JP2002153791A - Coating apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a coating apparatus capable of forming a non-coating part and a coating part to the undersurface of a base material such as a glass plate or the like. SOLUTION: The left and right coating positions 152 and 154 of a nozzle 82 are brought into contact with the undersurface of the base material 28 sucked to a suction table 24 in a reversed state and, thereafter, a liquid tank 66 is allowed to fall to a coating height position along with the nozzle 82 and the base material 28 is allowed to run to coat only a part of the base material 28 from a capillary gap 88.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a coating apparatus for coating a substrate with a coating liquid.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Recently, liquid crystal display devices and the like have become widespread, and it has become necessary to apply a coating liquid used for a protective film or the like to a glass plate of the liquid crystal display device.

As a method of applying a coating liquid to such a substrate such as a glass substrate, a coating apparatus utilizing a capillary phenomenon has been proposed (JP-A-8-224528, JP-A-6-224528).
-343908).

In this coating apparatus, a nozzle provided with a capillary gap is submerged in a liquid layer filled with a coating liquid, and when coating is performed, the nozzle is raised to bring the nozzle close to the lower surface of the substrate. The coating liquid is applied to the lower surface of the substrate by contacting the coating liquid through the capillary gap.

[0005]

When a coating liquid is applied to a glass substrate such as a liquid crystal display device, a coating liquid is applied to the entire surface of the glass substrate, and a coating liquid is applied to a part of the glass substrate. In some cases.

However, in the case where the above-described coating apparatus is used, it is possible to perform coating on the entire glass substrate.
Part of it could not be applied.

[0007] In view of the above problems, the present invention provides a coating apparatus which can apply a coating liquid only partially to the lower surface of a base material such as a glass plate.

[0008]

According to the present invention, there is provided a liquid tank containing a coating liquid, a liquid tank submerged in the coating liquid contained in the liquid tank, and having a capillary gap. A coating device that applies a coating liquid from the capillary gap of the nozzle to the lower surface of the substrate traveling in the front-rear direction, corresponding to a non-coated portion of the substrate. A coating device, wherein a concave portion is provided in an upper portion of the nozzle.

A second aspect of the present invention provides a liquid tank containing a coating liquid, a nozzle submerged in the coating liquid contained in the liquid tank, and having a capillary gap and extending in the left-right direction. A backup roll disposed above the nozzle, for transporting the long base material in the front-rear direction, and a coating device for applying a coating liquid to a lower surface of the base material from a capillary gap of the nozzle. The coating apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein a concave portion is provided at an upper portion of the nozzle corresponding to a non-coated portion of the base material.

[0010] By using the coating apparatus of the present invention, the nozzle can be submerged in the liquid layer just before the start of coating, and the coating liquid is brought into contact with the lower surface of the base material through a capillary gap at the time of coating. And start coating.

In this case, since the concave portion is provided in the nozzle corresponding to the non-coating portion of the base material, the coating liquid is not brought into contact with that portion and the coating is not performed.

Therefore, the coating liquid can be applied to a part of the substrate.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS First Embodiment A coating apparatus 10 according to a first embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

The coating apparatus 10 is an apparatus for applying a thin coating liquid to a glass substrate such as a liquid crystal display device.
As shown in FIG. 11, at a certain interval on the glass substrate,
It forms two rectangular coating surfaces.

1. FIG. 1 is a left side view of the coating apparatus 10, and FIG. 2 is a front view.

As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG.
On a base frame 12 installed on a horizontal floor or the like, movable frames 16, 16 movable in the front-rear direction via linear ways 14, 14 are mounted.

A suction table (hereinafter simply referred to as a table) 2 is provided between the pair of left and right moving frames 16 and 16.
4 is rotatably supported by a rotating shaft 26. The left and right moving frames 16, 16 are integrated by a welding structure.

The substrate 28 made of a glass plate is adsorbed on the adsorbing surface 27 of the table 24 to perform coating.
The configuration of the table 24 will be described later in detail.

2. Structure of Coating System 30 A coating system 30 for applying a coating liquid is provided inside the base frame 12. Hereinafter, the coating system 30 will be described.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the coating system 30, FIG. 4 is a front view, and FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along line XX in FIG.

The coating system 30 includes the base frame 12
Are formed on the base plate 32 arranged in the left-right direction.

A pair of left and right movable cotters 34 and 36 are provided on the upper surface of the base plate 32.

The moving cotter 36 located on the right side is
Is movable along a linear way 38 disposed on the upper surface of the base plate 32 in the left-right direction. The upper surface of the movable cotter 36 is a slope 40, and the left side is lower than the right side. A linear way 42 is also provided on the slope 40.

Similarly, the movable cotter 34 is used for the base plate 3.
2 is movable in the left-right direction by a linear way 44, and a linear way 48 is provided on the slope 46.

A coupling shaft 50 is provided on the pair of left and right movable cotters 34 and 36, and a servo motor 52 is disposed at the right end of the coupling shaft 50. A male screw portion is provided at the position of the moving cotters 34 and 36 of the connecting shaft 50, and a female screw portion is provided inside the moving cotters 34 and 36. By rotating the servo motor 52, the connecting shaft 50 is rotated, and the movable cotters 34 and 36 are rotated.
Move left and right along the linear ways 38 and 44.

A support plate 54 is provided above the pair of movable cotters 34, 36. This support plate 5
4 includes a support plate 56 extending in the left-right direction and a substrate 58 extending in the front-rear direction from the lower end of the support plate 56.

A pair of left and right support legs 60 and 62 are provided on the lower surface of the substrate 58. The lower surfaces of the support legs 60 and 62 are slopes, and can move along the linear ways 42 and 48 formed on the slopes of the moving cotters 34 and 36.

A guide shaft 64 for vertical movement protrudes from the base plate 32 to the center of the substrate 58 of the support plate 54. The support plate 54 can move up and down along the guide shaft 64, and is restricted from moving in the left-right direction.

At the upper end of the support plate 54, a liquid tank 66 for storing a coating liquid is provided. The liquid tank 66 will be described later.

The support plate 56 of the support plate 54 is provided with a left and right moving plate 70 via a pair of left and right linear ways 68. This linear way 68 is movable in the left-right direction. The left / right moving plate 70 can be moved in the left / right direction by an air cylinder 71.

An up / down moving plate 74 is provided on the front surface of the left / right moving plate 70 via a linear way 72. The linear way 72 is movable in an oblique direction. Further, the vertically moving plate 74 is vertically movable along a pair of left and right guide shafts 76 protruding from the substrate 58 of the support plate 54, and is restricted from moving in the left and right directions.

A nozzle support shaft 78 protrudes from the vicinity of the left end and the vicinity of the right end of the vertically moving plate 74.
Is supported. The nozzle 82 will be described later.

3. Structure of Liquid Tank 66 and Nozzle 82 Next, the structure of the liquid tank 66 and the nozzle 82 will be described with reference to FIGS.

The liquid tank 66 supported above the support plate 56 of the support plate 54 extends in the left-right direction, and has a trapezoidal side surface as shown in FIG. A slit 84 extending in the left-right direction is formed in the center of the upper end of the liquid tank 66 (at the top of the slope). This slit 8
4 can be closed by a lid 86 provided outside the liquid tank 66.

A nozzle 82 is built in the liquid tank 66. The nozzle 82 includes a pair of front and rear nozzle members 90 and a rear nozzle member 92 via a capillary gap 88 extending in the left-right direction. These front nozzle members 9
0 and the rear nozzle member 92 are symmetrical in the front-rear direction, have a sharp cross-sectional shape like a beak as it goes upward, and a capillary gap 88 is provided between them. The upper end of the capillary gap 88 opens in the left-right direction, and the lower surface also opens in the left-right direction.

A concave portion 150 is provided at the center of the upper portion of the nozzle 82. The portion of the nozzle 82 that can be coated includes a left coating position 152 on the left side of the concave portion 150,
This is the right coating position 154 on the right side.

The above-mentioned pair of left and right nozzle support shafts 78 and 80 are fixed to the left end and the right end of the nozzle 82, respectively. Then, a pair of left and right nozzle support shafts 78,
Reference numeral 80 denotes a pair of left and right holes 94, 9 opened on the bottom of the liquid tank 66.
6 slides. In order to prevent the coating liquid from leaking out of the holes 94 and 96, bellows-like closing members 98 and 10 extend from the bottom of the nozzle 82 to the bottom of the liquid tank 66.
0 is provided. Thereby, the support shaft 78,
Even if the 80 moves up and down, the bellows-like closing members 98 and 100 extend and contract in the vertical direction so that the coating liquid does not leak from the holes 94 and 96 (see FIGS. 6 and 7).

As shown in FIG. 8, a coating liquid is pumped out of a tank 102 storing the coating liquid by a pump 104,
The coating liquid is supplied to the supply port 108 of the coating liquid which is opened on the left side surface of the liquid tank 66 through the filter 106. A circulation port 110 is opened at the bottom of the liquid tank 66.
The coating liquid circulates from the tank 102 to the tank 102. Note that the filter 106 removes foreign matter when it is present, in order to circulate the coating liquid.

Further, a hole 111 is opened in the upper part of the left side surface of the liquid tank 66, and an L-shaped height adjusting tube 112 protrudes therefrom. The upper end of the height adjustment tube 112 is open,
Further, a detection sensor 114 for detecting the height of the coating liquid is provided on the outer side surface of the adjusting tube 112. That is, when the liquid tank 66 is filled with the coating liquid, the height adjusting pipe 112 is filled with the coating liquid to the same height.
Then, the detection sensor 114 detects the coating liquid according to the filled amount, and detects the height of the coating liquid. The data of the detected height is sent to the control unit 115 composed of a microcomputer, and the control unit 115 drives the motor 105 of the pump 104 according to the height data to set the height to the set height. Supply the coating liquid up to.

4. Next, a structure for moving the table 24 to the position of the nozzle 82 will be described.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the moving frames 16, 16 are rotated in a longitudinal direction by rotating a screw rod 18 provided on the left side surface of the base frame 12 by a motor 20. , 14 can be moved.

That is, the pair of moving frames 16, 16
A moving portion 22 having a female screw portion screwed with the screw rod 18 projects from the moving frame 16 on the left side, and the moving portion 22 is turned by the rotation of the screw rod 18.
Along a pair of left and right moving frames 16, 16
Moves in the front-back direction.

5. Next, a structure for adsorbing the base material 28 to the table 24 will be described.

The table 24 provided between the pair of right and left moving frames 16, 16 is substantially one
It can be turned by 80 °. And this table 2
A plurality of suction holes 116 are opened in the suction surface 27 of No. 4. The suction hole 116 is open over the front surface of the table 24, and its internal structure is as shown in FIGS. That is, the suction space 118 divided into a plurality of sections is provided inside the table 24.

More specifically, the first section is composed of four suction spaces 118 provided at the center of the upper portion of the table 24 in FIG. 10, and the suction spaces 118 are connected by a narrow air path 120. . Each of the four suction spaces 118 has four suction holes 116. As shown in FIG. 9, suction pipes 12 for sucking air are provided in the four suction spaces 118 of the first section.
2, the suction pipe 122 is connected to the manual valve 12
4 and is inserted into the rotation shaft 26. Then, the inserted suction pipe 122 is taken out from the left side of the moving frame 16 and connected to the vacuum pump 126.

The second section of the table 24 is a state in which the first section is surrounded in a U-shape and is composed of six suction spaces 118, which are also connected by the air path 120. Have been.

Hereinafter, the third section and the fourth section are similarly configured.

Here, the case where the table 24 adsorbs the substrate 28 will be described.

The substrate 28 is placed at the center of the table 24. In this case, the manual valve 124 is opened from the first section to the n-th section in accordance with the size of the base material 28, and the base material 28 is sucked from the suction hole 116 by the vacuum pump 126. That is, the first section at the center is always in the suction state, and the subsequent sections are in the suction state according to the size of the base material 28. In addition, a section that is not necessary for suction is a manual valve 12.
Close 4 to prevent suction.

A motor 128 and a speed reducer for rotating the rotary shaft 26 of the table 24 are built in the moving frame 16.

The first section is not opened in a rectangular shape, but four suction spaces 118 are provided.
The connection by 20 is because the strength of the table 24 is considered.

6. Coating Step A case in which a coating liquid is applied to the base material 28 using the coating apparatus 10 having the above configuration will be described.

(First Step) In FIG. 1, the table 24 is located at the position A of the base material. In this case, the suction surface 27 faces upward. Then, the substrate 28 is placed on the suction surface 27 with the surface to be coated facing upward. Then, the vacuum pump 126 is operated to move the substrate 2 from the suction hole 116.
The base material 28 is fixed to the table 24 by sucking 8.

(Second Step) The table 24 is rotated by approximately 180 ° so that the suction surface 27 and the base surface B as shown in FIG.
That is, the base member 28 is positioned below.

A motor 128 for rotating the rotating shaft 26 and a speed reducer are built in the moving frame 16.

(Third Step) The inverted table 24 is moved by the motor 20, and the moving frames 16, 16 are moved.
To the coating start position.

(Fourth Step) The liquid tank 66 is filled with a coating liquid up to a predetermined height. In this case, the current height of the coating liquid is adjusted by the detection sensor 114 provided on the outer side surface of the height adjusting pipe 112, and when the height of the coating liquid is increased to a predetermined height, the control unit 115 is used. Operates the pump 104 to supply the coating liquid.

The nozzle 82 is kept submerged in the liquid tank 66 filled with the coating liquid. Then, with the nozzle 82 submerged in the coating liquid, the lid 86 of the slit 84 of the liquid tank 66 is opened, and the liquid tank 66 is raised below the substrate 28. In this method of raising, as shown in FIG. 4, the servomotor 52 is rotated to move the pair of left and right moving cotters 34, 36. Then, the support plate 54 whose movement is restricted in the left-right direction is moved to the movement cotter 34,
36, the linear ways 42 provided on the slopes 40, 46,
It moves only upward along 48. When the support plate 54 moves upward, the liquid tank 66 and the nozzle 82 simultaneously move upward.

When the liquid tank 66 is raised below the substrate 28, the lifting is temporarily stopped.

(Fifth Step) The liquid tank 6 raised as described above
6 and only the nozzle 82 is projected.

For this purpose, the left and right moving plate 70 is moved by the air cylinder 71. In this case, since the vertical movement plate 74 is restricted from moving in the left-right direction,
When the left / right moving plate 70 moves in the left / right direction, the vertical moving plate 74 moves only upward because the linear way 72 is provided diagonally. When the vertically moving plate 74 moves upward, the nozzle support shafts 78 and 80 also move upward at the same time, and the nozzle 82 rises.

When the nozzle 82 rises from the coating liquid in the liquid tank 66, the gap between the capillary gaps 88 is filled with the coating liquid, so that the nozzle 82 has a left coating position 152 and a right coating position 154.
In the figure, the coating liquid is filled up to the tip of the capillary gap 88, and the coating liquid is filled halfway in the capillary gap 88 at the position of the concave portion 150.

Then, the ascent is stopped.

(Sixth Step) With the nozzle 82 projecting as described above, the liquid tank 66 is raised again to come into contact with the lower surface of the substrate 28. That is, the coating liquid filled in the capillary gap 88 of the nozzle 82 is brought into contact with the lower surface of the substrate 28.

The portions that come into contact with the liquid are only the positions of the left coating position 152 and the right coating position 154 of the nozzle 82.
No liquid contact is made at the 0 position.

At this time, the speed and distance of the rise of the liquid tank 66 need to be adjusted very delicately.
Since the support plate 54 moves up and down along the slopes 4 and 36, this fine adjustment can be easily performed.
In addition, since the liquid tank 66 can be lifted in a horizontal state in the left-right direction, the coating thickness of the substrate 28 does not change in the left-right direction.

(Seventh Step) As described above, the liquid tank 66 is lowered together with the nozzle 82 to the coating height position in a state where the nozzle 82 is in contact with the liquid at the left coating position 152 and the right coating position 154. Let it. That is, the distance between the position of the tip of the nozzle 82 and the substrate 28 is the coating thickness. And, as described above, this fine adjustment
Can be easily performed.

(Eighth Step) After the nozzle 82 is lowered to the coating height position as described above, the base material 28 is placed on the table 2.
4 moves the coating at a constant speed to the coating end position.

The coating liquid is applied to the left coating position 152 of the nozzle 82.
Then, the base material 28 is moved in the front-rear direction in a state where the coating is performed in the left-right direction at the position of the right coating position 154 and is not coated at the position of the concave portion 150. Then, as shown in FIG. 11, two rectangular coating surfaces can be formed at regular intervals on the base material 28. That is, it becomes possible to apply the coating liquid to the flat surface on the base material 28 at a predetermined coating thickness.

In this transfer, the posture of the base material 28 in the front-rear direction and the posture in the left-right direction are both kept horizontal.

(Ninth Step) The base material 28 is temporarily stopped at the coating end position, and the nozzle 82 and the liquid tank 66 are respectively lowered from the coating height position and separated from the base material 28.

(Tenth Step) After the nozzle 82 has moved away from the lower surface of the base material 28, the table 24 is moved backward as shown in FIG.

(Eleventh Step) The table 24 having been moved to the substrate position C is again rotated by 180 ° to reverse the state of the substrate position D. As a result, the substrate 28 is
Is located on the upper surface.

(Twelfth Step) The suction force of the suction surface 27 is released, and the substrate 28 is removed from the table 24. Thus, a series of coating operations is completed.

As described above, according to the coating apparatus 10 of this embodiment, by performing the above-described coating process, the base material 28 made of a glass substrate is coated with a predetermined coating thickness and a flat surface. Can be applied all at once. In addition, moving cotter 3
Since the support plate 54 moves up and down on the slopes 4 and 36, the upper and lower positions of the liquid tank 66 and the nozzle 82 can be moved accurately and even in the middle.

Further, the nozzle 82 is connected to the left and right moving plate 7.
0 is moved by the air cylinder 71 to move the up-down moving plate 74 in the up-down direction, so that it can be moved up and down accurately and reliably.

Second Embodiment A second embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

In the first embodiment, as shown in FIG.
Although two coated surfaces are formed on the base material 28, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 12, three coated surfaces are formed on the base material 28.

For this formation, in the present embodiment, two concave portions 160 and 162 are provided at the upper part of the nozzle 82 so that the first coating position 164 and the second
A coating position 166 and a third coating position 168 are formed.

That is, coating is performed by providing the concave portions 160 and 162 at positions corresponding to the two non-coated portions.

Therefore, as a modified example, when a plurality of coating surfaces are provided beyond the three coating surfaces as in the present embodiment, the concave portion is provided at a position corresponding to the non-coating portion between the coating surfaces. And coating may be performed.

Third Embodiment FIG. 13 shows a coating apparatus 200 according to a third embodiment.

The coating apparatus 200 is different from the coating apparatus 10 of the first embodiment in that a coating liquid is not applied to the plate-like base material 28, but a long base material 202 (for example, (A film or a non-woven fabric) at regular intervals and a coating solution is applied in the length direction.

As shown in FIG. 13, below the backup roll 204, the coating system 30 described above is arranged.

In this case, as shown in FIG.
A recess 150 is provided in the center of the upper part of the nozzle 2, and the portions where the nozzle 82 can be coated are a left coating position 152 on the left side of the recess 150 and a right coating position 154 on the right side.

Then, the base material 202 is conveyed along the backup roll 204, and at the lowest point of the backup roll 204, the left coating position 152 and the right coating position 154 of the nozzle 82 as shown in FIG. Then, coating is performed on the base material 28 at predetermined intervals in the length direction.

According to the present apparatus 200, a coating surface can be formed not only on the plate-shaped base material 28 but also on the long base material 202 at a predetermined interval.

[0088]

By using the coating apparatus of the present invention, the nozzle can be submerged in the liquid layer until immediately before the start of coating, and the coating liquid is applied to the lower surface of the base material from the capillary gap at the time of coating. Wet and start coating.

In this case, since the concave portion is provided in the nozzle corresponding to the non-coating portion of the base material, the coating liquid is not in contact with the portion and the coating is not performed.

Therefore, the coating liquid can be applied to a part of the substrate.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a left side view of a coating apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view of the same.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a coating system.

FIG. 4 is a front view of the coating system.

FIG. 5 is an X-ray sectional view in FIG.

FIG. 6 is a longitudinal sectional view of a liquid tank and a nozzle, which are in a state before coating.

FIG. 7 is also a state during coating.

FIG. 8 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a relationship among a liquid tank, a nozzle, a tank, a pump, and a filter.

FIG. 9 is a longitudinal sectional view of a table.

FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view of a partly mounted table with a part omitted.

FIG. 11 is a plan view and a nozzle of a base material coated by the coating device of the first embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a plan view and a nozzle of a base material coated by a coating apparatus according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 13 is a longitudinal sectional view of a main part of a coating apparatus according to a third embodiment.

FIG. 14 is a plan view and a nozzle of a base material coated by the coating apparatus according to the third embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 10 coating device 24 table 28 base material 30 coating system 82 nozzle 84 slit 88 capillary gap 150 concave portion 152 left coating position 154 right coating position

Continued on the front page F term (reference) 4F040 AA02 AA14 AB04 AC01 AC08 BA06 BA36 CA03 CA09 CA13 CA15 4F041 AA05 AA12 AB01 BA12 BA31 BA36 CA02 CA12 CA15 4F042 AA06 AA22 BA09 CB02 CB20 CC03 CC22 CC30 DF03 DF09 DF28

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A liquid tank containing a coating liquid, and a nozzle submerged in the coating liquid contained in the liquid tank and having a capillary gap and extending in the left-right direction. In a coating apparatus for applying a coating liquid from a capillary gap of the nozzle to a lower surface of a substrate traveling in a direction, a concave portion is provided at an upper portion of the nozzle corresponding to a non-coated portion of the substrate. Characteristic coating equipment. 2. A liquid tank containing a coating liquid, a nozzle submerged in the coating liquid contained in the liquid tank, and provided with a capillary gap and extending in the left-right direction. A backup roll that is disposed and conveys a long base material in the front-rear direction; and a coating device that applies a coating liquid from a capillary gap of the nozzle to a lower surface of the base material. A coating device, wherein a concave portion is provided in an upper portion of the nozzle corresponding to a non-coated portion of (1).