Electric lamp and discharge devices – With gas or vapor – Three or more electrode discharge device
Reexamination Certificate
1998-11-20
2001-09-11
Patel, Nimeshkumar D. (Department: 2879)
Electric lamp and discharge devices
With gas or vapor
Three or more electrode discharge device
C313S046000, C362S294000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06288489
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a plasma display device using a plasma display panel (referred to as PDP, below). More particularly, it relates to a plasma display device having a new structure for supporting a PDP and for connecting a PDP with various driving circuits.
2. Description of the Prior Arts
Recently, plasma display devices have greatly attracted the attention of many people as a display device for a wall-mounted television. Although there are two kinds of PDP based on a difference in the driving methods, such as an AC type and a DC type, an AC type color plasma display device will be explained hereinafter only by way of example.
The AC type of plasma display device is comprised of a PDP and a main frame for supporting and holding circuit boards thereon. Various circuit components including circuits for driving the PDP are held on the circuit boards. Since the PDP is mainly comprised of two glass plates arranged in parallel with each other so as to hold a plasma forming gas therebetween, the main frame having circuit boards thereon and the PDP are fastened together using a binding material. In this case, however, when a defect is found in the PDP once it has been fastened to the main frame to form a plasma display device, the PDP and the main frame must be replaced together with new ones because the main frame cannot be separated easily from the PDP. Accordingly, the main frame should be designed by taking in account the possibility that it will be discarded. For this reason, the conventional main frame has been made in a simple form to reduce the manufacturing cost.
However, the main frame has other functions, such as to quickly and uniformly absorb the heat generated by the PDP so that the entire PDP surface is maintained at a uniform temperature, thus keeping the display quality of the PDP high, and to quickly move the absorbed heat to the outside of the device through heat conduction and radiation. In order to accomplish these functions, the main frame should be made from a material having a large thermal conductivity and should have a large surface area. However, since the possibility of discarding the main frame along with the PDP should be taken in account, as mentioned above, the main frame cannot have a complicated and high cost structure to increase the thermal conductivity and the surface area. Accordingly, the conventional main frame has been made of a relatively thin metal plate.
On the other hand, the main frame should have a high mechanical strength to protect the PDP from external stress since it is made of glass plates. As the panel size of the PDP increases, the metal plate must be made thicker to ensure the mechanical strength of the main frame and the PDP. In this case, however, a problem arises in keeping the panel flat. This is because the panel is easily broken due to stress arising from an uneven panel.
As mentioned above, the conventional plasma display device has various problems arising from coupling the PDP to the main frame.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention has been made to overcome the above-mentioned problems of the prior art plasma display device.
Accordingly, the object of the present invention is to provide a plasma display device having a new structure for coupling a PDP to a main frame so as to solve the various problems arising from the prior art coupling structure without largely increasing the manufacturing cost.
To accomplish the above-mentioned object, the first feature of the present invention is a structure, or construction, of constructs a plasma display device having a PDP, a circuit board having a driving circuit for driving the PDP, a main frame for supporting the circuit board, and a uniform heat-conducting plate to be supported by said main frame and, at the same time, to be fixed to said PDP.
According to the first feature, the main frame and the uniform heat-conducting plate, which are detachably attached to each other, are provided between the circuit board and the PDP. Therefore, various structures for solving the above-mentioned problems can be provided on the main frame, which is easily separated from the uniform heat-conducting plate, when the PDP is replaced. Thus, the uniform heat-conducting plate, which is fixed to the PDP and can be discarded along with the PDP, can be formed in a simple form so as to reduce the manufacturing cost thereof. If the PDP must be replaced for some reasons after it has been incorporated into a plasma display device, only the PDP and the uniform heat-conducting plate, fixed to the PDP, must be discarded since the main frame is easily separated from the uniform heat-conducting plate.
In the second feature of the present invention, the uniform heat-conducting plate is fastened to the PDP using a binding material.
According to the second feature, the binding material fixes the PDP and the uniform heat-conducting plate closely, and improves the heat conduction between the PDP and the uniform heat-conducting plate. As a result, the heat generated by the PDP can be conducted to the uniform heat-conducting plate quickly and uniformly, and, further, conducted efficiently to the main frame via the uniform heat-conducting plate.
In the third feature of the present invention, the uniform heat-conducting plate is comprised of a plurality of convex and concave parts, which convex parts closely approach the PDP and which concave parts hold a binding material to adhere the uniform heat-conducting plate to the PDP.
According to the third feature, the mechanical strength of the uniform heat-conducting plate itself is increased due to the existence of the convex and concave parts and, at the same time, the required amount of the binding material can be reduced, thus realizing a low cost plasma display device. Since the uniform heat-conducting plate is structured to closely approach the PDP in the regions where no binding material exists, the heat conduction from the entire PDP surface to the uniform heat-conducting plate is kept excellent. Thus, the heat generated by the PDP is quickly and uniformly conducted to the uniform heat-generating plate and then to the main frame through the uniform heat-conducting plate.
In the fourth feature of the present invention, the uniform heat-conducting plate has a plurality of spacers on one surface to closely approach the PDP, and a binding material is placed between the respective spacers so as to fix the uniform heat-conducting plate to the PDP.
According to the fourth feature, the advantages obtained by the third feature of the present invention mentioned above can easily be obtained. The fourth feature of the present invention structures the convex parts of the third feature with the spacers. Although the uniform heat-conducting plate having the spacers according to the fourth feature do not have a remarkable advantage to increase the mechanical strength of the plate, it can be made easier than that of having the convex and concave parts because no processing is necessary for the plate. The same advantages as those obtained by the third feature can be obtained by the fourth feature with respect to heat conduction and uniform heat-conduction.
In the fifth feature of the present invention, the main frame has a plurality of tabs while the uniform heat-conducting plate has a plurality of sockets in which the corresponding tabs are inserted to detachably fix the main frame to the uniform heat-conducting plate.
In the sixth feature of the present invention, the tabs and the sockets are screwed together after the tabs have been inserted to the corresponding sockets.
According to the fifth and the sixth features of the present invention, the main frame and the uniform heat-conducting plate can easily be fixed together and detached from each other.
In the seventh feature of the present invention, the main frame has a heat radiating portion for efficiently dissipating the heat generated by the PDP to the outside of the device through heat radiation and heat conduction.
In the eighth feature of the
Isohata Hideki
Kimura Hideo
Fujitsu Limited
Guharay Karabi
Patel Nimeshkumar D.
Staas & Halsey , LLP
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