Durel Corporation

World Properties, Inc.

Key Plastics, LLC

Durel Corporation, a Delaware Corporation

Rodney T Eckersley

Ralph M McGuigan

Walter J Paciorek

Robert J Krafcik

Dee Lynn Johnson

Douglas T Wheeler

Harold T Munson

Will M Hooke

Ramona R Fechter

Thomas C Ensign, Jr

Sharlyn R Stocker

Michael W Cass

Charles I Zovko

Benjamin L Richie, Jr

James H Butt

Wayne Alan Wilson

Kristin R Lavanway

Donald H Savery

An EL panel on a rigid substrate is thinned in selected areas, or overall, to provide a backlight for keypads and other applications that would otherwise require a more flexible panel or additional structure. Lamp materials are deposited on one side of a rigid substrate and then substrate material is ablated with a suitable tool, working from the opposite side of the substrate as the lamp materials. The depth of cut can be constant or variable, enabling one to tailor the flexibility of an area to the desired tactile response for a keypad or to provide clearance in close quarters. The invention is compatible with known process for making an EL panel.

Variable thickness EL lamp

A method for forming an electroluminescent lamp unit. A multi-layer sheet form electroluminescent lamp, the multi-layer sheet form lamp includes a pair of sheet-form conductive layers, one of which is transparent for transmitting light emitted from the particles, an electroluminescent sheet-form layer disposed between the pair of sheet-form conductive layers and having electroluminescent particles, and a carrier substrate for supporting the pair of sheet-form conductive layers and electroluminescent sheet-form layer. The multi-layer sheet form lamp is heated at a temperature sufficient for maintaining the operational integrity of said carrier substrate and said thermoplastic layers. The multi-layer sheet form lamp is them formed into a desired three-dimensional shape.

Electroluminescent lamp devices and their manufacture

An electroluminescent lamp assembly includes electroluminescent lamps of selected limited size placed and secured upon a larger printed circuit substrate employing surface mount techniques. The electroluminescent lamp assembly includes a substrate having a relatively large lamp receiving surface and relatively smaller lamps. At least one of these smaller lamps is a multi-layer sheet-form electroluminescent lamp having a sheet-form layer containing electroluminescent particles, the layer disposed between a pair of sheet-form conductive layers, one of which is transparent for transmitting light emitted from the particles. The electroluminescent lamps each have conductors exposed for engagement and connection with conductive traces on the lamp receiving surface of the substrate in a surface mounted face-to-face arrangement and are distributed in spaced-apart relationship according to a preselected illumination pattern and connected to the conductive traces.

In a process for making an EL lamp, a rear electrode is roll coated on a temporary substrate, followed by successive roll coatings of a dielectric layer and a phosphor layer. A transparent, conductive layer on a transparent substrate is laminated to the phosphor layer layer and the temporary substrate is removed. The layers are applied from a slurry or ink and bladed to a uniform thickness across the width of the temporary substrate. The process can be continuous using rolls of material for the temporary substrate. The length of a lamp is limited by the length of the temporary substrate. The width of the lamp is determined by the size of the apparatus used to apply and to spread the layers.

Roll coated EL panel

At least one conductive layer runs the length of an EL panel and individual lamps are connected to the conductive layer. In one embodiment of the invention, the electroluminescent layer of the panel does not cover a portion of the front electrode and the conductive layer is electrically coupled to the exposed portion of the front electrode. In another embodiment of the invention, the EL panel includes at least two rear electrodes and the conductive layer is coupled to one of the rear electrodes. An insulating layer between the conductive layer and other parts of the EL panel prevents unintended electrical connections to the conductive layer.

EL panel with continuous contacts on back of panel

An electroluminescent lamp unit includes a flat deformable substrate of preselected size having smaller sheet-form flexible electroluminescent lamps secured face-to-face at preselected positions on a surface of the substrate, the lamps connected with conductive traces on the substrate. The flat substrate with secured lamps can be deformed into a desired shape to provide a relatively inexpensive and reliable electroluminescent lamp unit applicable for a wide variety of applications. The flexible electroluminescent lamps of the unit can be individually addressable and may have different colors or intensities. A method of manufacture of such units employs surface mount technology in an automated version, pick and place robots select and place the lamps as instructed, followed by ultrasonic welding or mechanical or adhesive fastening.

A three dimensional electroluminescent display includes a transparent sheet, a translucent layer placed on the transparent sheet, at least one electroluminescent (EL) lamp placed adjacent the translucent layer, and a substrate molded to the EL lamp and transparent sheet to form an integral, molded three dimensional EL display and a method of making the same.

Three dimensional electroluminescent display

An electroluminescent lamp has a luminescent layer placed between a rear electrode layer and a top electrode layer, which is at least partially transparent to light. The electrodes are arranged to excite the luminescent layer by applying a potential to the layer. An insulating layer is placed between the rear electrode layer and the luminescent layer, to increase the capacitance of the lamp. At least one of the layers includes a terpolymer, e.g., vinylidene fluoride-tetrafluoroethylene-hexafluoropropylene. In some applications (e.g., in wristwatches), the luminescent layer includes phosphor, the insulating layer includes barium titanate, and the rear electrode includes silver, all distributed through the terpolymer. In other applications (e.g., in cellular phones or pagers), the rear electrode includes carbon.

Electroluminescent lamp having a terpolymer binder

Electroluminescent modular lamp unit

An electroluminescent lamp includes at least one bus bar attached to an electrode of the lamp. The bus bar has a gap and a conductive trace bridges the gap. The trace is preferably an isolated segment of the front electrode of the lamp and is made when the front electrode is patterned. The bus bar includes at least one pair of holes extending through the bus bar. The holes each have a diameter less than the width of the bus bar and are spaced along the length of the bus bar. The segment of the bus bar between the holes can be curved to define a path through the holes adjacent the bus bar. A conductive pin through the holes makes electrical contact with the bus bar and is held in place by the holes and the curved segment. The bus bar is an integral connector and the conductive trace is an integral fuse.

EL lamp with integral fuse and connector

An electroluminescent sheet-form lamp with a main portion of a conductive layer isolated from an edge region susceptible to detrimental conductive pathways by isolation provided along at least a portion of the perimeter of the lamp as a result of removal of a preapplied conductive coating such that, at the region of the isolation, the main portion of the one conductive layer which forms the respective electrode commences at a line spaced inwardly from the outer edge of the lamp. The preapplied conductive coating material may be removed to form a line of interruption that leaves in place a narrow margin of conductive coating in the edge region which is electrically isolated from the main portion of the coating forming the first electrode. The lamp may be formed by exposing preselected portions of the preapplied conductive coating to laser radiation sufficient to remove the preselected portions and form the region of isolation. A scribing technique or a mask, which may be a printed functional layer of the lamp, are employed.

Electroluminescent lamp with novel edge isolation

An electroluminescent sheet-form lamp comprising a transparent insulation layer, a transparent first conductive layer below the insulation layer forming a first electrode, a layer of phosphor material below the first conductive layer, a layer of dielectric material below the phosphor layer, a second conductive layer below the dielectric layer forming a second electrode, and electrical connection means for applying an electrical potential between the conductive layers to cause the phosphor to transmit light through the transparent conductive layer and the transparent insulation layer, one of the conductive layers having been formed as a general conductive coating preapplied over a panel of larger dimension than the lamp, from which the lamp has been cut. The lamp provides an improved electrical connection, wherein the one conductive layer has a line of interruption which isolates a localized region of the one conductive layer from electrical continuity with a main portion of the one conductive layer, the main portion of the one conductive layer forming the respective electrode and being connected to one of the connection means to apply electrical potential thereto without applying electrical potential to the localized region, the connection means for the other of the conductive layers which forms the other of the electrodes being located in coincidence with the area of the localized region, one of the connection means employing deformation of the sheet-form lamp, whereby the electrical isolation of the localized region prevents electrical shorting between the conductive layers as a result of the deformation.

Growing community of inventors

Tempe, AZ, United States of America

Rodney T Eckersley