Display device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10509289-B2
Application number	US-201715661123-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 27, 2017
Priority date	Jul 27, 2016
Publication date	Dec 17, 2019
Grant date	Dec 17, 2019

Abstract

An embodiment of the present disclosure provides a display device, including: a liquid crystal display panel, comprising a liquid crystal layer including a polymer network formed of a polymerizable monomer; a light guide component, wherein the light guide component is configured such that light from the light source is emitted out from the first surface of the light guide component into the liquid crystal display panel, and in a case that the liquid crystal layer is not applied with a voltage, light from the light source is totally reflected at the liquid crystal display panel without being emitted from a side of the second substrate opposite to the first substrate into the outside air.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A transparent display device comprising:
a liquid crystal display panel, comprising a first substrate, a second substrate, and a liquid crystal layer positioned between the first substrate and the second substrate, wherein the liquid crystal layer includes a polymer network formed of polymerizable monomers;
a light guide component, located on a side of the first substrate opposite to the second substrate, wherein the light guide component has a first main surface facing the liquid crystal display panel, and a second main surface opposite to the first main surface, and a side surface connecting the first main surface and the second main surface; and
a light source, located on a side of the light guide component and configured to emit light to enter into the light guide component via the side surface,
wherein the light guide component is configured such that light from the light source is emitted out from the first surface of the light guide component into the liquid crystal display panel, and in a case that no voltage is applied to the liquid crystal layer, light from the light source is totally reflected at the liquid crystal display panel without being emitted out from a side of the second substrate opposite to the first substrate into the outside air,
wherein the first substrate is a first base substrate and the second substrate is a second base substrate, and light from the light source enters the first base substrate of the liquid crystal display panel with an incident angle greater than or equal to a total reflection critical angle of the second base substrate of the liquid crystal display panel to the outside air,
wherein the light guide component includes a light guide plate and a transparent filling layer; the transparent filling layer is filled between the light guide plate and the liquid crystal display panel and in direct contact with the light guide plate and the liquid crystal display panel; a refractive index of the filling layer is larger than a refractive index of the outside air and smaller a refractive index of the light guide plate,
wherein the light guide plate includes a light guide plate body and a plurality of optical microstructures formed on a surface of the light guide plate body facing the liquid crystal display panel,
the optical microstructures are configured such that light from the light source exits the light guide plate body therefrom,
wherein an average value of angles between respective tangential planes of a surface of the optical microstructure and a surface of the light guide plate body is larger than arccos (n1/n2) and less than arccos (n4/n3), wherein, the first substrate and the second substrate are identical in refractive index, n1 is a refractive index of the transparent filling layer, n2 is the refractive index of the light guide plate, n3 is the refractive index of the first and the second substrate, n4 is a refractive index of the outside air; and among n1-n4, n2 is the largest, and n4 is the smallest.

2. The display device according to claim 1 , wherein the light guide plate includes a light guide plate body and a plurality of optical microstructures formed inside the light guide plate body; the optical microstructures are configured to reflect light from the light source to exit the light guide plate body from a surface of light guide plate body facing the liquid crystal display panel.

3. The display device according to claim 1 , wherein a size of a surface area of the optical microstructures increases as the distance between the optical microstructure to the light source increases.

4. The display device according to claim 1 , wherein a distribution density of the optical microstructures increases as the distance between the optical microstructure to the light source increases.

5. The display device according to claim 1 , wherein a difference value between n2 and n1 is [0.05, 0.25].

6. The display device according to claim 1 , wherein the transparent filling layer is made of an adhesive material.

7. The display device according to claim 1 , wherein alignment films are provided on opposite surfaces of the first substrate and the second substrate, and at least one of the alignment films is oriented in a direction perpendicular to the liquid crystal display panel.

8. The display device according to claim 7 , wherein alignment directions of the alignment films on the first substrate and the second substrate are identical and parallel to the display surface of the liquid crystal display panel.

9. The display device according to claim 8 , wherein the side surface of the light guide component is parallel to the alignment directions of the alignment films.

10. The display device according to claim 7 , wherein the alignment directions of the alignment films on the first substrate and the second substrate are perpendicular to each other and are parallel to the display surface of the liquid crystal display panel.

11. The display device according to claim 7 , wherein the alignment directions of the alignment films on the first substrate and the second substrate are substantially perpendicular to the liquid crystal display panel.

12. The display device according to claim 1 , wherein the light source includes a plurality of sub-light sources, the colors of light emitted from the respective sub-light sources are different from each other; the display device further includes a field-sequential-color controller connected to the respective sub-light sources and is configured to control the respective sub-light source to emit light in different driving time periods of one frame.

13. The display device according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a light blocking member located on a side of the light guide component away from the liquid crystal display panel.

14. The display device of claim 13 , wherein the light blocking member comprises a reflective layer configured with a reflecting surface facing the light guide component.

15. The display device according to claim 14 , wherein the light blocking member includes a light absorbing layer for absorbing light.

16. The display device according to claim 15 , wherein an air layer is formed between the light absorbing layer and the light guide component.

Assignees

• Boe Technology Group Co Ltd
• Univ Kent State Ohio

Inventors

• Qin Guangkui
• Yang Dengke
• Zhou Xiaochen

Classifications

• G02F2203/02

  reflective · CPC title

• G02F1/133621

  providing coloured light (G02F1/133617, G02F1/133533 take precedence) · CPC title

• G02B6/0068

  Arrangements of plural sources, e.g. multi-colour light sources · CPC title

• G02B6/0036

  2-D arrangement of prisms, protrusions, indentations or roughened surfaces · CPC title

• G02F1/1334

  based on polymer dispersed liquid crystals, e.g. microencapsulated liquid crystals · CPC title