Backlight module and light-bar fixing structure thereof

The present invention provides a backlight module and a light-bar fixing structure thereof. The light-bar fixing structure of the backlight module is mounted on a sidewall of a rack of the backlight module. The light-bar fixing structure has a plurality of clamping arms that are arranged side by side as a row of teeth and is capable of stably clamping and positioning a light bar of the backlight module. Thus, the light bar can be fixed on the rack without fastening through screws or thermally conductive adhesive tapes, so that mounting and dismounting are both convenient and fast. And dismounting process of the light bar does not need to dismount other components of the backlight module, such that other components of the backlight module can be prevented from being polluted during the dismounting process.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a backlight module and a light-bar fixing structure thereof, and more particularly to a backlight module and a light-bar fixing structure thereof that mounting and dismounting of light bars are more convenient and fast.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A liquid crystal displays is a flat panel display device using liquid crystal to display images, and has advantages of thin, low drive power and low power consumption, and is widely used in display device industry. However, a liquid crystal display panel is not self-luminous and needs an independent backlight source. And, using light emitting diodes (LED) as a backlight source has advantages of energy saving, longer working life and smaller volume as comparing to cold cathode fluorescent lamps (CCFL). Hence using light emitting diodes to replace cold cathode fluorescent lamps as a backlight source has become the current development trend of liquid crystal displays.

Please refer toFIG. 1which discloses a cross-sectional side view of a conventional backlight module applying LED. A backlight module90has a frame91, a light guide plate92, a plurality of optical films93, housing94and two light bars95. The frame91has perpendicular portions911formed on two side edges thereof. The light guide plate92is mounted on a center of the frame91. The optical films93are mounted on a top of the light guide plate92. The housing94covers an outer edge of the frame91and fixes the optical films93and the light guide plate92from top to bottom. The light bars95are mounted on inner sidewalls of the perpendicular portions911, respectively, wherein each light bar95has several LED devices951having an emitting direction toward the light guide plate92. The light bars95are usually fixed on the perpendicular portions911by fastening through screws or thermally conductive adhesive tapes.

However, when assembling the backlight module90, screws or thermally conductive adhesive tapes need to be applied on the perpendicular portions911, the use of screws or thermally conductive adhesive tapes will make the assembling work more complicated, and the light bars95might be damaged when screw fastening is too tight, or product consistency or other assembly problems might be affected due to position misalignment of the thermally conductive adhesive tapes. Meanwhile, carrying out the fastening or sticking work in limited space is difficult. Moreover, a problem also occurs that precise material preparation and management are difficult due to too many types of components. Besides, when the backlight module90is working, temperature around the light bars95rises obviously, and some LED devices951may be damaged due to overheating, and then changing the light bars95will be necessary. When changing the light bars95, the light guide plate92and the optical films93generally need to be dismantled at first, wherein such process might pollute the light guide plate92and the optical films93.

Hence, it is necessary to provide a backlight module and a light-bar fixing structure thereof to overcome the problems existing in the conventional technology.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A primary object of the invention is to provide a light-bar fixing structure of a backlight module which has a plurality of clamping arms that are arranged side by side as a row of teeth and is capable of stably clamping and positioning a light bar of the backlight module. The light bar mounted through this way is easy to dismount, and the dismounting process does not need to dismantle other components of the backlight module in advance. Thus, other components of the backlight module can be prevented from being polluted during the dismounting process.

A secondary object of the present invention is to provide a backlight module which uses a light-bar fixing structure having a plurality of clamping arms to clamp and fix a light bar, so that the light bar can be mounted in the backlight module without fastening through screws or thermally conductive adhesive tapes, and dismounting or remounting thereof is more convenient.

To achieve the above object, the present invention provides a light-bar fixing structure of a backlight module which is mounted on a sidewall of a rack of the backlight module and has a plurality of clamping arms, which are arranged side by side as a row of teeth, to stably clamp a light bar of the backlight module.

To further achieve the above object, the present invention provides a backlight module which comprises:

a rack;

at least one light bar mounted on a sidewall of the rack; and

at least one light-bar fixing structure mounted on the sidewall of the rack, wherein the light-bar fixing structure has a plurality of clamping arms arranged side by side as a row of teeth to clamp and fix the light bar.

In one embodiment of the present invention, each of the clamping arms is L-shaped and has a shorter portion and a longer portion, wherein an end of the shorter portion is vertically mounted on the sidewall, and the longer portion is protruded longitudinally from the other end of the shorter portion.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the longer portion is parallel to the sidewall.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the light bar has a circuit board and a plurality of light emitting devices, wherein the circuit board has a longer edge abutted against the shorter portions of the clamping arms, and the circuit board is clamped by the sidewall and the longer portions of the clamping arms; the light emitting devices are arranged at intervals and mounted on the circuit board, wherein each of the light emitting devices is disposed between two of the adjacent clamping arms.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the rack is a light bar bracket or a back board of a backlight module.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the rack has at least one perpendicular portion; the sidewall is an inner surface of the at least one perpendicular portion.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the rack further has a horizontal portion, and the at least one perpendicular portion is extended upward from at least one side edge of the horizontal portion.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the backlight module further has a light guide plate, wherein a side edge of the light guide plate is abutted against the longer portions of the clamping arms.

Comparing with the existing techniques, the backlight module and the light-bar fixing structure thereof use a plurality of clamping arms arranged side by side like a row of teeth as a means of fixing a light bar, such that not only steps of mounting the light bar on the backlight module can be simplified, but also other components of the backlight can be prevented from being polluted when the light bar need to be dismounted and changed.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The foregoing objects, features and advantages adopted by the present invention can be best understood by referring to the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments and the accompanying drawings. Furthermore, the directional terms described in the present invention, such as upper, lower, front, rear, left, right, inner, outer, side and etc., are only directions referring to the accompanying drawings, so that the used directional terms are used to describe and understand the present invention, but the present invention is not limited thereto.

With reference toFIG. 2,FIG. 2discloses a cross-sectional side view of a backlight module according to a first embodiment of the present invention. A backlight module comprises a rack10, at least one light-bar fixing structure11, a light guide20, an optical film30and at least one light bar40.

With reference toFIGS. 2 and 3,FIG. 3discloses a partially exploded perspective view of the rack10and the at least one light bar40. In this embodiment, the rack10is a back board of the backlight module, and the rack10is made of aluminum, copper, iron or other metal material. In the embodiment, the rack10has a horizontal portion12and at least one perpendicular portion13. The at least one perpendicular portion13is extended upward from at least one side edge of the horizontal portion12. The at least one light-bar fixing structure11is mounted on a sidewall of the rack10. In details, the sidewall is an inner surface of the at least one perpendicular portion13, and the at least one light-bar fixing structure11may be integrally formed on the inner surface of the at least one perpendicular portion13. With reference toFIG. 3, the at least one light-bar fixing structure11is constructed by a plurality of clamping arms110, and each of the clamping arms110may be L-shaped and have a shorter portion110aand a longer portion110b, wherein an end of the shorter portion110ais transversely mounted on the sidewall (i.e. the inner surface of the at least one perpendicular portion13); and the longer portion110bis protruded longitudinally from the other end of the shorter portion110a. In the embodiment, the longer portion110bis parallel to the at least one perpendicular portion13. In the embodiment, the clamping arms110is preferably formed by punching the perpendicular portion13or directly formed by aluminum extrusion, but not limited thereto. With reference toFIG. 3, when the clamping arms110is formed by punching, the rack10further has a plurality of through holes that are formed on the sidewall of the rack10and respectively corresponding to the clamping arms110.

With reference toFIG. 2, the light guide plate20is mounted on the rack10, in this embodiment, the light guide plate20is mounted on the horizontal portion12of the rack10, and a side edge of the light guide plate20is abutted against the longer portions110bof the clamping arms110. The optical film30is mounted on the light guide plate20.

With reference toFIGS. 2 and 3, the light bar40is fixed on the inner surface of the perpendicular portion13of the rack10, clamped and positioned by the clamping arms110of the light-bar fixing structure11. In details, the light bar40has a circuit board41and a plurality of light emitting device42. A longer edge of the circuit board41is abutted against on the shorter portions110aof the clamping arms110, and the circuit board41is clamped by the inner surface of the perpendicular portion13and the longer portions110bof the clamping arms110. With reference toFIG. 3, the circuit board41may cover the through holes formed on the sidewalls of the rack10. The light emitting devices42are arranged at intervals and mounted on the circuit board41, wherein each of the light emitting devices42lies between two adjacent clamping arms110, and the emitting direction thereof faces the light guide plate20. The light emitting devices42are preferably light emitting diodes (LED).

Because the present invention uses the clamping arms110to achieve the object of stably fixing the light bar40on the rack10, without using fastening through screws or thermally conductive adhesive tapes, mounting or dismounting are both convenient. Once the light bar40is damaged and needs to be changed, other components of the backlight module do not need to be dismounted in advance during the dismounting process of the light bar40. Therefore the other components of the backlight module (such as the light guide plate20and the optical film30) will not easily be affected or polluted.

Furthermore, since a side edge of the light guide plate20is able to be tightly abutted against the longer portions110bof the clamping portions110, the light-bar fixing structure11further has an advantage of stabilizing the light guide plate20.

With reference toFIG. 4, a backlight module and a light-bar fixing structure thereof according to a second embodiment of the present invention is similar to the first embodiment of the present invention, so as to use similar terms and numerals of the first embodiment. But, the differences of the second embodiment is characterized in that the rack10of the second embodiment is an L-shaped light bar bracket which is adequately attached to a back board100of the backlight module. The rack10and the back board100are all made of aluminum, copper, iron or other metal material, and the clamping arms110of the rack10are preferably formed by punching to process the perpendicular portion13or directly formed by aluminum extrusion, but not limited thereto. In the second embodiment, the clamping arms110of the rack10are the same as the clamping arms110in the first embodiment and have the same advantages of mounting the light bar40easily and stabilizing the light guide plate20.

In conclusion, comparing with conventional backlight module, although fastening through screw or thermally conductive adhesive tapes can stably fix a light on a rack, such fixing methods make dismounting difficult, and may lead to causing damage to other components of the backlight module when the light bar is damaged and needs to be changed. The backlight module of the present invention inFIG. 3is formed with a plurality of said clamping arms110on the sidewall of the rack10to construct the light-bar fixing structure11, and the clamping arms110indeed efficiently and conveniently fix the light bar40and are also convenient for dismounting the light bar40, and further enhance efficiency of assembling backlight modules and convenience of maintenance.