Foldable display apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9603271-B2
Application number	US-201414584605-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 29, 2014
Priority date	Mar 7, 2014
Publication date	Mar 21, 2017
Grant date	Mar 21, 2017

Abstract

A foldable display apparatus including a display panel configured to include a display area including a first display area, a second display area, and a bending area, a first panel supporting member configured to support a first area of the display panel corresponding to the first display area, a second panel supporting member configured to support a second area of the display panel corresponding to the second display area, and a folding part connected between the first and second panel supporting members to overlap the bending area and configured to guide the display panel for the display panel to be folded or unfolded to a plane state with respect to the bending area. The folding part adjusts a distance between the first and second panel supporting members for the display panel to be folded or unfolded.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A foldable display apparatus comprising:
a display panel configured to include a display area including a first display area, a second display area, and a bending area which is defined between the first and second display areas;
a first panel supporting member configured to support the first display area;
a second panel supporting member configured to support the second display area; and
a folding part connected between the first and second panel supporting members to overlap the bending area, and configured to guide the display panel to be folded or unfolded to a plane state with respect to the bending area,
wherein the folding part adjusts a distance between the first and second panel supporting members for the display panel to be folded or unfolded,
wherein, when the display panel is folded, the folding part causes inner parts of the first and second panel supporting members facing each other to overlap each other, and when the display panel is unfolded, the folding part separates the inner part of the first panel supporting member from the inner part of the second panel supporting member for the bending area to be unfolded to a plane state, and
wherein the folding part comprises:
a first rotation shaft provided at an inner surface of the first panel supporting member,
a second rotation shaft provided at an inner surface of the second panel supporting member to cross the first rotation shaft, and
a cam link part connected between the first and second rotation shafts, and configured to overlap the first rotation shaft with the second rotation shaft.

2. The foldable display apparatus of claim 1 , wherein,
each of the first and second rotation shafts comprises a rounding part provided to have a certain curvature, and
when the display panel is folded, the rounding part of each of the first and second rotation shafts guides bending of the bending area, and supports the bending area which is bent at a certain curvature.

3. The foldable display apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the cam link part comprises:
a first cam provided at one side of the first rotation shaft;
a first link configured to rotatably, movably support the first cam;
a second cam provided at one side of the second rotation shaft parallel to one side of the first rotation shaft; and
a second link configured to rotatably, movably support the second cam, and foldably coupled to the first link.

4. The foldable display apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the first and second links are folded or unfolded according to rotations and movements of the first and second cams.

5. The foldable display apparatus of claim 4 , wherein,
each of the first and second links comprises a cam guide hole into which a corresponding cam is rotatably, movably inserted, and
each of the first and second cams is selectively moved in a corresponding cam guide hole according to a rotation angle of the corresponding cam.

6. The foldable display apparatus of claim 5 , wherein each of the first and second cams comprises an elliptical cross-sectional surface.

7. The foldable display apparatus of claim 6 , wherein,
the cam guide hole comprises:
first and second cam rotation holes arranged in parallel, wherein the corresponding cam is rotatably inserted into the first and second cam rotation holes; and
a hole communication part configured to communicate the first cam rotation hole with the second cam rotation hole, and
the corresponding cam is selectively moved between the first and second cam rotation holes through the hole communication part according to a rotation angle of the corresponding cam.

8. The foldable display apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the first cam rotation hole is separated from a central portion of the second cam rotation hole by a distance smaller than a diameter of the first rotation hole and a diameter of the second cam rotation hole.

9. The foldable display apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the first cam rotation hole overlaps the second cam rotation hole.

10. The foldable display apparatus of claim 7 , wherein,
in a state where the display panel is folded, the hole communication part is configured to stably maintain the state where the display panel folded by restricting a movement of the corresponding cam.

11. The foldable display apparatus of claim 7 , wherein,
in a state where the display panel is unfolded, the hole communication part is configured to stably maintain the state where the display panel unfolded by restricting a movement of the corresponding cam.

12. The foldable display apparatus of claim 6 , wherein,
in a state where the display panel is folded or unfolded, each of the first and second cams is not moved between the first and second cam rotation holes, and
while the display panel is folded or unfolded, each of the first and second cams is moved between the first and second cam rotation holes through the hole communication part.

13. The foldable display apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the first and second links are separated from each other when the display panel is unfolded and overlap each other when the display panel is folded.

14. The foldable display apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:
a flexible base plate provided between the first and second panel supporting members and configured to support the display panel, wherein only one side of the display panel is attached to a top of the flexible base plate.

Assignees

• Lg Display Co Ltd

Inventors

• Lee Dal Jae
• Kwon Su Chan

Classifications

• H04M1/0268

  including a flexible display panel · CPC title

• G09F9/301 Primary

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

• H05K5/0226 Primary

  Hinges · CPC title

• G06F1/1652

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

• G06F1/1681

  Details related solely to hinges (hinge details related to the transmission of signals or power are classified in G06F1/1683) · CPC title