Variable-Rigidity Lower Member for Foldable Display Crease Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Flexible display devices face challenges in preventing creases from forming and making them less visible during repeated folding or bending, which affects their durability and aesthetic appeal.
Innovation Solution
A display device design incorporating a lower member with varying rigidity parts, including high-rigidity and low-rigidity portions arranged symmetrically and asymmetrical moduli, to manage stress distribution and minimize crease formation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If the lower member has uniform high rigidity across the folding region, then the display panel is well protected from deformation, but creases form and become visible during repeated folding
Solution Approach 1:
The lower member is designed with spatially varying rigidity: high-rigidity parts at the first and third positions protect the display panel from deformation, while the low-rigidity part at the second position (center of folding region) allows controlled bending and reduces crease formation. This local differentiation of mechanical properties resolves the contradiction between protection and flexibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The lower member is segmented into multiple parts with different rigidity characteristics along the first direction. By dividing the structure into high-rigidity sections and a low-rigidity section, the patent enables different functional zones: protection zones and a flexible folding zone, thereby preventing visible creases while maintaining structural integrity.
2Object-generated harmful factors
If the lower member has uniform low rigidity across the folding region, then crease formation is reduced, but the display panel becomes vulnerable to deformation during repeated folding
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by positioning high-rigidity parts at specific locations (first and third positions) where structural support is most needed, while maintaining low rigidity at the center folding region. This localized reinforcement protects the display panel without compromising the flexibility needed to minimize crease visibility.
3Object-generated harmful factors
If the modulus of the low-rigidity part is significantly reduced, then crease formation is minimized, but the overall structural stability of the lower member deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The lower member is segmented into distinct rigidity zones, with the low-rigidity part confined to the center folding region surrounded by high-rigidity parts. This segmentation allows the structure to maintain overall stability through the high-rigidity sections while the localized low-rigidity section minimizes crease formation during folding operations.
Solution Approach 2:
By reducing the modulus only in the specific region where folding occurs (second position) while maintaining high modulus in adjacent regions, the patent achieves crease minimization without compromising the overall structural stability of the lower member. The high-rigidity parts provide anchoring support that stabilizes the structure despite the localized softening.
Data Source
AI summary
A display device includes a display panel, which includes a folding region, which is foldable around a folding axis extending in a first direction, and first and second non-folding regions spaced apart from each other with the folding region therebetween, and a lower member disposed below the display panel. The lower member includes a first high-rigidity part, a first low-rigidity part, a second high-rigidity part, a second low-rigidity part, and a third high-rigidity part, each of which overlaps the folding region and which are arranged in a second direction crossing the first direction. Each of the first and second low-rigidity parts has a modulus less than a modulus of a high-rigidity part adjacent thereto in the second direction among the first high-rigidity part, the second high-rigidity part and the third high-rigidity part.