Vacuum hold-down of seamless image panel to polycarbonate protective frontplane
AssigneePrysm, Inc.
InventorJohn L. Ritter
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The disclosure described herein generally relates to an image panel and a method of compressing the image panel. A breather assembly is coupled to at least one edge of the image panel and a vacuum is drawn through the breather assembly to pull the image panel portion and the front panel into intimate contact with phosphors sandwiched therebetween. The breather assembly draws the vacuum from the air pockets between adjacent phosphors to pull the image panel flat and thus prevent image artifacts from forming while also permitting the image panel portion and the front plane panel to move independently.
Claims27
A method of compressing an image panel set together to reduce relative movement during thermal expansion of the image panel, wherein the image panel has one or more sealing gaskets coupled to two or more side edge regions thereof, and a breather assembly coupled to the image panel at a top side and a bottom side thereof, comprising:
- drawing a vacuum through the breather assembly at the top side for a first period of time;
- and
- drawing a vacuum through the breather assembly at the bottom side for a second period of time, wherein the second period of time occurs after the first period of time and wherein the two panels maintain a substantially uniformly spatial gap across the entire image panel following the second period of time.
A vacuum enclosed image panel device, comprising:
- a first panel having a top edge, a bottom edge, a first side edge and a second side edge;
- a second panel having a top edge, a bottom edge, a first side edge and a second side edge;
- and
- a first breather assembly coupled between the first panel and second panel, wherein the first panel and the second panel are substantially uniformly spaced apart under vacuum to reduce relative movement during thermal expansion wherein the first panel and the second panel have different coefficients of thermal expansion.
A vacuum enclosed image panel device, comprising:
- a first panel having a top edge, a bottom edge, a first side edge and a second side edge, wherein the first panel is a multilayer structure having:
- an anti-glare coating;
- a first polyethylene terephthalate layer disposed on the anti-glare coating;
- a first pressure sensitive adhesive on the first polyethylene terephthalate layer;
- a polycarbonate layer disposed on the pressure sensitive adhesive;
- a second pressure sensitive adhesive on the polycarbonate layer;
- a second polyethylene terephthalate layer disposed on the second pressure sensitive adhesive;
- a second panel having a top edge, a bottom edge, a first side edge and a second side edge, wherein the second panel is disposed opposite the anti-glare coating of the first panel;
- and
- a first breather assembly, wherein the first breather assembly includes:
- a third pressure sensitive adhesive layer coupled to the second panel;
- a fourth pressure sensitive adhesive layer coupled to the first panel;
- and
- a gasket coupled to the third pressure sensitive adhesive layer and the fourth pressure sensitive adhesive layer, wherein the first panel and the second panel are substantially uniformly spaced apart under vacuum to reduce relative movement during thermal expansion.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.