Projected capacitive touch panel and method of manufacturing the same

• US 9,019,233 B2
• Filed: 03/14/2013
• Issued: 04/28/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 01/26/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: TPK Touch Solutions (Xiamen) Inc. (TPK Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: TPK Touch Solutions (Xiamen) Inc. (TPK Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Mi, David
• Primary Examiner(s): SHERMAN, STEPHEN G
• Application Number:
  US13/986,078
• Publication Number:
  US 20130215082A1
• Time in Patent Office: 775 Days
• Field of Search: 345173-178, 178 1801- 1809, 178/18.11
• US Class Current: 345/174
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04103 Manufacturing, i.e. details related to manufacturing processes specially suited for touch sensitive devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0443 using a single layer of sensing electrodes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0446 using a grid-like structure of electrodes in at least two directions, e.g. using row and column electrodes

Abstract

A projected capacitive touch panel has a glass cover, a touch sensing circuit layer, an insulating ink Layer, a conductive wire layer, an insulator layer, a conductive glue layer and a flexible printed circuit (FPC) board. The touch sensing circuit layer, the insulating ink layer the conductive wire layer, the insulator layer and the conductive glue layer are mounted on a circuit surface of the glass cover in sequence. The insulating ink layer cover the touch sensing circuit layer and has multiple through slots. Each through slot is filled with an electric conductor. The FPC is fastened on the conductive wire layer by a conductive glue layer.

Claims

1. A projected capacitive touch panel comprising:

a glass cover having an operating surface and a circuit surface;

a touch sensing circuit layer having a first edge zone, a second edge zone opposite to the first edge zone and a touch zone, mounted on the circuit surface of the glass cover for generating actuated sensing signals in response to a touch action on the projected capacitive touch panel;

an insulating ink layer formed on the first edge zone and second edge zone, having multiple through slots on the first and second edge zones such that the through slots expose the touch sensing circuit layer, and each through slot has an electric conductor therein; and

a conductive wire layer formed on the insulating ink layer and connecting the electric conductors, thereby electrically connecting the first edge zone and the second edge zone of the touch sensing circuit layer via the electric conductors.

2. The projected capacitive touch panel of claim 1, further comprising an insulator layer with at least one breach, formed on the conductive wire layer such that the breach partially exposes the conductive wire layer.

3. The projected capacitive touch panel of claim 2, further comprising a conductive glue layer mounted on the breach thereby covering the exposed conductive wire layer.

4. The projected capacitive touch panel of claim 3, further comprising a flexible printed circuit (FPC) board attached to the conductive glue layer thereby electrically connecting to the conductive wire layer via the conductive glue layer.

5. The projected capacitive touch panel of claim 4, further comprising a consolidating glue layer, wherein the consolidating glue layer is applied to and between the FPC board and the glass cover.

6. The projected capacitive touch panel of claim 5, wherein the consolidating glue layer is located along the outer periphery of the insulating ink layer.

7. The projected capacitive touch panel of claim 2 wherein the insulator layer is made of opaque material.

8. The projected capacitive touch panel of claim 2, further comprising a conductive element attached to the breach covering the exposed conductive wire layer and made of anisotropic conductive film (ACT) or anisotropic conductive paste (ACP).

9. The projected capacitive touch panel of claim 2, further comprising a conductive element having a base with conducting bumps formed through the base, and attached to the breach thereby covering the exposed conductive wire layer.

10. The projected capacitive touch panel of claim 2, further comprising a plurality of breaches and one or more of the conductive elements made of conductive glue filled in the breaches.

11. The projected capacitive touch panel of claim 1, wherein the touch sensing circuit layer includes a plurality of first conductive assemblies with a first end and a second end, parallelly arranged in a first direction, and the conductive wire layer includes a plurality of first signal lines respectively connected to the first end of each first conductive assembly.

12. The projected capacitive touch panel of claim 11, wherein the conductive wire layer further includes a plurality of second signal lines respectively connected to the second end of each first conductive assembly.

13. The projected capacitive touch panel of claim 11, wherein the touch sensing circuit layer further includes a plurality of second conductive assemblies with a first end and a second end, parallelly arranged in a second direction, and the conductive wire layer further includes a plurality of third signal lines respectively connected to the first end of each second conductive assembly.

14. The projected capacitive touch panel of claim 13, wherein the conductive wire layer further includes a plurality of fourth signal lines respectively connected to the second end of each second conductive assembly.

15. The projected capacitive touch panel of claim 13, wherein each of the first conductive assemblies includes a plurality of first conductive cells arranged in an equal-spaced manner along the first direction and each of the second conductive assemblies includes a plurality of second conductive cells arranged in an equal-spaced manner along the second direction.

16. The projected capacitive touch panel of claim 15, wherein the first conductive cells and the second conductive cells are formed in the same layer.

17. The projected capacitive touch panel of claim 13, wherein each of the first conductive assemblies further comprises a plurality of first conductive lines interconnecting the adjacent first conductive cells and each of the second conductive assemblies further comprises a plurality of second conductive lines interconnecting the adjacent second conductive cells.

18. The projected capacitive touch panel of claim 17, wherein the touch sensing circuit layer further comprises a plurality of insulating elements disposed between the first conductive lines and the second conductive lines.

19. The projected capacitive touch panel of claim 18, wherein the first conductive lines are disposed on the insulating elements and electrically coupled with the first conductive cells.

20. The projected capacitive touch panel of claim 18, wherein the insulating elements are made of transparent insulating material.

21. The projected capacitive touch panel of claim 18, wherein the insulating elements, the first conductive cells and the second conductive cells have substantially similar refractive index.

22. The projected capacitive touch panel of claim 21, wherein the refractive index of the insulating elements ranges from 1.5 to 2.1.

23. The projected capacitive touch panel of claim 13, wherein the first conductive assemblies and the second conductive assemblies are arranged perpendicular to each other.

24. The projected capacitive touch panel of claim 1, further comprising a refractive index matching material configured or disposed on the circuit surface of the glass cover.

25. The projected capacitive touch panel of claim 1, wherein the insulating ink layer is made of opaque insulating material.

26. The projected capacitive touch panel of claim 1, further comprising fastening members attached to the circuit surface of the glass cover in order to engage with corresponding fastening parts of a display.

27. The projected capacitive touch panel of claim 1, wherein color of each electric conductor is similar to color of the insulating ink layer.

28. A projected capacitive touch panel comprising:

a glass cover having an operating surface and a circuit surface;

a touch sensing circuit layer with multiple edge zones and a touch zone, mounted on the circuit surface of the glass cover for generating actuated sensing signals in response to a touch action on the projected capacitive touch panel, and comprising a plurality of first conductive assemblies with a first end and a second end opposite to the first end, parallelly arranged in a first direction;

an insulating ink layer formed on the edge zones of the touch sensing circuit layer, having multiple through slots such that the through slots expose the first end and the second end of the first conductive assemblies, and each through slot has an electric conductor therein; and

a conductive wire layer formed on the insulating ink layer thereby electrically connecting the first end and second end of the first conductive assemblies via the electric conductors.

29. The projected capacitive touch panel of claim 28, wherein the conductive wire layer includes a plurality of first signal lines respectively connected to the first end of each first conductive assembly and a plurality of second signal lines respectively connected to the second end of each first conductive assembly.

30. A projected capacitive touch panel comprising:

a glass cover having an operating surface and a circuit surface;

a touch sensing circuit layer with multiple edge zones and a touch zone, mounted on the circuit surface of the glass cover for generating actuated sensing signals in response to a touch action on the projected capacitive touch panel, and comprising a plurality of first conductive assemblies parallelly arranged in a first direction and a plurality of second conductive assemblies parallelly arranged in a second direction, and wherein the first conductive assemblies have a first end and a second end opposite to the first end and the second conductive assemblies have a first end and a second end opposite to the first end;

an insulating ink layer formed on the edge zones of the touch sensing circuit layer, having multiple through slots such that the through slots expose the first end of the first conductive assemblies and the first end of the second conductive assemblies, and wherein each through slot has an electric conductor therein; and

a conductive wire layer formed on the insulating ink layer thereby electrically connecting the first end of the first conductive assemblies and the second end of the second conductive assemblies via the electric conductors.