Support member and foldable display module

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11823595-B2
Application number	US-202017266595-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 30, 2020
Priority date	Oct 14, 2020
Publication date	Nov 21, 2023
Grant date	Nov 21, 2023

Abstract

The present application provides a support member and a foldable display module. The support member includes at least one bending region and a plurality of non-bending regions. Each bending region is connected between two opposite non-bending regions. The support member further includes a support frame. The support frame includes a first surface and a second surface opposite to each other in a thickness direction of the support member. A portion of the first surface and a portion of the second surface of the support frame corresponding to the non-bending regions are defined with a plurality of first grooves and a plurality of second grooves.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A support member, comprising at least one bending region and a plurality of non-bending regions;
wherein each bending region is connected between two opposite non-bending regions;
wherein the support member further comprises a support frame, the support frame comprises a first surface and a second surface opposite to each other in a thickness direction of the support member, a portion of the first surface of the support frame corresponding to one of the non-bending regions is defined with a plurality of first grooves, and a portion of the second surface of the support frame corresponding to one of the non-bending regions is defined with a plurality of second grooves; and
a sum of a depth of each of the first grooves and a depth of each of the second grooves corresponding to each of the first grooves is less than a thickness of the support member.

2. The support member according to claim 1 , wherein the first grooves are arranged in an array on the first surface, the second grooves are arranged in an array on the second surface; and
each of the first grooves corresponds to each of the second grooves, and an orthographic projection of each of the first grooves on the second surface completely coincides with each of the second grooves when the support member is in a flattened state.

3. The support member according to claim 2 , wherein a thickness of a portion of the support frame between each of the first grooves and each of the second grooves corresponding to each of the first grooves is greater than or equal to the depth of each of the first grooves, and the thickness of the portion of the support frame between each of the first grooves and each of the second grooves corresponding to each of the first grooves is greater than or equal to the depth of each of the second grooves.

4. The support member according to claim 2 , wherein a depth of each of the first grooves and a depth of each of the second grooves are equal, and a thickness of a portion of the support frame between each of the first grooves and each of the second grooves corresponding to each of the first grooves is equal to the depth of each of the first grooves.

5. The support member according to claim 2 , wherein the first grooves and the second grooves are arranged in an array along a length direction and a width direction of the support member;
in a same one of the non-bending regions, a distance between any two adjacent first grooves arranged along the length direction of the support member and a distance between any two adjacent first grooves arranged along the width direction of the support member are equal to a first pitch; and
in the same one of the non-bending regions, a distance between any two adjacent second grooves arranged along the length direction of the support member and a distance between any two adjacent second grooves arranged along the width direction of the support member are equal to a second pitch, and the first pitch is equal to the second pitch.

6. The support member according to claim 5 , wherein the first pitch is greater than or equal to 6 millimeters, and the second pitch is greater than or equal to 6 millimeters.

7. The support member according to claim 2 , wherein a distance between the first grooves adjacent to an edge of the support frame and the edge of the support frame is greater than or equal to a distance between any two adjacent first grooves in a same one of the non-bending regions.

8. The support member according to claim 1 , wherein a cross-sectional shape of each of the first grooves is same as or similar to a shape of each of the non-bending regions, and a cross-sectional shape of each of the second grooves is same as or similar to the shape of each of the non-bending regions.

9. The support member according to claim 1 , wherein cross-sectional shapes of each of the first grooves and each of the second grooves comprise at least one of square, rectangular, or circular.

10. The support member according to claim 1 , wherein each end of two opposite ends of the support frame comprises two first corners, and a side surface of each of the first corners is provided with a first arc surface.

11. The support member according to claim 10 , wherein each of the first grooves comprises four second corners, and a side surface of each of the second corners is provided with a second arc surface;
each of the second grooves comprises four third corners, and a side surface of each of the third corners is provided with a third arc surface;
the second arc surface of one of the second corners adjacent to one of the first corners is coaxial with the first arc surface of one of the first corners; and
the third arc surface of one of the third corners adjacent to one of the first corners is coaxial with the first arc surface of one of the first corners.

12. The support member according to claim 1 , wherein the first grooves and the second grooves are filled with plastic layers.

13. The support member according to claim 12 , wherein material of the plastic layers comprises hard resin.

14. The support member according to claim 1 , wherein material of the support frame comprises metal.

15. The support member according to claim 1 , wherein a portion of the support frame corresponding to the bending region is defined with a plurality of through holes passing through the support member in the thickness direction, the through holes are symmetrically arranged with a bending axis of the support member, any two adjacent through holes are staggered in a direction perpendicular to the bending axis, a length direction of each of the through holes is parallel to the bending axis, a width direction of each of the through holes is perpendicular to the bending axis; and
a cross-sectional shape of each of the through holes comprises two symmetrical U-shaped segments with openings facing each other and two arc segments connecting the two U-shaped segments, each of the arc segments is connected to same ends of the two U-shaped segments, and openings of the two arc segments face each other.

16. The support member according to claim 15 , wherein an angle of each of the arc segments ranges from 120 degrees to 150 degrees.

17. The support member according to claim 15 , wherein in the direction perpendicular to the bending axis, a pitch between two adjacent through holes is greater than 0 micrometer and less than or equal to 100 micrometers, and a width of each of the through holes is greater than 0 micrometer and less than or equal to 200 micrometers.

18. The support member according to claim 17 , wherein a length of each of the through holes is greater than or equal to 3.7 millimeters.

19. The support member according to claim 18 , wherein in the direction perpendicular to the bending axis, the pitch between two adjacent through holes is greater than or equal to 60 micrometers, the width of each of the through holes is greater than or equal to 120 micrometers, and the length of each of the through holes is less than or equal to 5.7 millimeters.

20. A foldable display module, comprising:
a flexible display panel;
a support member comprising at least one bending region and a plurality of non-bending regions, wherein each bending region is connected between two opposite non-bending regions; the support member further comprises a support frame, the support frame comprises a first surface and a second surface opposite to each other in a thickness direction of the support member, a portion of the first surface of the support frame correspondin

Assignees

• Wuhan China Star Optoelectronics Semiconductor Display Tech Co Ltd

Inventors

• Wang Wenqiang

Classifications

• G09F9/301 Primary

  flexible foldable or roll-able electronic displays, e.g. thin LCD, OLED · CPC title

• G06F1/1641

  the display being formed by a plurality of foldable display components (G06F1/1647 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G06F1/1652

  the display being flexible, e.g. mimicking a sheet of paper, or rollable · CPC title

• H05K7/1438

  Back panels or connecting means therefor; Terminals; Coding means to avoid wrong insertion · CPC title

• G06F1/1616

  with folding flat displays, e.g. laptop computers or notebooks having a clamshell configuration, with body parts pivoting to an open position around an axis parallel to the plane they define in closed position · CPC title