DISPLAY PANEL AND DISPLAY DEVICE

• US 20190310456A1
• Filed: 12/01/2017
• Published: 10/10/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 03/09/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: BOE Technology Group Co., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: BOE Technology Group Co., Ltd.
• Inventors: MENG, Xianqin, WANG, Wei, DONG, Xue, YANG, Yafeng, CHEN, Xiaochuan, TAN, Jifeng, MENG, Xiandong, GAO, Jian
• Granted Patent: US 10,718,936 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 2207/115 Electrowetting
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 26/005 based on electrowetting
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 5/1814 structurally combined with one or more further optical elements, e.g. lenses, mirrors, prisms or other diffraction gratings G02B5/189 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 5/1866 Transmission gratings characterised by their structure, e.g. step profile, contours of substrate or grooves, pitch variations, materials G02B5/1809, G02B5/1828, G02B5/1833, G02B5/1838 and G02B5/1847 take precedence

Abstract

A display panel includes a light waveguide layer and a first substrate disposed opposite to each other, and further including an electrowetting control layer disposed between the light waveguide layer and the first substrate, the electrowetting control layer including a first electrode layer, a second electrode layer, and a grating layer and an electrowetting layer which are disposed between the first electrode and the second electrode layer, the grating layer and the electrowetting layer are configured to operatively couple light with a set transmittance, a setting direction, and a set wavelength out of the light waveguide layer.

Claims

1. A display panel, comprising a light waveguide layer and a first substrate disposed opposite to each other, and further comprising an electrowetting control layer disposed between the light waveguide layer and the first substrate, the electrowetting control layer comprising a first electrode layer, a second electrode layer, and a grating layer and an electrowetting layer which are disposed between the first electrode layer and the second electrode layer, the grating layer and the electrowetting layer are configured to operatively couple light with a set transmittance, a setting direction, and a set wavelength out of the light waveguide layer.

2. The display panel according to claim 1, wherein the first electrode layer is disposed on a side of the light waveguide layer facing the first substrate, the second electrode layer is disposed on a side of the first substrate facing the light waveguide layer, the grating layer is disposed on a side of the first electrode layer adjacent to the first substrate, and the electrowetting layer is disposed on a side of the grating layer adjacent to the first substrate.

3. The display panel according to claim 1, wherein the electrowetting layer comprises a first fluid and a second fluid, a difference between a refractive index of the first fluid and a refractive index of the grating layer is less than or equal to 0.05, and difference between a refractive index of the second fluid and a refractive index of the grating layer is greater than or equal to 0.1.

4. The display panel according to claim 3, wherein surfaces of the first electrode layer and the grating layer have hydrophobic characteristics, the first fluid is an aqueous fluid having conductive characteristics, the second fluid is an oily fluid having insulating characteristics;

or surfaces of the first electrode layer and the grating layer have hydrophilic characteristics, the first fluid is an aqueous fluid having insulating characteristics, and the second fluid is an oily fluid having conductive characteristics.

5. The display panel according to claim 1, wherein one or more side surfaces of the light waveguide layer are configured as an incident surface for collimated backlight, the light waveguide layer and the grating layer form a waveguide grating coupler, wherein a refractive index of the light waveguide layer is greater than a refractive index of the first electrode layer and the grating layer.

6. The display panel according to claim 1, further comprising a second substrate, wherein the light waveguide layer is disposed on the second substrate, or the light waveguide layer and the second substrate form an integral structure.

7. The display panel according to claim 1, wherein the grating layer is a one-dimensional grating which comprises a plurality of grating stripes, the one-dimensional grating is made of a transparent dielectric material, a thickness of tile one-dimensional grating is 100 to 1000 nm, and a duty cycle of the one-dimensional grating is 0.1 to 0.9.

8. The display panel according to claim 1, wherein the grating layer is a two-dimensional grating which comprises a plurality of grating blocks arranged in matrix, the plurality of grating blocks are made of a transparent dielectric material, a thickness of the plurality of grating blocks is 100 to 1000 nm, and a duty cycle of the plurality of grating blocks is 0.1 to 0.9.

9. The display panel according to claim 1, further comprising a first protection film and/or a second protection film, wherein the first protection film is disposed on a side of the light waveguide layer facing away from the first substrate, and/or the second protection film is disposed on a side of the first substrate facing away from the light waveguide layer.

10. The display panel according to claim 1, wherein the grating layer is a micro-grating layer or a nano-grating layer.

11. A display device, comprising the display panel according to claim 1.

12. The display device according to claim 11, further comprising an edge-type collimated backlight source which is configured to generate collimated light and is disposed on at least one side of the light waveguide layer.

13. The display panel according to claim 2, wherein the electrowetting layer comprises a first fluid and a second fluid, a difference between a refractive index of the first fluid and a refractive index of the grating layer is less than or equal to 0.05, and difference between a refractive index of the second fluid and a refractive index of the grating layer is greater than or equal to 0.1.

14. The display panel according to claim 13, wherein surfaces of the first electrode layer and the grating layer have hydrophobic characteristics, the first fluid is an aqueous fluid having conductive characteristics, the second fluid is an oily fluid having insulating characteristics;

or surfaces of the first electrode layer and the grating layer have hydrophilic characteristics, the first fluid is an aqueous fluid having insulating characteristics, and the second fluid is an oily fluid having conductive characteristics.

15. The display panel according to claim 2, wherein one or more side surfaces of the light waveguide layer are configured as an incident surface for collimated backlight, the light waveguide layer and the grating layer form a waveguide grating coupler, wherein a refractive index of the light waveguide layer is greater than a refractive index of the first electrode layer and the grating layer.

16. The display panel according to claim 2, further comprising a second substrate, wherein the light waveguide layer is disposed on the second substrate, or the light waveguide layer and the second substrate form an integral structure.

17. The display panel according to claim 2, wherein the grating layer is a one-dimensional grating which comprises a plurality of grating stripes, the one-dimensional grating is made of a transparent dielectric material, a thickness of the one-dimensional grating is 100 to 1000 nm, and the duty cycle of the one-dimensional grating is 0.1 to 0.9.

18. The display panel according to claim 2, wherein the grating layer is a two-dimensional grating which comprises a plurality of grating blocks arranged in matrix, the plurality of grating blocks are made of a transparent dielectric material, a thickness of the plurality of grating blocks is 100 to 1000 nm, and the duty cycle of the plurality of grating blocks is 0.1 to 0.9.

19. The display panel according to claim 2, further comprising a first protection film and/or a second protection film, wherein the first protection film is disposed on a side of the light waveguide layer facing away from the first substrate, and/or the second protection film is disposed on a side of the first substrate facing away from the light waveguide layer.

20. The display panel according to claim 2, wherein the grating layer is a micro-grating layer or a nano-grating layer.