CN1466002A - Lamp unit, light guide plate, liquid crystal display and assembly method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention is a LCD, including the LCD board, the light unit with the light and the fixer, the light-guide board, and the shell subassembly. The shell subassembly includes the back shell behind the LCD board. On the surface of the back shell are the light unit and the light-guide board, namely making them in the operable relationship. The light unit and the light-guide boare are independent of each other.

Description

Lamp unit, light guide plate, liquid crystal display and assembly method thereof

technical field

The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display and a method for assembling a lamp unit, a light guide plate and a liquid crystal display panel.

Background technique

Liquid crystal displays are widely used as image display devices for personal computers and other monitors. Such a liquid crystal display generally includes a backlight positioned behind a liquid crystal display panel, a planar light source for illumination, and they are used to supply light to a liquid crystal surface in a predetermined range in such a manner as to provide uniform brightness.

Such backlights employ fluorescent lamps with hot or cold cathodes as light sources. There are generally two methods used for backlighting, namely direct light type and side light type (edge light type). Direct-light models have fluorescent lamps mounted directly under the LCD monitor. On the other hand, the edge-light type has fluorescent lamps installed on both sides or one side of a light guide plate made of transparent resin so that light incident on the light guide plate is guided to the surface of the liquid crystal display panel by a reflective portion located behind the light guide plate. The light is then scattered into a uniform planar light.

The edge-lit type backlight is weaker than the direct-lit type, so it is suitable for display devices of portable devices such as notebook computers.

In the context of increasing demand for thinner and less expensive display devices, there is also a need for liquid crystal displays that are easy to assemble and maintain.

As described in JP-A 6-51905, it is conventional to use a pre-assembled backlight unit or module to form a liquid crystal display. If a lamp for such a backlight unit fails to illuminate, it is conventional to replace it with a new backlight unit, thus requiring skilled labor and cost.

Contents of the invention

It is an object of the present invention to provide a liquid crystal display which satisfies the above requirements.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a liquid crystal display comprising:

LCD panel;

a lamp unit comprising a lamp and a lamp holder receiving the lamp;

light guide plate; and

A housing assembly comprising a rear case behind said liquid crystal display, said rear case having said lamp unit and said light guide plate on its surface in such a manner that they are in an operable relationship, wherein said lamp unit It is independent from the light guide plate.

Description of drawings

The foregoing and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments of the present invention in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. The drawings are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon illustrating the principles of the invention.

1 is an exploded perspective view of a preferred embodiment of a liquid crystal display according to the present invention;

2 is a top plan view of a liquid crystal display with unnecessary parts removed to show the rear housing with a lamp holder and a light guide plate on its surface in such a manner that they are in operable relationship, wherein the lamp holder is in contact with the light guide plate. The light panels are independent of each other;

Figure 3 is a perspective exploded view of the lamp unit including the lamp holder;

4 is a perspective view of a corner portion of the rear case, and shows a locator formed on the rear case and a socket for a lamp unit;

5(A) is a plan view of a corner portion of a liquid crystal display with unnecessary parts removed to illustrate one of the elements for positioning the light guide plate and the elements for pushing the light guide plate so as to be close to the lamp unit;

5(B) is a partial cross-sectional view of the rear case shown in FIG. 5(A), illustrating the cooperation between the pusher and the peripheral edge of the light guide plate;

6 is a perspective view of a corner portion of a liquid crystal display with unnecessary parts removed to illustrate a retainer that accommodates one end of a lamp holder;

7 is a bottom view of a liquid crystal display with the cover removed to illustrate the base storage portion formed on the back of the rear case;

8 is a perspective view of a carrying container for a lamp unit;

9 is an exploded perspective view of a second preferred embodiment of a liquid crystal display according to the present invention;

Fig. 10 is a modified perspective view of the rear case with the cover removed, illustrating a modified positioner with a socket and a rectangular opening providing access to the light unit, according to a second embodiment of the present invention;

11 is a bottom view of the liquid crystal display with the cover removed, showing the base storage portion formed on the back of the modified rear case;

12 is an exploded perspective view of a third preferred embodiment of a liquid crystal display according to the present invention;

13 is a plan view of a corner portion of a liquid crystal display with unnecessary parts removed to show one of elements for positioning and pushing a light guide plate so as to be close to a lamp unit;

14 is a perspective view of a desktop personal computer to which the present invention is applied;

Fig. 15 is a perspective view of a notebook type personal computer to which the present invention is applied.

Detailed ways

Referring to the drawings, for brevity of description, the same reference numerals are used to designate the same or similar parts or parts in the respective views from FIG. 1 to FIG. 13 .

Referring to FIGS. 1 to 8, a first preferred embodiment of the liquid crystal display of the present invention will be described. In FIG. 1 , the liquid crystal display includes a liquid crystal display panel 8 , a lamp unit 9 , a light guide plate 3 , and a housing assembly including a rear case 1 behind the liquid crystal display panel 8 . The housing assembly also includes a front housing with a display window, illustrated in phantom and indicated by the numeral 10 .

The display portion 81 of the liquid crystal display panel 8 is exposed through the window of the front case 10 . The liquid crystal display panel 8 includes a plurality of flexible tape carrier packages (Tape Carrier Packages) (TCPs) 82, which provide the connection between the scan lines of the display portion 81 and the substrate 83, and include a plurality of flexible TCPs 84, which provide the display portion The connection between the signal line of 81 and the substrate 85 . In order to make the display part 81 receive light from the lamp unit 9, a diffusion sheet 4, a prism or lens sheet 5, a prism or lens sheet 6 and a diffusion sheet 7 are arranged between the back surface of the display part 81 and the light exit surface of the light guide plate 3. . The light guide plate 3 includes a light incident surface at its peripheral edge. Specifically, the light guide plate 3 is rectangular and has four sides. Relative to the side on which the incident surface is formed, a part of the light guide plate 3 is cut inward from both ends of this side. As shown in FIG. 2 , in such a cut-out portion, the light guide plate partially accommodates two spaced apart positioners 13 , which position the incident surface at a position close to the lamp unit 9 . At its end, the lamp unit 9 is arranged in a positioner 13 . In order to guide light from the incident surface to the exit surface, a reflective sheet 2 is provided between the surface of the light guide plate 3 opposite to the exit surface and the surface of the rear case 1 .

Continue to refer to Fig. 1 and Fig. 2, in this preferred embodiment, rear case 1 is provided with lamp unit 9 and light guide plate 3 on its same surface in the mode that makes them maintain operable relation, wherein lamp unit 9 and light guide plate 3 independent of each other. The rear case 1 includes two spaced apart corner pieces 11 near the two corners of the light guide plate 3 farthest from the lamp unit 9, and two spaced apart lateral side pieces 12 close to the two spaced apart lateral sides of the light guide plate 3 . The corner pieces 11 are fixedly fastened to the light guide plate 3 . They can be integrally formed with the rear case 1 or fastened on the rear case 1 . The corner units 11 are respectively formed with walls cooperating with the relevant corners of the light guide plate 3 . In this embodiment, such walls protrude upward from the surface of the light guide plate 3 . The lateral parts 12 are fixedly fastened to the rear case 1 . They can be integrally formed with the rear case 1 or fastened on the rear case 1 . The lateral piece 12 is formed with two opposite walls, which respectively cooperate with the opposite sides of the light guide plate 3 . The rear case 1 also includes two retainers 13 spaced apart from each other to accommodate opposite end portions of the lamp holder 91 of the lamp unit 9 . In this embodiment, each positioner 13 comprises a pair of parallel members 13a, 13b fixedly fastened to the rear shell 1 . The positioner 13 can be integrally formed with the rear case 1 or fastened on the rear case 1 . The holder elements 13a, 13a respectively cooperate with the bottom of the cut-out portion of the light guide plate 3, with the entrance plane defined therebetween. In this embodiment, the members 11, 12 and 13a cooperate with each other so as to position the light guide plate 3 on the surface of the rear case 1 at a predetermined position relative to the lamp unit 9 shown in FIG. These pieces 11 , 12 and 13 a are close to different positions around the edge of the light guide plate 3 .

In the present embodiment, in the assembled body, these pieces 11, 12 and 13a assist in forming the reflection sheet 2, the light blade 3, the diffusion sheet 4, the prism sheets 5, 6, the diffusion sheet 7 and the display portion 81 of the liquid crystal display panel 8. Laminated structure. Next, the front case 10 is fixedly connected to the rear case 1 . The base 85 is then placed into the storage portion 16 in the form of a counterbore, wherein the storage portion 16 is recessed from the back of the rear case 1, as shown in FIG. 7 . The cover 17 serves to conceal the storage portion 16 . The flexibility of the TCPs 84 enables the base 85 to move from the front case 10 to the back of the rear case 1.

Referring to FIG. 7, the storage portion 16 of the rear case 1 is described. As shown in phantom, interface cable 19 extends to the bottom surface or inner end of storage portion 16 for connection via pinholes to electrically connect terminals of various circuit elements not shown within base 85 . A protrusion 18 extends from the bottom surface into the storage portion 16 . The cover 17 is formed with an unshown portion such as a hole for receiving the protrusion 18 .

As can be seen from the foregoing description, the TCPs 84 extend around the housing assembly such that the base 85 is connected to the interface cable 19 in the storage portion 16 at the back of the rear case 1. This simplifies the assembly work since the TCPs 84 do not need to be placed into the housing assembly during assembly.

Referring again to FIG. 2 , the rear case 1 may be provided with means for pushing the light guide plate 3 in a downward direction in this figure so that the light guide plate 3 is in close contact with the lamp unit. There are various examples of such a pusher. One example includes protrusions 14 between spaced apart corner pieces 11 for fixedly fitting the perimeter of the light guide plate 3 . A fixed fit between the protrusions 14 and the periphery of the light guide plate 3 is established by positioning the light guide plate 3 with the corner pieces 11 and the lateral pieces 12 . The reaction force of this fixed fit causes the light guide plate 3 to be pushed to a position close to the lamp unit 9 . In another example, the elasticity of the elastic biasing member made of elastic material, such as rubber, can be used to bias the light guide plate 3 to a position fixedly matched with the holder elements 13a, 13a, so as to achieve a close relationship with the lamp unit 9. The position of such a pusher is not limited to the position between the corner units shown in FIG. 2 . Another embodiment employs a protrusion 11 a in the wall of the corner unit 11 as shown in FIG. 13 . In this example, the protrusion 11 a pushes the light guide plate 3 to achieve a close relationship with the lamp unit 9 . Still another embodiment utilizes elastic material, such as rubber, to apply force on each point of the elastic biasing member made of elastic biasing member, including two corners, so as to bias the light guide plate 3 to make it align with the two corner members. The holder elements 13a, 13a are fixedly fitted so as to achieve an approximate relationship with the lamp unit 9 .

It can be seen from the foregoing description that the rear case 1 maintains an operative relationship between the light guide plate 3 and the light unit 9 , wherein the light unit 9 and the light guide plate 3 are independent of each other. In this embodiment, the positioner 13 makes the lamp unit 9 independent. This makes it easy to replace the lamp unit 9 with a new one, simply by detaching the front housing 10 from its engagement with the rear housing 1 .

3, 4, 6 and 8, the lamp unit 9 will be described below. The lamp unit 9 is arranged such that it can be easily installed and removed without using any special labor or tools.

As shown in FIG. 3 , the lamp unit 9 includes a lamp 97 and a lamp holder 91 . The lamp holder 91 accommodates the lamp 97 in such a manner that the lamp 97 can be easily removed for replacement. In this embodiment, the rear case 1 has a socket 15 between the pieces 13a and 13b of one of the two retainers 13, as shown in FIG. 4 . The socket 15 faces the inner direction of the liquid crystal display and faces away from the inner surface of the rear case 1 .

With continued reference to Figures 3 and 4, the lamp holder 91 is an elongated structural member having two spaced apart planar side walls interconnected by two spaced apart top and bottom walls connecting the two side walls. When the two side walls are housed in the retainer 13 , they face the retainer elements 13 a and 13 b in each retainer 13 . The bottom wall faces the surface of the rear case 1 . The lamp holder 91 is formed with a semi-cylindrical groove 92 extending in the longitudinal direction. One of the side walls of the groove 92 is open. Light 97 is located within recess 92 . In this embodiment, the semi-cylindrical wall defining this groove 92 is covered by a reflective sheet. In this way, the semi-cylindrical groove 92 and the reflection sheet act as a reflector partially surrounding the lamp 97 so as to guide the light onto the incident surface on the peripheral edge of the light guide plate 3 . At one end of the lamp holder 91 facing the socket 15, a cutout portion 93 for receiving a connector 98 is formed. The cutout portion 93 communicates with the groove 92 at one end thereof through a groove 94a extending along the side wall. The groove 94b extends from the opposite end of the groove 92 to the adjacent end of the lamp holder 91 along the side wall. The groove 94b continues down to the opposite side wall of the lamp holder 91 across the end of the lamp holder 91 (see FIG. 3 ). From the cut-out portion 93 to the opposite end of the lamp holder 91, the groove 94c extends along one side wall, and continues to extend downwards to the opposite side wall of the lamp holder 91 in a manner of crossing the opposite end of the lamp holder 91. 94b extends in the same manner. Groove 94c continues lengthwise through the opposing sidewall until it encounters groove 94b.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 , the cutout portion 93 is open on the bottom wall of the lamp holder 91 facing the socket 15 . Lugs or handles 95 extend outwardly from both ends of the top wall of lamp holder 91 and are sized and shaped to be easily pulled by the operator's fingers.

The opposite ends of the lamp 97 are welded, for example, to the ends of a cable 99 connected to the connector 98 with a tight fit, and a protective sleeve 100 of silicone rubber covers the welded connections at both ends of the lamp 97. Each protective sleeve 100 has a plurality of protrusions on its outer cylindrical wall for tightly fitting with the semi-cylindrical wall of the recess 92 to fix the lamp 97 in place in the recess 92 . The connector 98 is fitted in the cutout portion 93 and is held therein by the claw-like protrusion 96 . The cables 99 are inserted into the grooves 94a, 94b and 94c. When the lamp holder 91 is accommodated in the retainer 13, the protective sleeve 100 is located in the retainer 13, as shown in FIG. In particular, each protective sleeve 100 cooperates with the anchor element 13a respectively.

Referring again to FIG. 3 , a through hole 21 is formed through the top wall and the bottom wall of the lamp holder 91 so that the fastening pin passes therethrough. By means of this pin and connection of the connector 98 to the socket 15 , the lamp holder 91 is fixedly fastened on the retainer 13 to the rear housing 1 . This method of fastening the lamp holder 91 to the rear case 1 is not limited to this embodiment. For example, other fixings may be used or other dummy sockets may be provided, or adhesive tape may be used.

FIG. 8 shows the carrier holder 22 for receiving the lamp unit 9 . With such a holder 22, the possibility of the lamp unit 9 being damaged can be minimized.

In the foregoing embodiments, it is necessary to disassemble the front case 10 to provide access to the lamp unit 9 because the locator 13 opens toward the cover 10 . Therefore, there is a need to easily provide access to the lamp unit 9 without disassembling the front case 10 .

Referring to FIGS. 9-11 , the liquid crystal display of the second preferred embodiment satisfies the above-mentioned requirements by adopting a modified rear case 1 . The second preferred embodiment is substantially the same as the first preferred embodiment except that it is provided with a modified rear shell. As shown in FIGS. 10 and 11 , the modified rear housing is formed with an elongated rectangular opening 32 which provides passage for the lamp holder 91 . A cover 33 is used to cover the passage opening 32 . The modified rear case 1 includes two bridge-shaped positioners 31 above the opening 32 for fixing the lamp unit 9 . The bridge-type positioner 31 is substantially the same as the positioner 13 used in the first embodiment, except that it is provided with a top plate connecting the two parallel holder elements 13a and 13b. In the second embodiment, the socket 15 is arranged on the inner wall of the top plate of one of the bridge-shaped positioners 31 , as shown in FIG. 10 . After inserting the lamp unit through the access opening 32, the opening 32 is closed with a cover 33, which is attached to the back of the modified rear housing 1 with fasteners, only one of which is indicated at 43 in FIG. 10 . The modified rear case 1 is formed with two holes 35 near the longitudinal end of the passage opening 32 (see FIG. 11 ), while the cover 33 is also formed with two holes, of which only one is indicated by 36 in FIG. 10 . Through such openings 32 and 36 , fixing members 34 extend to fixedly connect the cover 33 to the rear side of the modified rear case 1 .

Referring to Fig. 12, a third embodiment of the liquid crystal display of the present invention will be described. The third embodiment is substantially the same as the second embodiment except that the present invention is applied to a front light type liquid crystal display in FIG. 12 . In FIG. 12 , a display portion 81 of a liquid crystal display panel 8 is interposed between the surface of the rear case and the light guide plate 3 . In this embodiment, the positioning members 11 and 12 cooperate with the positioner 31 to position the liquid crystal display panel 8 and the light guide plate 3 .

14 and 15 illustrate the application of the liquid crystal display according to the embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 14, a desktop personal computer including a liquid crystal display 52 according to the present invention, a host 51, a mouse 54 and a keyboard 53 is shown. In FIG. 15, a notebook type personal computer including a liquid crystal display 57 according to the present invention, a main body 55 and a keyboard 56 is shown. The application of the present invention is not limited to these types of personal computers. The invention can be applied to various liquid crystal displays using lamps as light sources.

Although the invention has been described in part with reference to preferred embodiments, it is evident that many changes, modifications and variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the foregoing description. Therefore, any changes, modifications and changes that do not depart from the scope and spirit defined by the claims of the present invention are included in the scope of the present invention.

Claims (9)

1. A liquid crystal display comprising: LCD panel; a lamp unit comprising a lamp and a lamp holder accommodating the lamp; light guide plate; and A case assembly comprising a rear case located behind the liquid crystal display panel, the rear case having the lamp unit and the light guide plate on its surface in such a manner that the lamp unit and the light guide plate are in an operable position relationship, wherein the lamp unit and the light guide plate are independent of each other. 2. The liquid crystal display of claim 1, wherein the liquid crystal display panel includes a base, and the rear case is formed with a storage part accommodating the base and has a cover concealing the storage part. 3. The liquid crystal display of claim 1, wherein the rear case is formed with an opening providing a passage for the lamp holder. 4. The liquid crystal display of claim 1, wherein the lamp holder comprises a reflector partially surrounding the lamp. 5. The liquid crystal display of claim 1, wherein the rear case includes a positioning member for positioning the light guide plate to a predetermined position on the surface relative to the lamp unit. 6. The liquid crystal display of claim 5, wherein the positioning member is used to position the liquid crystal display and the light guide plate. 7. The liquid crystal display of claim 1, wherein the rear case includes means for pushing the light guide plate so as to be close to the lamp unit. 8. The liquid crystal display of claim 7, wherein the urging member includes a biasing member for urging the light guide plate toward the lamp holder. 9. A method for assembling a lamp unit, a light guide plate and a liquid crystal display panel, comprising: having the lamp unit positioned on the surface of the rear housing by means of the rear housing; positioning a light guide plate on the surface in operable relationship with the light unit; placing a liquid crystal display panel on the light guide plate, the liquid crystal display panel including a substrate; placing a front cover over said liquid crystal display panel to cooperate with said rear cover to form a housing assembly; placing the substrate into a storage portion on the back of the rear case; and A cover is placed to conceal the storage portion and the base.

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