JP2001358114A - Drying apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a drying apparatus which completely removes water droplets sticking to an object, which is to be dried, and which prevents mist containing particles and the like from re-sticking. SOLUTION: There are provided first air knives 10 and 11 which are provided on the upstream stream side and second air knives 20 and 21 provided on the downstream side. The first and second air knives blow air in the same direction, relative to the object when viewed in the transfer direction, while it is not positioned within the range of blowing direction over the entire width of blow- out opening each other, when it is viewed from above.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a drying apparatus for drying an object to be dried by using an air knife, and more specifically, to a glass substrate for a large liquid crystal panel, a glass substrate for a plasma panel, and various other devices. A drying apparatus used for drying the substrate.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a process of manufacturing various substrates such as a glass substrate for a liquid crystal panel, a substrate after cleaning is completely removed in order to perform processing such as film formation on the substrate, or to transport and store the substrate. Must be dried. In the drying step, a steam heating drying method using alcohols such as isopropyl alcohol, a spin drying method, a hot air drying method, an air knife drying method, and the like are used, and are used depending on the purpose of use of the substrate to be dried. Have been. For example, the above-mentioned steam heating drying method has an effect of removing contaminants adhering to a substrate and the like, and is a drying method generally used widely. However, if a resist film or the like that should not be removed is formed on the substrate, the resist film is peeled off,
It cannot be used because it causes removal and dissolution. Therefore, when the substrate on which the resist film is formed is dried, a spin drying method, a hot air drying method, an air knife drying method, or the like is used. Among them, the air knife drying method has been conventionally performed as follows.

FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 are views illustrating a conventional air knife drying tank. FIG. 3 is a side view of an air knife drying tank, and FIG. 4 is a plan view of an air knife drying tank similar to FIG. 3 as viewed from above. The air knife drying tank 101 has a pair of air knives 110, 111, 120, and 121 for drying the substrate S and a transport roller 1 for passing the substrate while being blown with air.
It is composed of a substrate transport path provided with 04, shielding plates 124 and 125 for preventing water droplets and the like from entering the dried substrate side, a clean unit 105 for maintaining cleanness, an exhaust port 130, and the like.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the substrate S is washed in a washing tank 102, and is carried into an air knife drying tank through a carry-in port 103a. In the case of having two pairs of front and back air knives, first, dry air is sprayed from the first air knives 110 and 111 disposed on the upstream side in the transport direction toward both the front and back surfaces of the substrate to blow off water drops to some extent. Thereafter, the water droplets that could not be removed by the first air knife are blown off by a second air knife provided on the downstream side in the transport direction to remove the water droplets on the substrate. Thereafter, the substrate is carried out from the carry-out port 103b.

[0005]

With the recent advance in liquid crystal panel manufacturing technology, the size of liquid crystal panels has been increasing.
The size of mother glass (glass substrate) is increasing. By increasing the size of the mother glass, an effect of increasing production efficiency can also be obtained. Since a large amount of water adheres to a large glass substrate, when drying the substrate using the air knife drying method, the dimensional accuracy of the air knife is considerably high to completely remove and dry the above water. Accuracy is required.

Therefore, it is necessary to provide a plurality of pairs of air knives to compensate for this. Generally, when installing a plurality of air knives, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4,
Both are arranged in parallel. In the above configuration, when water drops that cannot be removed by the first air knife on the upstream side are removed by the second air knife on the downstream side, the air blown out from the second air knife is removed on the back surface of the first air knife. It is reflected to create turbulence (FIG. 5). For this reason, turbulence including water droplets and mist is generated between the two air knives,
There is a risk of redeposition on the substrate. The re-adhered water drops
Generally, it contains impurities (mainly particles) adhering to an upstream air knife, a tank wall of a drying tank, a ceiling, and the like.
For this reason, such a water droplet becomes a watermark when dried, and then causes various problems when a thin film or the like is formed on the substrate.

Accordingly, the present invention provides a drying apparatus which completely removes water droplets adhering to an object to be dried which has been washed with water and prevents mist containing impurities such as particles from re-adhering to the object to be dried. The purpose is to provide.

[0008]

A drying apparatus according to the present invention includes a first air knife disposed on the upstream side of the conveyance of the material to be dried, and a second air knife disposed on the downstream side.
The first and second air knives blow gas to the object to be dried from the same direction when viewed along the transport direction, and also, when viewed in a plan view, in the blowing direction with respect to the entire width of the other air outlet. It has an arrangement that is not located within the range (claim 1).

According to this configuration, after the water droplets attached to the object to be dried are completely blown off by the two air knives, the gas containing the water droplets does not form a turbulent air stream above the object to be dried. For this reason, water droplets containing impurities such as particles do not re-adhere to the object to be dried, and for example, it is possible to suppress generation of a watermark on the substrate. In addition, since an exhaust port provided for sucking and exhausting the above-described air may be provided only at one side end of the transfer device, the exhaust port and the exhaust path can be made compact and inexpensive. it can. The first and second air knives may be parallel, ie, 180 °, as long as they do not impede the flow of gas from each other.
May be provided. Further, the angle may be larger than that. The first and second air knives are arranged on the front side or the back side of the object to be dried. As a matter of course, they may be arranged on both sides. In addition to the first and second air knives, any air knife may be arranged. But,
Desirably, any two adjacent air knives are arranged so as to block air from the other air knife and not generate turbulence. Note that the air knife refers to an air blowing device that includes a knife-shaped elongated nozzle and that blows a knife-shaped gas from the nozzle. The gas blown from the air knife may be air, dry air, or another gas.

In the above-described drying apparatus of the present invention, the first air knife is disposed at the end of the transfer device with the longitudinal direction of the air knife parallel to the transfer direction when viewed in plan, and the second air knife is provided with the second air knife. Knife, the first air knife and 120-1
They are arranged at an angle of 50 ° (claim 2).

[0011] With the above arrangement, it is possible to exhaust gas by providing a position where the gas of the first and second air knives intersect near the other side of the transfer device and providing an exhaust port in a narrow range near this position. Further, when water drops that cannot be removed by the first nozzle on the upstream side are blown off by the second air knife on the downstream side, there is no shield such as the first air knife in front of the downstream air knife. Therefore, using a small exhaust port, it is necessary to prevent water droplets or mist containing a large amount of impurities such as particles blown off by the second air knife on the downstream side from re-adhering to the object to be dried. Can be. Therefore, for example, it is possible to prevent the generation of a watermark on the glass substrate of the liquid crystal display device. Note that the longitudinal direction of the air knife is a direction that extends long in the cross section of the nozzle. That is, the nozzle opening is viewed from the direction in which the air is blown out, and the length direction of the longer one of the sides constituting the nozzle opening is referred to.

[0012] In the drying apparatus of the present invention, the first and second air knives are both disposed on the front side of the conveying surface and blow the gas to the surface of the object to be dried, and are disposed on the back side. And a back side air knife for blowing gas to the back side of the object to be dried, and the top side air knife and the back side air knife are located at substantially the same position in plan view.

With the above configuration, when it is necessary to dry both the front and back surfaces of the object to be dried, the front and back surfaces can be completely dried, and the mist containing impurities such as particles can be prevented from re-adhering. .

[0014] In the drying apparatus according to the present invention, the first exhaust port provided at a predetermined position in the blowing direction of the first air knife is provided on one side of the conveyance, as viewed in a plan view. A second exhaust port provided at a predetermined position in the blowing direction of the air knife (claim 4).

According to the above configuration, generation of turbulence in the drying tank can be suppressed, and scattering of mist can be prevented. That is, for example, the amount of water droplets on the substrate, which is the object to be dried, is blown off from the substrate, and the amount of the water droplets is directly sucked into the exhaust port. Since the two exhaust ports are provided on one side of the transfer device, the first exhaust port and the second exhaust port are not discontinuous, and the first exhaust port and the second exhaust port are not connected. May be combined into one large exhaust port.
The exhaust port may be provided with one exhaust port in common for a pair of air knives provided on the front side and the back side.

In the drying apparatus according to the present invention, there is provided a drying object position detecting sensor for detecting a position of the drying object conveyed by the conveying device.

By knowing the position of the object to be dried, one of the two air knives can be used as it moves, preventing the gas flows blown from both air knives from interfering. be able to. For this reason, it is possible to suppress the generation of turbulent airflow in the drying tank and prevent the mist from scattering. In addition, by using one air knife at a time as the object to be dried moves, the amount of dry air used as a medium for blowing off water droplets can be suppressed.

[0018]

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a side view of a substrate drying apparatus using an air knife according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a plan view of the same substrate drying apparatus. The air knife drying tank 1 is disposed adjacent to the substrate washing tank 2, and a partition 3 between the washing tank 2 and the air knife drying tank 1 is provided with a loading port 3 a for loading the washed substrate S. Is provided. In addition, on the side wall on the exit side of the air knife drying tank 1,
An outlet 3b for unloading the dried substrate S is provided. A transport roller 4 is provided as a substrate transport means so that the substrate S loaded from the loading port 3a is dried by an air knife and then unloaded from the loading port 3b. Further, a clean unit 5 is provided above the air knife drying tank 1 in order to maintain cleanness.

Inside the air knife drying tank 1, two air knives (two pairs) are installed in order to remove water droplets attached in the washing tank 2. Of these air knives, the front air knife 10 and the rear air knife 1 on the upstream side
Reference numeral 1 denotes a knife-shaped nozzle (hereinafter, referred to as a “nozzle”), which is disposed at the position of the end of the transfer device such that the direction in which the end extends is parallel to the transfer direction. On the other hand, the air knife 20 on the downstream side and the air knife 21 on the rear side are 120
It is arranged so as to have an angle of up to 150 °. The air knife 10 has a nozzle 12 as an outlet for dry air, and the air knife 11 has a nozzle 13 and an air knife 2.
0 is the nozzle 22, and the air knife 21 is the nozzle 2
3 The downstream air knife has a shielding plate 25 to prevent water droplets and mist from re-adhering to the dried substrate. Further, the upstream air knife may or may not be provided with a shielding plate (not shown). An exhaust port 30 is disposed at a position in front of the airflow blown out from the nozzles 12, 13, 22, and 23. This exhaust port is obtained by combining the first exhaust port and the second exhaust port into one exhaust port. Further, a substrate detection sensor 40 for notifying that the substrate has approached is arranged between the upstream air knife and the downstream air knife.

Next, the operation of drying the substrate S by the air knife drying tank 1 configured as described above will be described. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the substrate S that has been subjected to the water-washing treatment is carried into the air knife drying tank 1 by the transport rollers 4 through the carry-in port 3 a. At the time of loading, dry air is blown out from the nozzles 12 and 13 of the air knives 10 and 11 on the upstream side. This air flow removes water adhering to the substrate S to a predetermined amount or less. Thereafter, when the substrate detection sensor 40 detects the position of the substrate, the dry air of the upstream first air knife stops. Then,
Dry air is blown from the nozzles 22 and 23 of the downstream air knives 20 and 21, and the air flow completely blows off water drops that could not be removed by the upstream air knife. As a result, the front and back surfaces of the substrate S are dried, and are carried out of the air knife drying tank 1 through the carry-out port 3b.

In the conventional air knife drying tank, the air flow blown to the surface of the substrate S collides with the air knife and the tank wall on the upstream side together with the water blown off from the substrate S, and the air knife drying tank. A turbulence was generated inside. As a result, the mist is scattered and re-attached to the substrate, so that there is a high possibility that a watermark or the like is generated.
In the above embodiment of the present invention, the downstream second air knife is 120 ° -150 ° with the upstream first air knife.
At an angle. For this reason, the first and second air knives, including the air knives themselves, do not serve as a gas flow shield in the respective blowing directions. Further, the size of the exhaust port can be reduced. In FIG. 2, the first air knife and the second air knife are 1
Since an angle of 20 to 150 ° is formed, the exhaust ports corresponding to the first air knife and the second air knife are combined into one.
It is easy to be crushed. The first air knife and the second air knife may form an angle of 180 ° (parallel) or more. However, in this case, it is difficult to unite the two exhaust ports, and the angle between them is 120.
It is desirable that the angle is about 150 °.

According to the above configuration, the air flow including the water droplets and the mist blown off by the second air knife does not collide with the upstream air knife to generate turbulence. Furthermore, in the nozzle blowing direction, an exhaust port is provided along the end of the transport path, so the air flow blown out from the nozzle of the air knife and containing water droplets and mist collides with the tank wall and the like. It can be prevented from re-adhering to the substrate. Further, one of two (two pairs) air knives can be alternately used by the substrate detection sensor. Therefore, it is possible to prevent interference between the air flows blown from the two air knives. As a result, generation of turbulence in the drying tank can be suppressed, and scattering of mist can be suppressed. In addition, since the dry air is used one by one, the amount of dry air used can be reduced.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the embodiments of the present invention disclosed above are merely examples, and the scope of the present invention is not limited to these embodiments. Not limited. The scope of the present invention is shown by the description of the claims, and further includes all modifications within the meaning and scope equivalent to the description of the claims.

[0024]

By arranging the air knives arranged on the front side and the back side as in the configuration of the present invention, the air knives etc. on the upstream side in the direction of the air flow blown from the air knives on the downstream side of the conveyance are shielded. Things don't exist. For this reason, it is possible to prevent water droplets and mist blown off by the downstream air knife from being reflected by a shield such as the upstream air knife and reattaching to, for example, a substrate to be dried. As a result, it is possible to suppress the occurrence of a watermark or the like generated by drying the particles or the duct, and it is possible to prevent a problem that occurs in a later production process. Further, since the exhaust port is arranged only on one side of the transfer device, the exhaust device such as the exhaust port can be made compact.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view of a substrate drying apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the substrate drying apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a side view of a conventional substrate drying apparatus.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of a conventional substrate drying apparatus.

FIG. 5 is a side view for explaining generation of turbulence in a conventional substrate drying apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 air knife drying tank, 2 washing tank, 3a loading port,
3b carry-out port, 4 carry roller, 5 clean unit, 6 drain port, 10 upstream air knife (front side),
11 Upstream air knife (back side), 12 Knife-shaped nozzle of upstream air knife (front side), 13 Knife-shaped nozzle of upstream air knife (back side), 20 Downstream air knife (front side), 21 Downstream air knife ( Back),
22 Knife-shaped nozzle of downstream air knife (front side),
23 Knife-shaped nozzle of downstream air knife (back side),
25 shielding plate (downstream side), 30 exhaust port, 40 substrate detection sensor, S substrate.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI theme coat ゛ (reference) F26B 25/00 F26B 25/00 A

Claims (5)

[Claims] A first air knife disposed on an upstream side of the conveyance of the material to be dried; and a second air knife disposed on a downstream side, wherein the first and second air knives are: A gas is blown from the same direction to the object to be dried when viewed along the transport direction, and has an arrangement that is not located within the range of the blowing direction with respect to the entire width of the other outlet when viewed in plan.
Drying equipment. 2. The first air knife is disposed at an end of a transfer device with a longitudinal direction of the air knife parallel to the transfer direction when viewed in plan, and the second air knife is The drying device according to claim 1, wherein the drying device is arranged at an angle of 120 to 150 ° with the first air knife. 3. The first and second air knives include:
Both, a front air knife disposed on the front side of the transport surface and spraying gas on the front side of the object to be dried, and a back side air knife disposed on the back side and blowing gas on the back side of the object to be dried, In terms of view, the front air knife and the rear air knife are located at substantially the same position,
The drying device according to claim 1. 4. A first exhaust port provided at a predetermined position in a blowing direction of the first air knife on one side of the transport, as viewed in a plan view, and a first air outlet of the second air knife. The drying device according to claim 1, further comprising a second exhaust port provided at a predetermined position in a blowing direction. 5. The drying device according to claim 1, further comprising a dried object position detection sensor for detecting a position of the dried object transported by the transport device.