JP2000081628A - Liquid crystal filling device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent the adhesion of a liquid crystal material to a liquid crystal panel and to improve the utilization efficiency of the liquid crystal material to the injection ports by supplying the liquid crystal material to the injection ports of the liquid crystal panel in the position of the projecting faces of a block body having the projecting surfaces which project higher than the front surfaces on the peripheries of the housing parts of the injection ports. SOLUTION: The projecting surfaces 28 are formed at the liquid crystal filling device 20 so as to project from the front surface on the periphery of the injection port 21. Liquid crystal induction block bodies 27 consisting of glass rods of a diameter 1 m having surfaces of a satin state, an acute contact angle with liquid crystals and good wettability are held horizontally along the longitudinal direction of the housing parts and are installed therein. When the injection ports 34, 35 of the liquid crystal panel come into contact with the projecting surfaces 28 of the block bodies 27 nearly perpendicularly to the extension direction of the housing parts, the liquid crystal material existing in these portions are attracted by the wettability of glass break surfaces, by which the liquid crystal material 36 built-up by the surface tension onto the ports is sucked to the liquid crystal panel.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a liquid crystal injection device for injecting liquid crystal into a liquid crystal panel.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A liquid crystal display device is used for displaying office equipment and a TV, and has a liquid crystal panel as a display element. A liquid crystal panel is formed by bonding a pair of upper and lower glass substrates on which an electrode pattern is formed with a sealant formed around the substrate and sealing liquid crystal therein. There is a liquid crystal injection step in the process of manufacturing the panel.

In a conventional general injection method, a liquid crystal injection boat is placed in a vacuum evacuation chamber, and after supplying a liquid crystal material, the injection boat is temporarily evacuated below the chamber. Next, the liquid crystal panel before injection is set at a predetermined position, and the inside of the chamber is evacuated, and simultaneously, the liquid crystal material and the inside of the liquid crystal panel are evacuated. After evacuation, the injection boat is raised, and the side of the liquid crystal panel on which the injection port of the liquid crystal panel is formed is immersed in the liquid crystal portion in the injection boat.

After immersion, the inside of the chamber is opened to the atmosphere, and liquid crystal is injected into the liquid crystal panel by a pressure difference.

There are dip method, surface tension method and spot method as a method for guiding the liquid crystal to the injection port, and the injection method is the dip method. This method is an injection method mainly used in a liquid crystal panel having one injection port and having an injection port near any one of four corners of the liquid crystal panel. Recently, in order to shorten the injection process time, a surface tension method in which a plurality of injection ports are provided on one side of a liquid crystal panel and the injection is performed has been adopted. This method is different from the above-described injection method in that the side of the liquid crystal panel injection port is kept horizontal, the liquid crystal is raised from the upper surface of the injection boat by surface tension, and the raised liquid crystal portion is provided with two liquid crystal panels. It is to immerse the inlet part at the same time.

From the viewpoint of the liquid crystal injection method using the pressure difference, the same as the dip method, but by increasing the number of injection ports from one to two, the injection ports are evacuated and injected during the liquid crystal injection. The conductance of the part is 1 /
As a result, the evacuation time in the liquid crystal panel and the liquid crystal injection time can be reduced by about 40% each.

However, in the above-mentioned process, the amount of liquid crystal that can be effectively used is limited to a portion (amount) raised from the injection boat, and the liquid crystal remaining in the boat may be contaminated once used. It has to be re-inspected, and the boat cannot be spliced with liquid crystal.
That is, it has to be collected, and the use efficiency of the liquid crystal decreases.

Further, since the liquid crystal panel is brought into contact with the upper surface of the injection boat, there is a problem that the injection process is completed and a small amount of liquid crystal remains at the liquid crystal panel contact portion when the liquid crystal boat is separated from the liquid crystal panel. Normally, the theoretical liquid crystal consumption of a 12-inch liquid crystal panel is about 0.25 cc per panel, and when 24 panels are simultaneously injected by the two inlet surface tension method, the liquid crystal boat on one side is required. About 7.5 cc x 2 boats are required. That is, the utilization efficiency is (0.25 cc × 24 panels) / (7.5 cc ×
2 boats) = 40%.

As described above, the surface tension method is often employed because it has a feature that the liquid crystal can be injected in a short time, although it has a disadvantage that the use efficiency of the liquid crystal is low.

On the other hand, the spot method is a method in which a cloth or the like is immersed in a liquid crystal surface and liquid crystal material is sucked up by utilizing the capillary phenomenon of the cloth and guided to an inlet of a liquid crystal panel. Can be reduced. However, there is a disadvantage that the liquid crystal material injected into the panel may generate an electrostatic charge due to mixing of foreign substances or friction between the liquid crystal and the cloth.

[0011]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve these problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a liquid crystal injecting apparatus in which a liquid crystal material does not adhere to a liquid crystal panel and the use efficiency of the liquid crystal material in an injection boat is improved. It is.

[0012]

According to the present invention, there is provided an injecting boat having an accommodating portion for accommodating a liquid crystal material, wherein at least the accommodating portion surface is non-wettable (lyophobic) with respect to the liquid crystal material. A liquid crystal material having a projecting surface that is disposed in a receiving portion of the boat and that has a protruding surface protruding higher than an upper surface around the receiving portion of the injecting boat, and a liquid crystal at a position of the protruding surface of the block body; A liquid crystal injection device characterized in that a liquid crystal material is supplied to an injection port of a panel.

Further, the liquid crystal injection device is characterized in that the contact angle due to the surface tension of the liquid crystal material is obtuse at the surface of the injection boat accommodating portion and acute at the block.

Further, the liquid crystal injecting apparatus is characterized in that the accommodating portion of the injecting boat has a tapered or stepped bottom surface, and a block is disposed on the bottom surface.

In order for a liquid crystal panel located above to absorb liquid crystal that is located below and has a liquid crystal surface below and is in a non-contact state, the surface tension of the liquid crystal or the capillary phenomenon must be used. . Therefore, in the present invention, a non-wetting surface with respect to the liquid crystal is formed in a portion of the injection boat which comes into contact with the liquid crystal in order to swell the liquid crystal material on the injection boat in the initial state of liquid crystal supply. Further, a wettable block having a protruding surface protruding from the upper surface of the injection boat is provided in the injection boat to supply the liquid crystal.

With this configuration, the block body is immersed in the liquid crystal at an initial stage when the liquid crystal material is supplied to the boat. When the injection boat and the liquid crystal panel are brought into contact in such a state,
The liquid crystal panel is supported by the block body, and does not directly contact the injection boat. That is, no liquid crystal remains on the liquid crystal panel contact surface of the injection boat unlike the conventional surface tension method.

If the surface of the block body is finished to be equal to the liquid crystal panel glass break surface (end surface), the wettability is not inferior to that of the liquid crystal panel end surface, and is better than the surface of the injection boat accommodating portion. . That is, immediately after the liquid crystal panel injection port comes into contact with the liquid crystal portion raised by the surface tension, the liquid crystal is not interrupted by the surface tension between the liquid crystal panel and the block body, and as the liquid crystal permeates into the liquid crystal panel. The liquid crystal can be drawn from the injection boat toward the block body.

[0018]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In FIG. 1, a vacuum exhaust chamber 10 is connected to an exhaust system 12 through a valve 11 so that the inside of the chamber can be exhausted to about 1 Pa. A liquid crystal injection device 20 having a liquid crystal injection boat and a liquid crystal panel 30 are arranged in the evacuation chamber 10.

The liquid crystal injecting device 20 can be moved between an injection position and a temporary evacuating position in the chamber. When the liquid crystal injecting device 20 is placed in the chamber, a liquid crystal material is put in advance and is placed in a temporary evacuating position.

Next, the liquid crystal panel 30 before filling is set at a predetermined position with the liquid crystal filling ports 34 and 35 facing downward and inclined at about 10 °.

The liquid crystal panel 30 is formed by forming a gap between two glass substrates 31 and 32 on which electrodes are formed and sealing the periphery with a sealant 33 such as an epoxy resin. Two injection ports 34, 3 formed partially
Liquid crystal material is injected into the gap through 5. After the injection, the injection port is sealed with a resin to form a liquid crystal display element. The gap is, for example, 5 μm which determines the thickness of the liquid crystal layer.
Has a width of 1 mm, an inlet of 1 mm in width, and a height of 5 μ.
m and a depth of 1 mm.

When the inside of the chamber 10 is evacuated to 1 Pa, the inside of the liquid crystal panel before the liquid crystal is sealed is simultaneously evacuated. After the evacuation, the liquid crystal injection device 20 is raised, and one of the liquid crystal panels 30 having the injection holes 34 and 35 of the liquid crystal panel 30 is moved.
The liquid crystal material 3 in the injection boat 21 having a side provided for each injection port.
6 at the same time. Since the vicinity of the injection port is formed of a glass substrate and an epoxy sealant, the liquid crystal material has good wettability with respect to the liquid crystal material, and the liquid crystal material gets wet near the injection port, and a part of the liquid crystal material is taken into the injection port.

After the contact, when the inside of the chamber is opened to the atmosphere,
The pressure in the liquid crystal panel 30 (around 1 Pa) and the atmospheric pressure (10
13Pa), the liquid crystal material becomes the liquid crystal panel 3
It is injected all over 0.

FIGS. 2 and 3 illustrate the structure of the liquid crystal injection device 20 of this embodiment and the steps before and after liquid crystal injection.

First, in FIG. 2, an injection boat 21 made of stainless steel and forming a liquid crystal injection device 20 has a groove-shaped recess-shaped accommodating portion 22 for accommodating and incorporating a liquid crystal material. The depth of the wall portion 24 forming the boat upper surface 23 around the accommodation portion is about 0.3 mm, and is tapered toward the bottom surface 25 at the center portion of the accommodation portion, and the deepest depth is processed to about 0.8 mm. ing. By this processing, the liquid crystal material 36 is structured to flow and gather at the center.

Next, the peripheral upper surface 23 of the injection boat 21
The liquid crystal material is coated with a non-wetting (water-repellent) layer 26 such as Teflon (trade name) on the surface of the housing section 22. Even if the liquid crystal material is excessively supplied by this coating, the liquid crystal material rises in a curved shape at the contact boundary with the layer due to surface tension and does not flow from the upper surface 23. It is possible to return to the original position with.

Further, the liquid crystal injection device 20 includes the injection boat 2
1. A protruding surface 28 is formed so as to protrude h (approximately 0.5 mm) from the peripheral upper surface 23, and the surface is matte, the contact angle to the liquid crystal is acute and the wettability is 1.0 mm. The liquid crystal induction block 27 made of a rod is placed sideways along the longitudinal direction of the housing 22.

The liquid crystal material 36 is placed in the housing 2 of the injection boat 21.
When the amount that can be supplied to 2 is supplied, about 1.
Since the block 27 rises by 0 mm, the block 27 is immersed in the liquid crystal material. This state is a state immediately before the liquid crystal material is injected into the liquid crystal panel.

FIG. 3 shows the relative positional relationship between the injection boat 20 and the liquid crystal panel 30 during injection. One side 37 of the liquid crystal panel 30 where the injection ports 34 and 35 are provided forms a glass cut surface of the two glass substrates and a glass break surface where the sealant is exposed, and is supported in parallel by the block body 27. In this state, the distance between the liquid crystal panel and the liquid crystal injection device is kept constant. That is, the liquid crystal panel 30 and the injection boat 21 are separated by a distance h, that is, about 0.5 mm,
There is no direct contact with the boat upper surface 23.

When the inlets 34, 35 of the liquid crystal panel 30 contact the protruding surface 28 of the block body 27 at substantially right angles to the direction of extension of the housing 22, the liquid crystal material in this portion becomes wet due to the wettability of the glass break surface. A part of the liquid crystal material 36 which is raised upward due to surface tension is attracted to the liquid crystal panel 30. However, since the block body 27 has the same or higher wettability as the liquid crystal panel 30, the liquid crystal panel and the block The surface tension acts between them, and the liquid crystal material is guided and supplied to the protruding surface, so that the liquid crystal material is not interrupted.

As the pressure in the chamber is switched to the atmospheric pressure and the liquid crystal material 36 permeates into the liquid crystal panel 30 in the direction of the arrow 38, the liquid level of the liquid crystal material 36 contained in the injection boat 21 decreases and becomes tapered. It flows and gathers at the center of the injection boat on the bottom surface 25. Due to the water repellency of the injection boat housing portion, the liquid crystal material is efficiently taken into the block body 27 having good wettability and guided to the protruding surface 28.

The liquid crystal of the block body should have a liquid crystal contact angle of less than 90 °, preferably better than the glass end face of the liquid crystal panel.

According to the present embodiment, a narrow distance of the liquid crystal injection device can be secured to a liquid crystal panel having a plurality of injection ports, and the liquid can be injected evenly. It is possible to reduce the amount of liquid crystal material flowing around and reduce the remaining amount of liquid crystal material in the boat.

Since about 0.25 cc of liquid crystal material is required for one 12-inch class liquid crystal panel, the amount injected from one injection port is 0.125 cc, and 24 panels are injected by a pair of boats. When executed, the amount of liquid crystal supplied by one boat is 10.00 cc. According to the present embodiment, by accommodating 8.00 cc per boat, the liquid crystal material can be sufficiently injected into the liquid crystal panel, and the liquid crystal utilization efficiency can be greatly improved. With this configuration, the use efficiency of the liquid crystal material can be further improved compared to a structure such as a 17-inch class or a 20-inch class in which injection ports are provided at several locations on the panel side.

In the present invention, the bottom surface of the boat can be formed in a shape other than a taper, such as a step shape, as long as the bottom surface of the boat easily supports the liquid crystal and supports the block body.

In the above embodiment, the block body has a matte surface. However, in order to further smoothly supply the liquid crystal to the protruding surface, a stripe groove may be formed on the block body surface. Further, instead of using the above-mentioned round bar horizontally, it is also possible to use a pyramid or another block body, and it is also possible to use the round bar fixed to the bottom of the boat.

[0037]

According to the liquid crystal injection device of the present invention, the liquid crystal material can be injected into the liquid crystal panel without directly contacting the liquid crystal panel and the injection boat, and the liquid crystal material in the injection boat can be injected. Can be efficiently sucked up without causing inconvenience such as contamination or electrification, the amount of liquid crystal used in one injection process can be reduced, and the liquid crystal efficiency can be increased.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view illustrating a liquid crystal injection device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged schematic cross-sectional view illustrating a liquid crystal panel and a liquid crystal injection device;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged schematic cross-sectional view showing a state in which a liquid crystal panel and a liquid crystal injection device are in contact with each other.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10: Vacuum Exhaust Chamber 20: Liquid Crystal Injection Device 21: Injection Boat 22: Container 23: Peripheral Wall of Container 25: Non-Wettable Layer 26: Projecting Surface 27: Block 30: Liquid Crystal Panel 31, 32: Glass Substrate 33 : Sealant 34, 35: Injection port 36: Liquid crystal material

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An injecting boat having an accommodating portion for accommodating a liquid crystal material, at least a surface of the accommodating portion is non-wetting with respect to the liquid crystal material, and an accommodating portion of the injecting boat arranged in the accommodating portion of the injecting boat A liquid crystal material having a projecting surface protruding higher than a peripheral upper surface, comprising a block body wettable with respect to the liquid crystal material, and supplying the liquid crystal material to an inlet of a liquid crystal panel at a position of the projecting surface of the block body. Liquid crystal injection device. 2. The liquid crystal injection device according to claim 1, wherein the contact angle due to the surface tension of the liquid crystal material is obtuse on the surface of the injection boat housing portion and acute on the block body. 3. The liquid crystal injection device according to claim 1, wherein the accommodation portion of the injection boat has a tapered or stepped bottom surface, and a block body is disposed on the bottom surface.