JP2003042958A - Inspection device for conveyance of object to be inspected - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent torsion of piping or wiring during conveyance of an inspec tion object, to reduce a cost or refuse by dispensing with conventional wiring, piping or the like, to convey smoothly and inspect the object of inspection, without limiting the shape thereof oblong, to position and hold the object quickly and accurately at the conveyance time during an inspection process of the inspection objects, such as liquid crystal substrates having various different sizes or the like, and to realize shortening of inspection time and prevention of damages to the object of inspection, in a circulating type conveyance inspec tion device for the inspection object. SOLUTION: In this inspection device 1 for conveyance of the object of inspection 10, inspection for detecting defect of a liquid crystal part is conducted by scanning the object of inspection 10, using an inspection optical system having a light source 3 and a line CCD 4, while conveying the object of inspection 10 for forming the liquid crystal board by a conveyance conveyer 2. In the device, a holder 5 for holding the object of inspection 10 at a carry-in position thereof and releasing the holding at a carry-out position is provided on the center position in the conveyance direction of the object of inspection 10 by the conveyance conveyor 2.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a positioning and conveying device for an object to be inspected such as a liquid crystal plate.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a liquid crystal substrate used for various display devices is manufactured, for example, by 700 mm × 900 mm.
6 14 inch or 16 inch T on glass substrate
FT (Thin Film Transistor) is pasted together and CF (Color Filter) is further attached.
It is made by pasting together and cutting out. Above TF
T is composed of a group of 500,000 × 3 (R, G, B three colors) transistors. In the defect inspection of the TFT, one size is about 20 μm, and 36,000 points are inspected in a dimension of 700 mm. Such an inspection is performed on a glass substrate (work) 100 which is in the middle of being conveyed in the arrow direction at a speed of about 30 cm / sec by a normal conveyor 101, as shown in FIG. The image capturing process is performed by the inspection means using the light source 111 and the linear CCD (for example, eight are used) 112 for the image capturing speed of about 40 MB / sec. Glass substrate 100
When being transported by the transport conveyor 101, the gripping body (chuck) 102 provided so as to interlock with the transport conveyor 101 grips and positions both edge portions along the transport direction and is transported. As a prior art of a so-called circulation type transfer mechanism (see FIG. 1) in which an object to be inspected, such as a glass substrate 100, is transferred by a transfer conveyor 101, the applicant of the present invention and a patent application 20 of the same applicant are known.
00-122527 is helpful.

However, the glass substrate 1 which is the object to be inspected is conveyed by the conveyor 101.
When a gripping body for gripping the glass substrate 100, which will be described later, is attached to a so-called circulation type transporting mechanism that transports 00 or the like, it is difficult to supply the driving force by air pressure or electricity. This is a big problem. That is, in the conventional transfer method of this type, since various electric wires including the power thereof and air piping are required, when the circulation type transfer mechanism as shown in FIG. 1 is used, the electric wire is used as the power. If the piping or wiring of the air piping is used, the piping or wiring will be twisted while the glass substrate 100 is being conveyed, and it will be unusable.
On the other hand, the above-described positioning and conveying device for the object to be inspected,
As shown in FIG. 5, there is a case where a glass substrate 100a that is an object to be inspected is inspected, for example, a glass substrate 100a smaller than the glass substrate 100, and conversely, a glass substrate larger than the glass substrate 100 is used. When inspecting, the glass substrates 100 to be inspected are not all the same in size, so that the glass substrate to be inspected is changed in accordance with the size of the glass substrate to be inspected. It is necessary to individually adjust and change the gripping position by the gripping body 102 to be gripped. Further, the grip allowance for the gripping body on the glass substrate 100 which is the object to be inspected is, for example, 3.5 m.
Since only about m is provided, it is not easy to accurately grasp the grip margin of about 3.5 mm while changing the grip position of the grip body 102, and it is necessary to align the grip body 102 and the glass substrate 100. Considering that it takes about 10 seconds for alignment such as the backward transportation of the glass substrate 100, and that the inspection time (inspection tact) for one glass substrate 100 to be inspected is within about 30 seconds. The need for the alignment time of about 10 sec has a problem of reducing the inspection efficiency, and there is a demand for shortening the alignment time described above. Further, the gripping body 102 and the glass substrate 100 which is the object to be inspected, which require about 10 seconds as described above.
When the alignment is performed, the glass substrate 100 may be damaged, and considering that the unit price of the glass substrate 100 is very high at about tens of thousands of yen, the above-mentioned grip body 102 and the glass substrate 100 are considered. A special request is made to improve the alignment process with The present invention has been developed in view of the above-mentioned conventional circumstances, and by providing power for gripping an object to be inspected in a so-called circulation type transfer mechanism outside the transfer drive mechanism, Eliminates the situation where pipes and wiring become twisted during transportation of various inspection objects (such as glass substrates) and transportation becomes impossible, and the conventional wiring and piping are unnecessary. As a result, the cost and the generation of dust can be greatly reduced, the object to be inspected can be transported and inspected without being limited to a rectangular shape, and the object to be inspected such as a liquid crystal plate having various sizes can be further inspected. To provide a conveyance inspection apparatus for an object to be inspected, which can quickly and accurately perform positioning and grasping during conveyance during the inspection step, and can shorten the inspection time and prevent damage to the object to be inspected. Is

The invention according to claim 1 is
A conveyance inspection device for a body to be inspected, which carries out a defect inspection of the body to be inspected by scanning the body to be inspected by using an inspection optical system while conveying the body to be inspected by the conveying means. At the central portion position in the transport direction of the body, while positioning the object to be inspected from the carry-in position to the carry-out position of the object to be inspected, and releasing the grip at the carry-out position,
The present invention is characterized in that a gripping and releasing mechanism portion driven by a drive mechanism provided outside the conveying means is provided.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the apparatus for inspecting an object to be inspected according to the first aspect, the gripping and releasing mechanism portion includes an upper chuck piece and a lower chuck piece that are located at a central position in an object to be inspected in the conveyance direction. A body part provided with the actuating body, which is arranged so as to project outward from the body part and exerts a pressing force at the loading position and the unloading position of the object to be inspected. And an upper chuck plate and a lower chuck plate respectively connected to the upper chuck piece and the lower chuck piece, and an operation shaft for transmitting a pressing force acting on the actuating body to the upper chuck plate. It is provided between the upper chuck plate and the lower chuck plate, and can interlock with the pressing force transmitted to the upper chuck plate to hold and release the object to be inspected between the upper chuck piece and the lower chuck piece. To open A click portion, wherein on at all times the upper chuck pieces relative to the chuck pieces, is characterized in that it has an elastic body that imparts a closing direction of the spring force of the lower chuck pieces. According to each of the first and second aspects of the present invention, in this type of so-called circulating type inspecting device for inspecting an object, power for gripping the object is provided outside the transportation drive mechanism (all including power). No wiring is provided inside the drive mechanism), the pipe or the wiring is twisted while the object to be inspected, such as the conventional glass substrate, is conveyed, which makes the conveyance impossible. In addition to eliminating such situations, the conventional wiring and piping are not required, which can greatly reduce the cost and the generation of dust. Also, the object to be inspected can be transported and inspected without being limited to a rectangular shape. In addition, positioning and transportation of the object to be inspected such as a liquid crystal plate received on the transportation means can be carried out quickly and smoothly, and there is no need to return the object to be inspected. To the next step Since Dekiru out, it is possible to achieve the shortening of the inspection time. Further, with respect to the object to be inspected that is carried in, it is provided on the upper chuck plate and the lower chuck plate of the gripping body that interlocks with the operation of the actuating body that constitutes the gripping and releasing mechanism at the loading position of the object to be inspected. The upper chuck piece and the lower chuck piece quickly grip the gripping margin at the central position in the transport direction, and the upper chuck piece and the lower chuck piece release the grip at the unloading position of the object to be inspected. Therefore, it is not necessary to individually adjust and change the gripping position by the gripping body that grips each glass substrate according to the size of the glass substrate that is the test object, and the size of the glass substrate that is the test object It is also possible to immediately deal with, and it is possible to prevent damage such as a grip crack (damage is large because it spreads even with a slight damage).

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of a so-called circulation type inspecting apparatus (for example, a glass substrate) for carrying and inspecting apparatus according to the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration of a transportation inspection apparatus 1 for an object to be inspected 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The transportation inspection apparatus 1 for the object to be inspected is, for example, a rectangular shape or the like for forming a liquid crystal plate. The object to be inspected 10 is conveyed by a conveyor 2 using a pair of endless rotary frames 2a and 2b, which are conveying means, and the inspected optical system having a light source 3 and a line CCD (line sensor) 4 is used for the inspection. By scanning the surface of the body 10 to be inspected (hereinafter referred to as "inspection surface"), a defect inspection of a liquid crystal portion such as a TFT provided on the inspection surface is performed. At a central position in the transport direction of the DUT 10 by the transport conveyor 2 (a position where the width dimension of the transport conveyor 2 is L / 2, L / 2), from the loading position of the DUT 10 to the unloading position. Up to this point, the gripping body 5 that constitutes a gripping and releasing mechanism portion that positions and grips the gripping margin provided on the leading edge of the inspected body 10 in the transport direction is provided. In the present embodiment, the gripping bodies 5 are provided at a total of two positions, for example, at positions where the entire circumference of the conveyor 2 is divided into two. That is, the gripping body 5 of one of the gripping and releasing mechanism portions is arranged above and below the rotating frames 2a and 2b of the transport conveyor 2 by making four small rollers 22 on the metal plate smaller in the lower space than in the upper space. Two racks 23, 23 configured by mounting two racks on each
A connecting plate 24 is bridged between the individual racks 23, 23, and the grip body 5 is attached to the central position of the connecting plate 24 in the transport direction. Then, the connecting plate 24 is rotated by a wire driving mechanism (not shown) to rotate frames 2a, 2b of the conveyor 2.
I am trying to move along. The other gripping and releasing mechanism 5 has a similar structure, and is mounted so as not to interfere with the inspection light path from the light source 3 to the line CCD 4. An object to be inspected 10 is provided at the front stage of the conveyor 2.
A carry-in roller conveyor 26 for the inspection object 10 is provided, and a carry-out roller conveyor 27 for the object to be inspected 10 is provided at the subsequent stage of the transport conveyor 2. Here, the grip body 5 that constitutes the grip and release mechanism will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 5 to 11. As shown in FIGS. 5 to 7, the grip body 5 includes a main body portion 30 attached to the connecting plate 24 and having a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape as a whole, and an outside of the main body portion 30, for example, a main body portion as shown in FIG. It has an operating body 31 for performing a gripping operation and a gripping releasing operation which are projected downward from the bottom surface of 30. That is, in the present embodiment, the gripping and releasing mechanism section driven by the drive mechanism provided outside the transporting means is provided. The main body portion 30 is a rectangular upper plate 3
2, a pair of side plates 33a and 33b, a lower plate 3
4 are provided, and these required parts are joined and connected to each other using bolts 40 to form a rectangular parallelepiped space inside. The body portion 30 has side plates 33a and 33b, respectively.
A pair of linear guides 35 and 35 having both ends fitted between the upper plate 32 and the lower plate 34, which are located in the vicinity of, are attached in a vertical arrangement. A pair of linear guides 35, 35
Includes an upper chuck plate 36 and a lower chuck plate 37, which are vertically opposed to each other, and are arranged in parallel, and the linear guides 35 and 3 are respectively arranged.
5 are fitted to each other so as to be vertically slidable by using an annular bush 38. Further, in the region between the pair of linear guides 35, 35, the upper end is fitted to the lower surface of the upper chuck plate 36 and tightened and fixed by the bolt 40, and the intermediate portion is fixed to the lower chuck plate 3.
7 in a slidable penetrating state via an annular bush 38, and further, a lower end side of the operating shaft 3 penetrating the lower plate 34 in a loosely fitted state and protruding downward.
It has 9, 39. This pair of operation shafts 39,
To the lower end of 39, the upper end portions of the bracket 31a constituting the actuating body 31 are connected with bolts 40. The actuating body 31 is configured by rotatably supporting a roller 31c with respect to a bracket 31a via a shaft body 31b. On the other hand, a coil spring 51 that applies a spring force downward to the upper chuck plate 36 is provided between the upper plate 32 and the recessed portion provided in the center of the upper surface of the upper chuck plate 36. It is arranged using. 5 and 6 of the upper chuck plate 36.
In FIG. 5 and FIG. 6 of the lower chuck plate 37, the upper chuck piece 36 is on the left side of FIG.
As shown in FIG. 10, the gripping margin of the inspected body 10 is sandwiched between the upper chuck piece 36a and the lower chuck piece 37a. As shown in FIGS. 5 and 10, the operating member 3 is provided on the left side of the upper chuck plate 36 and the lower chuck plate 37 in FIGS. 5 and 6 (opposite side with the pair of linear guides 35, 35 interposed).
The upper chuck plate 36 and the lower chuck plate 37 are moved toward and away from each other in conjunction with the displacement of 1, that is, the annular bush 38 integral with the upper chuck plate 36 and the annular bush 38 integral with the lower chuck plate 37. A link portion 41 is provided to bring the joined state into a separated state. The link unit 41 will be described with reference to FIGS. 11 and 12. The link portion 41 includes a center shaft 42 that is rotatably installed between the side plates 33a and 33b using a bearing 43, a rotating body 44 that is fitted to the center shaft 42, the upper chuck plate 36, and the lower chuck plate 36. A pair of hinge brackets 45, 46 attached to the chuck plate 37 using bolts 40, respectively, and a protruding end of the hinge bracket 45 on the upper chuck plate 36 side,
An upper arm 47 whose both ends are rotatably attached to the outer peripheral portion of the rotating body 44, a protruding end of the hinge bracket 46 on the lower chuck plate 37 side, and the upper arm 47 on the outer peripheral portion of the rotating body 44. What is the mounting position? Center shaft 4
A lower arm 48 having both ends rotatably attached is provided between the two symmetrical positions. The operation of the transport inspection apparatus 1 described above will be described below. The object to be inspected 10 which is successively carried in by the carry-in roller conveyor 26 with good timing is delivered to the carrying conveyor 2 (FIG. 2), and at this time, by the gripping body 5 of the gripping and releasing mechanism section at a predetermined timing. The gripping margin portion at the central position in the transport direction is gripped and positioned. In other words, the force pushed out from the carry-in roller conveyor 26 is such that the gripping portion at the central position in the transport direction of the inspection object 10 for liquid crystal plate formation is pinched by the gripping body 5. More specifically, when the object to be inspected 10 is delivered to the transport conveyor 2, the gripping body 5 holds the gripping position with the upper chuck piece 36a and the lower chuck piece 37a closed as shown in FIG. At the gripping position, the pressing portion (not shown) pushes the roller 31c of the actuating body 31 upward. Then, the pair of operation shafts 39, 39 and the upper chuck plate 36 are also moved by the coil spring 51 in conjunction with the upward displacement of the roller 31c.
The upper arm 47 of the link part 41 rotates the rotating body 44 in the clockwise direction in FIG. 10, and the lower arm 48 is displaced to move the lower chuck plate 37. Lower it. As a result, the upper chuck piece 36
The lower chuck piece 37a and the lower chuck piece 37a are in a state shown in FIG.
The portion of the gripping margin at the central position in the transport direction of the device under test 10 is sandwiched between a. At this time, since the spring force of the coil spring 51 acts on the upper chuck plate 36, the object to be inspected 1
The sandwiched state of 0 is maintained. Then, as the carrier 2 moves in the direction of the arrow, the gripping body 5 also moves while gripping the object to be inspected 10, passes through the inspection optical path from the light source 3 to the line CCD 4 (FIG. 3), and the defect inspection step ends. After that, Figure 4
At the carry-out end, which is a little ahead of the position shown in
The gripping body 5 automatically releases the gripped state of the inspection object 10,
As a result, the inspection object 10 is moved to the carry-out roller conveyor 2
It is carried out to No. 7 and carried to the next process. Specifically, when the gripping body 5 grips the gripping margin portion of the inspected body 10 at the central position in the transport direction, a pressing portion (not shown) presses the roller 31c of the actuating body 31 at the stage of reaching the carry-out end. Push upwards. Then, the pair of operation shafts 39, 39 and the upper chuck plate 36 are interlocked with the upward displacement of the roller 31c.
Is also displaced upward, whereby the upper arm 47 of the link portion 41 rotates the rotating body 44 in the clockwise direction in FIG.
The lower arm 48 is displaced to lower the lower chuck plate 37. As a result, the upper chuck piece 36a and the lower chuck piece 37
a is in a state in which the upper chuck piece 3 and the upper chuck piece 3 are separated from each other.
6a, DUT 1 sandwiched between lower chuck piece 37a
0 is released. After the inspection object 10 is released,
Due to the spring force of the coil spring 51, the upper chuck piece 36
The lower chuck piece 37a returns to the original state shown in FIG. In this way, the transport inspection apparatus 1 of the present embodiment
According to the above, all wirings including the power of the gripping body 5 that grips the inspected object 10 in the so-called circulating type inspected object 10 for inspecting the inspected object 10 are provided outside the inspected object 1 (all including power). No wiring is provided inside the drive mechanism), the pipe or the wiring is twisted while the object to be inspected, such as the conventional glass substrate, is conveyed, which makes the conveyance impossible. In addition to eliminating such situations, the conventional wiring and piping are no longer required, which significantly reduces costs and dust generation.
The object to be inspected can be smoothly conveyed and inspected without being limited to a rectangular shape. Further, according to the transport inspection apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, positioning and transport of the inspection object 10 can be performed quickly and
In addition, the object to be inspected 10 as in the conventional example, which is smoothly operated
The post-returning process and the like are not required, and the defect inspection process can be automatically carried out to the next process. As a result, the inspection time can be significantly reduced. Further, since the fertilizer 5 quickly grips the portion of the gripping margin at the central position in the transport direction with respect to the object to be inspected 10 which is carried in, the object to be inspected as in the conventional example described above. It is not necessary to individually adjust and change the gripping position by the gripping body 102 that grips the glass substrate that is the object to be inspected, depending on the size of the glass substrate that is It is possible to prevent such damage)
The inspection object 10 can be carried out to the next step while maintaining its quality.

According to the present invention, with the above-described structure, a so-called circulating type inspecting apparatus for inspecting an object, such as a glass substrate, which is an object to be inspected, is conveyed. It is possible to eliminate the situation that the pipes and wiring are twisted between them and it becomes impossible to carry, and because the conventional wiring and piping are not required, cost and dust generation can be greatly reduced, Further, it is possible to smoothly convey and inspect an object to be inspected without restricting the shape of the object to be rectangular, and to quickly and accurately position and convey the object to be inspected such as a liquid crystal plate received on the conveying means.
The inspection can be performed smoothly, and there is no need to return the inspected object to the next process automatically after the defect inspection process is completed, so that the inspection time can be shortened. Further, according to the present invention, with respect to the object to be inspected that is being carried in, the upper chuck piece and the lower chuck piece quickly grasp the portion of the gripping margin at the central position in the transport direction at the position where the object is inspected. ,Also,
Since the upper chuck piece and the lower chuck piece are used to release the grip at the unloading position of the object to be inspected, the glass substrate to be inspected is grasped by the gripping body that grips the glass substrate each time. There is no need to adjust and change the position individually, and it is possible to immediately respond to any size of glass substrate that is the object to be inspected, and prevent damage such as grip cracks (large damage because it spreads with minute damage) it can.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a conveyance inspection device for an inspection object according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an operation explanatory diagram of the conveyance inspection device of the present embodiment when the inspection target is carried in.

FIG. 3 is an operation explanatory diagram of the conveyance inspection device of the present embodiment during conveyance of the object to be inspected.

FIG. 4 is an operation explanatory diagram of the transport inspection apparatus according to the present embodiment immediately before unloading an object to be inspected.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of the grip body according to the present embodiment.

6 is a sectional view taken along line XX of FIG.

7 is a cross-sectional view taken along line YY of FIG.

8 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG.

9 is a sectional view taken along line BB of FIG.

FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view of a gripping body according to the present embodiment in a closed state.

FIG. 11 is a plan view of a link portion of the grip body according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a cross-sectional view of a link portion of the grip body according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 13 is a schematic plan view showing the configuration of a conventional conveyance inspection device for an object to be inspected.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Transport inspection device 2 Conveyor 3 light sources 4-line CCD 5 gripping body 10 Inspected object 23 racks 24 Connecting plate 26 Carry-in roller conveyor 27 Unloading roller conveyor 30 body 31 Actuator 31a bracket 31b shaft 31c roller 32 upper plate 33a side plate 33b side plate 34 Lower plate 35 Linear guide 36 Upper chuck plate 36a Upper chuck piece 37 Lower chuck plate 37a Lower chuck piece 38 annular bush 39 Operation shaft 40 volts 41 Link 42 Center axis 43 bearing 44 Rotating body 45 hinge bracket 46 hinge bracket 47 upper arm 48 Lower arm 51 coil spring 52 Rest plate

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    F-term (reference) 2G051 AA90 AB02 CA03 DA01 DA06                 2G086 EE10                 2H088 FA11 FA16 FA17 FA30 HA01                       HA08 HA12 MA20                 5F031 CA05 GA15 GA16 GA51 GA53                       MA33

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A conveyance inspection apparatus for a body to be inspected, which conveys the body to be inspected by a conveying means and scans the body to be inspected by using an inspection optical system, wherein At the central position in the transport direction of the object to be inspected by the transport means,
A gripping and releasing mechanism unit that positions and grips the object to be inspected from the carry-in position to the carry-out position of the object to be inspected, releases the grip at the carry-out position, and is driven by a drive mechanism provided outside the conveying means. An apparatus for inspecting and transporting an object to be inspected, comprising: 2. The gripping and releasing mechanism portion is a main body portion having an upper chuck piece and a lower chuck piece facing a central position in the conveyance direction of the object to be inspected, and is arranged so as to project outside the main body portion. An actuating body to which a pressing force is applied at the loading position and the unloading position of the object to be inspected; and an upper and lower chuck piece, which are vertically opposed to each other in the main body and slidable in the vertical direction.
An upper chuck plate and a lower chuck plate respectively connected to the lower chuck piece, an operation shaft for transmitting a pressing force acting on the actuating body to the upper chuck plate, and an operation shaft provided between the upper chuck plate and the lower chuck plate. ,
A link portion that interlocks with the pressing force transmitted to the upper chuck plate to open the space between the upper chuck piece and the lower chuck piece so that the object to be inspected can be gripped and released, and with respect to the upper chuck piece. 2. The conveyance inspection apparatus for an object to be inspected according to claim 1, further comprising: an elastic body that constantly applies a spring force in a closing direction between the upper chuck piece and the lower chuck piece.