Display device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9826626-B2
Application number	US-201514697739-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 28, 2015
Priority date	Nov 25, 2014
Publication date	Nov 21, 2017
Grant date	Nov 21, 2017

Abstract

A display device includes a first support frame including a first slant surface having a slant angle, a second support frame including a second slant surface symmetrical with and having a same structure as the first slant surface, a display panel on the first and second support frames, and a connection member connecting the first and second support frames to be rotatable around a rotational axis defined by the connection member, wherein the first and second slant surfaces are in areas of upper surfaces of the first and second support frames, respectively, and wherein first areas of the first and second support frames have a larger thickness than second areas of the first and second support frames, respectively, the first areas being adjacent to first sides of the first and second slant surfaces, and the second areas being adjacent to second sides of the first and second slant surfaces.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A display device, comprising:
a first support frame including a first slant surface having a predetermined slant angle;
a second support frame including a second slant surface having a same structure as the first slant surface and being disposed symmetrically with respect to the first slant surface;
a display panel disposed on the first and second support frames;
a connection member connecting the first and second support frames, the first and second support frames being rotatable around a rotational axis defined by the connection member;
a first moving bar disposed under the display panel and on the first slant surface, the first moving bar being rotatable with respect to a rotational axis adjacent to first side of the first slant surface;
a second moving bar having a same structure as the first moving bar, and disposed under the display panel and on the second slant surface, the second moving bar being rotatable with respect to a rotational axis adjacent to the first side of the second slant surface; and
a plurality of elastic members disposed in a plurality of grooves defined in the first and second slant surfaces,
wherein the first and second slant surfaces are disposed in predetermined areas of upper surfaces of the first and second support frames, respectively,
wherein the elastic members support the first and second moving bars, and
wherein first areas of the first and second support frames have a larger thickness than second areas of the first and second support frames, respectively, the first areas being adjacent to respective first sides of the first and second slant surfaces, and the second areas being adjacent to respective second sides of the first and second slant surfaces and being connected to the connection member, the first areas of the first and second support frames being parallel to the second areas of the first and second support frames.

2. The display device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the first and second support frames include a long side in a first direction and a short side in a second direction crossing the first direction, and the first and second moving bars include a short side in the first direction and a long side in the second direction.

3. The display device as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the first support frame further comprises:
a first extension part having a first thickness;
a second extension part having the first slant surface;
a third extension part having a second thickness smaller than the first thickness; and
two first protrusions protruding from a side surface of the first extension part adjacent to the second extension part, the two first protrusions being adjacent to an upper surface of the first extension part in a third direction crossing the first and second directions, and respectively disposed at opposite sides of the first extension part in the second direction,
wherein lower surfaces of the first, second, and third extension parts are substantially level with each other, a first side of the second extension part in the first direction is connected to the first extension part, a second side of the second extension part is connected to a first side of the third extension part, a second side of the third extension part is connected to the connection member, and the first slant surface corresponds to an upper surface of the second extension part and is bent downwardly toward the third extension part at the predetermined slant angle with respect to the first direction.

4. The display device as claimed in claim 3 , wherein the first side of the first slant surface in the first direction is connected to a lower portion of the side surface of the first extension part between the first protrusions, and the second side of the first slant surface in the first direction is connected to a boundary of an upper surface of the third extension part adjacent to the second extension part.

5. The display device as claimed in claim 3 , wherein:
the second support frame further comprises fourth, fifth, and sixth extension parts and second protrusions respectively having the same structure as the first, second, and third extension parts and the first protrusions, and disposed to be symmetrical with the first, second, and third extension parts and the first protrusions,
the fifth extension part includes the second slant surface, a first side of the fifth extension part in the first direction being connected to the fourth extension part, and a second side of the fifth extension part in the first direction being connected to a first side of the sixth extension part, and
a second side of the sixth extension part is connected to the connection member.

6. The display device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein, when the display panel is folded, a curvature of a first curvature portion defined by a predetermined area of a center portion of the display panel disposed between the second areas of the first and second support frames is greater than a curvature of a second curvature portion defined by a predetermined area of the display panel, which corresponds to each of a predetermined area of the slant surface adjacent to a boundary between the slant surface and a corresponding first area.

7. The display device as claimed in claim 6 , wherein a slant angle of each of the first and second slant surfaces is set to allow the curvature of the first curvature portion to be greater than the curvature of the second curvature portion.

8. The display device as claimed in claim 6 , further comprising a plurality of additional layers on or under the second curvature portion to increase a restoring force of the second curvature portion and having a flexibility, wherein the additional layers are disposed in a non-display area neighboring a display area of the display panel.

9. The display device as claimed in claim 6 , further comprising a plurality of additional layers disposed under the second curvature portion to increase a restoring force of the second curvature portion and a non-display area neighboring a display area of the display panel, wherein each of the additional layers comprises a plurality of layer units arranged in a first direction and being a rigid type, a side surface of each of the layer units has a trapezoid shape when viewed in a second direction, a lower edge of the layer units is longer than an upper edge of the layer units, and left and right edges of each of the layer units has a same slant angle.

10. The display device as claimed in claim 5 , wherein the elastic members include:
a plurality of first elastic members having a predetermined elastic force; and
a plurality of second elastic members having a same structure as the first elastic members and being symmetrical with the first elastic members,
wherein the grooves include:
a plurality of first grooves arranged in the second direction and recessed downwardly from the upper surface of the second extension part, and
a plurality of additional grooves having a same structure as the first grooves and being symmetrical with the first grooves, and

wherein each of the first elastic members is in a corresponding first groove of the first grooves, each of the second elastic members is disposed in a corresponding additional groove of the additional grooves, and a length in the third direction of the first and second elastic members is longer than a depth of the first and additional grooves.

11. The display device as claimed in claim 10 , wherein each of the first protrusions includes a first hole through a corresponding first protrusion of the first protrusions along the second direction.

12. The display device as claimed in claim 11 , wherein the first mo

Assignees

• Samsung Display Co Ltd

Inventors

• Myeong Mansik
• Ahn Seong Sik
• Yun Sungsik
• Choi Sung Chul

Classifications

• G06F1/16

  Constructional details or arrangements · CPC title

• H04M1/0202

  Portable telephone sets, e.g. cordless phones, mobile phones or bar type handsets (constructional features of telephone transmitters or receivers, e.g. of speakers or microphones H04M1/03) · CPC title

• G06F1/1652

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

• H04M1/0268

  including a flexible display panel · CPC title

• H05K1/028 Primary

  Bending or folding regions of flexible printed circuits (H05K1/0283 takes precedence) · CPC title