JP2002373586A - Exhaust cart and forced convection continuous treatment cart facility - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a forced convection continuous treatment cart facility wherein a temperature management is precisely carried out in a furnace and a flat panel can be sealed/exhaust treated or exhaust treated surely. SOLUTION: In the forced convection continuous treatment cart facility which is provided with plural partitioned rooms D, and which is mounted by a forced convection continuous treatment cart furnace T wherein each of the partitioned rooms is made independently temperature controllable and at least an exhaust means is mounted and which is consisted of an exhaust cart 10 to retain the fiat panel P1 with plural chip tubes, and which is treated while the flat panel of the exhaust cart is intermittently conveyed to be positioned in a treatment room E formed in the partitioned rooms of the forced convection continuous treatment cart furnace, this is constituted so that the partitioned room length is made integer times as long as the exhaust cart length, and a screen member 13 to form a prescribed gap to a ceiling wall and to a side wall of the treatment room is installed at the front end part or the rear end part of the exhaust cart, and a sealing mechanism 14A to seal the gap formed in a stop of the exhaust cart is provided.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an exhaust cart used for exhausting the inside of a hollow flat panel such as a plasma display panel (hereinafter referred to as "PDP") and a forced convection cart type continuous processing of the flat panel. It concerns equipment.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a continuous processing method for evacuating a flat panel such as a PDP is performed by moving an exhaust cart equipped with a plurality of flat panels with chip tubes in a forced convection type cart continuous processing furnace. Is what you do.

[0003] The flat panel with a chip tube has a front glass substrate and a rear glass substrate, and a glass substrate and a chip tube integrally fixed by a jig such as a clip with a glass paste for fusion interposed therebetween, or Some of them are integrally fixed by a sealing process.

[0004] For example, a forced convection type cart-type continuous processing furnace T for performing an exhaust process following a sealing process is shown in FIGS. 1, 5 and 1.
As shown in FIG. 0 to FIG. 13, a sealing zone A, an exhaust zone B, and a cooling zone C having an opening 7 on the hearth over the entire length are provided.

Each of the zones A, B, and C is constituted by a circulation baffle 1 provided in the furnace and a plurality of compartments D in which the space inside the furnace is partitioned by a partition plate F (FIGS. 5, 10 and 10). (See FIG. 11).

More specifically, as shown in FIG. 10, both sides of the sealing zone A and the exhaust zone B are perforated plates 1A and 1B.
Is provided in the furnace, and a heat source 3 such as a radiant tube burner or an electric heater is disposed in the circulation passage 2, and the atmosphere in the furnace is sucked from the perforated plate 1B by the circulation fan 4; Heated by the heat source 3, the processing chamber E in the circulation baffle 1 from the perforated plate 1A
The discharge circulates compartment D by suction from perforated plate 1B, is forced convection heating of the glass panel P ₁ is a flat panel below.

As shown in FIG. 11, the cooling zone C has a cooling gas (air) supply pipe 6A on the hearth and a furnace gas on the ceiling in addition to the heat source 3 in the sealing zone A and the exhaust zone B. It has a cooling source (not shown) such as a discharge pipe 6B or a cooling tube, and the other configuration is the same as the sealing processing zone A (exhaust zone B).

[0008] The glass panel P _1, as shown in FIG. 13, the outer edge of one of the opposing surface glass substrate W ₁ and the chip tube Pa with exposed glass substrate W _2, consisting of fusing glass paste The sealing agent S is applied, overlapped, and fixed integrally with a jig K such as a clip.

A jig K shown in FIG. 13 is applied to the tip tube Pa portion. A long groove b slightly wider than the diameter of the tip tube Pa is provided in one piece a of the tip tube Pa, and the inside of the long groove b is formed. The tip tube Pa is supported by fitting a holding member d having a through hole c with the tip tube Pa positioned. Note that the method of supporting the tip tube Pa is not limited to the holding member d, and may have another configuration.

In addition, the clip for fixing a portion other than the tip tube Pa does not require the long groove b.

As shown in FIGS. 10 and 11, the exhaust cart 10 'is moved by a pusher (not shown) on a rail R laid under the hearth of the sealing and exhaust furnace T.
Strut members 11 is a plurality arranged with holding member 11a for holding the furnace width direction with a substantially horizontal state glass panel P ₁ through the opening 7 of the sealing-draft oven T on the upper surface of the exhaust cart 10 ' Have been. The support member 11 is provided with a heat insulating member 12 for shielding the opening 7 with a slight gap from the opening 7 over the entire length of the exhaust cart 10 '.

Further, the exhaust cart 10 'is equipped with a vacuum exhaust system having a vacuum exhaust pump (not shown) and a discharge gas supply system having a discharge gas cylinder.
Both are connected to a pipe fitting via an electromagnetic on-off valve. Furthermore, the exhaust cart 10 'has a glass panel P
A sealing heater (not shown) for fusing _one tip tube Pa is provided.

The rail R is also provided on the side (return line section) of the forced convection type cart continuous processing furnace T, and the charging and extraction transfer cars Tf ₁ and Tf are provided at both ends.
₂ , the exhaust cart 10 'circulates and the cooling zone C and the extraction transfer car Tf ₂
A discharge gas sealing / sealing zone Zg is provided between the first and second zones.

Next, a PDP processing method will be described. First, load the evacuating cart 10 'with the glass panel P ₁ of the loading-unloading zone Z. In this case, the glass panel P
_As shown in FIG. 10 and FIG. 11, the holding member 1 is inserted through a through-hole (not shown) provided in the heat insulating member 12 as shown in FIG. 10 and FIG.
The tip tube Pa is connected and fixed to the exhaust pipe 10 'in a substantially horizontal state via the lamination tube 1a. A sealing heater is attached to the tip tube Pa.

As described above, the plurality of glass panels P ₁
The exhaust cart 10 that Noseki 'reaches the charging transfer car Tf ₁ by an appropriate means, here, moves to the charged side of the forced convection type basket type continuous treatment furnace T, FIG. 1 by the pusher or the like
As shown by 2, they are sequentially charged into the furnace T in a connected state.
Therefore, the opening 7 in the hearth is almost completely separated from each exhaust cart 10 '.
Is closed by the heat insulating member 12.

When the exhaust cart 10 'is loaded into the furnace, the glass panel P1 _first melts the sealing agent S in the sealing processing zone A based on a predetermined heat curve, so that both glass substrates are melted. W ₁ and W ₂ are sealed to form a glass panel P ₂ . When reaching the exhaust zone B, and an exhaust in communication with the vacuum pump the inside by operating the on-off valve each glass panel P _2.

[0017] Each glass panel _{P 2} is heated while passing through the furnace T, is the glass panel _{P 2} ¹⁰ -4 ^{to 10 -7}
While being exhausted to Torr, it is carried out of the furnace T via the cooling zone C and reaches the discharge gas sealing / sealing zone Zg.
By stopping the evacuation pump and operating the on-off valve, for example, a neon gas (N
e), defines a pressure discharge gas such as Algol (Ar) or xenon (Xe) in the glass panel _{P 2} (four hundred to seven
Up to 60 Torr).

When the charging of the discharge gas is completed, the sealing heater is energized to seal off the tip tube Pa,
DP.

[0019] Then, the evacuating cart 10 'moves to extracting transfer car Tf ₂ a through and loading-unloading zone Z, wherein loading new glass panel P ₁ with unload product to the processed PDP, the foregoing steps repeat.

[0020]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION However, PDP
In the forced convection type cart continuous processing furnace T of a flat panel such as a glass panel for use, each zone A, B, and C is composed of a plurality of compartments D, but inside the circulation baffle 1 (the processing chamber E). Inner) communicates from the charging side to the extraction side of the furnace because the flat panels P ₁ and P ₂ pass through. Therefore, even if the circulating atmosphere temperature in each compartment D is controlled to a predetermined temperature, the atmosphere is mixed between the adjacent compartments D, so that strict temperature control in the processing chamber E cannot be performed, that is, the flat panel P ₁ , It can not be carried out uniform heating and cooling of P _2, there is a problem that it is impossible to perform good sealing and exhaust processes or exhaust treatment.

Therefore, as a result of various studies to solve the above problems, in the present invention, in a flat panel forced convection type cart continuous processing equipment, the exhaust carts are connected to each other in a forced convection type cart continuous processing furnace. The hearth is inserted, and the opening of the hearth is closed with a heat insulating member, and attention is paid to the fact that a so-called hearth is formed.

[0022]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a holding member for holding at least exhaust means, holding a plurality of flat panels with chip tubes, and a heat insulating member for closing a hearth opening. An exhaust cart for moving inside the forced convection type cart continuous processing furnace and exhausting the inside of the flat panel is provided at the front end or the rear end of the heat insulating member with the ceiling wall and the side wall of the in-furnace processing chamber. This is a configuration in which a partition member that forms a predetermined gap therebetween is erected.

Further, a forced convection type cart-type continuous processing furnace having a plurality of compartments, each of which is capable of independently controlling the temperature, at least exhaust means, and a plurality of chips An exhaust cart for holding a flat panel with pipes, and forcibly transporting the flat panel of the exhaust cart intermittently so as to be located in a processing chamber formed in a compartment of the forced convection type cart continuous processing furnace. In the convection-type cart-type continuous processing equipment, the length of the compartment is set to an integral multiple of the length of the exhaust cart, and a predetermined gap is formed between the ceiling wall and the side wall of the in-furnace processing chamber at the front end or the rear end of the exhaust cart. A partition member to be formed is provided, and a seal mechanism for closing the gap formed when the exhaust cart is stopped is provided.

It is preferable that the seal mechanism is a seal member attached to a peripheral portion of a partition member of the exhaust cart so as to contact the ceiling wall and the side wall.

[0025]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. Since the basic structures of the forced convection type cart continuous processing furnace T and the exhaust cart 10 are the same as those of the conventional one, the same reference numerals are given to the same parts and the details are omitted.

The exhaust cart 10 of the present invention is shown in FIG.
As is clear from FIG.
A partition member 13 is provided upright at the front end or the rear end of the heat insulating member 12 of 0 '. The partition member 13 is a processing chamber formed in the circulation baffle 1 of the forced convection type cart continuous processing furnace T. A predetermined gap is formed between the ceiling wall and the side wall of E. As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, a seal member 14A in which a heat insulating material 15a is covered with a thin metal plate 16a may be attached to the passage portion (the upper portion and both sides) of the partition member 13. In addition, the length of the compartment D is an integral multiple of the length of the exhaust cart 10 (the illustrated one is the same size).

[0027] Next, a sealing and exhaust process of the glass panel P ₁ in the forced convection cart-continuous processing equipment according to the present invention.

First, as in the conventional case, the glass panel P ₁
In the loading / unloading zone Z, the support members 11 of the exhaust cart 10 are loaded in a plurality of stages in a horizontal state, and sequentially loaded in a connected state by a pusher or the like into a forced convection type cart continuous processing furnace T, and the exhaust gas is exhausted. The cart 10 is intermittently transported by the length of the exhaust cart 10.

That is, each of the exhaust carts 10 is located in each of the compartments D in each of the zones A, B, and C.
B, perforated plate 1A of the atmosphere circulating baffle 1 reaches a predetermined temperature in C, 1B circulates through, during which the glass panel P ₁ is heated to a predetermined temperature, it is cooled in the glass substrates W _1, W ₂ exhaust treatment the sealing process and the glass panel P ₂ is performed.

Then, the exhaust cart 10 is extracted from the forced convection type cart continuous processing furnace T, and is discharged from the discharge gas charging zone Z.
When coming to g, then a discharge gas is sealed in the glass panel P _2, is moved by the extraction side transfer car Tf ₂ to return rails R, remove the tip tube Pa clips K jig removal and sealing zone Zc next glass panel _{P 2} sealed-off process is performed in the PDP, then unload the product of the PDP in unloading zone Zd.

The exhaust cart 10 is located in the compartment D
When stopped inside (processing chamber E), the sealing member 14A provided on the partition member 13 of the exhaust cart 10 is pressed against or comes into contact with the partition plate F. For example, the partition member 13 of the exhaust cart 10 and the subsequent exhaust cart 10 4, the communication between the processing chamber E of the compartment D and the processing chamber E of the adjacent compartment is interrupted.

[0032] Therefore, the glass panel P ₁ or the glass panel P ₂ on the evacuating cart 10 will be accurately convective heating or cooling by a controlled atmosphere to a predetermined temperature.

In the above embodiment, the sealing member 1
4A is provided on the partition member 13 of the exhaust cart 10, but the inner surface of the circulation baffle 1 at the position of the partition plate F forming the boundary of the compartment D of the forced convection type cart continuous processing furnace T is insulated. A sealing member 14B in which the material 15b is covered with a thin metal plate 16b, or an elastomer, a heat insulating cloth, a thin metal plate 14C, or the like may be attached instead. In addition, although the sealing property is slightly inferior, the exhaust cart 1
The partition member 13 may be provided so as to be as close to the side wall and the ceiling wall of the processing chamber E as possible.

[0034] In each of the above embodiments, the rear surface glass substrate _{W 2} on the surface glass substrate _{W 1} as the glass panel _{P 1}
Was applied and the sealing agent S was superimposed, and the case where this was sealed and evacuated was described.
There may be a glass panel P ₂ which is previously sealed, this case is to continuously exhaust treatment without going through the sealing process.

Further, in the embodiment, although a case for mounting horizontally glass panel P ₁ on the evacuating cart 10, it is mounted in the vertical direction so as to perpendicular to the traveling direction of the exhaust cart 10 Good. In this case, the atmosphere in the furnace preferably enters the processing chamber E from below both sides of the circulation baffle 1 and is sucked into the circulation fan 4 from the ceiling.

Further, in the above description, a glass panel is shown as an object to be evacuated, but the present invention is not limited to this, and a synthetic resin panel or a metal panel may be used.

[0037] Incidentally, in the description has dealt with the case enclosing a gas After evacuating the inside of the panel P _2, even when the insulating panel to seal the tip tube Pa without encapsulating the gas Good.

[0038]

As is apparent from the above description, claim 1
The invention according to the present invention is provided with at least an exhaust unit, a holding member for holding a plurality of flat panels with chip tubes, and a heat insulating member for closing a hearth opening, and moving inside a forced convection type cart continuous processing furnace. The exhaust cart that exhausts the inside of the flat panel has a configuration in which a partition member that forms a predetermined gap between the ceiling wall and the side wall of the in-furnace processing chamber is provided upright at the front end or the rear end of the heat insulating member. The independent and separate processing chambers can be formed by the screen members of the preceding or succeeding exhaust carts, and the temperature distribution in the processing chambers can be made uniform, that is, the flat panel can be accurately and efficiently heated to a predetermined temperature. Can be cooled.

The invention according to claims 2 and 3 comprises a forced convection type cart-type continuous processing furnace and the exhaust cart, wherein the processing furnace is composed of a plurality of compartments each having an integral multiple of the length of the exhaust cart. Forced convection having a sealing mechanism for intermittently transporting the exhaust cart into the compartment and closing a gap formed between the exhaust cart and the partition plate forming the compartment at the front end or the rear end of the exhaust cart. Because of the cart type continuous processing equipment, the flat panel can be accurately and efficiently heated and cooled at a predetermined temperature.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view of a flat panel forced convection type cart continuous processing equipment to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the forced convection type cart continuous processing furnace according to the present invention in a state where an exhaust cart in a sealing zone (exhaust zone) is located.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing a state where an exhaust cart in a cooling zone of the forced convection type cart continuous processing furnace according to the present invention is located.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along the line II in FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a relationship among a compartment, a partition plate, and a processing chamber.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a main part of the exhaust cart.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken along the line 2-2 of FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a sectional view of a seal member provided on a partition plate.

FIG. 9 is a sectional view of another configuration of the seal member provided on the partition plate.

FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view of a conventional forced convection type cart continuous processing furnace in a state where an exhaust cart in a sealing treatment zone (exhaust zone) is located.

FIG. 11 is a cross-sectional view showing a state where an exhaust cart in a cooling zone of a conventional forced convection type cart continuous processing furnace is located.

FIG. 12 is a sectional view taken along the line C-C of FIG. 10;

FIG. 13 is a partial perspective view for explaining a glass panel.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 circulation baffle, 1A, 1B perforated plate, 2 circulation passage, 3 heat source, 4 circulation fan, 7 opening, 10 exhaust cart, 11 support member, 11a-holding member, 12-
Insulation member, 13-partition member, 14A, 14B, 14C-
Seal member, 15a, 15b to heat insulating material, 16a, 16b
~ Metal sheet, A ~ Sealing treatment zone, B ~ Exhaust zone, C
~ Cooling zone, D ~ compartment, E ~ processing room, F ~ compartment,
P ₁ ~ glass panels, R～ rail, T～ forced convection cart type continuous processing furnace.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A forced convection type cart-type continuous processing furnace having at least an exhaust means, a holding member for holding a plurality of flat panels with chip tubes, and a heat insulating member for closing a hearth opening. In the exhaust cart that exhausts the inside of the flat panel, a partition member that forms a predetermined gap between a ceiling wall and a side wall of the in-furnace processing chamber is provided upright at a front end or a rear end of the heat insulating member. And exhaust cart. 2. A forced convection type cart-type continuous processing furnace having a plurality of compartments, and each of the compartments can be independently controlled in temperature, at least an exhaust unit, and a plurality of chips. An exhaust cart for holding a flat panel with pipes, and forcibly transporting the flat panel of the exhaust cart intermittently so as to be located in a processing chamber formed in a compartment of the forced convection type cart continuous processing furnace. In the convection-type cart continuous processing equipment, the length of the compartment is set to an integral multiple of the length of the exhaust cart, and a predetermined gap is formed at the front end or the rear end of the exhaust cart with the ceiling wall and the side wall of the processing chamber. A forced convection-type cart-type continuous processing facility, comprising a partition member that performs the operation and a seal mechanism that closes the gap formed when the exhaust cart stops. 3. The sealing mechanism according to claim 2, wherein the sealing mechanism is a sealing member attached to a peripheral portion of a partition member of the exhaust cart so as to contact the ceiling wall and the side wall. Forced convection type cart continuous processing equipment.