Flat panel display having integral heater, EMI shield, and thermal sensors

• US 7,324,176 B2
• Filed: 02/02/2004
• Issued: 01/29/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 10/07/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mercury Mission Systems LLC (Mercury Systems, Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: American Panel Corporation (Mercury Systems, Incorporated)
• Inventors: Kwon, Keuk-Sang, Kang, In-Byeong, Park, Hyoung-Yol, Dunn, William R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nelms; David
• Assistant Examiner(s): Kim; Richard H
• Application Number:
  US10/769,842
• Publication Number:
  US 20050073632A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,457 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 349/111
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/133382 Heating or cooling of liquid crystal cells other than for activation, e.g. circuits or arrangements for temperature control, stabilisation or uniform distribution over the cell
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/133502 Antiglare, refractive index matching layers
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/133512 Light shielding layers, e.g. black matrix G02F1/136209 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 2201/50 Protective arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 2202/22 Antistatic materials or arrangements

Abstract

A flat panel display having a black mask EMI layer isolated from Vcom and tied to zero potential. The flat panel display has an integral metal heater layer and thermal sensor that are in close proximity to the liquid crystals to provide efficient heating and temperature sensing.

Claims

1. A flat panel display comprising:

a front glass plate;

a rear glass plate;

a layer of liquid crystals interposed between said front and rear glass plates;

a black mask EMI layer interposed between said front and rear glass plates, wherein said black mask EMI layer is electrically tied to zero potential and electrically isolated from Vcom;

and a TFT array layer interposed between said front and rear glass plates.

2. A flat panel display according to claim 1, further comprising:

an insulating dielectric layer interposed between the inside surfaces of said front and glass plates.

3. A flat panel display according to claim 1, further comprising:

a metal heater layer integral to the TFT array layer.

4. A flat panel display according to claim 3, wherein said metal heater layer is patterned onto said TFT array layer.

5. A flat panel display according to claim 3, wherein said metal heater layer is behind said black mask EMI layer.

6. A flat panel display according to claim 3, wherein said metal heater layer is comprised of a grid of intersecting horizontal and vertical lines.

7. A flat panel display according to claim 3, further comprising:

an insulating dielectric over-coated onto said metal heater layer.

8. A flat panel display according to claim 1, further comprising:

thermal sensors integral to said TFT array layer.

9. A flat panel display according to claim 8, wherein said thermal sensors are comprised of an array of diodes.

10. A flat panel display according to claim 8, wherein said thermal sensors are interposed between said front and rear glass plates to provide timely temperature sensing of said liquid crystal layer.

11. A flat panel display comprising:

a front plate;

a rear plate;

a layer of liquid crystals interposed between said front and rear plates; and

an EMI layer interposed between said front and rear plates, wherein said EMI layer is electrically tied to zero potential and the EMI layer is electrically isolated from Vcom.

12. A flat panel display according to claim 11, wherein said EMI layer is a black mask EMI layer.

13. A flat panel display according to claim 11, where said EMI layer is a low electrical resistance layer for absorbing and conducting interference signals from the display.

14. A flat panel display according to claim 11, further comprising:

a Vcom layer interposed between said front and rear plates,

wherein said EMI layer is electrically isolated from said Vcom layer.

15. A flat panel display according to claim 14, further comprising:

an insulating layer between said EMI layer and said Vcom layer.

16. A flat panel display according to claim 14, wherein said EMI layer is connected to chassis ground.

17. A flat panel display according to claim 11, wherein said EMI layer does not reduce light transmission through said display.

18. A flat panel according to claim 11, wherein said EMI layer covers the gate and source bus lines of said display.

19. A flat panel display according to claim 11, wherein said EMI layer has a resistivity of less than 10 ohms per square.