pane, which limits the variety of materials for the design of the top surface of the support plate (1), or that a housing is required.To increase the design variety, the support plate (1) has a carrier body (1") which, at least in the area under which the display device designed as a matrix display (3) is arranged, is provided with a closed cover layer (1') and the matrix display (3) has a luminance which, in conjunction with a translucency of the cover layer (1'), makes it possible for the matrix display (3) to be visible through the cover layer (1') and for the weighing result to be recognizable.