JP2002121041A - Method and device for breaking rigid brittle plate - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To lessen the occurrence of defective goods in breaking process step and to shorten the adjustment time before operation in cracking a rigid brittle plate. SOLUTION: The abutment depth of breaking knife blades respectively on a plurality of scribing grooves formed at one glass sheet is made adjustable or settable. This device has a collision device 8 to rapidly lower the breaking knife blades 65, a stopper 61 for forcibly stopping the descending action of the breaking knife blades 65, a height adjusting means 3 for adjusting the stopping height by the stopper, a servo driver for driving the height adjusting device and a controller for repetitively outputting the plural setting position signals at prescribed order by to the servo driver.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a glass cell used as a display panel such as a liquid crystal display or a plasma display, and a breaker for a hard brittle plate such as a glass substrate for manufacturing these panels. Mechanical break method and apparatus for breaking a hard brittle plate along the scribe groove by breaking the hard brittle plate along the scribe groove by causing the break blade to abut against a scribe groove provided in advance along a desired cutting line. It is about.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a method of cutting a glass plate along a desired cutting line, a scratch (scribe groove) is formed on the surface of the glass plate with a diamond point, and then a light impact force is applied to the scratched portion. The method of splitting by applying a bending stress or by applying a bending stress has been used for a long time. This cleaving method requires skill such as how deep the scribe grooves should be provided and what impact force should be applied to the glass plate provided with the scribe grooves. Failure to do so will result in unexpected cracking and chipping.

[0003] In the division of a glass cell such as a liquid crystal panel, the division basically by the same method as described above is widely used. Other recently proposed division methods include:
There is a method in which a laser beam or the like travels along a cutting line to cause a glass sheet to be broken by causing local cracks due to thermal stress, but the cutting speed is slower than the above-described conventional mechanical cutting. Therefore, it has not yet been widely used.

[0004] With the progress of electronic device manufacturing technology,
2. Description of the Related Art Larger screens and production quantities of liquid crystal displays and plasma displays have been progressing, and the area of glass plates used for manufacturing has been increasing. In these displays, a plurality of display panels are formed in a matrix on a single (precisely, two front and back) glass plates, and then divided vertically and horizontally along a plurality of cutting lines to obtain a desired size. Display panel. In addition, with the spread of portable electronic devices, the thickness of a glass plate used has been reduced due to a demand for a lighter display panel.

[0005]

With the increase in the area of the glass plate for a display panel and the reduction in the plate thickness,
The fine adjustment of the apparatus has been required in the break step when the glass sheet is cut by the mechanical method described above. The glass cell for the display panel breaks when it is placed on the table. If the error is increased and the thickness of the glass plate is reduced, cracks and chips in unexpected directions are likely to occur.

[0006] The break of the glass plate is performed by impacting a break blade having a downwardly shallow V-shaped cross section to the surface of the glass plate having the scribed grooves. The break blade is usually made of synthetic resin. It is relatively easy to wear, and the impact force applied to the glass plate by the wear changes.
For this reason, before actually starting the break work, the break blade hits the glass sheet surface when the break blade collides with the glass cell according to the size, thickness, etc. of the glass cell to be cut. Although the contact depth is precisely adjusted, defective products due to cracking or chipping at the break tend to increase due to the increase in the area of the glass cell and the decrease in plate thickness as described above. A problem has arisen that it takes a very long time to adjust the distance.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above problems, the present invention reduces the occurrence of defective products in a break step of breaking a glass cell in a scribe step and a break step, and reduces an adjustment time before operation. In particular, it is an object of the present invention to solve the above-mentioned problems caused by a large area and a thin glass plate used for manufacturing a display panel.

[0008]

According to the present invention, it is possible to adjust or set the contact depth of a break blade with respect to a glass plate with respect to each of a plurality of scribe grooves formed in one glass plate. This solves the above problem.

That is, in the method of breaking a glass sheet according to the present invention, the hard brittle plate is sequentially cut along the plurality of scribe grooves by causing a break blade to abut against a plurality of scribe grooves formed in the hard brittle plate. In the method for breaking a hard brittle plate, a means for adjusting a contact depth of a break blade with respect to the hard brittle plate, and a control unit for setting or calculating a contact depth for each of the plurality of scribe grooves are provided. Operation of moving the break blade relative to the scribe groove to be broken next from the scribe groove that has been completed, an adjusting operation of changing the contact depth of the break blade during or before and after this feed operation, This is characterized by repeating a collision operation of impacting the blade against the hard brittle plate.

The above-mentioned breaking method includes a collision device 8 for rapidly lowering the break blade 65 and a stopper 6 for forcibly stopping the lowering operation of the break blade by the collision device at a predetermined position.
1, a height adjusting device 3 for adjusting the stopping height of the break blade 65 by the stopper 61, a servo driving device 35 for driving the height adjusting device, and a plurality of set position signals transmitted to the servo driving device in a predetermined order. And a controller 7 that repeatedly outputs the signals.

To set or adjust the contact depth of the break blade for each of the plurality of scribe grooves, the stopper 61 itself for forcibly stopping the descending operation of the break blade 65 is provided so as to be adjustable in position, and its position is servo-driven. Although it can also be realized by controlling with a device, since a shocking force is repeatedly applied to the stopper 61 at each break operation, the fine adjustment of the position of the support portion of the stopper and the strength to withstand a shocking external force are combined. It is disadvantageous in the design and manufacture of the device.

On the other hand, the lifting bracket 5 on which the stopper 61 and the collision device 8 for the break blade are mounted is provided at a fixed position, and the height position of the lifting bracket 5 is adjusted so that the contact depth of the break blade is reduced. By setting or adjusting the height, the above problem can be avoided and a more rational and durable device can be provided.

In other words, the breaker of the present invention, which is more preferable in practical use, has the support frame 3 held at a constant height.
And a first linear guide 5 in a vertical direction on the support frame.
1, a height adjusting device 3 for setting a relative position relationship between the support frame and the lifting bracket in the height direction, and a break blade holder guided by the second vertical guide 67 to the lifting bracket. 62, a collision device 8 mounted on the lifting bracket to drive the break blade holder 62 up and down, a stopper 61 fixed to a predetermined position of the lifting bracket 5 and forcibly stopping the lowering operation of the break blade holder by the collision device. It is a device provided with.

According to the present invention, a test conducted by the inventors of the present invention has obtained a test result that the optimum contact depth of the break blade differs depending on the position of the scribe groove provided on the glass plate on the plane. It was completed based on that. There is a difference in the bending stress and impact stress generated inside the glass sheet when the break blade collides between when cutting near the side of the glass sheet and when cutting near the center. It is considered that the conventional method or apparatus which attempts to adjust the diameter of the glass cell makes it difficult to stably cut a glass cell having a large area and a small thickness.

In particular, in the case of a glass cell for a display panel, since a liquid crystal or a sealing material is sandwiched between two glass plates, the glass plate on the upper surface of the glass cell to be cut has a cushioning property. It is considered that the surface is supported by a certain intermediate layer, and it is presumed that this is a major factor in changing the break condition depending on the cutting position.

[0016]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The invention according to this application will be further described below with reference to embodiments shown in the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic side view showing a structure of a break blade supporting portion of the break device. As shown in FIG. 4, for example, as shown in FIG. 4, a glass cell 1 in which a plurality of scribe grooves 12a... 12g are engraved is placed on a table 2 which is moved and positioned in the Y direction (left and right direction in FIG. 1) by suction. A break occurs with the suction fixed. Above the table 2, a support frame 31 laid horizontally in the direction perpendicular to the paper surface of FIG. 1 is disposed, and the support frame 31 is provided with a height adjusting device 3 shown in FIG. 2.

The height adjusting device 3 contacts the downward slope 34 from below by screwing a cam 32 having a downward slope 34 into a ball screw 38 driven forward and reverse by a Z-axis servomotor 35. By moving the cam follower 33 up and down, the height of a lifting bracket 5 described later is adjusted.

More specifically, the support frame 31 will be described.
A Z-axis servomotor 35 and bearing blocks 36 and 37 are fixedly mounted below a frame plate 43 elongated in the direction perpendicular to the paper surface of FIG. 1 and the both ends are supported by the bearing blocks 36 and 37. Ball screw 38
Are connected to the output shaft of the Z-axis servomotor 35 by a coupling 39. A guide rail 40 parallel to the ball screw 38 is fixed between the bearing blocks 36 and 37 on the lower surface of the frame plate 43. The cam 32 is slidably mounted on the guide rail 40 and is fixedly provided on a slider block 41 screwed to the ball screw 38.

The cam follower 33 is in contact with the downward slope 34 of the cam by the urging force of an urging cylinder 42 (see FIG. 1) described later. By the forward / reverse rotation of the Z-axis servo motor 35, the cam 32 moves in the left-right direction in FIG. 2, and the cam follower 33 and the lifting bracket 5 supporting the cam follower 33 are raised and lowered.

A first guide 51 in the vertical direction is fixed to both ends (ends in a direction perpendicular to the paper surface of FIG. 1) of the support frame 31, and an urging cylinder 42 is provided near the linear guide. Mounted with the rod facing up. The lifting bracket 5 equipped with the cam follower 33 described above
The first guide 51 is movably guided up and down, and is urged upward by being connected to the rod of the urging cylinder 42. The urging force causes the cam follower 33 to contact the downward slope 34 of the cam.

A cylinder bracket 6 is fixed to the upper portion of the lifting bracket 5, and a stopper 61 is fixed to an L-shaped bracket 81 extending downward from the front end (left side in FIG. 1). And an origin sensor 64 that is in contact with the origin pin 63 of the break blade holder 62. The elevating bracket 5 is a member that is elongated in the direction perpendicular to the paper surface of FIG. 1, and has a vertical second linear guide 67 mounted on the front surface of both longitudinal ends.

The break blade 65 is a long and narrow member in the front-rear direction of FIG. This break blade 6
5 is attached to the holder 62 and the holder 6
2 is fixed to a holder frame 82 guided by a second linear guide 67 so as to be able to move up and down, and this holder frame is connected to a downward rod 83 of the break cylinder 8 mounted on the cylinder bracket 6. When the distal end of the rod 83 comes into contact with the stopper 61, the lower end position of the holder frame 82, that is, the break blade 65
Is defined.

The contact depth of the blade edge 66 of the break blade from the surface of the glass cell 1 is adjusted by adjusting the height of the lifting bracket 5 with the height adjusting device 3 described above, and the height of the stopper 61 with respect to the support frame 31. This is done by adjusting

The origin sensor 64 is provided for detecting a reference point (zero point) of the height of the break blade 65.
With the rod 83 of the break cylinder 8 in contact with the stopper 61, the height adjustment device 3 is operated to gradually lower the lifting bracket 5, and the cutting edge 66 of the break blade
When the sensor comes into contact with the surface of the glass cell 1, it is detected that the sensor 64 is separated from the origin pin 63, and the detection signal is used to reset the deviation counter 71b of the Z-axis servo motor 35 shown in FIG. By the break blade 65
Set the origin height of

The setting of the origin height of the break blade is performed when the lot of the glass cell to be cut changes or when the worn break blade is replaced. After the origin is set, the sensor 64 is
Is retracted downward to prevent contact between the sensor and the origin pin 63 each time a break operation is performed.

The table 2 is screwed to a ball screw 22 driven to rotate by a Y-axis motor 21.
Is stopped, the position of the glass cell 1 fixed thereon on the Y-axis direction is set according to the table 2.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a control system for controlling the operation of the break device of the above embodiment. The control device 7 includes a keyboard 73 and a display 74 for inputting the set values, and a setting table 75 is recorded in a storage area of the control device 7. Setting table 75
Indicates a Y-axis coordinate value corresponding to the cutting position of the glass cell to be broken, and a Z-axis coordinate value corresponding to the contact depth of the break blade. The Y-axis motor 21 described in FIG. 1 controls the control device 7 via the amplifier 76a and the deviation counter 71a.
And the Z-axis servo motor 3 described with reference to FIG.
5 is similarly connected to the control device 7 via an amplifier 76b and a deviation counter 71b. The IP valve 78 that opens and closes the pneumatic circuit of the break cylinder 8 in FIG.
It is connected to the control device 7 via the amplifier 76c.

Y-axis motor 21 and Z-axis servo motor 35
Are connected to pulse generators 79a and 79b, respectively, and their count signals are input to the deviation counters 71a and 71b as feedback signals.
Further, as described above, the detection signal of the origin sensor 64 is
A deviation counter 7 of the Z-axis servo motor as a reset signal
1b.

In the above embodiment, for example, the glass cell 1 provided with the scribe grooves 12a... 12g as shown in FIG. The table is positioned for each groove, and the Z-axis servomotor 35 is determined by the Z-axis coordinate value corresponding to the number of the scribed groove thus positioned.
Is rotated, the contact depth of the break blade corresponding to the scribe groove is set, and then the break cylinder 8 is operated to break the glass cell in the scribe groove portion. Glass cell 1
Are sequentially divided along a plurality of dividing lines.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic side view showing a support structure of a break blade.

FIG. 2 is a view of the height adjusting device as viewed from a direction A in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a control system.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of a glass cell provided with a plurality of scribe grooves.

[Description of Signs] 3 Height adjustment device 5 Elevating bracket 7 Controller 8 Collision device 31 Support frame 35 Servo drive device 51 First guide 61 Stopper 62 Break blade holder 65 Break blade 67 Second linear guide

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A method for breaking a hard brittle plate, wherein a break blade is impacted on a plurality of scribe grooves formed in the hard brittle plate to cut the hard brittle plate sequentially along the scribe grooves. A means for adjusting the contact depth of the break blade with respect to the plate and a control means for setting or calculating the contact depth for each of the plurality of scribe grooves are provided. A feed operation for relatively moving the break blade to an opposing position, an adjusting operation for changing the contact depth of the break blade during or before and after this feed operation, and an impact contact of the break blade with the hard brittle plate A method for breaking a hard brittle plate, comprising repeating a collision operation. 2. A collision device (8) for rapidly lowering the break blade (65), a stopper (61) for forcibly stopping the lowering operation of the break blade by the collision device at a predetermined position, and a stopper (6).
A height adjusting device (3) for adjusting the stop height of the break blade (65) by 1), and a servo drive device (3
5) and a breaker for a hard brittle plate, comprising: a controller (7) that repeatedly outputs a plurality of set position signals to the servo drive device in a predetermined order. 3. A support frame (31) held at a constant height.
A lifting bracket (5) guided by a first guide (51) in the vertical direction to the supporting frame, and a height adjusting device (3) for setting a relative positional relationship in a height direction between the supporting frame and the lifting bracket. ) And the second vertical guide (6
The break blade holder (62) guided by (7), the collision device (8) attached to the lifting bracket and driving the break blade holder (62) to raise and lower, and the collision fixed to the predetermined position of the lifting bracket (5) and the collision A hard brittle plate breaking device, comprising: a stopper (61) for forcibly stopping the lowering operation of the break blade holder by the device.