1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of displaying technology, and in particular to a method for manufacturing a curved liquid crystal panel.
2. The Related Arts
A liquid crystal display (LCD) is composed of an enclosure, a liquid crystal panel arranged in the enclosure, and a backlight module mounted in the enclosure, in which the liquid crystal panel is composed of a color filter (CF) substrate, a thin-film transistor (TFT) array substrate, and a liquid crystal layer filled between the two substrates. The CF substrate and the array substrate have inside surfaces that face each other and comprise transparent electrodes formed thereon. The liquid crystal display applies an electric field to control the orientation of the liquid crystal molecules so as to change the polarization state of light and uses a polarizer to select transmission or blocking of a light path so as to achieve the purpose of displaying. With the progress of the displaying technology, people's demands of consumer electronics are no longer limited to functionality and also require satisfactory aspects in regard to design, aesthetics, and excellent visual experience. A curved liquid crystal display that has been created for such purposes is not only a novel design but also providing better visual effect and experience.
A curved liquid crystal panel is a key component of a curved liquid crystal display. A conventional way of manufacturing a curved liquid crystal panel is to first laminate prepared CF substrate and array substrate in a flat condition to form a flat panel like liquid crystal panel and to subject the flat panel like liquid crystal panel to the application of an external force so as to make the liquid crystal panel that is originally in the form of a flat panel curved, where a degree of curving (radius of curvature) is determined according to a design size and viewing distance of the liquid crystal panel.
In a liquid crystal panel of a main stream LCD, a black matrix (BM) is provided on the CF substrate side to prevent the occurrence of light leakage at the site of each of pixels. Further, photo spacers (PSs) are provided between the CF substrate and the array substrate to maintain the distance between the two substrates in order to prevent the occurrence of abnormality.
As shown in FIG. 1, in the conventional way of manufacturing a curved liquid crystal panel, when the liquid crystal panel is being curved, since the CF substrate 100 and the array substrate 200 are moved relative to each other, a relative displacement of the black matrix 110 with respect to TFT pixels occurs in a curving portion, resulting in change of aperture ratio and causing dark blocks occurring in eye vision during a displaying process. When the liquid crystal panel is further curved, the relative shift between the CF substrate and the array substrate 200 is further enlarged so that two adjacent color resist blocks may move to locations close to a data line 210. The electric field around the data line 210 would cause the liquid crystal molecules to rotate and eventually, light leakage results. Such a displaying defect is even more apparent in displaying a pure color image. Thus, the relative shift between the CF substrate 100 and the array substrate 200 would cause movement of color resist, leading to color shift of the mixed color and irregularity of displayed color.
As shown in FIG. 2, due to the curving of the liquid crystal panel, the photo spacers 400 that were originally distributed in a reasonable manner in a flat panel are caused to generate different pushing effects that are generally in proportion to the different degrees of curving from the center of the liquid crystal panel to the two opposite, left and right, edges. With the curving of the liquid crystal panel, the curvature at the locations marked B, C, D and B′, C′, D′ in FIG. 2 changes so that photo spacers 400 at different locations would be of different heights. This readily leads to a potential risk that the cell thickness of the liquid crystal layer 300 becomes inconsistent due to the photo spacers 400 at different locations having different heights.
In brief, for a liquid crystal panel of which a circumference is adhesively fixed by enclosure resin 600, to change from a flat panel form into a curved condition would cause the array substrate 200 and the CF substrate 100 to move relative to each other and thus changes of the aperture ratio and the cell thickness of the liquid crystal layers 300 at different locations of the liquid crystal panel, in the entirety thereof and consequently displaying defects associated therewith would result.