Patent Publication Number: US-7588148-B2

Title: Packaging structure for flat panel display

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
   The present invention relates to a packaging structure, and more particularly to a packaging structure including an external box, a lower box and cushions for packing a display panel and a base of a flat panel display simultaneously into the external box, so as to reduce the volume of the packaging structure effectively. 
   BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   In recent years, various electronic products are introduced to the market constantly, and both function and quality of these products are developed rapidly to break through our purchasing habit. For example, a cathode ray tube (CRT) television comes with a large size and higher power consumption, and the CRT televisions cannot satisfy user requirements for easy carry, small installation space, and convenient transportation, and thus the CRT televisions are replaced gradually by flat panel televisions, particularly by liquid crystal display (LCD) televisions. Since the flat panel televisions feature lower power consumption, a low radiation, lighter weight, and a small volume occupying not much space, therefore the flat panel televisions become very popular and welcome by most consumers. The demand and market share of the LCD televisions grow unceasingly, and the cost of LCD panels drops continuously, and thus the LCD televisions gradually replace the traditional CRT televisions and become a mainstream of home video products. 
   As the manufacturing technologies of LCD television constantly have breakthrough, the original luxury LCD televisions have become one of the low-priced and high-performance electric appliances. Particularly, the selling price of LCD television keeps on dropping, and thus the -LCD televisions attract more and more attentions in the market, and now become the most popular digital home appliance. Since the sales volume of the large-size LCD televisions gradually rises, the problems for the package and transportation of the large size LCD televisions gradually emerge and become an important issue for manufacturers, sellers and consumers. 
   In general, an LCD television comprises a display panel and a base. When the LCD television is packed, a conventional package method is used to pack the whole assembly of the display panel and base into a carton before exiting factory or shipping to customers. However, the conventional package method results in a large volume of the carton, not only incurring a higher material cost of the carton, but also reducing the capacity of a single container for shipping the LCD televisions, and this conventional method further increases the transportation cost. Therefore, some manufacturers pack the display panel and the base separately, in hope of overcoming the foregoing shortcomings. Although such arrangement can reduce the volume of each carton, however the package cost is increased and the package time is extended. Furthermore, consumers need to spend more time to attach the base onto the display panel and the base after they purchase the LCD television, and thus greatly reducing the consumer&#39;s willingness of purchasing such product. 
   To improve the aforementioned two packing methods, some manufacturers developed a carton structure capable of simultaneously packing the display panel and the base as disclosed in R.O.C. Pat. No. M284649 entitled “Carton structure for liquid crystal display devices”. In  FIG. 1 , the structure includes an external box  10 , a lower buffer  11 , a lateral buffer  12  and an upper buffer  13 , wherein the lower buffer  11  is disposed at the bottom in the external box  10 , and the bottom of the display panel  20  is wrapped in the lower buffer  11 , and the upper buffer  13  is provided for wrapping the top of the display panel  20 . After the external box  10  is closed, the upper buffer  13  is contained in the top of the external box  10 , and the lateral buffer  12  is placed between the lower buffer  11  and the upper buffer  13  for wrapping the lateral sides of the display panel  20 , and the base  22  is placed between the lateral buffer  12  and the upper buffer  13  by a latch groove  130  disposed on the upper buffer  13 . 
   Although the foregoing carton structure can reduce the volume of the carton, such structure cannot effectively overcome the shortcomings of the conventional package methods, but it still causes problems. For instance, the display panel  20  cannot be erected on a tabletop after the display panel  20  is removed from carton, because the base  22  has not been installed on to the bottom of the display panel  20 , and thus consumers may have difficulties to place the display panel  20 . If the display panel  20  is not placed properly, the display panel  20  may be scraped or damaged. Furthermore, consumers usually lie the display panel  20  horizontally on a desktop or a floor, such that when consumers want to attach the base  22  onto the bottom of the display panel  20 , consumers may damage the display panel  20  or the base  22 , since it is difficult to apply forces when both display panel  20  and base  22  are set at poor disposing positions. As a result, unnecessary disputes between consumers and manufacturers may arise. 
   In addition, the foregoing carton structure uses too many large buffers  11 ,  12 ,  13 , and these buffers  11 ,  12 ,  13  are usually made of a styrofoam, corrugated paper or foam material. Such arrangement not only increases the material cost, but also fails to meet the environmental protection requirement of consuming less packing materials. Therefore, it is an important issue for manufacturers to overcome the shortcomings of the prior art. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   In view of the foregoing shortcomings of the conventional packaging structure for LCD television, the inventor of the present invention based on years of experience conducting extensive researches and experiments, and finally invented a packaging structure for flat panel display in accordance with the present invention. 
   Therefore, a primary objective of the present invention is to provide a packaging structure for simultaneously packing a display panel and a base of a flat panel display, and the packaging structure has an external box, and the top and bottom of the external box have a lower box and cushions, wherein the bottom of the lower box is provided for wrapping the top of the display panel, and the bottom of each cushion facing the display panel has a first containing groove, and these first containing grooves are provided for wrapping the bottom of the display panel, and the top of both cushions has two second containing grooves for wrapping the base. The invention not only packs the display panel and the base simultaneously into a single packaging structure, but also reduces the volume of the package structure effectively. 
   To make it easier for our examiner to understand the objective, technical characteristics and effects of the present invention, a preferred embodiment will be described with accompanying drawings as follows: 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       FIG. 1  is an exploded view of a conventional packaging box structure for LCD; 
       FIG. 2  is an exploded view of a packaging structure with a flat panel display of the present invention; 
       FIG. 3  is a cross-sectional view of a flat panel display and a packaging structure of the present invention; 
       FIG. 4  is a flow chart of a packing method of the present invention; 
       FIG. 5  is a flow chart of an unpacking method of the present invention; and 
       FIG. 6  is a schematic view of unpacking a flat panel display of the present invention. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
   Referring to  FIGS. 2 and 3  for a packaging structure of the present invention for packing a flat panel display, the packaging structure comprises an external box  3 , a lower box  31  and two cushions  33  for packing a display panel  40  and a base  42  of the flat panel display simultaneously. The lower box  31  is disposed at the bottom in the external box  3 , and the bottom of the lower box  31  is provided for wrapping the top of the display panel  40  and preventing the top of the display panel  40  from being hit or collided. The two cushions  33  are installed at the top in the external box  3 , and each cushion  33  has a first containing groove  330  and a second containing groove  332 . The two first containing grooves  330  are disposed at the bottom of the two cushions  33  and covered onto the bottom of the display panel  40  for preventing the bottom of the display panel  40  from being hit or collided and keeping the display panel  40  at a position with an interval from the two cushions  22  and the external box  3  by the lower box  31 , so as to avoid any collision occurred during the transportation of the display panel  40 . The two second containing grooves  332  are disposed on the top of the two cushions  33  for wrapping a base  42  of the flat panel television, such that the display panel  40  and the base  42  of the flat panel television can be packed simultaneously into the external box  3  to reduce the volume of the packaging structure. 
   Referring to  FIGS. 2 and 3  for a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the lower box  31  is comprised of a box body  311  and two chunks  313 , wherein the box body  311  is accommodated at the bottom in the external box  3  and attached onto the lateral surfaces of the external box  3 , and the box body  311  is made of a paper cardboard, and the two chunks  313  are disposed inside the box body  311  at both ends thereof, and the top of each chunks  313  has a hollow groove  315  for accommodating the junction of the top and both lateral sides of the display panel  40 , so as to prevent the top of the display panel  40  from being hit or collided. The structure of the lower box  31  not only reduces the consumption of a foam or styrofoam material, but also complies with the requirements and regulations of the environmental protection law. 
   In the embodiment as shown in  FIG. 2 , the lateral side of the external box  3  proximate to the bottom of the external box  3  includes a plurality of openings  37  corresponding to a plurality of other openings  317  disposed on the box body  31 , and the other openings  317  correspond to a plurality of latch grooves  319  disposed on the lateral sides of the two chunks  313  in the lower box  31 . The packaging structure further includes a plurality of fasteners  35  disposed on the lateral sides of the external box  3  and passed sequentially through the opening  37  and other openings  317  and latched into the latch groove  319 , so that each fastener  35  is passed through the external box  3  and connected to the lower box  31 , and the lower box  31  is fixed to the bottom of the external box  3  to secure the flat panel display in the external box  3  for the transportation. 
   Referring to  FIG. 4  for a method of packing a flat panel display in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the flat panel display comprises a display panel  40  and a base  42 , and the method for packing the display panel  40  and the base  42  comprises the steps of: 
   ( 401 ) Placing the top of the display panel  40  into a lower box  31 ; 
   ( 402 ) Placing the lower box  31  and the display panel  40  into an external box  3 , and the display panel  40  is placed upside down in the external box  3 , such that the bottom of the display panel  40  faces the top of the external box  3 ; 
   ( 403 ) Wrapping the base  42  between the two cushions  33 ; 
   ( 404 ) Wrapping two cushions  33  with the base  42  onto the bottom of the display panel  40 , such that the display panel  40  can be secured in the external box  3  and maintains an interval from the external box  3 ; and 
   ( 405 ) Pack the top of the external box  3 , so that the display panel  40  and the base  42  of the flat panel display can be packed simultaneously into the external box  3 . 
   ( 406 ) Secure the external box  3  to the lower box  31  using the fasteners  35 . 
   Referring to  FIG. 5  for a method of packing and unpacking a flat panel television according to another preferred embodiment of the present invention, this method comprises the following steps if a user wants to open the top of a sealed external box  3 : 
   ( 501 ) Tear open the top of the external box  3 ; 
   ( 502 ) Remove the two cushions  33  and base  42  from the external box  3 ; 
   ( 503 ) Install the base  42  onto the bottom of the display panel  40  to complete the installation of the flat panel display; and 
   ( 504 ) Remove the installed flat panel display from the lower box  31  in the external box  3 , and simultaneously turn the flat panel display right side upon a disposing surface. 
   The structure and method for packing a flat panel television in accordance with the present invention not only pack the display panel  40  and the base  42  simultaneously into the packaging structure, but also reduce the volume of the packaging structure and packing material. The invention definitely can lower costs and meet the environmental protection requirement for reducing the consumption of related packing materials over the conventional carton structure. If a consumer wants to unpack the carton of the flat panel television as shown in  FIG. 6 , the two cushions  33  and the base  42  will be removed from the bottom of the display panel  40  first, and then the consumer will be able to attach the base  42  onto the bottom of the display panel  40  easily, because the display panel  40  can be placed on a flat surface by turning the lower box  31  upside down. After the base  42  is attached onto the bottom of the display panel  40 , the consumer can remove the installed flat panel television from the lower box  31  in the external box  3  and turn the direction of the flat panel television to set the flat panel television at an appropriate position. Such arrangement not only reduces the number of times of placing the display panel, but also achieves the effects of avoiding possible scratches to the display panel  40 , shortening the installation time, and simplifying the packing and unpacking procedure of the flat panel television. 
   While the invention herein disclosed has been described by means of specific embodiments, numerous modifications and variations could be made thereto by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention set forth in the claims.