CN113639162A - Support structure for flexible screen and flexible display device - Google Patents

Abstract

The application provides a supporting structure and flexible display device for flexible screen, and this supporting structure includes a plurality of supporting element, and a plurality of supporting element link together in proper order along first direction, and the supporting element extends along the second direction perpendicular with first direction, and the supporting element can be crooked about the second direction. The flexible display device comprises a flexible screen, a buffer layer and a support structure; the flexible screen is including the display surface that is used for showing and the relative backlight face that sets up with the display surface, and the buffer layer is installed in the backlight face, and bearing structure installs in the buffer layer on the surface relative with the backlight face. According to the technical scheme, the whole supporting structure has high redundancy through the design of the multiple sections of supporting units, the supporting structure can be bent and fixed at an angle of a user demand according to the user demand, and a user can control the supporting structure to drive the flexible screen to be unfolded or curled through a micro motor in a manual mode.

Description

Support structure for flexible screen and flexible display device

[ technical field ] A method for producing a semiconductor device

The application relates to the technical field of display, in particular to a supporting structure for a flexible screen and a flexible display device.

[ background of the invention ]

As users demand display devices increasingly, flexible screens are developing more and more rapidly, and a variety of technical researches on flexible screens, such as support structures of various flexible screens, are developing vigorously.

The flexible screen on the existing market is mostly a structure which can be curled and flattened and is made of flexible materials, the shape is single, most of flexible screens can only be stretched along one direction, and a display screen is always a plane. The support structure that provides rigidity to the flexible screen during its flattening is complex. The flexible screen that can curl is when in-service use, generally need install on the carrier, uses hinge bearing structure more, and the user makes it freely stretch out through pulling flexible screen when using, or drives flexible screen curl through external drive power.

[ summary of the invention ]

In order to solve the above problems, the present application provides a support structure for a flexible screen and a flexible display device.

In a first aspect, the present application discloses a support structure for a flexible screen, the support structure comprises a plurality of support units, the plurality of support units are sequentially connected together along a first direction, the support units extend along a second direction perpendicular to the first direction, and the support units can be bent about the second direction.

In a second aspect, the present application discloses a flexible display device comprising a flexible screen, a buffer layer and a support structure; the flexible screen comprises a display surface used for displaying and a backlight surface arranged opposite to the display surface, the buffer layer is installed on the backlight surface, and the supporting structure is installed on the surface, opposite to the backlight surface, of the buffer layer.

The supporting structure and the flexible display device for the flexible screen disclosed by the embodiment of the application make the whole supporting structure have high redundancy through the design of a plurality of sections of supporting units, can be bent and fixed at an angle required by a user according to the requirement of the user, and the user can control the supporting structure to drive the flexible screen to unfold or curl through a manual mode and a micro motor.

[ description of the drawings ]

In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, the drawings needed to be used in the embodiments will be briefly described below, and it is obvious that the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present application, and it is obvious for those skilled in the art to obtain other drawings based on these drawings without creative efforts.

FIG. 1 is a side view of a support structure provided in example 1 of the present application;

FIG. 2 is a top view of a support structure provided in example 1 of the present application;

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of a support structure provided in example 1 of the present application bent into an arc shape;

FIG. 4 is a schematic view of a support structure provided in example 1 of the present application bent into a wave shape;

FIG. 5 is a schematic view of a support structure provided in example 1 of the present application bent into a right-angled configuration;

fig. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of a supporting unit in the supporting structure provided in embodiment 1 of the present application;

fig. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of a rotating shaft in a supporting unit of the supporting structure provided in embodiment 1 of the present application;

FIG. 8 is a schematic side sectional view of a support unit of the support structure provided in example 1 of the present application;

fig. 9 is a side view of a flexible display device provided in embodiment 2 of the present application;

fig. 10 is a bottom view of the flexible display device provided in embodiment 2 of the present application;

fig. 11 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a flexible display device provided in example 2 of the present application;

fig. 12 is a schematic diagram of an internal structure of a storage device in an embodiment of the flexible display device provided in example 2 of the present application;

fig. 13 is a schematic diagram of another specific embodiment of the flexible display device provided in example 2 of the present application.

Reference numerals:

10-a support structure; 11-a support unit; 12-a swivel arm; 13-a rotating shaft; 14-a connector; 15-a support plate; 16-connecting lugs; 17-a drive member; 18-helical tooth member; 19-a groove structure; 20-a flexible screen; 21-a display surface; 22-a backlight surface; 30-a buffer layer; 40-a storage device; 50-a housing; 51-a guide rail; 52-a stop block; an X-axis; d1-first direction; d2-second direction.

[ detailed description ] embodiments

For better understanding of the technical solutions of the present application, the following detailed descriptions of the embodiments of the present application are provided with reference to the accompanying drawings.

It should be understood that the embodiments described are only a few embodiments of the present application, and not all embodiments. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the embodiments given herein without making any creative effort, shall fall within the protection scope of the present application.

The terminology used in the embodiments of the present application is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the application. As used in the examples of this application and the appended claims, the singular forms "a", "an", and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.

It should be understood that the term "and/or" as used herein is merely one type of association that describes an associated object, meaning that three relationships may exist, e.g., a and/or B may mean: a exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, and B exists alone. In addition, the character "/" herein generally indicates that the former and latter related objects are in an "or" relationship.

It should be understood that although the terms first, second, third, etc. may be used in the embodiments of the present application to describe directions, positions, etc., these directions, positions, etc. should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one direction, a position, and the like from another. For example, the first direction may also be referred to as a second direction, and similarly, the second direction may also be referred to as a first direction, without departing from the scope of the embodiments of the present application.

Example 1

The embodiment 1 of the application discloses a supporting structure, which is applied to a flexible screen, can realize bending of various angles while providing hardness for the flexible screen, and comprises large-angle bending and small-angle bending, wherein the small-angle bending refers to slight bending within 5 degrees.

As shown in fig. 1 and 2, the supportingstructure 10 of the present embodiment 1 includes a plurality of supportingunits 11, the plurality of supportingunits 11 are sequentially connected together along a first direction D1, the supportingunits 11 extend along a second direction D2 perpendicular to the first direction D1, and the supportingunits 11 are bendable about the second direction D2. The first direction D1 is a direction from the leftmost supportingunit 11 to the rightmost supportingunit 11 in fig. 1, the second direction D2 is a direction from the lowermost end of the supportingunit 11 to the uppermost end in fig. 2, and the first direction D1 and the second direction D2 form a plane together. The supportingunits 11 are connected in a row in an end-to-end manner along the first direction D1, and two adjacent supportingunits 11 can be linked, that is, when one supportingunit 11 bends, the supportingunit 11 connected thereto will rotate along with the bending of the supportingunit 11, so that the bending motion between the supportingunits 11 can affect the function of the bending shape of the whole supportingstructure 10. Specifically, when eachsupport unit 11 is in a flat state, thesupport structure 10 is in the plane, when a user bends onesupport unit 11 about the second direction D2 to be in a bent state, the portion of thesupport structure 10 formed by theother support units 11 on one side of thesupport unit 11 is tilted from the plane and forms a user-desired angle with the plane, and so on, when a plurality ofsupport units 11 are controlled by the user to be bent, thewhole support structure 10 forms a user-desired shape, such as an arc shape (as shown in fig. 3), a wave shape (as shown in fig. 4), a right-angled shape (as shown in fig. 5), and so on. Through the supportingstructure 10 of this embodiment 1, a user can control the supportingunits 11 to bend, so as to obtain a desired shape of the supportingstructure 10, and meanwhile, each section of the supportingunits 11 in the supportingstructure 10 has a rigid strength, so that each section of the supportingunit 11 does not generate a resilience force when the supportingstructure 10 bends, and a mutually restricted resistance force is generated between two adjacent supportingunits 11, so as to maintain the shape of the supportingstructure 10 after being bent. Thesupport structure 10 of the embodiment 1 is applied to a flexible screen, the flexible screen has higher redundancy when being bent, the flexible screen can be kept in the shape by the characteristic that thesupport structure 10 can keep the shape when being bent according to the requirements of users, the shape can be changed by bending thesupport structure 10 at any time according to different use environments and different carrier shapes, and the flexible screen can be applied to carriers in various use environments and various shapes. Preferably, the bending directions of two adjacent supportingunits 11 may be the same or different, so as to realize the supportingstructure 10 having various shapes as described above.

Referring to fig. 6, in the supportingstructure 10 of the present embodiment 1, the supportingunit 11 includes two rotatingarms 12 and arotating shaft 13 connecting the two rotatingarms 12, an axis X of therotating shaft 13 extends along the second direction D2, and both the rotatingarms 12 are rotatable about the axis X of the rotatingshaft 13, together forming a base unit for bending the supportingunit 11 about the second direction D2. The axes X of therotating shafts 13 of each supportingunit 11 are parallel to each other, and two adjacent supportingunits 11 are connected to each other by the respective rotatingarms 12 along the first direction D1. When the supportingunit 11 is in the flattened state, the two rotatingarms 12 are respectively located at two sides of the rotatingshaft 13 along the first direction D1; when thesupport unit 11 is in a bent state, the two rotatingarms 12 are angled with respect to the rotatingshaft 13. Referring to fig. 1 and 6, when the supportingstructure 10 in fig. 1 is viewed from left to right, the rightrotating arm 12 of the previous supportingunit 11 and the left rotatingarm 12 of the next supportingunit 11 are connected together and do not rotate with each other, so that the rightrotating arm 12 of the previous supportingunit 11 drives the left rotatingarm 12 of the next supportingunit 11 to rotate together when rotating around the axis X of therotating shaft 13, and at this time, if the next supportingunit 11 does not bend, the right rotatingarm 12 of the next supportingunit 11 also rotates around the axis X of therotating shaft 13 of the previous supportingunit 11, that is, as long as the next supportingunit 11 does not bend, the next supportingunit 11 rotates around the axis X of therotating shaft 13 of the previous supportingunit 11, and the shape of the supportingstructure 10 changes to form a curved shape; when one of theright support units 11 is bent, the right rotatingarm 12 drives theright support unit 11 to rotate around the axis X of the rotatingshaft 13 of thesupport unit 11, and so on, thesupport units 11 in each section of the support mechanism can be freely bent, thereby forming the shape of thesupport structure 10 desired by the user.

Referring to fig. 6, in the supportingstructure 10 of the present embodiment 1, therotating arm 12 of the supportingunit 11 includes a connectingmember 14 and a supportingplate 15, one end of the connectingmember 14 is connected to therotating shaft 13 and can rotate about the axis X of therotating shaft 13, the other end of the connectingmember 14 is connected to the inner surface of the supportingplate 15 near therotating shaft 13, the outer surface of the supportingplate 15 for connecting to the supportingplate 15 of the adjacent supportingunit 11 is parallel to the axis X, so that when thesupport structure 10 is bent, the interaction force between thesupport plate 15 of thebent support unit 11 and thesupport plate 15 of theadjacent support unit 11 can be kept perpendicular to the axis X, and compared to the embodiment in which the outer surface of thesupport plate 15 is not parallel to the axis X, the embodiment in which the outer surface of the embodiment 1 is parallel to the axis X can avoid the generation of a rotation moment at the connection of the outer surfaces of the twosupport plates 15 affecting the structural strength of theentire support structure 10 after bending. Specifically, the two rotatingarms 12 respectively disposed at two sides of the rotatingshaft 13 along the first direction D1 have substantially the same structure, wherein the supportingplate 15 is a flat plate with certain hardness, extends along the second direction D2, and has a length that is not designed to be very long, and basically as long as the length can prevent the flexible screen from bending downward, the outer surface of the supportingplate 15 refers to a surface facing therotating shaft 13 of the adjacent supportingunit 11 and being closely connected with the supportingplate 15 of the rotatingarm 12 of the adjacent supportingunit 11, the inner surface of the supportingplate 15 refers to a surface facing therotating shaft 13 of the supportingunit 11 relative to the outer surface, and the connectingmember 14 mounted on the inner surface plays a role in connecting the supportingplate 15 and therotating shaft 13 together and driving the supportingplate 15 to rotate around the axis X of therotating shaft 13. The connectingmember 14 is a rigid structure and is connected with the supportingplate 15 into a whole, but the connectingmember 14 and the rotatingshaft 13 can be connected together in a fixed manner or in a movable manner that the connectingmember 14 is sleeved on the rotatingshaft 13 and rotates around the axis X of the rotatingshaft 13. When the supportingunit 11 is bent, the rotatingshaft 13 rotates to drive the connectingmember 14 to rotate around the axis X of therotating shaft 13, and then the supportingplate 15 and the adjacent supportingunit 11 connected with the supportingplate 15 are driven, and the angle between the two connectingmembers 14 of the supportingunit 11 with respect to the rotatingshaft 13 is less than 180 °. The damping member between theconnection member 14 and therotation shaft 13 for controlling the bending of thesupport unit 11 at a certain angle enables the two rotatingarms 12 of thesupport unit 11 to be bent to a desired angle without further bending or reverse rotation, i.e., the damping member functions as a temporary lock or latch, which enables a user to avoid the problem of unstable shape of the flexible screen after bending the flexible screen to a desired angle using thesupport structure 10.

Referring to fig. 6, further, in the supportingunit 11, the connectingmember 14 of eachrotating arm 12 includes two connectinglugs 16, and the two connectinglugs 16 of onerotating arm 12 are located between the two connectinglugs 16 of the otherrotating arm 12 along the second direction D2. Particularly, the part ofengaging lug 16 and the internal surface ofbackup pad 15 are connected is the rectangular plate shape, strengthen the joint strength betweenengaging lug 16 and thebackup pad 15, engaginglug 16 connects the part onpivot 13 for semicircle plate shape, avoidsupport element 11 the rotation ofbackup pad 15 when taking place the wide-angle bending problem that is blockked by engaginglug 16 that has the edges and corners, the bend angle ofsupport element 11 has been increased, also make thebearing structure 10 after the bending can not take place because of the crooked convex sharp edges and corners ofengaging lug 16 influence the handheld problem of using experience of user. In the pair ofengaging lugs 16 and the other pair ofengaging lugs 16 closer to the two ends of the rotatingshaft 13 in the second direction D2, at least one pair ofengaging lugs 16 is limited in the second direction D2 when therotating shaft 13 is connected, that is, the rotatingshaft 13 drives the pair ofengaging lugs 16 to be free from displacement in the second direction D2 when rotating, and theengaging lugs 16 may be engaged with the grooves or limiting tables designed on the rotatingshaft 13, so as to prevent the two rotatingarms 12 from sliding along the rotatingshaft 13 in the second direction D2, which affects the problem that the user bends the flexible screen using the supportingstructure 10. In addition, the two rotatingarms 12 of the supportingunit 11 cannot be displaced relatively in the second direction D2, which puts requirements on the positions of the pair ofengaging lugs 16 of the rotatingarms 12 respectively connected to therotating shaft 13, in this embodiment 1, the twoengaging lugs 16 closer to the two ends of the rotatingshaft 13 in the second direction D2 should be fixedly connected to the rotatingshaft 13 and cannot rotate relatively to each other, the pair ofengaging lugs 16 fixed to the rotatingshaft 13 limits the possible displacement of the other pair ofengaging lugs 16 in the second direction D2, and the other pair ofengaging lugs 16 can be fixedly connected to the rotatingshaft 13 or movably connected to the rotating shaft, but cannot be displaced relatively to the rotatingshaft 13 in the second direction D2.

Referring to fig. 6, further, in the supportingunit 11, the twoengaging lugs 16 closer to the same end of the rotatingshaft 13 in the second direction D2 are fitted to each other without relative displacement in the second direction D2. As described in the above section, each of the two rotatingarms 12 has twoengaging lugs 16, and each of the twoengaging lugs 16 of each rotatingarm 12 is close to one end of therotating shaft 13 in the second direction D2, and the twoengaging lugs 16 close to the same end of the rotatingshaft 13 but belonging to different rotatingarms 12 are attached together, but can rotate relatively with the rotatingshaft 13 around the axis X of therotating shaft 13, so as to function to bend the supportingunit 11.

Referring to fig. 6, further, the supportingunit 11 further includes a drivingmember 17, and the drivingmember 17 is connected to the at least onerotating arm 12. In particular, theswivel arm 12 can be bent only by mechanical means, or can be bent by an externally provideddrive 17. In the case of connecting the external drivingmember 17 to therotating arm 12, the user can control therotating arm 12 to rotate about the axis X of therotating shaft 13 by controlling the drivingmember 17. The drivingmember 17 can be mounted on one of therotary arms 12, which can save cost while realizing bending of the supportingunit 11, and the drivingmember 17 can also be mounted on tworotary arms 12, which is more favorable for the user to control the rotation angle of therotary arms 12.

Referring to fig. 6, further, in the supportingunit 11, the drivingmember 17 is provided at least one of two shaft ends of therotating shaft 13 in the second direction D2. Specifically, the drivingmember 17 may be connected to one of the connectinglugs 16 of therotating arm 12 by being sleeved on the shaft end of therotating shaft 13, and therotating arm 12 is provided with a rotating torque about the axis X of therotating shaft 13 through mechanical control or electrical control, so as to realize the rotation control of therotating arm 12 by the drivingmember 17. The drivingmember 17 can also be directly mounted at the shaft end of therotating shaft 13 and then connected to the connectinglug 16 of therotating arm 12 through a mechanical connection structure, and therotating arm 12 is provided with a rotating moment about the axis X of therotating shaft 13 through mechanical control or electrical control, so that therotating arm 12 is controlled by the drivingmember 17 to rotate.

In accordance with the above description, the user may control the rotation of theswing arm 12 either mechanically or electrically. Thedrive element 17 can therefore preferably be designed as a motor which is fitted on the shaft end of therotary shaft 13. The motor may be a linear motor, a stepping motor, a variable frequency motor, a direct current motor, etc., and the size of each supportingunit 11 constituting the supportingstructure 10 is not large, so in the supportingstructure 10 of this embodiment 1, the motor is a micro motor.

Referring to fig. 7 and 8, in the supportingunit 11, correspondinghelical gear members 18 are respectively provided on the surface of therotating shaft 13 at the junctions with the respective connectingmembers 14 of the tworotating arms 12, at least one of thehelical gear members 18 is rotatable about the axis X of therotating shaft 13, and the connectingmembers 14 are engaged with the rotatingshaft 13 through thehelical gear members 18. Specifically, thehelical gear member 18 is a portion that is disposed on therotating shaft 13, and thehelical gear member 18 may or may not rotate relative to therotating shaft 13, and when the user controls therotating arm 12 to rotate around the axis X of therotating shaft 13 through mechanical or electrical control of the drivingmember 17 or through other means or mechanisms, thehelical gear member 18 will also rotate around the axis X of therotating shaft 13. Thehelical gear 18 can be designed to rotate together with theshaft 13 or can be designed to rotate about its axis X relative to theshaft 13. Corresponding to thehelical gear 18, the surface of each of the connecting members 14 (such as the connectinglug 16 described above) of therotating arm 12 connected to therotating shaft 13 is designed with agroove structure 19 so that thegroove structure 19 can be engaged with thehelical gear 18, when the user controls the drivingmember 17 to control therotating arm 12 to rotate, if the connectingmember 14 is fixed to therotating shaft 13, thehelical gear 18 is designed on therotating shaft 13, therotating arm 12 provides a rotating torque to thehelical gear 18 so that therotating arm 12, thehelical gear 18 and therotating shaft 13 rotate together around the axis X, and if the connectingmember 14 and therotating shaft 13 can rotate relatively, thehelical gear 18 can also rotate relative to therotating shaft 13, and therotating arm 12 provides a rotating torque to thehelical gear 18 so that therotating arm 12 and thehelical gear 18 rotate together around the axis X relative to therotating shaft 13. In addition, whether therotating arm 12 is fixedly connected and relatively immovable relative to therotating shaft 13, thehelical tooth members 18 corresponding to two connecting members 14 (such as the connectinglugs 16 described above) that are attached to each other are adjacently arranged, the size and the inclined direction of the teeth in the samehelical tooth member 18 are the same, and during the rotation of therotating arm 12, if the teeth of two adjacenthelical tooth members 18 are aligned, an inclined passage occurs between two adjacent teeth, and the interaction force between two adjacent connectingmembers 14 tends to drive the two connectingmembers 14 to displace along the passage through the passage. Therefore, in order to avoid the above problem, theoblique teeth 18 of the tworotating arms 12 corresponding to the connectingpieces 14 have different tooth inclination directions, so that the moment directions of the connectingpieces 14 between the two teeth of theoblique teeth 18 are opposite, and the tworotating arms 12 can be prevented from being displaced in the first direction D1.

Example 2

Embodiment 2 of the present application discloses a flexible display device, which can be applied to various use scenes, such as large screen display, a curled screen, a folded screen, and the like, by using thesupport structure 10 disclosed in embodiment 1 of the present application as a support member and a shape change member.

As shown in fig. 9, the flexible display device of the present embodiment 2 includes aflexible screen 20, abuffer layer 30, and asupport structure 10. Theflexible screen 20 includes adisplay surface 21 for displaying and abacklight surface 22 disposed opposite to thedisplay surface 21, thebuffer layer 30 is mounted on thebacklight surface 22, and thesupport structure 10 is mounted on a surface of thebuffer layer 30 opposite to thebacklight surface 22. Specifically, theflexible panel 20 may be made of an OLED (Organic light emitting semiconductor) material, thebuffer layer 30 may be made of a glue material, thesupport structure 10 may be made of a rigid material as described in embodiment 1, and thebuffer layer 30 may bond thesupport structure 10 and theflexible panel 20, while ensuring the flatness of the bending surface of theflexible panel 20 when the flexible panel is bent. Theflexible screen 20, thebuffer layer 30 and thesupport structure 10 form a three-layer combined structure, and the bending of theflexible screen 20 at any angle is realized through the bending characteristics and functions of thesupport structure 10 disclosed in this embodiment 1, and a user can control theflexible screen 20 to form any desired shape, so that the flexible display device can be widely applied to various application scenes.

As shown in fig. 10, in the flexible display device of the present embodiment 2, thesupport structure 10 is mounted on at least one of two opposite sides in theflexible screen 20. Specifically, when viewed from the front view of thebacklight surface 22 of theflexible display 20, the supportingstructure 10 is not laid on thewhole backlight surface 22, but is disposed at the side of thebacklight surface 22, so as not to affect the image projected by the display module onto thedisplay surface 21 in the flexible display device. It should be noted that the arrangement direction of thesupport structures 10 at the side of the backlight surface 22 (i.e. the first direction D1 described in embodiment 1) may be parallel to the horizontal side or the vertical side of the display screen in thedisplay surface 21, and the selection of whether the arrangement direction of thesupport structures 10 is parallel to the horizontal side or the vertical side when designing the flexible display device depends on the placement scene of the flexible display device and the stretching direction of theflexible screen 20, for example, in the scene of stretching theflexible screen 20 up and down, the arrangement direction of thesupport structures 10 should be parallel to the vertical side of the display screen.

As shown in fig. 11, in the flexible display device of this embodiment 2, a receivingdevice 40 is further included, and theflexible screen 20, thebuffer layer 30 and thesupport structure 10 are fixedly connected to the receivingdevice 40 at one end. When the flexible display device is displayed, theflexible screen 20 and thesupport structure 10 simultaneously extend out of the receivingdevice 40, and thesupport structure 10 is the structure disclosed in embodiment 1, as shown in an enlarged portion in fig. 11. When the flexible display device is not displayed, theflexible screen 20 and thesupport structure 10 are received in the receivingdevice 40. The flexible display device adopting thestorage device 40 can be conveniently carried and stored by a user, can save the space in a home as a household appliance, and makes the environment more tidy and atmosphere. Meanwhile, when the flexible display device is not used, theflexible screen 20 can be protected from being damaged and dust can not be accumulated, and the cleaning burden of a user is reduced.

As shown in fig. 12, in the flexible display device of the present embodiment 2, when theflexible panel 20 and thesupport structure 10 are received in the receivingdevice 40, theflexible panel 20 is made to take a curled shape by the curling of thesupport structure 10. Theflexible screen 20 and thesupport structure 10 can be rolled into thestorage device 40 when the flexible display device is not used for displaying, theflexible screen 20 and thesupport structure 10 simultaneously extend out of thestorage device 40 when the flexible display device is used for displaying, theflexible screen 20 can be bent into a curved surface by rotating each support unit of thesupport structure 10 around its rotation axis, and thesupport structure 10 is the structure disclosed in embodiment 1, as shown in an enlarged part in fig. 12.

As shown in fig. 13, in the flexible display device of this embodiment 2, the flexible display device further includes a housing 50, the housing 50 has aguide rail 51 and astop block 52, theguide rail 51 is disposed on two sides of the housing 50 along the second direction D2, thestop block 52 is disposed on one end of theguide rail 51 along the first direction D1, theflexible screen 20 is movably mounted in the housing 50, thesupport structure 10 is movably mounted in theguide rail 51 on two sides of the housing 50, thesupport structure 10 can slide along theguide rail 51 in the first direction D1 to extend and retract theflexible screen 20, and thesupport structure 10 can be stopped by thestop block 52, and the support structure can be bent and bend with theflexible screen 20. Specifically, thesupport structure 10 described in embodiment 1 above extends along the first direction D1, and therefore theguide rail 51 of the housing 50 in fig. 12 also extends along the first direction D1, and theguide rail 51 on both sides of the housing 50 has a closed end and an open end. When thesupport structure 10 is retracted in theguide 51, theflexible screen 20 is retracted in the housing 50, and thesupport structure 10 may be folded or collapsed by bending theflexible screen 20, at which time thesupport structure 10 is retracted to the bottom to the closed end of theguide 51. When the supporting units of the supportingstructure 10 are controlled to slide along theguide rail 51 along the first direction D1 to slide theflexible screen 20 together, theflexible screen 20 can be stopped at any position and can also be completely unfolded out of the outer shell 50, at this time, theflexible screen 20 is transversely unfolded to increase the screen size, the supportingstructure 10 is unfolded to the open end of theguide rail 51 and locked by thestop block 52, at this time, the supportingstructure 10 does not continue to slide along the first direction D1 and can rotate around thestop block 52, and a user can control the bending of the supporting units of the supportingstructure 10, so that the supportingstructure 10 can bend inwards or outwards at any angle relative to theguide rail 51 with theflexible screen 20, and the supportingstructure 10 is the structure disclosed in embodiment 1, as shown in the enlarged part in fig. 13.

The supporting structure and the flexible display device for the flexible screen disclosed by the embodiment of the application make the whole supporting structure have high redundancy through the design of a plurality of sections of supporting units, can be bent and fixed at an angle required by a user according to the requirement of the user, and the user can control the supporting structure to drive the flexible screen to unfold or curl through a manual mode and a micro motor.

The present invention is not intended to be limited to the particular embodiments shown and described, but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features herein disclosed.

Claims (16)

1. A support structure for a flexible screen, the support structure comprising a plurality of support units connected together in series along a first direction, the support units extending along a second direction perpendicular to the first direction, the support units being bendable about the second direction.

2. The support structure for a flexible screen according to claim 1, wherein the support unit comprises two rotating arms and a rotating shaft connecting the two rotating arms, an axis of the rotating shaft extends in the second direction, and both the two rotating arms are rotatable around the axis of the rotating shaft;

the axes of the rotating shaft of each supporting unit are parallel to each other, and two adjacent supporting units are connected together through respective rotating arms along the first direction;

when the supporting unit is in a flattening state, the two rotating arms are respectively positioned at two sides of the rotating shaft along the first direction;

the two rotating arms are angled with respect to the rotating shaft when the supporting unit is in a bent state.

3. The support structure for a flexible screen according to claim 2, wherein in the support unit, the rotating arm includes a connecting member and a support plate, one end of the connecting member is connected to the rotating shaft and can rotate around the axis of the rotating shaft, the other end of the connecting member is connected to an inner surface of the support plate near the rotating shaft, and an outer surface of the support plate for connecting to the support plate of the adjacent support unit is parallel to the axis.

4. A support structure for a flexible screen according to claim 3, wherein in the support unit, the connecting member of each of the rotary arms includes two engaging lugs, and in the second direction, the two engaging lugs of one of the rotary arms are located between the two engaging lugs of the other rotary arm.

5. The support structure for a flexible screen according to claim 4, wherein in the support unit, two engaging lugs closer to the same end of the rotary shaft in the second direction are fitted to each other without relative displacement in the second direction.

6. The support structure for a flexible screen of claim 2, wherein the support unit further comprises a drive member connected to at least one of the swivel arms.

7. A support structure for a flexible screen according to claim 6, wherein the drive member is provided at least one of two axial ends of the rotary shaft in the second direction.

8. The support structure for the flexible screen of claim 7, wherein the driving member is a motor fitted around the shaft end of the rotation shaft.

9. A support structure for a flexible screen according to claim 3, wherein corresponding skewed tooth members are provided on the surface of the shaft at the connection with the respective connecting members of the two arms, at least one of the skewed tooth members being rotatable about the axis of the shaft, the connecting members being snap-fitted to the shaft via the skewed tooth members.

10. A support structure for a flexible screen according to claim 9, wherein the coupling members of the two arms are provided with angled teeth having different directions of inclination.

11. The support structure for a flexible screen according to claim 1, wherein the bending directions of two adjacent support units may be the same or different.

12. A flexible display device comprising a flexible screen, a buffer layer and a support structure according to any one of claims 1 to 11;

the flexible screen comprises a display surface used for displaying and a backlight surface arranged opposite to the display surface, the buffer layer is installed on the backlight surface, and the supporting structure is installed on the surface, opposite to the backlight surface, of the buffer layer.

13. The flexible display device of claim 12, wherein the support structure is mounted on at least one of two opposing sides of the flexible screen.

14. The flexible display device according to claim 12 or 13, further comprising a receiving device, wherein the flexible screen, the buffer layer and the support structure are fixedly connected at one end in the receiving device; when the flexible display device displays, the flexible screen and the supporting structure simultaneously extend out of the accommodating device; when the flexible display device is not displaying, the flexible screen and the support structure are received in the receiving device.

15. The flexible display device of claim 14, wherein the flexible screen is caused to curl by curling of the support structure when the flexible screen and the support structure are received in the receiving device.

16. The flexible display device of claim 13, further comprising a housing having a rail disposed on both sides of the housing along the second direction and a stop disposed on the rail at an end along the first direction, wherein the flexible screen is movably mounted in the housing, wherein the support structure is movably mounted in the rail on both sides of the housing, wherein the support structure is slidable along the rail in the first direction to extend and retract the flexible screen, and wherein the support structure is lockable by the stop and can bend around the stop and bend the flexible screen.

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