LED backlight module and backlight driving circuit

The present invention relates to a LED backlight module and a backlight driving circuit, and more particularly to a LED backlight module and a backlight driving circuit for use in a LCD panel.

Nowadays, LCD televisions have experienced great growth and are now rapidly gaining in popularity. As known, backlight modules are crucial components of LCD panels. In general, cold cathode fluorescent lamps (CCFLs) and light emitting diodes (LEDs) have been widely used as light sources of the backlight modules. Since a cold cathode fluorescent lamp uses a mercury gas, it is prone to environmental pollution. With maturity of the LED technology, LED gradually replaces CCFL as the backlight source of the LCD television. In comparison with CCFL, LED has reduced volume and power consumption. That is, the use of LED is effective for facilitating miniaturization of the LCD panel, achieving better color saturation and meeting the environmentally-friendly requirement.

Generally, a LCD panel comprises plural LED strings. Each LED string comprises a plurality of LEDs connected in series. As the size of the LCD panel is gradually increased, the number of LEDs included in each LED string of the backlight module is increased. In this situation, a high driving voltage generated by the driving circuit is necessary to drive all LED strings. In the backlight driving circuit of a conventional backlight module, a single positive driving voltage is used to drive a LED string. As such, the voltage difference between the heat-dissipating plate and each LED string is equal to the positive driving voltage. In other words, as the driving voltage is increased, the voltage difference between the heat-dissipating plate and each LED string is increased. For providing sufficient insulating efficacy, the insulating distance between the heat-dissipating plate and each LED string and the thickness of the insulating medium should be increased. As such, the high driving voltage fails to be transmitted to the heat-dissipating plate in order to prevent from burning out the LED backlight module.

Although the increase of the insulating distance and the insulating medium can enhance the insulating efficacy, there are still some drawbacks. For example, the increases of the overall thickness, volume and weight of the backlight module are detrimental to miniaturization of the backlight module and the LCD panel. Moreover, since the backlight module and the LCD panel become thicker, the heat generated by each LED string fails to be quickly conducted to the heat-dissipating plate. For enhancing the heat-dissipating efficacy, the dimension of the heat-dissipating plate needs to be further increased. In this situation, the overall thickness, volume and weight of the backlight module are further increased.

For reducing the insulating distance between the heat-dissipating plate and each LED string, the number of LEDs included in each LED string may be reduced. For example, in a case that the number of LEDs included in each LED string is decreased from 100 to 50, the driving voltage for driving each LED string may be reduced. Since the number of LEDs included in each LED string is decreased, the number of LED string is increased. In addition, the numbers of driving circuits and backlight connecting lines are increased, and thus the fabricating cost is increased. Due to the backlight connecting lines, the overall lateral distance is increased. Under this circumstance, the backlight module is not applicable to a rimless LCD television.

Therefore, there is a need of providing a LED backlight module and a backlight driving circuit so as to obviate the drawbacks encountered from the prior art.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a LED backlight module and a backlight driving circuit for use in a LCD panel in order to reduce fabricating cost and volume.

In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a LED backlight module. The LED backlight module includes a substrate, a heat-dissipating plate, a first LED string and a backlight driving circuit. The heat-dissipating plate is disposed on a first surface of the substrate for dissipating heat. The first LED string is disposed on a second surface of the substrate for emitting light. The first LED string includes plural LEDs electrically connected with each other in series. The first LED string further includes a first positive driving terminal, a first negative driving terminal and a first connecting terminal. The backlight driving circuit includes a first positive output terminal, a first negative output terminal and a zero voltage terminal. The first positive output terminal, the first negative output terminal and the zero voltage terminal are respectively connected with the first positive driving terminal, the first negative driving terminal and the heat-dissipating plate, so that a first positive driving voltage and a first negative driving voltage are generated by the backlight driving circuit to drive illumination of the first LED string. A first number of LEDs of the first LED string are electrically connected between the first connecting terminal and the first positive driving terminal. A second number of LEDs of the first LED string are electrically connected between the first connecting terminal and the first negative driving terminal.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a backlight driving circuit of a LED backlight module. The LED backlight module includes a heat-dissipating plate and a first LED string. The backlight driving circuit generates a first positive driving voltage and a first negative driving voltage to drive illumination of the first LED string. The backlight driving circuit includes a first positive output terminal, a first negative output terminal and a zero voltage terminal. The first positive output terminal is electrically connected with a first positive driving terminal of the first LED string. The first negative output terminal is electrically connected with a first negative driving terminal of the first LED string. The zero voltage terminal is electrically connected with the heat-dissipating plate. The first positive driving voltage and the first negative driving voltage are respectively transmitted to the first positive driving terminal and the first negative output terminal of the first LED string. A voltage difference between the first positive driving terminal and the heat-dissipating plate is equal to the first positive driving voltage. A voltage difference between the first negative driving terminal and the heat-dissipating plate is equal to the first negative driving voltage.

In accordance with a further aspect of the present invention, there is provided a LED backlight module. The LED backlight module includes a substrate, a heat-dissipating plate, a first LED string and a backlight driving circuit. The heat-dissipating plate is disposed on a first surface of the substrate for dissipating heat. The first LED string is disposed on a second surface of the substrate for emitting light. The first LED string includes plural LEDs electrically connected with each other in series. The first LED string further includes a first positive driving terminal, a first negative driving terminal and a first connecting terminal. The first connecting terminal is electrically connected with the heat-dissipating plate. The backlight driving circuit includes a first positive output terminal and a first negative output terminal. The first positive output terminal and the first negative output terminal are respectively connected with the first positive driving terminal and the first negative driving terminal, so that a first positive driving voltage and a first negative driving voltage are generated by the backlight driving circuit to drive illumination of the first LED string. A first number of LEDs of the first LED string are electrically connected between the first connecting terminal and the first positive driving terminal. A second number of LEDs of the first LED string are electrically connected between the first connecting terminal and the first negative driving terminal.

The above contents of the present invention will become more readily apparent to those ordinarily skilled in the art after reviewing the following detailed description and accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1A is a schematic perspective view illustrating a LCD panel according to a first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 1B is a schematic perspective view illustrating a LCD panel according to a second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 1C is a schematic perspective view illustrating a LCD panel according to a third embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view illustrating the first LED string, the substrate and the heat-dissipating plate of the LED backlight module as shown in FIG. 1A , 1 B or 1 C and taken along the line aa′.

The present invention will now be described more specifically with reference to the following embodiments. It is to be noted that the following descriptions of preferred embodiments of this invention are presented herein for purpose of illustration and description only. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to be limited to the precise form disclosed.

The present invention provides a LED backlight module. The LED backlight module comprises plural LED strings. For clarification and brevity, the plural LED strings comprising a first LED string and a second LED string are illustrated in the following embodiments.

FIG. 1A is a schematic perspective view illustrating a LCD panel according to a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1B is a schematic perspective view illustrating a LCD panel according to a second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1C is a schematic perspective view illustrating a LCD panel according to a third embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view illustrating the first LED string, the substrate and the heat-dissipating plate of the LED backlight module as shown in FIG. 1A , 1 B or 1 C and taken along the line aa′.

As shown in FIG. 1 , the LCD panel comprises a panel module 2 and a LED backlight module 3 . The LED backlight module 3 is arranged at the back of the imaging side of the panel module 2 . The LED backlight module 3 illuminates the panel module 2 . Before applying an electric field, the orientation of the liquid crystal molecules in the panel module 2 is changed. By controlling the voltage applied across the liquid crystal layer in each pixel, light can be allowed to pass through in varying amounts thus constituting different levels of gray.

From top to bottom, the LED backlight module 3 comprises a light-guiding plate 31 , a first LED string G 1 , a second LED string G 2 , a substrate 32 , a heat-dissipating plate 33 , and a backlight driving circuit 34 . In some embodiments, the light-guiding plate 31 is arranged at the lowermost layer (not shown).

The light-guiding plate 31 is used for guiding and diffusing the light that is emitted by the first LED string G 1 and the second LED string G 2 , so that the light is uniformly directed to the panel module 2 .

The substrate 32 comprises a single trace layer 321 and a single insulating layer 322 (see FIG. 2 ). In some embodiments, the substrate 32 comprises multiple trace layers and multiple insulating layers. The trace layer 321 is made of conductive material (e.g. copper). The trace layer 321 is disposed on the top surface of the insulating layer 322 . The trace pattern of the trace layer 321 is dependent on the arrangement of the LEDs. For example, trace pattern of the trace layer 321 is selected such that the first LED string G 1 and the second LED string G 2 are linearly arranged on the substrate 32 . The insulating layer 322 is made of insulating material. By the insulating layer 322 , the voltage for driving the LEDs fails to be transmitted to the heat-dissipating plate 33 in order to prevent from burning out the LED backlight module 3 .

In some embodiments, an insulating medium (not shown) is arranged between the substrate 32 and the heat-dissipating plate 33 . An example of the insulating medium includes but is not limited to an insulating plate or an insulating adhesive. The insulating medium could enhance the insulating and thermally-conductive efficacy between the LEDs and the heat-dissipating plate 33 . Preferably, the insulating medium is made of a material with high thermal conductivity in order to enhance the heat-dissipating efficacy of the LED backlight module 3 .

In this embodiment, the first LED string G 1 and the second LED string G 2 are disposed on the top surface of the substrate 32 . The first LED string G 1 comprises 100 LEDs, which are electrically connected with each other in series through the trace layer 321 of the substrate 32 . Similarly, the second LED string G 2 also comprises 100 LEDs, which are electrically connected with each other in series through the trace layer 321 of the substrate 32 . Fifty of the 100 LEDs of the first LED string G 1 are electrically connected between the positive driving terminal G 1 a and a connecting terminal G 1 c of the first LED string G 1 in series. The other fifty of the 100 LEDs of the first LED string G 1 are electrically connected between the connecting terminal G 1 c and the negative driving terminal G 1 b of the first LED string G 1 in series. Similarly, fifty of the 100 LEDs of the second LED string G 2 are electrically connected between the positive driving terminal G 2 a and a connecting terminal G 2 c of the second LED string G 2 in series. The other fifty of the 100 LEDs of the second LED string G 2 are electrically connected between the connecting terminal G 2 c and the negative driving terminal G 2 b of the second LED string G 2 in series.

In other words, 100 LEDs are electrically connected between the positive driving terminal G 1 a and the negative driving terminal G 1 b of the first LED string G 1 in series; and 100 LEDs are electrically connected between the positive driving terminal G 2 a and the negative driving terminal G 2 b of the second LED string G 2 in series. Preferably, the connecting terminal G 1 c is arranged at the middle of the 100 LEDs of the first LED string G 1 , and the connecting terminal G 2 c is arranged at the middle of the 100 LEDs of the second LED string G 2 . For example, the connecting terminal G 1 c is arranged between the 50 th LED and the 51 th LED of the first LED string G 1 . Alternatively, the locations of the connecting terminals G 1 c and G 2 c are not restricted.

The heat-dissipating plate 33 is disposed on the bottom surface of the substrate 32 . The heat-dissipating plate 33 is made of metallic material (e.g. aluminum) for dissipating the heat that is generated by the first LED string G 1 and the second LED string G 2 . In this embodiment, the backlight driving circuit 34 is arranged at the lowermost layer of the LED backlight module 3 , and fixed on a surface of the heat-dissipating plate 33 (not shown). The backlight driving circuit 34 is used for driving illumination of the first LED string G 1 and the second LED string G 2 . The heat generated by the backlight driving circuit 34 could be also dissipated by the heat-dissipating plate 33 .

In this embodiment, the backlight driving circuit 34 comprises a first positive output terminal 341 a , a second positive output terminal 342 a , a first negative output terminal 341 b , a second negative output terminal 432 b and a zero voltage terminal 340 . As a consequence, the backlight driving circuit 34 generates a first positive driving voltage Va 1 , a first negative driving voltage Vb 1 , a second positive driving voltage Va 2 and a second negative driving voltage Vb 2 to driving illumination of the first LED string G 1 and the second LED string G 2 , respectively.

The first positive output terminal 341 a and the first negative output terminal 341 b of the backlight driving circuit 34 are electrically connected with the positive driving terminal G 1 a and the negative driving terminal G 1 b of the first LED string G 1 through a first positive connecting line La 1 and a first negative connecting line Lb 1 , respectively. The second positive output terminal 342 a and the second negative output terminal 342 b of the backlight driving circuit 34 are electrically connected with the positive driving terminal G 2 a and the negative driving terminal G 2 b of the second LED string G 2 through a second positive connecting line La 2 and a second negative connecting line Lb 2 , respectively. The first positive driving voltage Va 1 and the first negative driving voltage Vb 1 generated by the backlight driving circuit 34 are respectively transmitted to the positive driving terminal G 1 a and the negative driving terminal G 1 b of the first LED string G 1 . The second positive driving voltage Va 2 and the second negative driving voltage Vb 2 generated by the backlight driving circuit 34 are respectively transmitted to the positive driving terminal G 2 a and the negative driving terminal G 2 b of the second LED string G 2 .

The zero voltage terminal 340 of the backlight driving circuit 34 is electrically connected to the heat-dissipating plate 33 through a first zero voltage connecting line Lc 1 . As such, the potential at the zero voltage terminal 340 is zero. The voltage difference between the positive driving terminal G 1 a and the negative driving terminal G 1 b of the first LED string G 1 is equal to the first negative driving voltage Vb 1 subtracted from the first positive driving voltage Va 1 (i.e. Va 1 -Vb 1 ). Similarly, the voltage difference between the positive driving terminal G 2 a and the negative driving terminal G 2 b of the second LED string G 2 is equal to the second negative driving voltage Vb 2 subtracted from the second positive driving voltage Va 2 (i.e. Va 2 -Vb 2 ).

In this embodiment, the number of LEDs serially-connected between the positive driving terminal G 1 a and the connecting terminal G 1 c of the first LED string G 1 is equal to the number of LEDs serially-connected between the connecting terminal G 1 c and the positive driving terminal G 1 a and of the first LED string G 1 . The absolute value of the first positive driving voltage Va 1 is equal to the absolute value of first negative driving voltage Vb 1 . As such, the potential at the connecting terminal G 1 c of the first LED string G 1 is zero. Similarly, the number of LEDs serially-connected between the positive driving terminal G 2 a and the connecting terminal G 2 c of the second LED string G 2 is equal to the number of LEDs serially-connected between the connecting terminal G 2 c and the positive driving terminal G 2 a and of the second LED string G 2 . The absolute value of the second positive driving voltage Va 2 is equal to the absolute value of second negative driving voltage Vb 2 . As such, the potential at the connecting terminal G 2 c of the second LED string G 2 is zero.

The voltage difference between the positive driving terminal G 1 a and the negative driving terminal G 1 b of the first LED string G 1 (i.e. Va 1 -Vb 1 ) and the voltage difference between the positive driving terminal G 2 a and the negative driving terminal G 2 b of the second LED string G 2 (i.e. Va 2 -Vb 2 ) are relatively higher. However, the voltage between the positive driving terminal G 1 a and the heat-dissipating plate 33 (i.e. Va 1 ), the voltage between the negative driving terminal G 1 b and the heat-dissipating plate 33 (i.e. Vb 1 ), the voltage between the positive driving terminal G 2 a and the heat-dissipating plate 33 (i.e. Va 2 ) and the voltage between the negative driving terminal G 2 b and the heat-dissipating plate 33 (i.e. Vb 2 ) are relatively lower. As such, the first thickness H 1 of the insulating layer 322 (see FIG. 2 ) is designed according to the relatively lower voltage Va 1 , Vb 1 , Va 2 or Vb 2 , rather than the relatively higher voltage (Va 1 -Vb 1 ) or (Va 2 -Vb 2 ). In other words, the first thickness H 1 is very thin.

Please refer to FIGS. 1A and 2 again. The first LED to the 100 th LED of the first LED string G 1 are arranged on the substrate 32 from left to right. Through the trace layer 321 of the substrate, these 100 LEDs are electrically connected with each other in series. The positive driving terminal G 1 a of the first LED string G 1 is arranged at the left side of the first LED. The connecting terminal G 1 c is arranged between the 50 th LED and the 51 th LED. The negative driving terminal G 1 b of the first LED string G 1 is arranged at the right side of the 100 th LED. The voltages at the positive driving terminal G 1 a , the connecting terminal G 1 c and the negative driving terminal G 1 b are equal to the first positive driving voltage Va 1 , zero and the first negative driving voltage Vb 1 , respectively.

The voltage between the connecting terminal G 1 c and the heat-dissipating plate 33 is zero. The voltage between the first LED and the heat-dissipating plate 33 is equal to the first positive driving voltage Va 1 . In other words, the first positive driving voltage Va 1 between the first LED and the heat-dissipating plate 33 is gradually decreased to the zero voltage between the 50 th LED and the heat-dissipating plate 33 . Similarly, the voltage between the 100 th LED and the heat-dissipating plate 33 is equal to the first negative driving voltage Vb 1 . In other words, the zero voltage between the 51 th LED and the heat-dissipating plate 33 is gradually decreased to the first negative driving voltage Vb 1 between the 100 th LED and the heat-dissipating plate 33 .

In this embodiment, the first positive driving voltage Va 1 is +150 volts and the first negative driving voltage Vb 1 is −150 volts, so that the voltage difference between the positive driving terminal G 1 a and the negative driving terminal G 1 b is 300 volts. The first thickness H 1 of the insulating layer 322 is designed according to the relatively lower voltage Va 1 or Vb 1 . As a consequence, the first thickness H 1 is very thin. In a case that each LED string of the conventional backlight module comprises 100 LEDs, the driving voltage is 300 volts and thus the corresponding first thickness is 20 mm. Whereas, according to the present invention, the first thickness H 1 of the insulating layer 322 is 5˜10 mm because the Va 1 or Vb 1 is only 150 volts.

Please refer to FIGS. 1B and 2 . In comparison with FIG. 1A , the zero voltage terminal 340 of the backlight driving circuit 34 , the heat-dissipating plate 33 , the connecting terminal G 1 c of the first LED string G 1 and the connecting terminal G 2 c of the second LED string G 2 of the backlight driving circuit 34 as shown in FIG. 1B are electrically connected with each other. As such, the potentials at the zero voltage terminal 340 , the heat-dissipating plate 33 , the connecting terminal G 1 c and the connecting terminal G 2 c are zero. In this embodiment, the zero voltage terminal 340 of the backlight driving circuit 34 is electrically connected to the heat-dissipating plate 33 through a first zero voltage connecting line Lc 1 . The connecting terminal G 1 c of the first LED string G 1 and the connecting terminal G 2 c of the second LED string G 2 are electrically connected to the heat-dissipating plate 33 through a second zero voltage connecting line Lc 2 . As such, the zero voltage terminal 340 of the backlight driving circuit 34 , the heat-dissipating plate 33 , the connecting terminal G 1 c of the first LED string G 1 and the connecting terminal G 2 c of the second LED string G 2 of the backlight driving circuit 34 are electrically connected with each other, and the potentials thereof are zero. In other words, the first thickness H 1 of the insulating layer 322 (see FIG. 2 ) is relatively thinner.

Please refer to FIGS. 1C and 2 . In this embodiment, the heat-dissipating plate 33 , the connecting terminal G 1 c of the first LED string G 1 and the connecting terminal G 2 c of the second LED string G 2 are electrically connected with each other, and the potentials thereof are zero. The connecting terminal G 1 c of the first LED string G 1 and the connecting terminal G 2 c of the second LED string G 2 are electrically connected to the heat-dissipating plate 33 through a second zero voltage connecting line Lc 2 . In other words, the first thickness H 1 of the insulating layer 322 (see FIG. 2 ) is relatively thinner.

From the above description, the LED backlight module of the present invention is advantageous for miniaturization of the LCD panel because the overall thickness, volume and weight of the backlight module are reduced. Moreover, the LED backlight module is applied to a large-sized LCD panel without the need of reducing the number of LEDs included in each LED string. As such, the numbers of driving circuits and backlight connecting lines (e.g. the first positive connecting line La 1 , the first negative connecting line Lb 1 , the second positive connecting line La 2 and the second negative connecting line Lb 2 ) will not be increased. The LED backlight module of the present invention is more cost-effective, and has reduced overall lateral distance. Under this circumstance, the backlight module is applicable to a rimless LCD television

While the invention has been described in terms of what is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention needs not be limited to the disclosed embodiment. On the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims which are to be accorded with the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar structures.