Over recent months, we have commented a lot on truly flexible displays that might enable a new period of growth and development in the smartphone market. However. there are severe barriers to achieving robust lifetimes for the displays and the touch technology if you fold the smartphone.
We were contacted by Touch Materials Inc (TMI), which has a design that it calls a “Projected Neutral Bend Axis Hinge” case design that provides a hinge mechanism that avoids stressing the display itself. The hinge fold radius is less than 5mm and is claimed to be “very robust, durable and very robust, durable and economical to manufacture”.
The second element of the design encapsulates the entire touch subsystem as a laminate. TMI has a patented elastomer-based touch sensor that it says will not distort and the compression layer of the laminate fills the gap between the display and the piece-wise linear hinge arc so that they act as a single unit. The touch subsystem laminate also fully encases the electronics (touch controller IC and circuitry) so as there are no protuberances. The touch subsystem laminate is then seamlessly adhered to the OLED polyimide substrate.
TMI claims that the touch system outperforms all capacitive systems in resolution, optical performance (as the touch sensor is behind the display, update rate and power consumption as well as providing accurate force measurement. A capacitive sensor can also be specified if the maker insists.
For more details, contact Phil Coyne, [email protected]
